Willis wanted to be a Vol and Got snubbed.

#27
#27
That's the Fulmer we all know and love. Chasing after the stars because he couldn't evaluate talent nor could he develop it once he got it.
 
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#31
#31
Patrick Willis was a 3 star player with offers from Memphis, Arkansas State and Mississippi. It's not like he was a highly rated player that Tennessee decided not to take. Every school in the SEC except Mississippi passed on him to. He did great for himself but for anyone to go back and play the blame game is senseless.
 
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#32
#32
velovol said:
I cant believe Kiffin and Dooley messed this up, SOB's
Seriously, it hurts this kid got a way. However maybe it was the snub by UT that made him the player he is today.
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How could they have messed this up? He was drafted before either one of them came to UT, this was Fulmer's deal...
 
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#33
#33
chef3531 said:
How could they have messed this up? He was drafted before either one of them came to UT, this was Fulmer's deal...
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Recruiting is not an exact science. Some recruits are late bloomers. Look through the NFL rosters and you will see a lot of players from small schools. Tennessee isn't the only team to miss on Willis he only had 1 SEC offer and only 2 offers outside the SEC. There is no one to blame here.
 
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#34
#34
UTBuff37 said:
Good read. Really just goes to show how bad Fulmer was dropping the ball in recruiting there towards the end. Smh...
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If Fulmer recruited this guy, you and everyone else would be whining that "This is TENNESSEE!" and we "don't want 3* players, we want the 5*s!!!" Some people are never happy.
 
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#35
#35
I'd like to read an article about the hundreds of other low-level recruits who were told by big-time college coaches that they weren't good enough, and who, indeed, turned out not to be good enough. Good for Willis, but he wouldn't have ended up at Ole Miss if Fulmer were the only guy who missed on him. This should be a non-story for everybody who isn't Patrick Willis himself.
 
#38
#38
GLDunlap said:
Patrick Willis was a 3 star player with offers from Memphis, Arkansas State and Mississippi. It's not like he was a highly rated player that Tennessee decided not to take. Every school in the SEC except Mississippi passed on him to. He did great for himself but for anyone to go back and play the blame game is senseless.
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Fulmer recruited some great players and I am thankful for the success he had. However, I wanted Willis. I remember when he choose Ole Miss and I couldn't understand why they didn't take the local guy. Also reminds me of Cobb. It seems that the best NFL players from East Tennessee played somewhere other than UT, except for Whitten.
 
#39
#39
GLDunlap said:
Patrick Willis was a 3 star player with offers from Memphis, Arkansas State and Mississippi. It's not like he was a highly rated player that Tennessee decided not to take. Every school in the SEC except Mississippi passed on him to. He did great for himself but for anyone to go back and play the blame game is senseless.
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If Fulmer, Kiffin, Dooley or Jones offered a scholly to a player that is rated 3 stars and had offers from Memphis, Arkansas St and Ole Miss this board would explode. Ninety-five percent of the posters on here would be screaming that we can`t compete in the SEC when we recruit players like this.
 
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#40
#40
With the players we were getting at that time we snubbed a lot more good players than that one. I wish that we had signed him but it is hard to fault Fulmer's ability to spot talent. Six NFL Pro-Bowlers this year were his recruits.
 
#41
#41
A 3* rating is saying he can play at this level in a couple of years. Factor in size, speed, work ethic, football smarts, and orange blood. Never, ever, ever should a guy be passed over that is a 3* with all of those factors met. Ever. We have seen a decade of that crap and it is outrageous to see coaches and fans blowing it off like it was nothing. It is a big deal. How is it that a 3* from another state is OK to recruit, but one from Tennessee isn't? Get real.

Fulmer loaded up on crap after getting lazy and he paid the price. Dools was no better and maybe worse. Kiffin thought our orange was yellow anyway.
 
#42
#42
Mike MacIntyre, who was the recruiting coordinator on Cutcliffe's staff at Ole Miss, remembers hearing about Patrick Willis. And he vividly remembers the first time he saw him play.

"It's a good Single-A league that Bruceton plays in, but to sign an SEC player from there? That was a long shot," said MacIntyre. "But, needless to say, I watched Patrick play and was amazed. I distinctly remember being so impressed that I called Coach Cutcliffe at halftime and told him, 'This kid is unbelievable. We need to offer him right now.'

"Patrick was just one of those rare talents. You know special when you see it. I saw special that night."
http://archive.apsportseditors.org/contest/2006/writing/under40/under40_project_third1.pdf

Willis put up astounding numbers in high school: During senior season, had 194 carries for 2,167 yards and 30 TDs... Defensively, credited with 163 tackles including 36 TFL, 12 QB sacks and four interceptions, returning one for a TD ... Career statistics included 276 carries for 2,486 yards and 39 TDs ... Averaged 9 yards per carry ... Had 51 pass receptions for 946 yards and 17 TDs to average 18.5 yards per catch ... Had 494 career tackles, including 275 solo hits, as well as 23 sacks, 46 TFL, and 13 interceptions, with six returned for TDs.
 
#43
#43
I watched Willis play in high school three different times, and I never did understand why he wasn't more heavily recruited.

The only logical conclusion I could ever come to was that he dominated at the 1A level, so the competition wasn't exactly great.

Nonetheless, aside from being a stud on the football field both ways, he also averaged something like 24 ppg on his high school's basketball team IIRC. I wasn't surprised at all when he exploded at Ole Miss.
 
#44
#44
I think he was before Kiffin probably under the doughboys watch but he wanted Clabo from Farragut to walkon starred at Wake and now the Falcons and Garrett Reynolds of Carter to UNC also with the Falcons no telling how blunders like this took place
 
#45
#45
davethevol said:
It's good to see he didn't give up because of the snub and went on to be successful. Good for him.
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:eek:k: yal old dumb boy from Tennessee just lucky,,, right... Tennessee is full of players like Willis...

Ut has just became snub to the max they think there are no players from TN OOO maby 1 or 2 :cray: and we have great BB teams now don't we.
 
#46
#46
smokey90 said:
Fulmer recruited some great players and I am thankful for the success he had. However, I wanted Willis. I remember when he choose Ole Miss and I couldn't understand why they didn't take the local guy. Also reminds me of Cobb. It seems that the best NFL players from East Tennessee played somewhere other than UT, except for Whitten.
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Patrick Willis wasn't a "local" guy from East Tennessee he was from Bruceton which is between Memphis and Nashville. Something about this article smells bad anyway. I remember reading a story on Willis a few years ago that his father was an alcoholic and he was forced to live with his high school coach. That being the case I find it hard to believe him and his dad jumped in the car after every game to drive to Knoxville. Sounds like the writer is embellishing to get more clicks or Patrick is being a little less then truthful about all those trips to Knoxville if you ask me. It does make for a good story though which is all that really matters to these bloggers.
 
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#48
#48
VolsFanRJ said:
That's the Fulmer we all know and love. Chasing after the stars because he couldn't evaluate talent nor could he develop it once he got it.
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:lolabove::lolabove: Vol fan you asspid,,,, go back to where ever Jersey or Miami.....:eek:lol: Fulmer 1998 National champs you just can't take can u phoney fans:crazy::crazy:
 
#50
#50
Stonewal said:
Steve Spurrier was also spurned by Tennessee.. and look what could have been...........
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This is totally untrue. Steve was recruited but had no interest in them because we were running the single wing. I have heard Steve tell the story several times about how he knew he wasn't going anywhere where he was going to be featured running the football. Former Vol Ray Graves was at Florida and got him as a result. I think Steve's Dad was a Methodist minister in Johnson City but they had lived in Florida for several years prior to coming to Tennessee.
 
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