Why Is It

#1
rexvol

rexvol

The Minister of Defense
Joined
Apr 29, 2006
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#1
that kids from Florida want to play for UF, FSU, Miami and kids from Texas want to play for UT, Tam, TT, etc. All of the major programs is talent rich states dont seem to have any problem getting kids to stay home, but for Tennessee it's always a struggle. Why is that?
 
#2
#2
You have way more high quality players there so you only the see the huge players that want to play for their local school...Tennessee has plenty of players that want to go to UT, now whether we want them to play against other SEC teams is a different story
 
#3
#3
but the guys that can play still seem to go elswhere and the ones that pick Tennessee, well, it's a long drawn out fight
 
#4
#4
It does seem that many of the Brentwood Academy players go to Auburn or Alabama, and the west Tennesseans like Auburn, Alabama, or Ole Miss.
 
#7
#7
rexvol said:
that kids from Florida want to play for UF, FSU, Miami and kids from Texas want to play for UT, Tam, TT, etc. All of the major programs is talent rich states dont seem to have any problem getting kids to stay home, but for Tennessee it's always a struggle. Why is that?
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I don't think that's necessarily the case. I won't contest the fact that the Vols lose some of the top in-state kids to out-of-state schools. I just think that UF, Miami, FSU, Texas, and A&M lose plenty of top in-state players as well.

The Vols have landed Douglas, Bailey, and Wilks this year..that's 3 of the state's top 5. They picked up Donald, Walker, Coleman, Sykes and Rogan last year. And they inked guys like Mclendon, Bolden, Daniel Brooks and, eventually, Brandon Warren.

I can only think of a few big-time players that got away...Patrick Turner, Michael Oher, Barry Turner, Harrison Smith, Golden Tate.

I think, for the Vols to be championship caliber, they can only take a 8 or so kids from the state of Tennessee each year. So the coaching staff has to be very selective with which in-state guys they take.

And, when they go out of state, they do a fantastic job....they plucked top 5 players from Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Maryland, and Louisiana in last year's class alone.
 
#8
#8
There are a handfull of other SEC schools that are closer or as close to Memphis than Knoxville. That hurts.

And Carl Stewart wasn't recruited by UT.
 
#9
#9
Carl Stewart was recruited by UT, but they wanted him for LB. Auburn told him TB. He wanted to play TB. He ended up a FB.
 
#10
#10
Jaytrain5 said:
I don't think that's necessarily the case. I won't contest the fact that the Vols lose some of the top in-state kids to out-of-state schools. I just think that UF, Miami, FSU, Texas, and A&M lose plenty of top in-state players as well.

The Vols have landed Douglas, Bailey, and Wilks this year..that's 3 of the state's top 5. They picked up Donald, Walker, Coleman, Sykes and Rogan last year. And they inked guys like Mclendon, Bolden, Daniel Brooks and, eventually, Brandon Warren.

I can only think of a few big-time players that got away...Patrick Turner, Michael Oher, Barry Turner, Harrison Smith, Golden Tate.

I think, for the Vols to be championship caliber, they can only take a 8 or so kids from the state of Tennessee each year. So the coaching staff has to be very selective with which in-state guys they take.

And, when they go out of state, they do a fantastic job....they plucked top 5 players from Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Maryland, and Louisiana in last year's class alone.
Click to expand...

I agree with everything here but I would argue that losing Smith and Tate had less to do with being Tennesseans and more to do with being Catholic. You're Catholic and get a chance to go to Notre Dame or Tennessee, who's winning that battle? Notre Dame all day long
 
#11
#11
justingroves said:
I agree with everything here but I would argue that losing Smith and Tate had less to do with being Tennesseans and more to do with being Catholic. You're Catholic and get a chance to go to Notre Dame or Tennessee, who's winning that battle? Notre Dame all day long
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ND's a great school, unless you want to win
 
#12
#12
Jaytrain5 said:
I don't think that's necessarily the case. I won't contest the fact that the Vols lose some of the top in-state kids to out-of-state schools. I just think that UF, Miami, FSU, Texas, and A&M lose plenty of top in-state players as well.

The Vols have landed Douglas, Bailey, and Wilks this year..that's 3 of the state's top 5. They picked up Donald, Walker, Coleman, Sykes and Rogan last year. And they inked guys like Mclendon, Bolden, Daniel Brooks and, eventually, Brandon Warren.

I can only think of a few big-time players that got away...Patrick Turner, Michael Oher, Barry Turner, Harrison Smith, Golden Tate.

I think, for the Vols to be championship caliber, they can only take a 8 or so kids from the state of Tennessee each year. So the coaching staff has to be very selective with which in-state guys they take.

And, when they go out of state, they do a fantastic job....they plucked top 5 players from Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Maryland, and Louisiana in last year's class alone.
Click to expand...

let's talk about this year when all of the state's top players are going elswhere
 
#15
#15
The biggest reason is because our instate talent pool is very weak. So UT has to rely heavily on out of state recruits and sometimes pass on alot of kids who would goto UT. You cant really lockdown the state when this state isnt a die hard state either. Memphis is probably the richest in talent but the fanbase is not that great because there are alot more schools closer to Memphis than UT. Nashville is notorious for not being a UT town, I see as many Bama fans etc as I do Vol fans.

Small pool to pull from and really only the eastern half of the state is Pro Vols. Once you pass Cookeville its just a melting pot.
 
#17
#17
rexvol said:
let's talk about this year when all of the state's top players are going elswhere
Click to expand...

In the first part of my post, I talked about this year. The Vols will sign 3 of the state's top 5 players. Outside of that top 5, there aren't many very good players in the state this year.

By comparison, only 2 of the top 5 players from the state of Florida are committed to in-state schools right now. And, of those 2 players, 1 is committed to FSU and the other to Miami. The Gators currently have only 2 verbals from the state's top 25 ranked players.

As for the state of Texas...well, each of the top 5 players from the state are heading to out of state schools. The University of Texas has no top-5 commits in state, and has 4 verbals from the state's top 15 overall players.

So, as you can see, Tennessee isn't doing in worse with its in-state talent than the school's you mentioned in your initial post.
 
#18
#18
:no: I totally disagree about Nashville. I have lived here for a many years and Nashville is a majority UT town. If you have ever been to a football game in Nashville, which I've been to every one here since I've lived here, you would know this. It is usually overwhelmingly UT fans and the 1998 game was Neyland Mid-Tn, probably 80% UT. On gamedays, the sports bars are packed with UT fans and interstate 40 from Nashville to Knoxville is a caravan of fans traveling to the game from the mid-state. I know more UT fans/alumni in the mid-state area than all of the other SEC schools combined. That is not coincidence.
 
#19
#19
I have found that almost all of the small towns in Tennessee, from Union City to Elizabethton, are pro-UT. Its only in the metropolitan areas where you get more transplants that you see more fans of out of state universities.

As far as recruiting goes... proportionally we land about as much of the top in-state talent as florida, texas, etc. It just looks like a disparity because there is 10x the volume of talent in those other states. Remember, Adrian Peterson, Ryan Mallet, etc. (many others) were 5* Texas kids who went out of state for college.

One other difference, at least for Texas, is in the way they deal with recruits. Texas basically gives the instate kids an ultimatum the summer/early fall of their senior year of HS. Its "commit now or we don't want you." So Tx locks down a bunch of kids early, for better or worse... Thats part of why we got Creer last year. He wouldn't succumb to the early pressure, then Tx backed off... at least until it was too late (Jan).
 
#20
#20
Do you guys think the fact that TN has more states bordering it than any other state hurts or helps as far as recruiting goes?
 
#21
#21
Jaytrain5 said:
In the first part of my post, I talked about this year. The Vols will sign 3 of the state's top 5 players. Outside of that top 5, there aren't many very good players in the state this year.

By comparison, only 2 of the top 5 players from the state of Florida are committed to in-state schools right now. And, of those 2 players, 1 is committed to FSU and the other to Miami. The Gators currently have only 2 verbals from the state's top 25 ranked players.

As for the state of Texas...well, each of the top 5 players from the state are heading to out of state schools. The University of Texas has no top-5 commits in state, and has 4 verbals from the state's top 15 overall players.

So, as you can see, Tennessee isn't doing in worse with its in-state talent than the school's you mentioned in your initial post.
Click to expand...


you make great points about Flordia and Texas. I guess I was wrong about that. Perception vs reality.
 
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