Overall I'm ecstatic. I had a lot of potentially unrealistic expectations after the Pruitt hire. Especially when 5 star DE Brenton Cox decommited from OSU shortly after the announcement. Thought we'd get him. Thought Van Jefferson was gonna be a Vol. Thought we'd get the LSU OT to flip. And when we met with Mays, I thought we might hopefully get him back. Of course none of that happened.
Still, I'm incredibly impressed with the number of new people who had zero interest in UT, who actually signed LOI's after just one visit and a handful of calls/visits with our coaching staff.
I'm very happy Shocky nor the Nebraska JUCO WR came here. I'd rather focus on the litany of in state highly recruited receivers next year. Surely early playing time will be appealing. Hopefully Alontae shows out in '18 so we can sell them on his performance.
I'm loving how were reaching out to what looks/feels like a different 'breed' of recruits. We're not afraid to reach out to a 5 star California kid - etc. Guys I don't think Butch would ever have the balls to try. And I'm loving how the players who visited under Butch then took a visit under Pruitt commented on how serious this new staff was - yet still praising the family feel.
Ultimately, I don't know what we'll be able to accomplish to close out this year. If we could get 2 or 3 of the following to sign:
OLB Quay Walker
OLB JJ Peterson
CB Isaac Taylor-Stuart
CB Olaijah Griffin
DE Coynis Miller
... but I don't want to have unrealistic expectations again, especially considering some of those are already committed elsewhere, or at least very strong leans.
But I can say this with the utmost confidence.... 2018 marks the beginning of a new era in Volunteers football. The results will start to show on the field, and starting in the 2019 recruiting class, if a TN kid chooses Clemson or UGA over our Tennessee Volunteers, it'll be because our coaching staff has told them we don't have a spot for them.
