'17 MS RB Cam Akers (FSU commit 12/27)

#1,232
#1,232
I honestly think this is our Kongbo, Richmond, Byrd, ect of this class.

We have a lot of natural ties to Akers and I think we end up landing him and Chandler.

I think the class is going to have a lot of heavy star power at the top but maybe not have the meat in the middle (ranking wise) that we've been used to but overall this is going to be a really good class.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 people
#1,233
#1,233
CrunchingTheVolz said:
Most schools place a significant value in kids from their state. Especially the talented ones.

I think it's a wise manuever.
Click to expand...

Most schools place a significant value on talent, period. No matter if it comes from Tennessee, Texas, or Tibet.

Tennessee has always been a school that recruited nationally, and it's worked out just fine. More often than not, we have gotten who we want instate. This year is an outlier, but may be indicative of the population boom in the state. It's a double-edged sword. With that population increase comes an increase in talent, but these kids didn't all grow up in Tennessee and don't have that natural loyalty "Tennessee kids" did 20 years ago. JaCoby Stevens is the perfect example of that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 people
#1,235
#1,235
cncchris33 said:
Most schools place a significant value on talent, period. No matter if it comes from Tennessee, Texas, or Tibet.

Tennessee has always been a school that recruited nationally, and it's worked out just fine. More often than not, we have gotten who we want instate. This year is an outlier, but may be indicative of the population boom in the state. It's a double-edged sword. With that population increase comes an increase in talent, but these kids didn't all grow up in Tennessee and don't have that natural loyalty "Tennessee kids" did 20 years ago. JaCoby Stevens is the perfect example of that.
Click to expand...

Good post, but it's also still a little concerning. Not chicken little the sky is falling type of concern. Just some concern.

Right now we are only poised to land 4 recruits in the state's top 10 if I am not mistaken. This is arguably the most talented year in existence. I was hoping for a little better. I realize you cannot keep them all, but letting guys like Tee and Amari escape when they live 20 minutes from Neyland is at least somewhat disappointing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 people
#1,236
#1,236
Ericvol2096 said:
I honestly think this is our Kongbo, Richmond, Byrd, ect of this class.

We have a lot of natural ties to Akers and I think we end up landing him and Chandler.

I think the class is going to have a lot of heavy star power at the top but maybe not have the meat in the middle (ranking wise) that we've been used to but overall this is going to be a really good class.
Click to expand...

Yep I have a weird feeling we land Akers and Chandler and that in itself makes this a successful class because that is the #1 most critical need. After that was Dline. We are recruiting very well there. The rest of the positions we can afford to take guys that need 1-2 yrs to develop. We got a ton of young talent at LB/DB/OL/QB. Some consider WR critical spot but I don't really think it is since we have young star power there so adding more bodies like Fant and Murphy with really nice potential is fine for this class. Tee loss really is the stinger but I'll believe it's over there when he enrolls
 
#1,237
#1,237
Akers has to be loving the idea of Tennessee. Early playing time available next year. We run the ball 60-65% of the time. Closer to home. Friend going there. I understand the draw to OSU but UT has a lot going for it. Gillespie helps a lot as well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people
#1,238
#1,238
I don't see Murphy having that big an influence on Akers' decision, but I'd love to be wrong.

Depth chart and offensive scheme should be the biggest draw, IMO. TFWIW.
 
#1,240
#1,240
CrunchingTheVolz said:
Unfortunately I think that may be why our class looks like it currently does. Lots of missed opportunity.
Click to expand...

Apparently CBJ sees the strength of out of state ties,that is why coaches have territories to recruit in.

I think he believes like I do, go out and get what fits your needs, both physically and mentally, don't worry about zip codes no matter how much the fan base throws a fit.

We will see in a couple of years who is correct.
 
#1,242
#1,242
bignewt said:
Apparently CBJ sees the strength of out of state ties,that is why coaches have territories to recruit in.

I think he believes like I do, go out and get what fits your needs, both physically and mentally, don't worry about zip codes no matter how much the fan base throws a fit.

We will see in a couple of years who is correct.
Click to expand...

I've been vocal about my opinion of us needing to focus more on instate recruiting to cash in on the obvious increase in TN state talent which is getting better and better. Of course the staff doesn't have to do it. Clemson, UGA, Bama, and others fully support them choosing not to.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people
#1,243
#1,243
VersaceButch said:
Good post, but it's also still a little concerning. Not chicken little the sky is falling type of concern. Just some concern.

Right now we are only poised to land 4 recruits in the state's top 10 if I am not mistaken. This is arguably the most talented year in existence. I was hoping for a little better. I realize you cannot keep them all, but letting guys like Tee and Amari escape when they live 20 minutes from Neyland is at least somewhat disappointing.
Click to expand...

Im not sure where you get the belief that CBJ "let them escape". It was a full court press on Tee and he said no. He can't force them to choose UT. Not sure about Amari but I don't think he was interested to begin with.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#1,244
#1,244
JohnMcA60 said:
Akers has to be loving the idea of Tennessee. Early playing time available next year. We run the ball 60-65% of the time. Closer to home. Friend going there. I understand the draw to OSU but UT has a lot going for it. Gillespie helps a lot as well.
Click to expand...

Yeah can't argue with that. It'd be nice to have a 5* on Twitter start recruiting for us too if we get him
 
#1,245
#1,245
bignewt said:
Apparently CBJ sees the strength of out of state ties,that is why coaches have territories to recruit in.

I think he believes like I do, go out and get what fits your needs, both physically and mentally, don't worry about zip codes no matter how much the fan base throws a fit.

We will see in a couple of years who is correct.
Click to expand...

Some on this board throw their hands up in the air and start agonizing their concerns on when the program will shut down. Butch doesn't have that luxury. He keeps looking at the next option and the 3 after that...on recruits 3 classes down the road. :). Every worry wart and doomsayer thinks they have handcrafted a recruiting concern...techniques,numbers whatnot. Butch passed that before it formed it's nucleus in your noggin. :). What we've seen is him attempt to sell a blueshirt to a 4 star (Bussey), in order to land a 3 star he valued higher (Kelly). Absolutely passed on a 5 star (Dickerson) while going full bore for a 2 star (Williams). The man knows what he's doing! By the time you realize it he'll have signed 3 more classes. :gone:
 
  • Like
Reactions: 9 people
#1,246
#1,246
Volinnooga said:
Im not sure where you get the belief that CBJ "let them escape". It was a full court press on Tee and he said no. He can't force them to choose UT. Not sure about Amari but I don't think he was interested to begin with.
Click to expand...

Have asked this before and received no answer. What has this staff NOT DONE in their recruiting efforts for the missed commits this season? And "get them" is not an acceptable answer. :). Remember when Dooley forgot a recruit was even coming to campus? Or when Kiffin offended several high schools and got banned from recruiting their campuses? :pinch: He's not been perfect...but it's not for lack of effort.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 9 people
#1,247
#1,247
CrunchingTheVolz said:
I've been vocal about my opinion of us needing to focus more on instate recruiting to cash in on the obvious increase in TN state talent which is getting better and better. Of course the staff doesn't have to do it. Clemson, UGA, Bama, and others fully support them choosing not to.
Click to expand...

And we will continue to go into those states and recruit well. There are no walls, only morans.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5 people
#1,248
#1,248
We have a strong recruiting base in FL and GA and are building a pipeline into VA and MS-- all more fertile states than TN. We generally get the players we want in East TN, but the 2017 class has been an anomaly. Peer recruiting hurt us in-state this year. Strange set of circumstances beyond our control, so CBJ adapted strategy. Next year will be different.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5 people
#1,249
#1,249
VersaceButch said:
Good post, but it's also still a little concerning. Not chicken little the sky is falling type of concern. Just some concern.

Right now we are only poised to land 4 recruits in the state's top 10 if I am not mistaken. This is arguably the most talented year in existence. I was hoping for a little better. I realize you cannot keep them all, but letting guys like Tee and Amari escape when they live 20 minutes from Neyland is at least somewhat disappointing.
Click to expand...

Oh I agree it is concerning. Amari not so much, because I think he's overrated and I don't think he was ever coming here. And I agree that this is the most talent we've had in-state in some time (maybe ever), but again, not all these kids grew up in the shadow of Neyland Stadium. Higgins is the most disappointing miss since Vonn Bell maybe because of him growing up a Tennessee fan 20 minutes from campus. I have reason to believe their was some "extra incentive" for him to choose Clemson, even if CU made the most sense for him anyway. The others though; JaCoby Stevens has never really given us the time of day, we haven't pursued Jacob Phillips in the slightest, we apparently didn't make Cordarrian Richardson a priority (Akers and Chandler were higher on our board). We got Gray, Fant, Bumphus, and still have good shots at Smith and Chandler. Realistically, we have lost one guy we should have gotten in Higgins. The others who have committed, we either didn't pursue or never had a real shot anyway.

I just don't see the reason to throw our hands up in the air and think Butch Jones has suddenly forgotten how to do the one thing he's proven time and again that he does well. I'm not saying you are doing that, but several are.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 14 people
#1,250
#1,250
Volinnooga said:
Im not sure where you get the belief that CBJ "let them escape". It was a full court press on Tee and he said no. He can't force them to choose UT. Not sure about Amari but I don't think he was interested to begin with.
Click to expand...

I didn't say he let them escape. That is nowhere in my post. I just said it is concerning that we let several talented in-state players get away.

Obviously I know that we put the full-court press on Higgins and it didn't work. Sometimes things just don't work out. But, it doesn't make it any less disappointing that we are now poised to be the best we have been in a decade and we couldn't land a guy that lives 20 minutes from campus and has grown up a Vol fan. You should at least be able to understand and accept that it is a concern. I didn't say it was a major one causing the sky to fall, but we shouldn't ignore the fact that it happened either.
 
Last edited:
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.
Advertisement



Back
Top