Star Watching (merged)

#51
#51
I know ESPN's service is less popular than Scout and Rivals, but does anybody else pay more attention to grade than stars?
 
#52
#52
g8terh8ter_eric said:
Where was Tyler Bray at this time last year?? What about Michael Taylor??
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We have maybe two potential 4-star guys out of our 11 commits right now. Some people here are acting like 9 of our guys are going to be bumped up to 4-stars and that will make everything fine. That's just not the case.
 
#53
#53
Montrell Hardy said:
I'm holding you to this! Hopefully it doesn't turn out this way, but I'm very skeptical. Tennessee just isn't positioned well with more than a handful of big-time prospects. And I'm talking better than 4th/5th on a prospects list.
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This is what worries me more than anything. People keep jabbering on about how it's August, but we are only in good with a few upper-tier players and the law of averages isn't going to be very kind to us in that area.

Something tells me I will feel the exact same way in February, disappointed and left wanting more.
 
#54
#54
Sabanocchio said:
It's pointless to argue with you, Eric. You never seem to see reason even if it slaps you across the face and calls you "Daddy."

I find your constant defense of anything this staff does and, at the time, the last did "comical."
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:yes:
 
#55
#55
Sabanocchio said:
It's pointless to argue with you, Eric. You never seem to see reason even if it slaps you across the face and calls you "Daddy."

I find your constant defense of anything this staff does and, at the time, the last did "comical."
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So, instead of trying to discuss something, you take a page out of hat's book and throw around some insults. Interesting.

It's also pointless to even argue or observe anything at this point, because we won't know the TRUE value of this class until the LOIs are in. There is NO telling who we may or may not sign at this point. That is fact. So, even discussing it at this point is irrelevant.
 
#56
#56
Sabanocchio said:
This is what worries me more than anything. People keep jabbering on about how it's August, but we are only in good with a few upper-tier players and the law of averages isn't going to be very kind to us in that area.

Something tells me I will feel the exact same way in February, disappointed and left wanting more.
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I agree. Just a few weeks ago people were listing Justice Hayes, Jesse Hayes, Zach DeBell, etc...as big-time guys we were "in on" and in "good shape" with. Guys like that will continue to drop off the list as they commit elsewhere. Tennessee isn't going to be getting many/if any guys like that who have them low on their Top 5 lists.
 
#57
#57
g8terh8ter_eric said:
It's also pointless to even argue or observe anything at this point, because we won't know the TRUE value of this class until the LOIs are in.
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that statement is completely wrong. You won't know the true value of this class until 2014... :)
 
#58
#58
The latest commitment has soured me a little. I'm pretty excited about Downs because I think he's got a lot of potential, and Coleman covers an area of need, but Saulsberry is a reach of epic proportions right now. I'm not ready to throw the staff under the bus, because I think that Smith, Posey, Worley all have a chance to improve their stock to help reflect a better looking class.

However, I worry that Saulsberry will not pickup many more offers of legitimacy to help justify this commitment. We'll see.
 
#59
#59
VKAman said:
We have maybe two potential 4-star guys out of our 11 commits right now. Some people here are acting like 9 of our guys are going to be bumped up to 4-stars and that will make everything fine. That's just not the case.
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Posey, Smith, Carson, Crowder, Worley, and Randolph all have the ability to become low 4* prospects. Some of those guys have only been evaluated ONCE right now, and all the camp data hasn't even been taken into consideration yet.
 
#60
#60
I am going to reserve comment until I see the full class, but I have to admit that some of the commitment acceptances at this point in the recruiting year have me a little nervous. I have to agree with Sab on some points though....It HAS been done before and not just by Alabama. Great coaches find a way to overachieve despite the circumstances and mediocre coaches do what is reasonably expected. One thing is for sure though, anything less than a top 15 recruiting class is going to be a unacceptable at UT.
 
#62
#62
Montrell Hardy said:
That could be taken many different ways. Such as the staff settling for a prospect too early, or all the big-time prospects not even considering us or telling us they aren't interested so the staff has already moved on to B and C-listers, etc...
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I have a feeling it's a mixture of those reasons. One thing that I will credit Kiffin and co with is not taking no for an answer. That won us many recruits that were not even considering UT.

I get the feeling that this staff hears "no" and decides their efforts are better spent on other prospects.
 
#64
#64
Sabanocchio said:
I have a feeling it's a mixture of those reasons. One thing that I will credit Kiffin and co with is not taking no for an answer. That won us many recruits that were not even considering UT.

I get the feeling that this staff hears "no" and decides their efforts are better spent on other prospects.
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No question about it. Huge difference between Dooley and Kiffin in that aspect. Kiffin and his staff were ferocious recruiters. They didn't settle for B-list and C-list after Corey Miller, Juwuan James and many many other guys they would have signed originally told them "no". Maybe I'm wrong but it clearly looks to me like Dooley simply moves on based on some of the offers he's been handing out and commitments he's been accepting this early.
 
#65
#65
g8terh8ter_eric said:
Posey, Smith, Carson, Crowder, Worley, and Randolph all have the ability to become low 4* prospects. Some of those guys have only been evaluated ONCE right now, and all the camp data hasn't even been taken into consideration yet.
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Some of the guys you listed are closer to 2*s than 4*s at this point...
 
#66
#66
Montrell Hardy said:
I agree. Just a few weeks ago people were listing Justice Hayes, Jesse Hayes, Zach DeBell, etc...as big-time guys we were "in on" and in "good shape" with. Guys like that will continue to drop off the list as they commit elsewhere. Tennessee isn't going to be getting many/if any guys like that who have them low on their Top 5 lists.
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Just for comparisons' sake, look at the throng of upper-tier players we were in on at this point last year and the amount of those we actually had a shot at looking at it with the benefit of hindsight. It's staggering and that's even considering we would have ended up with a top 3 class.

That leaves me with little hope of landing a class that will allow us to compete with the big dogs of the SEC.
 
#67
#67
VKAman said:
Some of the guys you listed are closer to 2*s than 4*s at this point...
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I want to know what he means by "ability"....How are they any different than 3*'s committed to other schools throughout the country....? Don't they have just as much "ability" to jump up to a 4*?

I could pick out at least 5 current 3* star prospects up here in the Cincy area alone that have picked up much more impressive offers over the summer than the majority of 3* guys Tennessee has committed.

Some on here act like the only "underated" 3*'s in the country... or the only 3*'s with the ability to "jump" are the one's Tennessee has commitments from...
 
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#68
#68
Montrell Hardy said:
No question about it. Huge difference between Dooley and Kiffin in that aspect. Kiffin and his staff were ferocious recruiters. They didn't settle for B-list and C-list after Corey Miller, Juwuan James and many many other guys they would have signed originally told them "no". Maybe I'm wrong but it clearly looks to me like Dooley simply moves on based on some of the offers he's been handing out and commitments he's been accepting this early.
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It's a good expenditure of valuable recruiting time, but you cannot make a living in the SEC that way.

I have a feeling this staff knows that and is pressed into a situation this year where they just cannot do a whole lot about it.
 
#69
#69
Montrell Hardy said:
That could be taken many different ways. Such as the staff settling for a prospect too early, or all the big-time prospects not even considering us or telling us they aren't interested so the staff has already moved on to B and C-listers, etc...
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it is as simple as this question and answer from Hubbs.

Based on what you are hearing, what would you say are the top 2 reasons the Vols are missing out on bigger-name recruits so far? Uncertainty of Staff? Hostessgate? Low potential of winning in short term? Thug image? A strong recruiting class last year?

I think the concern of not winning in the short term and the concern of just not knowing this staff and what they can do are the two biggest factors. We are very much in a show me kind of world. Talk only gets you so far.

this is why things could improve on recruiting front as season goes along. I'm not saying from a win and lose games standpoint as to recruits seeing what this staff can do.

Wilcox is a total unknown in this region. Recruits assessing what the defense looks like this year will be huge. Right now, they have no clue no matter what they are being told.
 
#70
#70
g8terh8ter_eric said:
So, instead of trying to discuss something, you take a page out of hat's book and throw around some insults. Interesting.

It's also pointless to even argue or observe anything at this point, because we won't know the TRUE value of this class until the LOIs are in. There is NO telling who we may or may not sign at this point. That is fact. So, even discussing it at this point is irrelevant.
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You're basically saying that there's no such thing as being "on the right track." Even if we had nothing but 11 2* recruits, you would be sitting here saying how 6 of them would be bumped up to 4*s and the rest would be replaced with 4* recruits.
 
#71
#71
g8terh8ter_eric said:
Posey, Smith, Carson, Crowder, Worley, and Randolph all have the ability to become low 4* prospects. Some of those guys have only been evaluated ONCE right now, and all the camp data hasn't even been taken into consideration yet.
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Seems to me you are the one "arguing about stars" in this conversation, not me.
 
#74
#74
LWSVOL said:
it is as simple as this question and answer from Hubbs.

Based on what you are hearing, what would you say are the top 2 reasons the Vols are missing out on bigger-name recruits so far? Uncertainty of Staff? Hostessgate? Low potential of winning in short term? Thug image? A strong recruiting class last year?

I think the concern of not winning in the short term and the concern of just not knowing this staff and what they can do are the two biggest factors. We are very much in a show me kind of world. Talk only gets you so far.

this is why things could improve on recruiting front as season goes along. I'm not saying from a win and lose games standpoint as to recruits seeing what this staff can do.

Wilcox is a total unknown in this region. Recruits assessing what the defense looks like this year will be huge. Right now, they have no clue no matter what they are being told.
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It's a very good point and it happened last year to a tangible extent. This very well could be the case. I do not see it helping "exponentially" however.
 
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