Deepest hole we've been in

[xpsyclonex2002]

I've been trying to control my heart rate since the implosion of the program this year. In a few weeks, the recruiting class will signing and the program will be fully engaged on what's next.

As a fan I am trying to temper my expectations. I think the program being inherited by Pruitt is in much worse shape than what any other coach has inherited at Tennessee. We have multiple players that are leaving early for the NFL and transferring to other schools.
It appears that Dormady may be one of them.

We have a lot of undeveloped Talent that has been on the team for years. Our current recruiting class is totally up in the air. It might get better, but it might not. We still have several positions of need that aren't truly filled, especially with depth.

With the Resurgence of Georgia, we now have both an Alabama Florida, and the Georgia games that are going to be harder than normal to win. I only add Florida to that list because we seem to have a jinx that prevents us from beating them even when we should. No matter how bad Florida plays we always seem to play down to their level.

I think Pruitt's rebuilding process is going to take longer than we have the patience for. I'm seeing this being at least 3 years before we realistically start being able to play at the level of SEC play that we need to be at. I just don't know if VN has the stomach for it again.

 

[Vol_til_I_die]

There is talent on this team with actual coaches on the sidelines. Tempered expectations, of course, but it's time to put on big boy britches and start playing with the big boys again. It starts with recruiting and I feel that CJP isn't afraid to go in with the bluebloods of college football. Next is development. Time to get to work. (For them, not me. :yes

 

[jasonvol18]

I actually disagree on this. Just my opinion but we are in much better shape now than we were when Kiffin and Dooley left. Just from the recruiting rankings we are light years ahead of the players that Fulmer, Kiffin and Dooley all left. Biggest difference is this was the worst group of player developering Coaching that we have had since I've been watching TN Football. Definitely had the worst teaching staff in the SEC. They were soft and very poorly coached. That won't be an issue with these Coach's. And our recruiting will go to a whole different level.

 

[stevenrich2003]

I just refuse to act like a school girl that just got her first pony. I am excited but UT football has really taught me to handle disappointment well so I dont have my expectations very high.

 

[jasonvol18]

There's no doubt recruiting will get better and will finish strong. That part I have full confidence in. We have guys who have developed players consistently at the highest level. Also have recruited at the highest level and where winning is the only option. And most importantly have done it at the highest levels of college football and not have a mid major mindset. We have Coach's who have Coached at Ala, GA, Flor St, USC, Florida, Auburn, Miami, Clemson and Texas. These guys know how to win and won't accept anything less. The Mid Major mindset, recruiting and coaching is long gone.

 

[Denton'sGhostGBO]

Reading this made me think we were Kansas for a second...

 

[1725gatorhater]

Recruiting? We was like 60th in rivals less than a month ago and now we are 15 and getting a lot of looks from some 4-5 star players. What are you reading or listening to?

 

[Geaux_Vols]

To say the team / program that's being inherited by Pruitt is in worse shape than the team / program inherited by BJ is just factually inaccurate. Calm down.

 

[jasonvol18]

I just refuse to act like a school girl that just got her first pony. I am excited but UT football has really taught me to handle disappointment well so I dont have my expectations very high.

I can definitely understand that. But since Fulmer was fired there has not been a staff with as much experience winning, recruiting and developing players at the elite level these guys have. Kiffin had a really,really good staff but still not to the level the staff as a whole that we have now. JP is all business too, unlike Kiffin who was more worried about trying to put Urban on Stroke watch and banging coeds.

 

[ArmchairQB]

Alabama just won a national championship in overtime on a throw from a freshman to a freshman. It'd be hard to come up with a plainer example of players with less than a year of collegiate coaching making a big impact.

Unless we're just deciding that all the recruiting services were wrong, we've recruited well. We have athletes. And we have examples we can point to of what you can do with athletes in a year's time.

Let's see what Pruitt and company can do. Heck, if you don't want to look further than home for an example of turning players around, just remember what Crompton did in a year under Kiffin's staff. Coach 'em up and GBO!

 

[OrangeByBirth]

B!tch Jones recruited with drunken abandon. It had nothing to do with need or skills and even less to do with his vaunted "scheme" of steaming, festering manure. He went for ratings without considering how to use that player. Many of the weak links have moved on. It should be a tough group playing this year.

GO BIG ORANGE!

 

[UT Hill Man]

I actually disagree on this. Just my opinion but we are in much better shape now than we were when Kiffin and Dooley left. Just from the recruiting rankings we are light years ahead of the players that Fulmer, Kiffin and Dooley all left.

CBJ couldn't stop talking about how the cupboard was bare and it was a 7 year rebuild.

Pruitt is a real coach and will not make those kind of excuses.

 

[KBVol]

I've been trying to control my heart rate since the implosion of the program this year. In a few weeks, the recruiting class will signing and the program will be fully engaged on what's next.
As a fan I am trying to temper my expectations. I think the program being inherited by Pruitt is in much worse shape than what any other coach has inherited at Tennessee. We have multiple players that are leaving early for the NFL and transferring to other schools. It appears that Dormady maybe one of them. We have a lot of undeveloped Talent that has been on the team for years. Our current recruiting class is totally up in the air. It might get better, but it might not. We still have several positions of need that aren't truly filled, especially with depth. With the Resurgence of Georgia, we now have both an Alabama Florida, and the Georgia games that are going to be harder than normal to win. I only add Florida to that list because we seem to have a jinx that prevents us from beating them even when we should. No matter how bad Florida plays we always seem to play down to their level. I think Pruitt's rebuilding process is going to take longer than we have the patience for. I'm seeing this being at least 3 years before we realistically start being able to play at the level of SEC play that we need to be at. I just don't know if VN the stomach for it again.

Relax. Program is in good hands with Coach Fulmer at AD and JP as our head coach, I firmly believe that.

Also, our recruiting class is far from “up in the air”. We now sit at 16th in the country and 5th in the SEC, with only 18 players signed/committed.....and we’re in on a number of highly rated players who will sign in Feb, chief among them 4/5 star DB Elijah Griffin who has named us his leader. Just relax....we’re about to come out of the dark imo.

 

[Visiting Dawg]

B!tch Jones recruited with drunken abandon. It had nothing to do with need or skills and even less to do with his vaunted "scheme" of steaming, festering manure. He went for ratings without considering how to use that player. Many of the weak links have moved on. It should be a tough group playing this year.

GO BIG ORANGE!

I think this is an excellent point. I think playing a true I back in Hurd over guys like Kamara illustrate your point. Jones seemed to be a star chaser more than an evaluator of talent.

Pruitt may not get the same star ratings but he will get guys he has evaluated and thinks fit his system, regardless of what Woody at Rivals thinks.

 

[jasonvol18]

Alabama just won a national championship in overtime on a throw from a freshman to a freshman. It'd be hard to come up with a plainer example of players with less than a year of collegiate coaching making a big impact.

Unless we're just deciding that all the recruiting services were wrong, we've recruited well. We have athletes. And we have examples we can point to of what you can do with athletes in a year's time.

Let's see what Pruitt and company can do. Heck, if you don't want to look further than home for an example of turning players around, just remember what Crompton did in a year under Kiffin's staff. Coach 'em up and GBO!

Exactly!! And don't forget Georgia almost beat Ala with a TR FR QB. HS players are more college ready than they have ever been. It just takes the right coaching and discipline to get them prepared for big boy football. Ala doesn't win without Tua coming in and playing like he's a Senior. Everywhere you look there are impact Freshman all over college football. It's slowly becoming the norm instead of the exception. I've been saying the same thing, we have talent and some pieces in place. Not to get to the playoffs or even the SEC Championship but enough for our Coach's to get us to 7-8 wins and be competitive. Also not to hear the media make weekly comment's about stupid clichés or being a soft football team.We won't have to deal with being mocked or being a weekly laughing stock because of what our HC said that day. The services would have to have missed badly on the majority of our recruit's and yearly class ranking for us to not have talent. Too many other elite schools wanted a majority of the players we have signed the last 3-4 years. So either TN, the services and other schools were all wrong and we have the worst luck in college football or we have our share of talent. My guess is we have some talent that has been severely wasted and not coached up.

 

[TennesseeTarheel]

It is a good thing that the SEC resurges. Competition is a good thing. It's not whether you win or lose that matters - it's how you play the game and whether you win or lose.

 

[jasonvol18]

I think this is an excellent point. I think playing a true I back in Hurd over guys like Kamara illustrate your point. Jones seemed to be a star chaser more than an evaluator of talent.

Pruitt may not get the same star ratings but he will get guys he has evaluated and thinks fit his system, regardless of what Woody at Rivals thinks.

Pruitt will recruit circles around Butch. Butch benefited from over signing the majority of his classes and from numerous legacy players. Butch was a good recruiter, JP is an elite recruiter. They are in acompletely different class. Not to mention JP has much deeper recruiting ties than Butch could ever think about having..Starting this class we will start seeing a different class of athlete than what Butch recruited and landed. And we have talent just not to the level Ala, GA, Clemson and Ohio St get every year. Just seeing the guys JP dropped and the guys He's offered is very telling. We are about to be a much bigger, stronger, faster and better coached team.

 

[KBVol]

I actually disagree on this. Just my opinion but we are in much better shape now than we were when Kiffin and Dooley left. Just from the recruiting rankings we are light years ahead of the players that Fulmer, Kiffin and Dooley all left. Biggest difference is this was the worst group of player developering Coaching that we have had since I've been watching TN Football. Definitely had the worst teaching staff in the SEC. They were soft and very poorly coached. That won't be an issue with these Coach's. And our recruiting will go to a whole different level.

Disagree that our roster is light years better than what Jones was left. It’s hit or miss either way.

For example, offensive line. Jones came to town in 2013 and had 4 NFL OLs waiting for him....Richardson (who was a high draft pick until after the season when NFL team doctors examined his knees), Stone, James and Bullard. As we sit here in 2018, JP inherits a decimated OL with, imho, only 1 top flight SEC guy who’s very likely to play at the next level in Trey Smith.

How about QB? I think JG can play at a high level here with the right coaching/development...same goes for, to a lesser extent, Dormady. But based on what I read here on VN, most fans would say we’re screwed at QB and that we don’t have an answer on the roster....in other words, what’s the difference between them and Worley, who also wasn’t the answer?

How about linebacker? Jones inherited AJ Johnson, Curt Maggitt and JRM....JP doesn’t have a trio of linebackers on the roster as good as those 3 imo.

At DT, Jones inherited Daniel McCullers whos currently in his 4th year in the NFL....what DT is Jones leaving Pruitt that projects to the NFL right now? Tuttle? Picou? Alexis Johnson? Nah.

We could go through the entire roster and we’d probably continue to see similar comparisons, and some give and take at some positions where we’re better off now than Jones was and vice versa. But it’s far from a slam dunk. And I’d wager that the culture is every bit as broken now after Jones as it was 5 years ago after Dooley.

 

[hexnut]

Yeah the hand ringers need to sit down and let the men bring this program back to where it needs to be.

 

[CAVPUT]

Haha....what are you...20? 25? UT will get back. Will take a few years, but we will get back if Pruitt works out like folks seem to think.

 

[LIFE TIME VOL]

There is talent on this team with actual coaches on the sidelines. Tempered expectations, of course, but it's time to put on big boy britches and start playing with the big boys again. It starts with recruiting and I feel that CJP isn't afraid to go in with the bluebloods of college football. Next is development. Time to get to work. (For them, not me. :yes

I agree with all you said, However you failed to say that it is time for the poster and fans to put on their big boy britches and stop fighting and accept who and what we have and stop *****ing about everything you dont agree with. Let's give our coaches a chance and not make their jobs harder by so much negative posting.

 

[81Orange]

The sky is not falling. Butch inherited the lowest level of talent. Remember how slow we were back then and you’ll see we are better off now.
We need more depth in the trenches. If we can get the beef we will be ok. We need some Juco players, transfers and stout freshmen.
We have playing time to offer so we should get some players.

 

[Type Orange+]

CBJ couldn't stop talking about how the cupboard was bare and it was a 7 year rebuild.

Pruitt is a real coach and will not make those kind of excuses.

It is refreshing to transition from "Brick by Brick" (house of cards in actuality) to "Now!".

 

[carpbc]

B!tch Jones recruited with drunken abandon. It had nothing to do with need or skills and even less to do with his vaunted "scheme" of steaming, festering manure. He went for ratings without considering how to use that player. Many of the weak links have moved on. It should be a tough group playing this year.

GO BIG ORANGE!

Absolutely! Vol fans must consider the fact that BJ wasn't recruiting football players... he was recruiting construction workers, well, brick masons anyway. Remember... BJ was building SOMETHING "brick-by-brick..." he just never let us know what that something was. I guess we'll never find out now... sigh...

Oh well, we have CJP now and better days are ahead. GBO ! ! !

opcorn:

 

[bluevols27]

If the tenure of Butch Jones has taught us anything, it's that the rankings of our recruiting classes mean nothing if the head coach can't call a good game on gameday. We know our defense will be well coached. If you watched the national championship, or bama at all this season, you could tell that Saban really respected Pruitt. He gave him full control over the defense. Think about that for a second, Saban: Perhaps the greatest defensive mind of our generation, thought Pruitt was good enough of a coach to have earned the right to Pilot his defense. I think we will compete and play football with competence under Pruitt, and that's all I'm really looking for from a head coach after having Jones for 5 years.