One Guy's Opinion...

[rexvol]

I've read this guy's posts for years, since the days of Gridscape and I've always respected his insight...from Teenstud on another board......

Yes, this recruiting class does not live up to the standard

required to be competitive in the SEC. LWS and even Hubbs have tried to warn us but many of us(me included) had hoped that we could pull a few late, last minute surprises-and Abrams-Ward was a home run- but that was not to be. Experts say you can get by with one bad class in five, but this is the 2nd bad class out of the most recent 3. And our competition is soaring in the recruiting wars. Both Scout and Rivals have Alabama, Georgia, and LSU in the top 5 in the country with one not agreeing on Florida, putting them at #9. Auburn is around 20. Everyone else in the SEC is rated ahead of us except Vanderbilt. Thus, this is bad; no getting around it. IF, IF, there's a correlation between the best players and winning(and surveys have shown there is a correlation, other programs-in less competitive enviornments-have succeeded without having highly rated classes; we, UT, in the SEC don't have that luxury. Thus, competing against Florida, Alabama, Georgia EVERY YEAR, with less highly recruited players, puts us at a competitive disadvantage-on paper. Yes, better coaching can overcome this, sometimes, but do many Vol fans seriously believe that Florida, Georgia, and Alabama have inferior coaching staffs to ours? Thus, competing in the SEC is only going to be more difficult with 2 out of 3 of our last 3 recruiting class being inferior to our opponents. The good thing is you play the games on the field, not on paper, so there's always HOPE!

[TennTradition]

[Hotrodpinto]

Generally when a program realizes that this has become a problem, they go out and get someone else to try their hand at it. Not Tennessee, they give the coach an extension and a raise because of a title 10 years ago. Why? Why? Why?

[I40VOL]

because he is THE GREAT PHILLIP FULMER...aka-the great closer at recruiting time

[UT IE 95]

Anybody that continues to position the Georgia coaching staff ahead of UT loses credibility immediately.

[utvolpj]

be nice if 1 UT board wasn't infected by tennstud (although I like Rex's teenstud name better)

[jsc1973]

Originally Posted by rexvol

Experts say you can get by with one bad class in five,[/B]

Uh huh. That's why the team that had the best record in the country this year has had five "bad classes" in its last five by the standards these "experts" use.

You can only start 22 players in a game. You might use about 40. If you get 10 quality players a year, you can compete with anyone.

There's a correlation between having top-notch classes and winning, but it's not as strong as people think. It's a hell of a lot more important to develop the players you have, and hopefully the staff changes we've made will help in that regard.

[cd12]

Originally Posted by utvolpj

be nice if 1 UT board wasn't infected by tennstud (although I like Rex's teenstud name better)

be nice

[JZVOL]

Originally Posted by jsc1973

Uh huh. That's why the team that had the best record in the country this year has had five "bad classes" in its last five by the standards these "experts" use.

You can only start 22 players in a game. You might use about 40. If you get 10 quality players a year, you can compete with anyone.

There's a correlation between having top-notch classes and winning, but it's not as strong as people think. It's a hell of a lot more important to develop the players you have, and hopefully the staff changes we've made will help in that regard.

Who is that?

[TheDeeble]

Originally Posted by JZVOL

Who is that?

Surely he's not talking about hawaii? There'd be a bunch of undefeated teams if everyone played that schedule.

[VolColts03]

Originally Posted by rexvol

I've read this guy's posts for years, since the days of Gridscape and I've always respected his insight...from Teenstud on another board......

Yes, this recruiting class does not live up to the standard

required to be competitive in the SEC. LWS and even Hubbs have tried to warn us but many of us(me included) had hoped that we could pull a few late, last minute surprises-and Abrams-Ward was a home run- but that was not to be. Experts say you can get by with one bad class in five, but this is the 2nd bad class out of the most recent 3. And our competition is soaring in the recruiting wars. Both Scout and Rivals have Alabama, Georgia, and LSU in the top 5 in the country with one not agreeing on Florida, putting them at #9. Auburn is around 20. Everyone else in the SEC is rated ahead of us except Vanderbilt. Thus, this is bad; no getting around it. IF, IF, there's a correlation between the best players and winning(and surveys have shown there is a correlation, other programs-in less competitive enviornments-have succeeded without having highly rated classes; we, UT, in the SEC don't have that luxury. Thus, competing against Florida, Alabama, Georgia EVERY YEAR, with less highly recruited players, puts us at a competitive disadvantage-on paper. Yes, better coaching can overcome this, sometimes, but do many Vol fans seriously believe that Florida, Georgia, and Alabama have inferior coaching staffs to ours? Thus, competing in the SEC is only going to be more difficult with 2 out of 3 of our last 3 recruiting class being inferior to our opponents. The good thing is you play the games on the field, not on paper, so there's always HOPE!

are you an extension of Roy? Personally, I could tolerate Bammers and such much better than Tennstud on this board.

[GAVol]

Originally Posted by rexvol

from Teenstud on another board......

What the heck kind of board is that?!

[DC Vol]

Originally Posted by GAVol

What the heck kind of board is that?!

I just about spat my water on my keyboard.

[i2amavol]

Originally Posted by jsc1973

You can only start 22 players in a game. You might use about 40. If you get 10 quality players a year, you can compete with anyone.

There's a correlation between having top-notch classes and winning, but it's not as strong as people think. It's a hell of a lot more important to develop the players you have, and hopefully the staff changes we've made will help in that regard.

We knew going in that this class would be low in numbers. That is not a bad thing.

We knew that we would not be taking a lot of "skill position" players.

We knew that many of these players would not likely be challenging for starting positions in their first year.

Given all that, it would follow that we would have a "down" year in recruiting this year. We have met and exceeded (in a bad way) that expectation. (Looking on the bright side) It is just lucky for us that this is the year that all these staff changes happened, arrests were made, etc. For that matter, I am guessing that we may have some more "surprise" staff changes in the next few weeks as well - on the defensive side of the ball.

I am just saying that if we were going to have a down recruiting year, this might not have been a bad time to have it. At least we have refreshed, and hopefully re-energized - the staff. Next year, we should be able to offer more playing time. And if I understand it correctly, next year will be much better for DL.

Now, someone tell me at what position would we have playing time available for a freshman next year? Sure, maybe some 5* super-recruit like Berry, but those are very few and far between. Using some Juco's next year, and beefing up what we already have, I think we can be fine with what we already have.

Obviously, this (class) puts us in a bind. So, to me next year's class is the make-or-break class. It must be at the very top nationally, or I will have to agree that we are on the way out of the championship mode.

[Sudden Impact]

Bottom Line we got to live with it for another year and feel the affects of it for 4 to 7 years if we do not make the neccessary changes. There is not alot of options right now. Great Facilities always a crowd at the games and the air time. We can use history of the program and the NFL Stars of years past, but that will soon fade also. Might think about replacing the staff or keeping the new staff and replacing the others. We also need to shut the current players down from the mischief that tells us that there is more to the story than we know.

Based on the recruitting we have fallen to the third or fourth tier in the SEC.......soon to be the whipping boy? This class combine with the old staff equals somewhat of a disaster.