Recruiting Forum Football Talk [RIP 9.3.2019]

[SSVol]

A good coach can beat a bad coach with the same level of talent. When we beat everyone we should beat with the talent we recruit, we'll have no problem getting better talent. Until Pruitt proves he is a good coach with the talent he has, he will always struggle to get better talent. This year's class shouldn't be as affected by record, but next year is critical. If he doesn't get to 4-4 in the SEC next year, start worrying.

 

[Volnut]

yes he is on almost every Wednesday

Thanks. I just turned in and they said he will be on at 11:00 CST.

 

[WarMachine]

I have an idea. Stop obsessing about the vols for the next week. Put up some Christmas decorations, go cold weather camping, go shoot up some targets, do something else for a week, and let's see how we do on early signing day. Your angst doesn't change anything but your blood pressure. (To no one in specific, just a suggestion to anyone who is freaking out)

 

[Rishvol]

that's not the point and you know it.
those two classes Butch signed had abnormally high attrrition rates, well over 30% each. and that 2015 class had 30 signees, and should represent the veterans on the 2018 roster...well there were only 11 players on the roster in 2018 from that class. 1 of those was our long snapper.

only 2 left early for the NFL. 2 retired from football all together. and the rest left for whatever reason.

you can say whatever you want about Butch's recruiting. "the sell" wasn't the problem. it was everything else that came after that was.

Exactly. Stop griping about the class and class rank and worry about what happens after they sign. We know we have coaches who can teach these players ball. Recruiting will come results are shown. Some results were shown, enough that should get us excited. But VN would rather bitch about an ex that look at how these coaches we now have are working their butts off to plan and coach for the current player. We had a couple of big time freshman playing that made huge plays from a class rank of 17. Guess what they'll make even more plays as sophomores and more of this sophomores will show out next year.

Point being get over your ex.

 

[engineerVOL]

that's not the point and you know it.
those two classes Butch signed had abnormally high attrrition rates, well over 30% each. and that 2015 class had 30 signees, and should represent the veterans on the 2018 roster...well there were only 11 players on the roster in 2018 from that class. 1 of those was our long snapper.

only 2 left early for the NFL. 2 retired from football all together. and the rest left for whatever reason.

you can say whatever you want about Butch's recruiting. "the sell" wasn't the problem. it was everything else that came after that was.

Well we’re talking about GETTING them to campus in a Tennessee uniform. Recruiting not development. I hope and believe Pruitt can do that better than Butch but right now it’s a Dooley class.

 

[JCP201]

At least with coaching searches, not a lot gets out with Fulmer as AD. We knew it was between Steele, Pruitt and Tucker, but nobody knew which one was going to be hired.

 

[WriterVol]

Yeah, that’s it exactly. All I’m saying is it could still go either way.

I genuinely have no inkling of whether Pruitt will succeed or not. I hope he does. I think we have to give him several years regardless, though.

Year one is a terrible sample on a head coach. A lot of coaches struggle in year one. Some do well year one and fizzle out. Some even improve in year two and still fizzle out. Examples are all over the map because every coach and situation is different.

In general, you give a coach three years and then it's year-by-year after that (with bonus points for building a solidly performing program).

 

[jakez4ut]

We all want to believe in Pruitt, too. Ive got an open mind, but haven’t seen as much as I think we need to see. JMO.

we've been at this search for over 2 weeks, we finished the season with a giant thud, and looking at the roster we don't have a ton of reason to think next year is going to be a giant leap forward on the field.

i do think it's important for fans, especially fans that pay as close attention as most of us here do, not lose sight of the context of how we got where we are.

no one should be happy with 5-7 and a top 20 class last year....on the surface, at face value. add the context that the class was ranked, iirc, in the 40's when he got here, and 20th doesn't seem as bad. coming off the worst season in program history where we didn't win a single conf game, and coming off a stretch where we hadn't beaten an SEC w team in what, 6 years? beating two top 25 SEC teams, 1 being a W opponent on the road that NO ONE thought we'd have shot at winning, and 5-7 is "improvement".

we don't know yet how this class finishes, though it's hard to see it finishing as high as some of us thought it might a couple weeks ago, it's still a TBD, and we're going to at least address 1 major concern with this class with the OL prospects we look to bring aboard. we also see Safety being addressed in this class as well.

and not to mention the only reason we wound up with pruitt to begin with is because of the debacle of a search we had last year.

if you have doubt, i get it. but we're barely 1 season in the books, and haven't seen the first full class finish yet....and we still don't know that this OC hire is going to be a bad one.......it could still be a good one...hopefully. lol.

long story short, to say this is a work in progress is an udnerstatement.

 

[SweetasSoda]

Sure, but I don’t think it’s a 1:1 correlation.

Kirby signed a top 5 class after going 7-6. Butch signed a top 5 class (I think it was top 5) after going 6-6. Kiffin was going to have a top 5 class at 7-5. Dabo had great recruiting classes for a while before it clicked on the field.

There are ways to effectively sell the future without having success on the field. It’s on our coaches to figure out how to do that.

It was much easier for Kirby because he could sell we have a firm base to work with. We just need you.... Butch was a great salesman for sure. We've had 2 years of the worst TN teams ever. That's not as easy to sell.

 

[DD4ME]

Pruitt's coaching search parallels Propst's interview process philosophy

Propst....

 

[Bassmaster_Vol]

It should be, you're right. However the dumpster fire that is Tennessee right now, a top 10 class is something to be stoked about!

I agree

 

[GoBigOrange86]

I also still have concerns about Pruitt’s temper. Running down players to a reporter at halftime rubs me the wrong way. I can’t help but wonder if that kind of attitude doesn’t have an effect on the decision to roll over against Missouri and Vanderbilt.

 

[BruinVol]

Agree. Top 10 should be the floor at Tennessee.

Not fair.

It's simply isn't realistic to say we have to out recruit any of these schools every year

Bama
Georgia
LSU
Texas
Texas A&m
Ohio state
Michigan
USC
Clemson
FSU

 

[Bassmaster_Vol]

By the way, Auburn, who everyone says cheats more than anybody, coming off of wins verses both UGA and Bama, finishes 12th in recruiting last year with 0 five stars. Pruitt, coming off of 4-8 and 5-7, has a chance to finish top 10 with at least two composite 5 stars at a position of need, and people are on here saying it isn’t good enough.

 

[Bassmaster_Vol]

Not fair.

It's simply isn't realistic to say we have to out recruit any of these schools every year

Bama
Georgia
LSU
Texas
Texas A&m
Ohio state
Michigan
USC
Clemson
FSU

We should be able to compete with all of them. We have everything they do except for the in state talent. That gives UGA a huge advantage, but there’s no reason we shouldn’t be on that list.

 

[jakez4ut]

Well we’re talking about GETTING them to campus in a Tennessee uniform. Recruiting not development. I hope and believe Pruitt can do that better than Butch but right now it’s a Dooley class.

what?

that makes no sense. what difference does it make if you sign a top 5 class, if in 3 years, 1/3 to 1/2 aren't on the roster anymore?

you have to do both. and i'll be honest, if my trade off from Butch to Pruitt is that i get top 15 classes with "grade A" development vs. top 5 classes with ZERO devleopment.............i'm going with the former....not the latter. every time.

 

[DD4ME]

Set objectives guys that are obtainable.

Step 1 beat KY, Mizzou, Vandy

- where do they recruit? Top 25-50

Butch out recruited all of those schools and still lost to them.

Pruitt just need to.stay in the Top 15 and compete with all of those guys plus USC.
USC is our most comparable adversary now. They have similar HC, similar talent, and similar schedule.

 

[InVOLuntary]

I think you are too focused on one recruit. It’s going to happen time to time.

It happens every year, especially with Auburn.

 

[head1]

I dont think anyone is saying top 10 is not good enough. Top 10 should be the goal. Top 5 was always unrealistic but something to get excited about.

The concern with all of the news we seem to be getting lately top 15 or even top 20 seemed to be more likely than top 10. I do not think top 15 is good enough and would be a letdown. Not with this staff and how important this class is going to be for the future of the program.

 

[InVOLuntary]

Coach Doug Mathews came on the Midday 180 last Wednesday and said the OC hire was 95% done. Does he come on the Midday 180 every Wednesday? I'm interested to hear his take today if so.

95.1%

 

[StoVol]

95.1%

Listen to 104-5 The Zone Live - Nashville's Sports Station | iHeartRadio

 

[VolDC]

Do we have a list of who all is coming in this weekend?

 

[McGeesPub]

we've been at this search for over 2 weeks, we finished the season with a giant thud, and looking at the roster we don't have a ton of reason to think next year is going to be a giant leap forward on the field.

i do think it's important for fans, especially fans that pay as close attention as most of us here do, not lose sight of the context of how we got where we are.

no one should be happy with 5-7 and a top 20 class last year....on the surface, at face value. add the context that the class was ranked, iirc, in the 40's when he got here, and 20th doesn't seem as bad. coming off the worst season in program history where we didn't win a single conf game, and coming off a stretch where we hadn't beaten an SEC w team in what, 6 years? beating two top 25 SEC teams, 1 being a W opponent on the road that NO ONE thought we'd have shot at winning, and 5-7 is "improvement".

we don't know yet how this class finishes, though it's hard to see it finishing as high as some of us thought it might a couple weeks ago, it's still a TBD, and we're going to at least address 1 major concern with this class with the OL prospects we look to bring aboard. we also see Safety being addressed in this class as well.

and not to mention the only reason we wound up with pruitt to begin with is because of the debacle of a search we had last year.

if you have doubt, i get it. but we're barely 1 season in the books, and haven't seen the first full class finish yet....and we still don't know that this OC hire is going to be a bad one.......it could still be a good one...hopefully. lol.

long story short, to say this is a work in progress is an udnerstatement.

Of course. I’m not saying fire him, or he CAN’T get it done. I’m well aware of the context. I’m just saying that if I was grading him on how his first year appears to be headed (to include the 2019 class), I think he grades out as a C.

Of course, oh here, you apparently have to be either an A+ or F-

 

[BruinVol]

So they are winning AND have in state advantages but you expect our floor to be with them. Makes no sense

 

[Newman]

I also still have concerns about Pruitt’s temper. Running down players to a reporter at halftime rubs me the wrong way. I can’t help but wonder if that kind of attitude doesn’t have an effect on the decision to roll over against Missouri and Vanderbilt.

Like Freak said before. If he wins no one will care about his personality. If he can’t win that will be another reason to move in a different direction.