'24 TN WR Amari Jefferson (Tennessee)

[volbeast33]

Such outdated thinking.

Came straight from a coaches show talking about the situation…. Doesn’t mean you take kids from the state especially when you have higher rated kids on the boards from other states… last year(just high school kids) every player matched that criteria except 4…. Nico, Bradley, Matthews( a big win against LSU), and Seldon…. Missouri being so mid at football is why try getting talent out of there so frequently…. Those kids are much more receptive to our pitch.

 

[DaddyChad]

Yet no one knows why it’s important except that someone decided along time ago that the best way to recruit was to get the best players in state and add a few from other states. Recruits don’t necessarily value playing for the in state schools anymore. So in a case like this with a WR that can easily be replaced by other WRs with the same amount of talent, I don’t see any reason to get upset. Especially after we beat AL for the recruit they wanted from our state last year. But understand the media will blow it out of proportion.

I think this one is more important than the ranking. Georgia and Bama both want him. We need to start winning these battles especially for in state kids. I think Heupel makes a hard push to close him out this weekend. Just want to point out again, Clemson was this way when Dabo started there. They were in the thick of recruiting battles for the big time recruits but finished second a lot then after a couple of cycles they started landing kids. I think Heupel needs one more successful year to kind of show to some that he’s not a one year wonder of a HC.

 

[DaddyChad]

Mays was committed under Butch. Decommitted when it became apparent Butch was gone.

I mean if we’re being honest the program looked like such a dumpster fire at that time as well.

 

[peaygolf]

Jefferson's decision kinda worries me............just saying....

 

[knoxvol52]

We are mentioning players that played both sports 30 or so years ago.

Yes and if these people being mentioned would play both sports in 2023 they were prolific athletes and how can anyone forget Bo Jackson playing both it can be done in this era.

 

[jakez4ut]

Came straight from a coaches show talking about the situation…. Doesn’t mean you take kids from the state especially when you have higher rated kids on the boards from other states… last year(just high school kids) every player matched that criteria except 4…. Nico, Bradley, Matthews( a big win against LSU), and Seldon…. Missouri being so mid at football is why try getting talent out of there so frequently…. Those kids are much more receptive to our pitch.

here's the deal ... what you don't want to do is overlook or ignore instate guys, you don't want a bad taste left in anyone's mouth. i think much like @bignewt and @GregAmsler do when it comes to this instate/out of state stuff, for all the reasons they've already said.

but, i do think for in state kids that the home state school wants, it's a perception thing. in theory there's less obstacles to get over, supposedly relationships shouldn't be an issue, the HS coaches know the program and coaches etc, etc, etc.....

plus, again in theory, the in state kid is usually thought to be somehow emotionally connected to the home state school....friends/family that are alum, grew up a fan etc.

and has been the case forever it seems Tennessee has never really had the opportunity to be the benefactor to those relationships because until recently (last 10ish years) SEC level HS talent was sparse, and not as dense as other states in our recruiting region. also working against TN is the city of Memphis which has/had long been the most talented area of the state, and also the furthest from Tennessee both in geography and culture. Memphis is closer to OM, MSU, Vandy, Bama, LSU, and ARK is a tad closer too. now throw in the midstate being a HUGE transplant destination, you have this boom in population and talent density, but zero connection to the state or it's home state university. and that didn't get fixed while we sucked for the past 15 years, and those kids went elsewhere. Chattanooga shares borders with GA and Bama, and has always been a heavily mixed bag when it comes loyalties there.

anyway, we want Jefferson, that's clear. so does Bama and Georgia. so at this point, it's a recruiting battle and in state or not, doesn't really matter. he could be from N Alabama or N Georgia and it'd be the same thing. that he's residing on the other side of those two state lines is inconsequential imo. we want him because we think he can be a playmaker. that he's got a TN zip code....probably doesn't matter, we'd recruit him regardless of where he lived.

 

[NoogaVol96]

Jefferson's decision kinda worries me............just saying....

Go on…

 

[peaygolf]

Go on…

I'm NOT saying it's not happening, but he has connections with a guy that isn't well liked around the UT Admin Offices.
Just a small red flag for me. Makes me think a little..........that's all.

 

[BigALWiLson]

I'm NOT saying it's not happening, but he has connections with a guy that isn't well liked around the UT Admin Offices.
Just a small red flag for me. Makes me think a little..........that's all.

Hmm... if there's any chance this kid becomes detrimental to this program I believe the choice is easy

 

[BigOrange15]

I'm NOT saying it's not happening, but he has connections with a guy that isn't well liked around the UT Admin Offices.
Just a small red flag for me. Makes me think a little..........that's all.

Is it someone the board is familiar with? If you feel comfortable.

 

[peaygolf]

Is it someone the board is familiar with? If you feel comfortable.

I wasn't told who..........

Jefferson really likes UT. I was told that as well. fwiw...........

 

[jakez4ut]

I wasn't told who..........

Jefferson really likes UT. I was told that as well. fwiw...........

 

[NoogaVol96]

I'm NOT saying it's not happening, but he has connections with a guy that isn't well liked around the UT Admin Offices.
Just a small red flag for me. Makes me think a little..........that's all.

VolsPix or Andy?

 

[bignewt]

Came straight from a coaches show talking about the situation…. Doesn’t mean you take kids from the state especially when you have higher rated kids on the boards from other states… last year(just high school kids) every player matched that criteria except 4…. Nico, Bradley, Matthews( a big win against LSU), and Seldon…. Missouri being so mid at football is why try getting talent out of there so frequently…. Those kids are much more receptive to our pitch.

what coaches show?

 

[NighthawkVol]

here's the deal ... what you don't want to do is overlook or ignore instate guys, you don't want a bad taste left in anyone's mouth. i think much like @bignewt and @GregAmsler do when it comes to this instate/out of state stuff, for all the reasons they've already said.

but, i do think for in state kids that the home state school wants, it's a perception thing. in theory there's less obstacles to get over, supposedly relationships shouldn't be an issue, the HS coaches know the program and coaches etc, etc, etc.....

plus, again in theory, the in state kid is usually thought to be somehow emotionally connected to the home state school....friends/family that are alum, grew up a fan etc.

and has been the case forever it seems Tennessee has never really had the opportunity to be the benefactor to those relationships because until recently (last 10ish years) SEC level HS talent was sparse, and not as dense as other states in our recruiting region. also working against TN is the city of Memphis which has/had long been the most talented area of the state, and also the furthest from Tennessee both in geography and culture. Memphis is closer to OM, MSU, Vandy, Bama, LSU, and ARK is a tad closer too. now throw in the midstate being a HUGE transplant destination, you have this boom in population and talent density, but zero connection to the state or it's home state university. and that didn't get fixed while we sucked for the past 15 years, and those kids went elsewhere. Chattanooga shares borders with GA and Bama, and has always been a heavily mixed bag when it comes loyalties there.

anyway, we want Jefferson, that's clear. so does Bama and Georgia. so at this point, it's a recruiting battle and in state or not, doesn't really matter. he could be from N Alabama or N Georgia and it'd be the same thing. that he's residing on the other side of those two state lines is inconsequential imo. we want him because we think he can be a playmaker. that he's got a TN zip code....probably doesn't matter, we'd recruit him regardless of where he lived.

Well said. And yeah, I do like getting instate kids when they’re good. But it’s more of a state pride thing than a critical to success thing.

Re: Memphis…you’re correct that historically, they’ve been the most talented area. But Nashville MSA has surpassed it, which is good for UT given that a) it’s closer to UT and b) it’s FAR more pro-UT than Memphis. Look at the baseball team…Middle TN has been more critical to its success than any other area, including East TN.

 

[SweetasSoda]

Wrong. The easiest way is to win games and create a cycle of greatness where you can handpick guys from the REGION, not the state.

Kids want different experiences in college, they want to see different places. Why is this so hard for folks on here to grasp?

Because the media repeats it year after year and decade after decade.

 

[LouderVol]

Tennessee is a bit of a geographic oddity. Memphis is really far away from UT. 350miles as the bird flies. Indianopolis IN, Columbus OH, Atlanta GA, Montgomery AL, all of the major NC cities, are all closer to Knoxville than Memphis is.

You don't have to go much further (less than 50 miles) to get to St. Louis, Richmond VA, Jacksonville FLA, Pittsburgh PA

Some surprising, imo, schools like Mississippi State, WVU, OSU, are closer to Knoxville than Memphis is.

seems strange to think someone that lives further away than Columbus OH SHOULD have loyalty to UT due to man made geography.

I mean its not like we are Texas, which is just stupid big.

 

[DaddyChad]

Jefferson's decision kinda worries me............just saying....

I mean right now we’re behind. Heupel and Pope have no where to go but up. I really think they push hard to close him out. I think they can win here if Jefferson is even open to going anywhere but Bama.

Bama still has a lot of regional sway regardless of NIL.

 

[DaddyChad]

I wasn't told who..........

Jefferson really likes UT. I was told that as well. fwiw...........

Sounds a lot like the guy one of the coaches ran off from the program. Bama still puts money in the pockets of handlers, prep programs, etc that can steer kids in certain directions. Hopefully it’s nothing like that.

 

[MarcoVol]

I mean right now we’re behind. Heupel and Pope have no where to go but up. I really think they push hard to close him out. I think they can win here if Jefferson is even open to going anywhere but Bama.

Bama still has a lot of regional sway regardless of NIL.

This got me looking at Bama’s ‘23 class to see where they came from. Can I just say, without giving any love or anything, that I had no idea Bama signed NINE 5* last year. That’s just silly. 9 of the top 38 ranked players in the country lol

This is where it pays to have a coach that can out-scheme others and put points on the board. UT isn’t gonna start signing 9 freaking 5* all the sudden.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

[jakez4ut]

Well said. And yeah, I do like getting instate kids when they’re good. But it’s more of a state pride thing than a critical to success thing.

Re: Memphis…you’re correct that historically, they’ve been the most talented area. But Nashville MSA has surpassed it, which is good for UT given that a) it’s closer to UT and b) it’s FAR more pro-UT than Memphis. Look at the baseball team…Middle TN has been more critical to its success than any other area, including East TN.

agreed. and yeah, i think the mid state is well beyond Memphis these days. i think it just kinda sucks that the mid state's boom coincided with arguably the worse era of Tennessee football.

can't do anything about that though....get the best you can get from where you can get them. period.

 

[EezyE]

Hmm... if there's any chance this kid becomes detrimental to this program I believe the choice is easy

He would be absolutely zero liability to the program. He’s a good kid from a good family. Don’t believe everything you read here or from recruiting sources.

 

[SweetasSoda]

I think this one is more important than the ranking. Georgia and Bama both want him. We need to start winning these battles especially for in state kids. I think Heupel makes a hard push to close him out this weekend. Just want to point out again, Clemson was this way when Dabo started there. They were in the thick of recruiting battles for the big time recruits but finished second a lot then after a couple of cycles they started landing kids. I think Heupel needs one more successful year to kind of show to some that he’s not a one year wonder of a HC.

That’s what everyone said last year with Carter…got to start winning these battles.

 

[BigALWiLson]

He would be absolutely zero liability to the program. He’s a good kid from a good family. Don’t believe everything you read here or from recruiting sources.

First and foremost I didn't assume anything. I don't know who the connection is. I made a general statement that IF it could be a negative situation then the choice would be easy. I do not pretend to know but I do trust CJH to make the best decisions for this team.

 

[EezyE]

I think this one is more important than the ranking. Georgia and Bama both want him.

Most of us grew up Tennessee fans and would have done anything to have gotten to play for them. It’s not like that for all kids. Keep in mind, Amari is 17 years old and has had the world thrown at him by the last two national champions and has been given tremendous sales pitches. Let’s let this weekend play out and let Heupel work his magic.