The Recruiting Fix: Recruiting Encounters of the Third Kind

We are entering a new phase in the recruiting cycle — the contact period — and there has been no shortage of “contact” between coaches and the recruits that we are pursuing to form the last quarter of our recruiting class,
though I would describe our current commit list as “fluid.” As I keep reminding you we will have some drop-off and will have some good prospects waiting to fill those spots.

You keep hearing from people “Oh, situations such as Nu’keese and Janzen do not happen every year. It was due to the short amount of time with the new staff in place.” I say hogwash. This staff is nothing if it is not cunning and deliberate. There are prospects now that are either committed or have us as the front-runner that we are not discussing very much. This staff has a plan to land the guys they want and it is a plan that lasts from the first Thursday in February until Signing Day the following year.

Thus far we have not had a single defection due to the loss of the two assistant coaches and I honestly do not expect any. Not due directly to it, that is. We will have some drop-off as I keep reminding you.

Coaches have been all over the nation recruiting prospects. Orgeron in California, Georgia, Chattanooga, Monte and Lane in Florida doing the heavy lifting on some talented guys down there and sewing up some lose ends with guys already on our list. Willie Mack Garza has been in his assigned territory of Texas. David Reaves the same. Guys you never even thought we had a chance at are getting visits: Quantavious Leslie, Torrian Wilson.

The weekend also represented an opportunity to wrap up some current commits and make sure they will be seen donning orange jerseys in the near future. Jose Jose, Kenbrell Thompkins, Zach Fulton, and Matt Simms made up the list of official visitors this past weekend.

It is more important than ever to secure our current commitments due to the uncertainty around the coaching staff and that was certainly accomplished. We shall address Simms separately but each of the others — all current UT commits — reiterated their commitment to the UT program.

As far as Simms goes, it is difficult to get a read on what the coaches are doing here. It appeared that they would pass on Simms and go without a quarterback in this class, but it now looks as if the effort to recruit a quarterback was being focused on the high school ranks in recent weeks rather than on Simms.

It is worth noting that 37 of ESPN’s top 40 rated quarterbacks are already committed somewhere. The 3 that are not are also not on our radar.

The coaches have been hard at word trying to get some of the committed quarterbacks to pay an official visit to Knoxville. I know there are several but the only two I can confirm at this time are Tommy Rees and Barry Brunetti. I have not heard tale of any contact with Jesse Scroggins but I am assuming that there is still some level of contact there.

I do not think an official visit constitutes an offer in the case of Simms. I think the staff may still be feeling him out a little still, but the decision could have already been made to pass on him and the coaches are just hedging their bets.

You will remember that we were trying to get Hutson Mason to visit for the South Carolina game but it is not clear whether that was to be an official or not. He still sits without an offer.

Also quickly, did anyone else notice that once Hutson Mason started appearing on TV on a reality show, suddenly schools that would not give him the time of day previously are contacting him? There is much truth in the statement, name recruits will breed other name recruits. Just a theory, but it seems very deliberate. It is not like Mason has not been tearing it up the entire year and has just now caught fire.

Some have referenced the small amount of visits we have remaining to indicate interest in Simms on the part of the coaches, but we will not likely expend all the visits we have remaining. Most everyone we are still after has already visited officially — a completely different scenario from the one we were in last year. Thank you Mike Hamilton for putting the recruiting on hold when it was clear the head coach was being replaced.

Where the damage will be done now will be in the home where Kiffin showed much prowess last year around this same time. He learned from one of the all-time best in-home recruiters: Pete Carroll.

I would be surprised to see Simms get an official offer to join the Vols. I would think that if no four year guy can be turned, that the coaches will look to land two top guys in next year’s class. I could be wrong, but looking at the situation and the ability of Simms, it would make much less sense to me to offer him just to have another guy to compete at the position. We had two healthy quarterbacks this past Spring and that turned out fine…eventually.

In terms of visitors for this weekend, coaches are trying to get something set up with JuCo OL David Gonzales. That is tentative at best right now.

I mentioned previously in this column not to be surprised to see some of our coaches courted and/or depart. Any time you put together a staff of this caliber together, you can expect some turnover — mainly at the bottom of your staff in terms of pay grade. FSU can afford to pay Eddie Gran more than we can because they are not paying anyone the money we are paying Monte Kiffin and Ed Orgeron. To be honest though, I am not really sure how hard we tried to hang on to those guys.

Considering the money LSU offered Orgeron last year after he had already accepted a position here, Wilson is chump change. The only head-scratcher to me is that Les Miles is paid significantly more than Lane.

That is a lot of money tied up in a coaching staff that has been fine as far as recruiting goes, but under-achieved on the field National Championship or no.

One of the biggest reasons the loss of Gran is so impactful is that he was the sole ST coach. Now Kiffin will have to look within the staff for a ST coach or hire someone with ST experience unless he goes without a ST coach which I doubt he will do. He has expressed in the past his preference of having someone specific dedicated to that task.

Kiffin will likely look to hire at least one minority coach. One thing is certain, there will be no lack of candidates or interest in the open positions. Many have taken note of how well coached this Vols team has been and the positive direction the program appears to be headed in.

I think it is certainly possible that Kiffin could be looking to fill the vacancy left by Wilson internally. There is no better audition than the one Mitch Browning has had the opportunity to have. He has been involved with recruiting — mainly in Ohio and Illinois — and has coached Wide Receivers previously.

News of schools’ interest in Mitch has been non-existent which one would not expect with a guy of his rich experience. Perhaps it will come, but as of yet it has not

I do think that this will be the last of the defections for this year. Others may disagree with me.

Watch Chaney in the future. He wants a D1 head coaching gig. I do not think he gets a desirable one until he is allowed to take over the offense and play-calling duties which I believe will happen at some point. His imprint on the offense this year was certainly obvious at times.

Also look for a DC in waiting to materialize in future years with Lance Thompson being the likely candidate. I am convinced that he, and not Orgeron, is the likely successor to Monte Kiffin. I think he is being groomed for the role. Orgeron will be aspiring for a head coaching job somewhere in the future and likely will get one.

Think about it, when Monte conferred with his coaches on the sidelines, who was the one most often right beside him listening to every word?

Orgeron is not going anywhere I think — regardless of rumors. He would only leave for a DC position at a top 10 school in my opinion. He is being paid more here right now than many DCs around the country make. It would be hard to offer him a more satisfying position than the one he holds now.

Some names to look out for as potential replacements for Gran and/or Wilson:

• Billy Gonzales – Florida WR coach
• Latrell Scott – former Virginia WR coach
• Jay Graham – South Carolina RB coach (his connections to UT are obvious)
• Tom Rathman — 49’ers RB coach
• Frank Gansz Jr – UCLA Special Teams Coach
• Sylvester Croom – former Mississippi State Head Coach, current RB coach for the St. Louis Rams — if you did not already know he has tons of experience coaching RBs in college and the Pros.
• Rob Ianello – former ND WR coach and Recruiting Coordinator
• Manny Diaz – MTSU defensive coordinator (former ST coordinator at NC State where he recruited South Florida with much success)

Just look at how many of those names would be considered an upgrade over the guys they are replacing. And one thing rarely mentioned is that these two guys never signed contracts here and did not really mesh with what Kiffin was trying to accomplish. Simply replacing them helps the overall fabric of this coaching staff. So breathe easy, VolNation. Every little thing’s gonna be alright.

I thought some of you would be interested to know that Jacques Smith is a recruiting junkie. He follows UT recruiting like you and I do and is abreast of many things both public and private.

He says that Orgeron and co. are trying to get him enrolled just as soon as possible. The goal is to get him here in time for him to participate in bowl practices.

The sooner the better. I cannot wait to get this guy on campus.

Rumblings and Ramblings

Notre Dame currently leads for Tennessee target and Nashville resident James Stone. Academics are a big factor for James.

We are still recruiting him hard contrary to some earlier reports. We obviously want to add another pure guard to this class and Stone is a guy that will likely start and end his college career at guard.

Two different people close to James have said that in the end they think he will end up at UT. His coach, Ralph Thompson, is pushing him toward Bama, but I am not entirely sure he is that big of an influence in this decision.

We will have to wait and see whether the distance becomes a factor in this at the end. James is a little behind some other prospects in the recruiting game as he has focused on his senior campaign and his schoolwork over recruiting up to this point. He is just now starting to seriously sort out his schools.

I have seen all the questions about his ability and I have shot them down multiple times. This guy got beat by some pretty darn good pass-rushers in camp here but offensive linemen are at a disadvantage out of pads and he will not be asked to play on the edge in college. This guy won Mr. Football. He is a great prospect.

I think it will come down to a Signing Day decision for Stone and he may flip-flop multiple times before then — maybe up to the last minute.

Chaz Green is a guy Jacques Smith is recruiting for UT and they talk several times a week. The word is that it would be a shocker if he did not end up in Orange.

I would not worry any about J.C. Copeland defecting of his own accord. He and the Byrnes duo along with Jacques have developed a bond. Copeland is a DT all the way at the next level.

Thus far (knock on wood) we have had no defections due to the loss of Gran and Wilson. Gran was responsible for Jose Jose, Ralph Williams, Ted Meline, Delvin Jones and Michael Palardy. Of the bunch, Williams and Jones were already looking around, and Palardy, Jose and Meline have reaffirmed their commitments.

Jones and Williams will visit Ole Miss in January. Each say they are still committed to the Vols but obviously entertaining Ole Miss. Williams, a “go” to qualify after receiving an acceptable SAT score, is down to Ole Miss and Tennessee and says that he will make his final decision on Signing Day.

Palardy, in terms of contribution at a need position, is perhaps the most important part of this year’s recruiting class. He is a guy that can boom punts, kickoff deep into the endzone, and is deadly accurate even on long-range on field goals.

Nevertheless, the coaches are still looking for a guy that could walk on and if not compete immediately for the job of kicking field goals, at least add to the competition at the position and provide valuable depth in case injuries rear their ugly head.

Nick Pollard from Father Ryan in Nashville is the guy whom the coaches have targeted to walk on since Corey Acosta committed to Southern Miss. Pollard was awarded the Mr. Football award just recently along with James Stone and Bo Wallace.

Vanderbilt is after Pollard as well. Since Acosta committed elsewhere and may be close to offering a scholarship. (they were evaluating both Pollard and Acosta for an offer.)

In the event that Pollard does get that or another offer we will turn our attentions to MUS kicker Christian Kauffman.

Want a name to watch? Nickell Robey. He sounded downright unpleased with his visit to Knoxville. Almost too much.

If you have not yet heard, Dequan Menzie has dropped the Vols from consideration in the latest WTF move in recruiting. Look for him to land in Auburn.

Menzie’s teammate, Ken Adams is a possibility to join him at Auburn. I get the impression that we offered Ken Adams in order to sway Menzie. The fact that he is a position we were looking to fill just made the deal more doable. Now Adams is saying he has not heard from the staff since Wilson’s departure. Coincidentally that coincided fairly closely with Menzie dropping UT. A visit is supposed to be scheduled for Friday. If that visit is not made, that would speak volumes about where the coaches are in terms of accepting Adams’ commitment. We are basically the only team offering Adams as a TE. Maybe there is a reason…

Victor Thomas moving to center makes perfect sense. Thomas is a much better fit at center than at DT and it is not only a way to see the field earlier, but it is a way to see the field period. He is 6’4″ 286 lbs currently. He is plenty quick for the position — he is just going to have to work on learning the scheme and getting stronger in his upper body. There is plenty of time to do that and making the move just before bowl practices, which are not as restrained as weekly in-season practices and allow for more coaching, is genius. I think it is very possible, with the head start he will have, that he is our starting center next year.

I have heard from several people that we are not trying to re-sign WR James Green. He will not likely be a part of this class. I believe that it is just a matter of being recruited over.

Orgeron will be in to see Bruce Irvin at some point today. He has been in Atlanta the past few days. Irvin is there with his family. We have not given up on getting him to switch back to us. No suprise either. Dude is a player.

Matt Elam received a visit from Lane and Monte last evening. No word yet on how it went or if any ground was made.

Finally, regarding the NCAA investigation: I really do not see anything coming from what they are investigating. I may be wrong, but I cannot see them finding any evidence to tie the visit to the Byrnes game to the university. This is something that the school has been aware of for weeks and they have done much research into the situation and are taking steps to ensure that it never happens again.

Another thing to bear in mind is that this is a “review” not an investigation. Tennessee has not received a letter of inquiry from the NCAA.

What worries me is the depth of the investigation. They call it a “wide” investigation. I am concerned with what they may uncover with such a scope. Mistakes are made all the time in recruiting and lines are crossed. Lets hope that this staff is as good at covering tracks as it is wooing high school athletes.

That is it for today, recruiting junkies. Hope you enjoyed it. Tune in next week (same Vol time…) as I already have things to discuss with you laid out for then.

Thanks to the following for contributing to this report: GoVols2003, LWSVol, JMVA1 and Ooletwah Vol