Team talent

[LouderVol]

I think we are definitely more talented.

Butch had a couple guys who would start everywhere. But once you got to the 2s we fell apart quickly.

we still have those guys who would start everywhere like Butch had, but our depth pieces are much better.

you can look at the results if nothing else. beat bama twice, and florida twice. Georgia Butch has the slight edge over Heupel there, but that was the start of the Smart era, not the current machine it is now.

think of all those firsts under Heupel. SEC road wins, SEC west wins, Bama. that doesn't come without maximizing the talent.

even on paper we are MUCH more talented. the blue chip ratio is much higher now if you believe in that.

If you averaged all the players on the team Jones best overall team average player would have been ranked #833 in the nation.
Heupel last year, average player on the team was #397.
Heupel's 2025 class average player was #252. in fact, Heupel's lowest recruit last year was better than Butch's average player.

we are leaps and bounds more talented any way you look at it.

 

[HooahVol]

Tonight's NFL draft probably gives us some insight. These are our guys in the draft with draft projections:

• Edge James Pearce Jr.: Round 2 to the Seattle Seahawks (No. 52 overall)
• RB Dylan Sampson: Round 3 to the Pittsburgh Steelers (No. 83 overall)
• WR Dont'e Thornton Jr.: Round 6 to the Baltimore Ravens (No. 203 overall)
• DT Elijah Simmons: Round 7 to the San Francisco 49ers (No. 252 overall)
• DL Omarr Lott: 3rd or 4th round
• Center Cooper: Mays: 6th or 7th round
• WR Bru McCoy: 6th round to the Browns projected
• DT Elijah Simmons: 7th round, possibly undrafted.

I personally disagree with Yahoo sports where I copied and pasted this and think Pearce will be a 1st rounder, but regardless decent talent. But, when you consider Georgia has 3 projected 1st rounders and 13 overall expected to be drafted and Ohio State has 4-6 projected 1st rounders with 15 overall expected to be drafted it really shows we are not elite, yet. It does take time though. We just need to keep winning.

 

[HooahVol]

Also, and I hesitate to post this because I love Heup, but Pruitt in his 3.5 years had a total of 59 Tennessee football players were drafted into the NFL. This includes 16 first-round picks and 22 All-Americans. But before anyone runs with that number remember he was 16-19 as a coach so he obviously did not know what to do with talent.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

I think we are definitely more talented.

Butch had a couple guys who would start everywhere. But once you got to the 2s we fell apart quickly.

we still have those guys who would start everywhere like Butch had, but our depth pieces are much better.

you can look at the results if nothing else. beat bama twice, and florida twice. Georgia Butch has the slight edge over Heupel there, but that was the start of the Smart era, not the current machine it is now.

think of all those firsts under Heupel. SEC road wins, SEC west wins, Bama. that doesn't come without maximizing the talent.

even on paper we are MUCH more talented. the blue chip ratio is much higher now if you believe in that.

If you averaged all the players on the team Jones best overall team average player would have been ranked #833 in the nation.
Heupel last year, average player on the team was #397.
Heupel's 2025 class average player was #252. in fact, Heupel's lowest recruit last year was better than Butch's average player.

we are leaps and bounds more talented any way you look at it.

Agree with this post. It's going to be interesting moving forward if Heupel is able to reload like other top tier programs have in recent years or is he going to need that transition year of 8-4 like we saw in 2023 to make a playoff run the following season. I am excluding year one on purpose but the past 3 seasons we have seen 11, 9, and 10 wins. That is pretty impressive especially when you consider what he inherited. The program is in year five now under JH and I don't expect a championship this year, however, it wouldn't shock me if Heupel is able to work some magic with this roster and shock some folks. He certainly has more talent to work with now.

 

[ftsandersvol]

All I know is Heupel has done something right.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

All I know is Heupel has done something right.

The more accurate thing to say is Huepel has done some things right.

 

[MontyPython]

Question to everyone on the forum. Looking at this team's overall talent, do you think Huepel and his staff have significantly elevated our overall team talent above what it was under Butch Jones or Jeremy Pruitt? Now, I'm not talking about where it was after we lost all those players in the portal when Huep took the job. I'm talking about the team's talent overall under Butch and overall under Pruitt. Has our current staff recruited significantly better than the previous 2 staffs?

Without a proven QB and given the losses we had to graduation and the portal I’m thinking we’re looking at an 8-4 record. But maybe coach pulls out another Hendon hooker situation… we’ve got some talented QBs, but just not proven. I’m not expecting much so probably will start drinking heavily beginning late August.

 

[Bigorangefaninga]

Also, and I hesitate to post this because I love Heup, but Pruitt in his 3.5 years had a total of 59 Tennessee football players were drafted into the NFL. This includes 16 first-round picks and 22 All-Americans. But before anyone runs with that number remember he was 16-19 as a coach so he obviously did not know what to do with talent.

What?? TN since 2010 has only had 6 1st round draft picks combined. Since 2015 we have 2 total 1st rounders. Since 2017 UT has had a total of 26 drafted. Are you taking stats from Bama as Pruitt’s?

 

[PC Jr.]

How many 2026 NFL draft picks are on this roster?

This will be rebuilding year. People need to stop with the over the top expectations. But, like I said before, I like all the opinions. It’s fun and means nothing. No harm no foul with April college football talk.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

Based on the 247 talent composite, which comes out every year, the answer is, not significantly. He is however MUCH, MUCH better at getting players to play up to and above their talent level.

2024 College Football Team Talent Composite

In order to create the most comprehensive Team Recruiting Ranking without any notion of bias, 247Sports Team Recruiting Ranking is solely based on the 247Sports Composite Rating.

247sports.com

 

[lukeneyland]

Question to everyone on the forum. Looking at this team's overall talent, do you think Huepel and his staff have significantly elevated our overall team talent above what it was under Butch Jones or Jeremy Pruitt? Now, I'm not talking about where it was after we lost all those players in the portal when Huep took the job. I'm talking about the team's talent overall under Butch and overall under Pruitt. Has our current staff recruited significantly better than the previous 2 staffs?

Undoubtedly. Our defense has gotten extremely fast. We are on the right trajectory but Heupel needs more financial support