Spurrier nabs commit from top DB Gary Gray

#1
VolunteerHillbilly

VolunteerHillbilly

Spike Drinks, Not Trees
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#1
http://rivals100.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=527049


I already forsee a lot of resposnes to this announcement along the lines of "It's too early for this to mean anything" and "He's a S.C. kid anyway". However, I am somewhat disturbed by this. Not only did Gray have UT on his list, but some other big time programs as well. Also, S. Car. is a state where UT has traditionally done pretty well with recruiting. Despite all that, this guy comes out this early and commits to Spurrier. This probably signals that we are not going to be sneaking as many S.C. kids into Knoxville as we have in the past, which means that recruiting just got a little tougher for UT. Add to that the fact that we are not locking up the top talent in Tennessee at this point and I'd say there is something to worry about.
 
#5
#5
(GAVol @ Mar 24 said:
It's too early to mean anything.
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:lolabove: :lolabove: Thank-you. Thank-you.

Seriously though, Spurrier is getting traction over there. I know I will be labeled an alarmist but IMO this season could very well dictate whether UT is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the SEC east or 3-4th place 7-5, 8-4 doormat to the big boys for the next decade or so. We have to have an outstanding recruiting year for '07 and we are probably going to have to go at least 10-2 in the regular season if we are going to restore the faith among blue chip kids. It does not help anything when our division rivals are getting early commitments from kdis who may be #1 in the nation at their positions.
 
#7
#7
(VolunteerHillbilly @ Mar 24 said:
:lolabove: :lolabove: Thank-you. Thank-you.

Seriously though, Spurrier is getting traction over there. I know I will be labeled an alarmist but IMO this season could very well dictate whether UT is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the SEC east or 3-4th place 7-5, 8-4 doormat to the big boys for the next decade or so. We have to have an outstanding recruiting year for '07 and we are probably going to have to go at least 10-2 in the regular season if we are going to restore the faith among blue chip kids. It does not help anything when our division rivals are getting early commitments from kdis who may be #1 in the nation at their positions.
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You do make a valid point about Spurrier gaining traction, but it's not like we haven't been competing with SC and Clemson for years. If anything, I think Spurrier being at USC has more implications for making them a player on the big time recruits nationwide vs. just in SC.
 
#9
#9
IMO it has been tough in SC since Lou (Granny Clampett) Holtz went to USC. We have not had as much success recruiting there over the past 5-6 years but Spurrier will make it even tougher. They knew Lou was only there originally as a place holder for Skip to be groomed to take his place. When the offense failed to get it done there was a season of uncertainty about the replacement but Spurrier's hiring was clearly a coup for the program.
 
#10
#10
SC has the same problem Tenn has. Lack of abundant blue chip recruits. SC as a whole does not have more than 2-5 "top" recruits in any given year. Mostly for us was a recruiting ground to fill the gaps.
 
#11
#11
USC may have it tougher than Tennessee does recruiting-wise. They have a bigger in state rival to contend with and Athens, GA isn't all that far away from a lot of places in SC.
 
#12
#12
bluechippers are going to look away from tennessee till they see what they do this year. if we perform good fulmer is a great recruiter and take care of buisness. if we have a so so year the downward trend will continue.
 
#13
#13
(GAVol @ Mar 24 said:
USC may have it tougher than Tennessee does recruiting-wise. They have a bigger in state rival to contend with and Athens, GA isn't all that far away from a lot of places in SC.
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I agree with that 100%. And when Clemson and USC were both down, anyone could recruit in that state....

(smokedog#3 @ Mar 24 said:
bluechippers are going to look away from tennessee till they see what they do this year. if we perform good fulmer is a great recruiter and take care of buisness. if we have a so so year the downward trend will continue.
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Smoke, i can't believe it, but i agree with you 100% on this as well. I think we'll still get some guys because of it being Tennessee, but not in the volume we're used to. to get back to that, we'll need results to show we're back and not going anywhere....
 
#14
#14
(VolunteerHillbilly @ Mar 24 said:
http://rivals100.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=527049
I already forsee a lot of resposnes to this announcement along the lines of "It's too early for this to mean anything" and "He's a S.C. kid anyway". However, I am somewhat disturbed by this. Not only did Gray have UT on his list, but some other big time programs as well. Also, S. Car. is a state where UT has traditionally done pretty well with recruiting. Despite all that, this guy comes out this early and commits to Spurrier. This probably signals that we are not going to be sneaking as many S.C. kids into Knoxville as we have in the past, which means that recruiting just got a little tougher for UT. Add to that the fact that we are not locking up the top talent in Tennessee at this point and I'd say there is something to worry about.
Click to expand...

I follow recruiting very closely and quite frankly, I love what we're up to this year. I think we'll have a new class very similar to 2005, + we'll get several good in-state prospects.

I haven't read this anywhere but I think Fulmer is re-calculating the kind of recruit he wants to bring in based on the off the field problems over the past 2 years. Check out how good 3* Arian Foster has turned out. Gimme 85 kids with his heart, desire to win and his character and I'll give you a winner. We'll get plenty of 4 and 5* athletes in 2007 and we'll get a good surprise or two along the way. Count on it.
 
#15
#15
Our early recruiting is going well right now. I believe we are in on like 40 players in Rivals.com's Top 100 and then in on several of Scout.com's Top 100 that Rivals doesn't have listed. That is more the we are usually in on this early in most years. This original post is what I like to call overreacting.

I think Spurrier is gonna get some good players, but Gary Gray is ONE guy and he lives "next door" to the SC campus and has grown up a fan of SCs. He is a terrific player and big get for Spurrier. By the way, Spurrier did not have a great recruiting year last year, certainly no better than what "granny" had been bringing in. I believe most had the in the 30-35 range. With that said, we were in the 20-25 range which is lower than normal. We did have what some considered the #1 class in the country the year before and most of them RSed. There is still plenty of talent in Knoxville. I think Tennessee will be fine with its recruiting this year.
 
#17
#17
Spurrier has to outrecruit Clemson 1st and he hasn't done that.

UT hasn't gotten many recruits out of SC the last 3 years so what would make it different this year? NOTHING.
 
#18
#18
(VolunteerHillbilly @ Mar 24 said:
http://rivals100.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=527049
I already forsee a lot of resposnes to this announcement along the lines of "It's too early for this to mean anything" and "He's a S.C. kid anyway". However, I am somewhat disturbed by this. Not only did Gray have UT on his list, but some other big time programs as well. Also, S. Car. is a state where UT has traditionally done pretty well with recruiting. Despite all that, this guy comes out this early and commits to Spurrier. This probably signals that we are not going to be sneaking as many S.C. kids into Knoxville as we have in the past, which means that recruiting just got a little tougher for UT. Add to that the fact that we are not locking up the top talent in Tennessee at this point and I'd say there is something to worry about.
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Very similar to what happened in GA when Richt came into the league. UT recruited heavily there and then Richt started to get all the top recruits from that state.

Now possibly a similar scenario in SC. Although Holtz was doing pretty well recruiting and so was tommy bowden, so this state was already more difficult to recruit in. The only areas really open still are mississippi and kentucky. Florida, GA, SC, and Alabama now usually stay in state.

This all coincided with last years worst recruiting class in decades.
 
#20
#20
(Vol67 @ Mar 25 said:
Spurrier has to outrecruit Clemson 1st and he hasn't done that.

UT hasn't gotten many recruits out of SC the last 3 years so what would make it different this year? NOTHING.
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Sinclair Cannon, Jonathan Hefney, Eric Young, Richie Gandy, Robert Ayers and Tony McDaniel. There were more Vols on the 2005 roster from S.C. (6) than from Alabama (3), Arkansas (5), Florida (4), Kentucky (2), Louisiana (5), Mississippi (4), North Carolina (5), and Virginia (5)

Only Georgia (8) was more represented on our roster than S.C. of all the southeastern states other than Tenn. Is it absolutely critical to UT's success that they recruit S.C. well? Probably not, but like Ga. it could seen be a state where we can't realisticly expect to compete for their top talent.
 
#21
#21
How some here are ignoring just how much talent UT's gotten from SC is unreal.

In my opinion if Spurrier is "hot" again this season & makes another National Splash, he's continue to not only pull in SC talent but players on the broader scope.

If he lands Jimmy Clausen, that in itself would open big doors for SC everywhere.

If Fulmer is "cold" again. And if you thought his recruiting this season was iffy watch out brother.
 
#22
#22
Gray grew up dreaming about playing for SC. He would have committed to SC if Sparky Woods was still the head coach there. I don't see this as any indication of the doors slaming shut in this state for UT recruiting.
 
#23
#23
(oklavol @ Mar 25 said:
This all coincided with last years worst recruiting class in decades.
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:rolleyes: You make it sound like we signed 3 donkeys and some middle school cheerleaders.
 
#24
#24
(GAVol @ Mar 24 said:
It's too early to mean anything.
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Well, they have to find something....anything....to complain about these days
 
#25
#25
(vol_freak @ Mar 25 said:
DECADES? Come on.
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When I said that, I was looking at it from the point of view of, this is Fulmer's worst recruiting class ever and Fulmer has been the coach for 14 seasons.

So that encompasses two decades, this decade and last. Majors had his best recruiting classes the last 5 or so years he was head coach. So I think its a fair statement. :matrix:
 
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