'20 TN DT Omari Thomas (UT SIGNEE)

[Jackcrevol]

bet we land this guy. let's head this in positive direction here.

 

[SugarCC]

K. I’ve literally said we should replace one coach and that is all if we aren’t landing elite recruits. But I have said that I am fine with keeping all coaches as well because of how we are playing too. Happy either way as long as we are winning and playing well. People can discuss any opinions they like on a message board and have many different opinions. If it isn’t exactly in line with yours, that’s ok but don’t chastise everyone who differs from you. Trying to attack people and act like a somebody gets old. I do hang out with some VFL’s and live walking distance from one. No I don’t keep up with recruiting in and outs and that much about the process, but I do know people who were at Pruitts house this year and in Fulmers box for BYU. If you think that they aren’t talking about upgrading our program in every possible way, including maybe coaching changes, then you don’t know what you are talking about. Last post on it. I think you are a good poster but no need to come at people like you do.

I'll go back to my original point, and then I'm done with it...you said, and I quote, "if we dont land Hardy and Thomas, Rocker has to go".

Again, I stand by my saying, you dont know what the hell you are talking about. If you cant take my chastisement of such a ridiculous statement, then I dont know what to tell you. How about, dont make such a ridiculous statement.

 

[Memphisvol87]

Gee, just a few months back, we were honestly expecting to go 2-10. Now the complaint is that we aren’t recruiting like Bama. Top 15 will be fine this year. If we win out this year and play well next year, but don’t get to top 10, feel free to panic. Until then, relax.

Expecting to go 2-10 caused panic because we knew if that happened elite recruiting was dead. Salvaging the season from all time Disaster doesn’t change the expectation on recruiting after the class they pulled last year. They are capable And we need to put on more steam.

 

[chargervol]

Bama, Clemson and TN.
One of these is not like the others right now. And no amount of history or demands is going to allow us to skip steps to the top of the ladder.

Wts, I do hope the final results are better than what they appear at this moment. I'll wait (like I have a choice).

 

[nashvol1]

Clemson did it as well. They won the title in 2016. Their class average between 2012-2015 was 15th. High of 9th and low of 20th.

Average stars were always high though. Quality!

 

[volbeast33]

Gonna need better recruiters on staff to get where we need to in Recruiting.

Alabama, Clemson, & Ohio St aren’t “coaching up” 3 Stars...

We need great Coaches AND elite Recruiters.

Clemson got to the point they are now by coaching up 3 stars.

 

[nashvol1]

Clemson got to the point they are now by coaching up 3 stars.

Definitely part of it but they also landed 5 stars and high 4s along. Watson was a differentiator and made everyone better. He was probably worth 2 or 3 additional wins per year just by being on that team.

 

[VOLNPA]

Definitely part of it but they also landed 5 stars and high 4s along. Watson was a differentiator and made everyone better. He was probably worth 2 or 3 additional wins per year just by being on that team.

So you are saying, get a QB to be a difference maker? Hopefully we have that.

 

[volbeast33]

Definitely part of it but they also landed 5 stars and high 4s along. Watson was a differentiator and made everyone better. He was probably worth 2 or 3 additional wins per year just by being on that team.

Yep QB is definitely the most important position on the field.....the key to recruiting is to get solid football players with a few stars sprinkled in with very little attrition.....

 

[norrislakevol]

Average stars were always high though. Quality!

I've always said that to be competitive with the big boys you need to average around 3.5 stars per recruit. That usually equates to staying in the top 20 every year in recruiting rankings. If you stay in the top 15 every year and scout the talent you are recruiting well and develop the players well then you can absolutely compete for championships.

The thing about staying in the top 5 recruiting wise is that you have alot more room for error and can afford more "busts".

If you are recruiting outside the top 20 year in and year out then you don't stand a chance at a title.

 

[smokeyz1]

Clemson and the 2010 Auburn team are (or were) the two exceptions to the general rule that it takes top 5 classes regularly to compete for national titles from about the mid-90s on. Clemson does it with stability and excellent player evaluation and development plus landing truly outstanding players at QB, DL, WR, and OL. Those Clemson classes that were discussed usually had 2-5 top 50 recruits in them from memory. It took Dabo several years to get it all together. That’s a recipe for success and now Clemson is recruiting at a Bama level and that will be the key to its continued success. Auburn was an outlier in that it landed Cam Newton (one of the most dominant forces to play college football recently) and Nick Fairley was the best DT in college football and so Auburn was stacked at the two most important positions plus it had an upperclassmen heavy team of very good athletes. Otherwise, each other title team has recruited regularly in the top five or so and frequently has at least one #1 class on campus when it won a title or titles.

All in all, Tennessee should try to emulate the Clemson model. Land some true studs each year (Darnell Wright, Wanya Morris, Henry Too’too, and Q. Crouch are good examples in the ‘19 class and Harrison Bailey is a good example in the ‘20 class) and that needs to include great DL recruiting since that can cover a lot of other shortcomings and do a good job of identifying overlooked players and land some highly recruited players and then develop what you have through continuity of coaches and players and then maybe we will have something good in two or so years. The one area I believe hasn’t been addressed so far is DL recruiting by the guys in staff and I think Rocker has historically been viewed as an excellent coach but poor recruiter and that seems consistent with my observations about him so far.

One of the main reasons the Clemson classes have not always been top 5 the past few years is because of numbers. Some of the Clemson classes were less than 20 IIRC. They are one of the few schools that do not run off current players in order to sign a full class of 25 each year. I believe many of the players they have signed are pretty elite type players even though their overall class ranking may not always be top 5.

 

[PruittEra]

Average stars were always high though. Quality!

They had solid classes and overachieved. The average rating according to 247 was around .8900 they weren’t exactly setting the world on fire. It wasn’t bad but proved that coaching can still win championships.

 

[SSVol]

Expecting to go 2-10 caused panic because we knew if that happened elite recruiting was dead. Salvaging the season from all time Disaster doesn’t change the expectation on recruiting after the class they pulled last year. They are capable And we need to put on more steam.

Getting elite talent was the least of my worries after GS. Getting elite talent isn't very helpful if you aren't performing remotely close to your existing talent level.

The staff has now proven that they can get players to play at or above their rating, which means we should be able to win 9 games with the talent they are already pulling. Once that is proven next year, we'll get better players. They didn't forget how to coach or recruit when they came here.

Demanding that we fire coaches because they aren't recruiting to our standard isn't helpful. Pruitt will fire the ones that aren't recruiting to his. I give that a bigger chance of success.

In the meantime, enjoy the beat down coming Saturday, and enjoy a nice warm bowl game in January.

 

[SweetasSoda]

Definitely part of it but they also landed 5 stars and high 4s along. Watson was a differentiator and made everyone better. He was probably worth 2 or 3 additional wins per year just by being on that team.

Like DW, WM, HT, etc.???

 

[SweetasSoda]

Getting elite talent was the least of my worries after GS. Getting elite talent isn't very helpful if you aren't performing remotely close to your existing talent level.

The staff has now proven that they can get players to play at or above their rating, which means we should be able to win 9 games with the talent they are already pulling. Once that is proven next year, we'll get better players. They didn't forget how to coach or recruit when they came here.

Demanding that we fire coaches because they aren't recruiting to our standard isn't helpful. Pruitt will fire the ones that aren't recruiting to his. I give that a bigger chance of success.

In the meantime, enjoy the beat down coming Saturday, and enjoy a nice warm bowl game in January.

Wish I could repost this every page or so.

 

[SSVol]

Wish I could repost this every page or so.

Don't get me in trouble now!

I think having a few more years on this planet allows you to see the longer term implications. My hope is that others can see that too. Pruitt can coach, and he can recruit. Papaw Phil has his back. We'll be fine, it just may take a year or two longer than any of us want.

 

[Smyrna ATL Vol]

I'll go back to my original point, and then I'm done with it...you said, and I quote, "if we dont land Hardy and Thomas, Rocker has to go".

Again, I stand by my saying, you dont know what the hell you are talking about. If you cant take my chastisement of such a ridiculous statement, then I dont know what to tell you. How about, dont make such a ridiculous statement.

Lol sounds good man.

 

[SweetasSoda]

Don't get me in trouble now!

I think having a few more years on this planet allows you to see the longer term implications. My hope is that others can see that too. Pruitt can coach, and he can recruit. Papaw Phil has his back. We'll be fine, it just may take a year or two longer than any of us want.

Yes, afraid some think if it doesn't happen in 3 to 4 years it never will.

 

[SweetasSoda]

Yes, afraid some think if it doesn't happen in 3 to 4 years it never will.

Edit....this is not Dooley or Butch.

 

[85SugarVol]

Clemson did it as well. They won the title in 2016. Their class average between 2012-2015 was 15th. High of 9th and low of 20th.

Yea, those Clemson classes weren’t full classes, hence the lower rankings. BUT, they were littered with Top100 players, so let’s not pretend like Clemson didn’t have big time recruits on the field...

Also - They had Deshaun Watson, an Elite College QB

 

[benholt06]

Yea, those Clemson classes weren’t full classes, hence the lower rankings. BUT, they were littered with Top100 players, so let’s not pretend like Clemson didn’t have big time recruits on the field...

Also - They had Deshaun Watson, an Elite College QB

Also they play in a joke conference.

 

[85SugarVol]

And with the 25 limit and transfers becoming easier, the gap between excellent and good classes are narrowing. Obviously the higher your classes over a 3 to 4 year span the higher your odds of having more players actually meet the "guess" of how good a college player they will be. It has also been proven that 2 and 3 stars end up in the NFL while some 5 stars do nothing. We happen to have a coaching staff that is doing well finding talent that may be ranked low but has lots of potential. They even have other coaching staffs and recruiting services following them around. We will be fine as we build this team.

It has been proven that 2 & 3 stars end up in the NFL? Lol, ok. Stop the presses.

Of course there are 2 & 3 stars in the NFL. There are literally 1000’s of them coming out of HS every year.

The chances of a 5 or 4 Star producing are much higher than that of a 3 or 2 Star.

It actually breaks down on a distribution that has held for years -

5Star - 50%
4Star - 20%
3Star - 8%
2Star - 1%

I know which ones I’m going to recruit.

 

[85SugarVol]

Clemson does it well.

Clemson has been stacking 5 Stars since 2015

 

[Jackcrevol]

Also they play in a joke conference.

wait. how big of a joke? i am asking for a friend. he's a Miami fan, so, feel free to be honest.

 

[85SugarVol]

Don't get me in trouble now!

I think having a few more years on this planet allows you to see the longer term implications. My hope is that others can see that too. Pruitt can coach, and he can recruit. Papaw Phil has his back. We'll be fine, it just may take a year or two longer than any of us want.

You don’t get “extra years” in today’s college football.

He better close strong THIS year. And he needs to start raking NEXT year.

If he’s got assistants not pulling their weight in recruiting, he better do something about it. His job likely depends on it.