2005: #1
2006: #24
2007: #4
2008: #35
2009: #7
2010: #16
2011: #10
2012: #22
2013: #36
2014: #4
2015(so far): #4
From 2009-2013 we slipped from #7 to #36 in recruiting rankings each year. He managed to land a #4 recruiting class coming off of 3 losing seasons. It's not entirely about the class ranking either. Kiffin had the #7 class in the country, but how many of them were on the team after a year? Two years? It was easy to sell UT coming off of good years. We handed him a burning pile of rubble and he has been turning things around.
Building a program takes time and the right people. If you can't see that recruiting has an effect, then I have nothing for you.
There's some definite improvements in those numbers in the last two years. Pay attention to the Combined experience points and rank that we had this year. One good thing about having so few upperclassmen is that we won't be decimated after this year.
But, UT plays in the hardest conference and doesn't back down when it comes to scheduling tough teams. This argument gets so old because all you do is argue, argue, argue about how the team has improved. You get stats thrown at you; things experts are saying about UT. But then you ignore it all and just go, uhhh hurr durr 5-7, 6-6. Last year we lost by an average of 23 points. This year our average was 13.5 points--and that's with that miserable showing in Oxford.
You'll give him all of the blame for our UGA and UF losses and none of the credit for our OT win against SC? That one was a miracle; not a team winning. That's ridiculous. He deserves the blame and the credit that goes along with an absurdly young team competing against some of the best in the country.