Recruiting Football Talk VII

#137,354
#137,354
Line of scrimmage –

Jim Harbaugh, a few days ago speaking to the NFL Owner’s Association, argued that the offensive line was the most important group on the field because the offensive line can make everyone else better but it doesn’t really get any help from anyone else for itself. He said not only does the offensive line help out the offensive skill players but it also helps out the defense by stringing together 12-play drives and giving the defense time to rest up.

Last year we lost four games and those four games were the worst performances on the year for our rushing attack. If you didn’t know better you might say that’s the reason we lost those games. Well, maybe last year, since we relied so heavily on our run game, that could be the reason we lost those games. The point is in general the evidence is not as conclusive for 2021 and 2022, i.e., our rushing attack faltering leading to a loss.

Most of our losses in 2021 were because we didn’t have much of a defense. In 2021 we had 10 games where our defense allowed 20 or more points. In 2022 we reduced that to 7 games and in 2023 we pushed it down to 5 games. In 2021 we had 7 games where we gave up 30 or more points. In 2022 and 2023 we reduced that to 3 games each year. In 2021 we had 5 games where we gave up 40 or more points. In 2022 we reduced that to 2 and in 2023 we dropped it to 0.

I’ve argued it takes a couple years for a new staff to heat up on the recruiting trail. The reason is in person relationship building including email, texts. phone contacts, etc. can’t really begin until the prospect is in his junior year for the most part. So recruiting really starts in earnest for rising juniors in high school. Well, that’s your 2 years. Our staff got here in 2021 so they were behind by a year working on the 2022 class because for the most part the kids they had been recruiting to UCF were not the same level of talent they would need to be recruiting to play in the SEC. Their first shot at being in the game and having mostly the same window as everyone else would be for the 2023 class and moving forward. I think that’s the way things played out. If our staff had been coming from another major P5 program maybe they would have already been building relationships with prospects at the required talent level. jmo.

In recruiting we had other challenges, primarily our issues with the NCAA. The roster implosion of 2021 was a huge hurdle. Even this year that hurdle remains. We have at least 18 offensive line recruits on scholarship this year and at least 20 defensive line recruits on scholarship. Want to know how many of those kids are from the 2021 high school class? None, nada, not a single one, on either side of the ball. 2021 high school kids should be redshirt juniors or true seniors this year and on the line of scrimmage this year we have none. We’ve been creatively backfilling our roster on the LOS with 2018 (Campbell), 2019, and 2020 guys to keep us in the game until we can bridge that 2021 gap. Almost all of those guys are gone after this year. The 2022 class was built with one hand tied behind our back but on the defensive line we’re good. On the offensive line Nichols was supposed to be a win in ‘22 but it didn’t work out so the 2023 class with Umarov and now Lance Heard is the foundation for our future offensive line. The 2024 class is bringing the cavalry. In 2026 at long last the 2021 hurdle should pretty much be finally behind us. The redshirt seniors that year will have finished high school in 2022.

So what’s the point? It doesn’t matter whether we like it or not but our staff has been jumping through hoops to keep us somewhat in the game against adverse odds, especially on the line of scrimmage. I think we’ve probably done better on the defensive line but we’ve had to work there too. I just think if we continue to recruit going forward as we have in ’23 and ’24, life may very well become perhaps a bit easier for our staff within the next couple of years. jmo.

Adam Friedman is the national recruiting analyst for Rivals and in mid-February after NSD he published his rankings for the top 5 offensive line hauls (not including transfers) in the 2024 cycle. He had Tennessee at #1, Michigan at #2, Ohio State at #3, Georgia at #4, and Notre Dame at #5. If as claimed the offensive line group is the most important unit on the field I’d say that was pretty good. jmo.
 
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#137,357
#137,357
Happy Thursday

March 28, 2024: Strive to walk in the light of My presence and power. It is in the darkness that worry takes over and causes you to lose hope. Know that I am with you to carry you through dark days and nights, but you must seek to live in the Spirit where darkness has no place. Rise up to a new level of faith and security, says the Lord. Colossians 1:13-14 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
 
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#137,359
#137,359
Devo182 said:
More proof fans concentrate on their own team...don't really watch other teams with intention and end up with very little context and end up with overblown worries

View attachment 630042
Click to expand...
That is partly our defense. I agree we aren't as bad as we think? But the lid has been on the bucket lately for many of our shooters.
 
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#137,360
#137,360
After we win March Madness and are crowned national champions, I'm going to have to seriously consider retiring from VN. It might be time.
 
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#137,363
#137,363
KB5252 said:
View attachment 629538

Meet the two newest animals to join our farm Saturday evening. We were hoping for no babies this year but Mom decided to break into the boys paddock and here we are.

The boy on the left is Nico, little girl on the right we named Ivy in keeping with her goat family tradition. Her mom is Magnolia, her grandmother is Willow.

Nico is going to be a long, leggy billy......... Thought the name Nico was fitting.
Click to expand...

Dye them Pantone 151!
Start their own social media page, charge a nominal fee for a subscription and make a fortune off of the VFLs. 🤠
 
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#137,364
#137,364
knoxvol52 said:
For those My Conference is better than Your Conference individuals
Sweet 16 teams from each conference

ACC 4
Big East 3
SEC 2
Big 12. 2
Big Ten 2
Pac 12. 1
MWC 1
WCC. 1
Click to expand...
SEC has too many teams.
Looking at you bama 😈
Although of all the SEC teams that could have made it this far, I think bama would be the one that Tennessee would prefer to play. (Since vandy didn’t make it 😂)

I typically would not root for unc, but I am totally torn. bama is better for us if they advance. But rooting for bama is just against everything that I stand for… this is almost as bad as having to root for bama over uga in the SECCG. 😡
 
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#137,366
#137,366
VolsDoc81TX said:
SEC has too many teams.
Looking at you bama 😈
Although of all the SEC teams that could have made it this far, I think bama would be the one that Tennessee would prefer to play. (Since vandy didn’t make it 😂)

I typically would not root for unc, but I am totally torn. bama is better for us if they advance. But rooting for bama is just against everything that I stand for… this is almost as bad as having to root for bama over uga in the SECCG. 😡
Click to expand...
Go heels. I don't particularly like the heels, but hey . . . .
It will be an entertaining game with lots of running and gunning.
 
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#137,368
#137,368
GoBigOrange86 said:
I mean he’s 72 and an ER physician so I’m thinking maybe him running on 4 hours of sleep isn’t ideal.
Click to expand...
It will be okay. Just admit anyone once he gets tired. Easier on him… Doctor, why did you admit the patient with the ingrown toenail? Answer, it was infected and I was worried about Sepsis! Okay doctor, that’s acceptable. 😂

When I covered ER, I was amazed and dumbfounded by what some people would come to the ER for. It’s not called the BBR for a reason (BooBoo Room) 😐

In defense of patients, especially Medicaid, the coverage is written so that they have no out of pocket for an ER visit. It’s to encourage them to not stay home due to financial reasons in an emergency situation. However, many use it as a doctor’s appointment since they have to pay a copay for the doctor visits, but not for the ER. Government tried to do something good, but unfortunately, the government only knows how to eff things up… 🙃
 
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#137,371
#137,371
Orange. said:
On a scale of 1 to 10, how high would someone have to be to think of this? @TrippieRedd
Click to expand...
To be fair, there’s already Mike Tyson nicotine vapes as well. If you’re on the marketing team, I’d bet it’s easy to come up with that.

“Oh he bit the guys ear”

“well we are a thc company”

“Edible ear?”

It’s funny and dumb. One of those things that you “have” to try.
 
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#137,374
#137,374
ChattaTNVol said:
Line of scrimmage –

Jim Harbaugh, a few days ago speaking to the NFL Owner’s Association, argued that the offensive line was the most important group on the field because the offensive line can make everyone else better but it doesn’t really get any help from anyone else for itself. He said not only does the offensive line help out the offensive skill players but it also helps out the defense by stringing together 12-play drives and giving the defense time to rest up.

Last year we lost four games and those four games were the worst performances on the year for our rushing attack. If you didn’t know better you might say that’s the reason we lost those games. Well, maybe last year, since we relied so heavily on our run game, that could be the reason we lost those games. The point is in general the evidence is not as conclusive for 2021 and 2022, i.e., our rushing attack faltering leading to a loss.

Most of our losses in 2021 were because we didn’t have much of a defense. In 2021 we had 10 games where our defense allowed 20 or more points. In 2022 we reduced that to 7 games and in 2023 we pushed it down to 5 games. In 2021 we had 7 games where we gave up 30 or more points. In 2022 and 2023 we reduced that to 3 games each year. In 2021 we had 5 games where we gave up 40 or more points. In 2022 we reduced that to 2 and in 2023 we dropped it to 0.

I’ve argued it takes a couple years for a new staff to heat up on the recruiting trail. The reason is in person relationship building including email, texts. phone contacts, etc. can’t really begin until the prospect is in his junior year for the most part. So recruiting really starts in earnest for rising juniors in high school. Well, that’s your 2 years. Our staff got here in 2021 so they were behind by a year working on the 2022 class because for the most part the kids they had been recruiting to UCF were not the same level of talent they would need to be recruiting to play in the SEC. Their first shot at being in the game and having mostly the same window as everyone else would be for the 2023 class and moving forward. I think that’s the way things played out. If our staff had been coming from another major P5 program maybe they would have already been building relationships with prospects at the required talent level. jmo.

In recruiting we had other challenges, primarily our issues with the NCAA. The roster implosion of 2021 was a huge hurdle. Even this year that hurdle remains. We have at least 18 offensive line recruits on scholarship this year and at least 20 defensive line recruits on scholarship. Want to know how many of those kids are from the 2021 high school class? None, nada, not a single one, on either side of the ball. 2021 high school kids should be redshirt juniors or true seniors this year and on the line of scrimmage this year we have none. We’ve been creatively backfilling our roster on the LOS with 2018 (Campbell), 2019, and 2020 guys to keep us in the game until we can bridge that 2021 gap. Almost all of those guys are gone after this year. The 2022 class was built with one hand tied behind our back but on the defensive line we’re good. On the offensive line Nichols was supposed to be a win in ‘22 but it didn’t work out so the 2023 class with Umarov and now Lance Heard is the foundation for our future offensive line. The 2024 class is bringing the cavalry. In 2026 at long last the 2021 hurdle should pretty much be finally behind us. The redshirt seniors that year will have finished high school in 2022.

So what’s the point? It doesn’t matter whether we like it or not but our staff has been jumping through hoops to keep us somewhat in the game against adverse odds, especially on the line of scrimmage. I think we’ve probably done better on the defensive line but we’ve had to work there too. I just think if we continue to recruit going forward as we have in ’23 and ’24, life may very well become perhaps a bit easier for our staff within the next couple of years. jmo.

Adam Friedman is the national recruiting analyst for Rivals and in mid-February after NSD he published his rankings for the top 5 offensive line hauls (not including transfers) in the 2024 cycle. He had Tennessee at #1, Michigan at #2, Ohio State at #3, Georgia at #4, and Notre Dame at #5. If as claimed the offensive line group is the most important unit on the field I’d say that was pretty good. jmo.
Click to expand...
Great post.

I do not always agree with Jim Harbaugh, but in this case I absolutely agree. Fulmer used dominating O-lines to win 9+ games a season often even when he lacked elite talent in other groups. So have other top coaches through the years. It has also been very apparent to me that Heup understands this as well as a former top QB and innovative OC/HC.

I agree, the mess and the cobbling together period is behind us. Add in the great performance of the university leaders and state. We should begin seeing the benefits going forward. Great time to be a Vol fan.
 
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#137,375
#137,375
vol_in_ga said:
I’m surprised you’re not a yeti sympathizer. Or maybe you just want us to think you feel that way?

Truthfully, you gave yourself away (not that we all didn’t already know) by calling it a yeti, when clearly it is nothing more than a Snowy Bigfoot, as we Americans would refer to it.
Click to expand...
He is correct to have ought with Weezer. The hundreds of possums you see hit in the road are not just slow and stupid, there's more to it than that. The Motor Vehicle Safety Commision data shows that over 50% of the the possum killed in the road are actually thrown into oncoming traffic by mysterious ape-like creatures.
 
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