'25 UT OG Douglas Utu (Oregon commit)

#751
#751
Weezer said:
Elarbee recruited Addison Nichols who never could quite get on the field here. Transferred to Arkansas and became their starting center. Until he got hurt. Point being, we have yet to see a kid he's recruited from high school make a difference on the OL. Our current OL is made up of two guys he inherited (Cooper & Sprags) and three guys we pulled from the transfer portal. We need to see guys like Sham and Lang and Warren develop and get serious playing time.
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why isn’t Lang, Sham, Satterwhite or Max Anderson playing? Because they’re behind guys that were already here that GE developed. Nichols couldn’t beat cooper and he wanted to play so he left. GE recruited Campbell, Karic, Johnson and they’ve all taken steps forward. Do they count less than high school kids? He recruited Heard here too. I guess the transfer portal doesn’t count?
Heard
Karic
Cooper
Sprag
Campbell

GE recruited these guys from the portal and developed them. Sprag and Coopwr were already here and they were fine, but now they’re forces on the o line. I don’t know what your beef is with him but you should probably realize he’s a good coach and recruiter
 
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#753
#753
cncchris33 said:
If you're OK flying Allegiant, you can routinely catch round-trip direct flights to Knoxville and back for $250, and oftentimes, less. Even if Las Vegas to Eugene has a direct flight, it's doubtful that it's significantly cheaper, if any, than $250.
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Southwest and Allegiant both fly direct from Eugene to Las Vegas it's a little under 2 hours. Prices are occasionally as low as $60 but typically around $100.
 
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#755
#755
GoDucks349 said:
Southwest and Allegiant both fly direct from Eugene to Las Vegas it's a little under 2 hours. Prices are occasionally as low as $60 but typically around $100.
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Yes, I checked with Allegiant after posting. It's about half the cost, which is still only $125/person difference. If it's just mom and dad coming, that's really nothing. Now, if you're flying a family of 8, or something, then that adds up.
 
#757
#757
BigOrangeTrain said:
Sorry but this is just flat out wrong. Also, every team is gonna live off of NIL on the OL from here on out. So elaborate on what’s wrong with player evaluation and recruiting.
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It’s year 4 and none of the starting OL are Elarbee recruits. What more is there to elaborate on?
 
#758
#758
bpalmer28 said:
It’s year 4 and none of the starting OL are Elarbee recruits. What more is there to elaborate on?
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I would actually worry if the OL sucked with Elarbee as coach and they don't. He even coached up the 2021 OL with very few bodies on the roster into a serviceable group. It doesn't really matter to me if the guys playing are HS croots or portal acquisitions as long as they are getting the job done.
 
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#759
#759
PEPPERJAX said:
I would actually worry if the OL sucked with Elarbee as coach and they don't. He even coached up the 2021 OL with very few bodies on the roster into a serviceable group. It doesn't really matter to me if the guys playing are HS croots or portal acquisitions as long as they are getting the job done.
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I agree. I concluded in 2021 that he was a hell of a coach and it’s going to take a lot to change my mind. That’s why I said in the post previous to the one you replied to that he was too good of a coach to let go.

Take advantage of the best NIL collective in the country to get a blue chipper every couple of years and fill in the holes with the transfer portal. I’m fine with that.
 
#762
#762
PEPPERJAX said:
I would actually worry if the OL sucked with Elarbee as coach and they don't. He even coached up the 2021 OL with very few bodies on the roster into a serviceable group. It doesn't really matter to me if the guys playing are HS croots or portal acquisitions as long as they are getting the job done.
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agreed, and if you really look at it, this year's class and last year's class just don't suck. sure, i would rather have kept Doug in this class.....but he isn't in it because of Ellerbe.

i think you always have to recruit OL, and you need good ones. but with today's landscape, there are more options to fill needs, and i think so far, so good.

what really need is the FR and SO guys we've recruited the last two years to start pushing so we have some depth and can find at least 2-3 starters. if you can get that from your HS recruiting, and fill in from the portal....it's all good. but guys like Bennet Warren and David Sanders Jr, you can build around.....
 
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#763
#763
The recruiting has significantly improved since year 1, which given where we were as a program at that time, is to be expected.

Elarbee has made chicken salad out of chicken feces on many occasions. His initial evaluations and recruitments weren't great, but they were in the face of the reputation of a dysfunctional program, so that can't be discounted.

Those evaluations and recruitments have gotten better the further removed from the toxicity of our former leadership, and has been built on the backs of guys that stuck around (Spraggins, Cooper Mays, D. Wright) or that we identified in the portal as immediate contributors (L. Heard, J. Campbell).

We are now winning big battles with the elites.
-Bennett Warren out of Texas over aTm, Michigan, and Oklahoma
-William Satterwhite out of Ohio over Penn St., Michigan, UGA, and Bama
-Max Anderson out of Texas over Michigan and Oklahoma
-David Sanders out of NC over everybody

We seem to universally agree that Elarbee can coach, now it seems like the recruiting is following suit.

I'll admit that seeing us have to run Dayne Davis into a game is frustrating. It just seems to further emphasize that the guys we recruited early on just aren't very good, apparently. No one in the 2021 or 2022 class has made even a slight impact. Many have transferred, and only one has landed at a P4 program (A. Nichols to Arkansas) where he starts at C. That's pretty telling about the condition of the program this staff inherited, and the type of player they had to work with and could realistically convince to come play here.

At the end of the day, we can see improvements in recruiting, and I think most believe that Elarbee knows what he's doing on the field. If we keep landing a couple freshmen with promise each year, and supplement in the portal with impact guys, he will get them ready to play.
 
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#764
#764
An outsider's perspective:
This was expected for the last week. NIL deal we are told. Utu and family were open about that back when Bama was involved. Curious to see if UT keeps fighting there.
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-Alabama On3
 
#765
#765
VolByLaw said:
An outsider's perspective:

-Alabama On3
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So sounds like this is a recruit that has NIL as the top priority. That is not all that unusual right now. It doesn't make the recruit evil or mean he wouldn't fit in once he gets to school. But it does connect some dots to why he committed so fast and why he flipped. The whole Elarbee sucks and recruiting is way overblown. He is a stronger development coach than recruiter, for sure. But our recruiting on the OL has been phenomenal last class and this one so far. The NIL-Elarbee combination is working out well.
 
#768
#768
wmcovol said:
CGE catches a lot of crap but he’s doing a good job rebuilding the OL room. There just isn’t that many 5* OT bodies in the world these days & until Tennessee got away from the NCAA issues, they were not a player in that pool. Now that’s behind them, the OL room is improving but it takes time. The ‘24 & ‘25 classes are strong.
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We should scour country for OL starters on non power four teams or second teamers on power four teams that want to start and earn some NIL money. 💰 Nico really will need that next year.
 
#773
#773
InVOLuntary said:
Hubbs said in a radio interview he doesn't expect Utu to be pursued further.
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Good. I would not give a big NIL deal to a high school offensive lineman unless it's someone like David Sanders. Save the money to be used on portal guys and roster retention. Why risk it on developmental high school recruits when you can use it on players who have tape vs D1 athletes?
 
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