Sampson did not want to come to Tennessee

#1
VolForLife83

VolForLife83

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#1
"Tennessee was my first Power-5 offer, first SEC offer," explained Sampson. "But I started to get other offers. Mississippi State. I got Florida. I was talking to Bama [and] LSU. I was talking with Georgia. I was talking with schools all over. Cal, Purdue...but there was a point in time when I told myself even though my favorite player went here, I want to play in the SEC, you know, the best conference, I told myself I just can't go to Tennessee. I'll never go to Tennessee -- because of what was going on at the time. My recruitment was weird. Communication was weird. I mean, we obviously saw what went on (with the NCAA investigation). Coaching staff (Jeremy Pruitt's staff) got out of the picture. I would just look in the media and it's a player getting in trouble with the law like every other day. And it's like, man, I'm not leaving a place like Baton Rouge to go somewhere that's not going to help me develop as a man. Like no matter how bad I wanted to play in the SEC, I just couldn't do that. So I told myself I would never go to Tennessee."



 
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#4
#4
VolForLife83 said:
"Tennessee was my first Power-5 offer, first SEC offer," explained Sampson. "But I started to get other offers. Mississippi State. I got Florida. I was talking to Bama [and] LSU. I was talking with Georgia. I was talking with schools all over. Cal, Purdue...but there was a point in time when I told myself even though my favorite player went here, I want to play in the SEC, you know, the best conference, I told myself I just can't go to Tennessee. I'll never go to Tennessee -- because of what was going on at the time. My recruitment was weird. Communication was weird. I mean, we obviously saw what went on (with the NCAA investigation). Coaching staff (Jeremy Pruitt's staff) got out of the picture. I would just look in the media and it's a player getting in trouble with the law like every other day. And it's like, man, I'm not leaving a place like Baton Rouge to go somewhere that's not going to help me develop as a man. Like no matter how bad I wanted to play in the SEC, I just couldn't do that. So I told myself I would never go to Tennessee."



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The fact that he's here speaks volumes about Heupel and this staff. Same can be said for what's happening at UGA.
 
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#5
#5
VolForLife83 said:
"Tennessee was my first Power-5 offer, first SEC offer," explained Sampson. "But I started to get other offers. Mississippi State. I got Florida. I was talking to Bama [and] LSU. I was talking with Georgia. I was talking with schools all over. Cal, Purdue...but there was a point in time when I told myself even though my favorite player went here, I want to play in the SEC, you know, the best conference, I told myself I just can't go to Tennessee. I'll never go to Tennessee -- because of what was going on at the time. My recruitment was weird. Communication was weird. I mean, we obviously saw what went on (with the NCAA investigation). Coaching staff (Jeremy Pruitt's staff) got out of the picture. I would just look in the media and it's a player getting in trouble with the law like every other day. And it's like, man, I'm not leaving a place like Baton Rouge to go somewhere that's not going to help me develop as a man. Like no matter how bad I wanted to play in the SEC, I just couldn't do that. So I told myself I would never go to Tennessee."



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"What really got me was just the family atmosphere," added Sampson. "I would say out of my recruitment, Coach Heupel, out of any head coach that I had an offer from, he talked to me the most. He made it his business to call his recruits face to face at least once a week. You don't usually hear from the head coach. You hear from recruiting people, maybe a position coach, but not the head coach. But he made it his business and made it feel like he wanted me to be there. And I took the visit, felt the energy, felt the love, that family atmosphere, and I just felt like it was the right place for me."
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That's how you recruit top 10 classes with a looming NCAA investigation hanging over your head
 
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#7
#7
"And I took the visit, felt the energy, felt the love, that family atmosphere, and I just felt like it was the right place for me."

How many times have we heard this exact statement from recruits/players - Heupel and staff care about these young men.

I saw or heard that Heupel still calls players that did not come to TN just to wish them well and tell him he is here for them if they need to talk.

what a quality coach/person we have leading our program right now.
 
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#11
#11
VolBricks said:
"And I took the visit, felt the energy, felt the love, that family atmosphere, and I just felt like it was the right place for me."

How many times have we heard this exact statement from recruits/players - Heupel and staff care about these young men.

I saw or heard that Heupel still calls players that did not come to TN just to wish them well and tell him he is here for them if they need to talk.

what a quality coach/person we have leading our program right now.
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I hope he isn't calling players that are on other teams. That could get him in trouble.
 
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#20
#20
This is a great article, but maybe just a light tweak to the wording in the heading might show that his reason for not wanting to come to Tennessee was primarily due to conehead beldar rather than the university.
 
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