OL Carvin on RB Gray and recruiting Memphis

#26
#26
Ratvol said:
Bama’s bagman had Memphis locked down until he got caught.
GO VOLS!!!
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Everyone seems to forget that. If you want to get on probation, start recruiting Memphis heavy. Bama. Ole Miss, Miss State and several others have felt the sting of Memphis recruiting.

Main difference between a kid from Atlanta area and one from Memphis is high school coaching & development. Atlanta is light years ahead of the backward ways Shelby County does business.
 
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#27
#27
LittleVol said:
There is one metric that says it has overtaken California in top NFL players. And is only behind FL and TX.

GA is saturated with talent and not its surprising. It's always had the talent and now some of the top high schook coaches are in that state.

Lastly, TN is still a major priority. Because the talent is rising here! Top 10 state in football talent. It's just that GA maybe number 1 here soon....
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Can’t forget about the home field. And that includes all three parts of the state. And this crew is still good enough to hit the ATL and Florida and everywhere else
 
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#30
#30
So as someone who has dragged her patootie back and forth on I-40 from Knoxville to Memphis and back since the early seventies, 6+ hours each way, and now Asheville to Memphis and back, 8+ hours each way, I got curious about the mileage.

Here's what Google Maps has to say, with the starting point my mother's house in Memphis, because why not, lol (close to White Station HS for those familiar with Mempho):

Memphis to Ole Miss: 74 miles (this is not a whole lot more than a beer run in the minds of many Memphians)
Memphis to Mississippi State: 168 miles
Memphis to Vandy: 200 miles
Memphis to Bama: 226 miles
Memphis to Arky: 331 miles
Memphis to the Barn: 341 miles
Memphis to Mizzou: 377 miles
Memphis to UT: 380 miles (different time zone, OMG! You lose an hour! I-40 all the dang way!!)
Memphis to LSU: 387 miles
Memphis to UK: 412 miles (also Eastern!)

Not sure where in Illinois we're talking about, but MEM to UI-Urbana-Champaign is 411 miles. We're not competing with the Illini, are we??

Meanwhile, Hotlanta to UT: 199 miles

I never really lived in Memphis, as in growing up there, going to school there, etc., but I know enough folks there to know that the expectation is that their kids will go to Ole Miss, Bama, Memphis (oh dear, those pesky grades), maybe Rhodes or Hendrix, and various other private colleges. Relatively few have UT on their radars. East Tennessee feels like a foreign country (Eastern time zone!! The news doesn't come on until 11!!!) to many there, and that's in the white 'burbs.

edited to add Auburn and LSU after Hoptown's post
 
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#31
#31
savannahfan said:
Name them, please. I can't visualize them. ????
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You can't name all the schools in the SEC? Schools with proximity to Memphis: Arky, OM, MSU, Vandy, Tuscaloosa. Columbia and Baton Rouge
are the same distance. Auburn is essentially the same distance as Knoxville. Not sure proximity is such a big factor these days.
 
#32
#32
HoptownVol said:
You can't name all the schools in the SEC? Schools with proximity to Memphis: Arky, OM, MSU, Vandy, Tuscaloosa. Columbia and Baton Rouge
are the same distance. Auburn is essentially the same distance as Knoxville. Not sure proximity is such a big factor these days.
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Are you drawing a circle on a map?? I usually think in terms of "time". Still wonder about Mo. Ark would be close. And yes I can name all the SEC and most (maybe not most, but a bunch) other schools of note in the general area. (meaning most from mid Ill across to coast and points south.
 
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#33
#33
wmcovol said:
Sad story. Thompson, his HS coach, Logan Young and Alabama ruined that young man’s life. He could have been an NFL player but he was ruined in HS over adults greed.
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It was very bad the way they sold him like a mule and he trusted Thompson like a father. It must have hurt his feelings but as I remember he had a pretty good run with Memphis. Had he been NFL material he could have gone from there. Ruined his life? That seems a little extreme.
 
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#34
#34
Past Memphis neglect may well be due to East Tennessee perception of and attitude toward Memphis residents. I recall reading comments and article excerpts that dared to delve into this matter years back. It factored into recruits selection into going elsewhere.

{OK, ready for the coming lambasting}
 
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#35
#35
WoodsmanVol said:
Past Memphis neglect may well be due to East Tennessee perception of and attitude toward Memphis residents. I recall reading comments and article excerpts that dared to delve into this matter years back. It factored into recruits selection into going elsewhere.

{OK, ready for the coming lambasting}
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I agree with you. Lots of us low landers "over here" have over the years felt that we have been look down on from on high by our Knoxville area east Tennesseers.
 
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#36
#36
go get kids you want and that make sense. same for nash. but we need a national brand. charlotte, atl, los angeles, hampton, flarduh, all important.
 
#38
#38
LittleVol said:
There is one metric that says it has overtaken California in top NFL players. And is only behind FL and TX.

GA is saturated with talent and not its surprising. It's always had the talent and now some of the top high schook coaches are in that state.

Lastly, TN is still a major priority. Because the talent is rising here! Top 10 state in football talent. It's just that GA maybe number 1 here soon....
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I think Georgia produce the most quality per capita in the country. The coaching and dedication to youth football is better than anywhere else. Tennessee is in as good a position as anyone not named UGA to land this talent.
 
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#41
#41
Memphis academics and HS culture overall have proven to be substandard as a key recruiting base. Stick with the Middle TN, Georgia, NC, SC and Florida kids. Maybe give kids a longer look in basketball but for football, Memphis is overrated, flabby, culturally void of content and best suited for the Mississippi JUCO circuit.
 
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#42
#42
LittleVol said:
Build a Wall around ATL!

I love the state of TN and I love when UT gets big time in-state guys.

But if I had to choose the Top 10 in TN vs
10- 20 ranked (not even top 10) in GA.
I'm going with ranked 10-20 in GA.

Atlanta area is much closer to Knoxville and there is even more talent there than Memphis...
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I respect your thoughts but wholehearted disagree.
 
#43
#43
VolNExile said:
So as someone who has dragged her patootie back and forth on I-40 from Knoxville to Memphis and back since the early seventies, 6+ hours each way, and now Asheville to Memphis and back, 8+ hours each way, I got curious about the mileage.

Here's what Google Maps has to say, with the starting point my mother's house in Memphis, because why not, lol (close to White Station HS for those familiar with Mempho):

Memphis to Ole Miss: 74 miles (this is not a whole lot more than a beer run in the minds of many Memphians)
Memphis to Mississippi State: 168 miles
Memphis to Vandy: 200 miles
Memphis to Bama: 226 miles
Memphis to Arky: 331 miles
Memphis to the Barn: 341 miles
Memphis to Mizzou: 377 miles
Memphis to UT: 380 miles (different time zone, OMG! You lose an hour! I-40 all the dang way!!)
Memphis to LSU: 387 miles
Memphis to UK: 412 miles (also Eastern!)

Not sure where in Illinois we're talking about, but MEM to UI-Urbana-Champaign is 411 miles. We're not competing with the Illini, are we??

Meanwhile, Hotlanta to UT: 199 miles

I never really lived in Memphis, as in growing up there, going to school there, etc., but I know enough folks there to know that the expectation is that their kids will go to Ole Miss, Bama, Memphis (oh dear, those pesky grades), maybe Rhodes or Hendrix, and various other private colleges. Relatively few have UT on their radars. East Tennessee feels like a foreign country (Eastern time zone!! The news doesn't come on until 11!!!) to many there, and that's in the white 'burbs.

edited to add Auburn and LSU after Hoptown's post
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Yeah, I'm still trying to work out that "Illinois" comment... and the straight shot down I-57/I-55 from Chambana is listed as 401 miles.
 
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#45
#45
LittleVol said:
There is one metric that says it has overtaken California in top NFL players. And is only behind FL and TX.

GA is saturated with talent and not its surprising. It's always had the talent and now some of the top high school coaches are in that state.

Lastly, TN is still a major priority. Because the talent is rising here! Top 10 state in football talent. It's just that GA maybe number 1 here soon....
Click to expand...

It's just a numbers game there's nothing special about hs football in GA. The population of the state of Georgia makes it just behind Florida ranked #4 with GA being #8. The shocking thing is the state of North Carolina is #9. The numbers say there are almost as many good players in #10 NC as there are in GA but they're getting overlooked. TN is #16 in population with Mizzou being roughly equivalent around 6 million each. Then comes everybody else in the SEC around 4 million. So the idea that Bama as a state itself produces an abundance of great players is hogwash.

List of U.S. states by population - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
#47
#47
Coach Punk said:
Listen to a (might I say slimmer) Jerome Carvin talking about helping to recruit RB Gray, and the status of recruiting Memphis players:



Only 4? I realize it’s clear on the other side of the state, but how did they not prioritize Memphis in the Jones administration?

I love that Pruitt is trying to turn Memphis back into a Tennessee stronghold.
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With all due respect to Jerome, we only signed 2 of the top 13 players in the state during the early signing period. I know some of it was by design because JP didn’t covet a lot of the 2019 in-state class and believes the 2020 class to be much better and more to his liking. But when you only sign 2 of the top 13 players in the state, that ain’t “locking down” anything.
 
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#48
#48
knox73 said:
Memphis academics and HS culture overall have proven to be substandard as a key recruiting base. Stick with the Middle TN, Georgia, NC, SC and Florida kids. Maybe give kids a longer look in basketball but for football, Memphis is overrated, flabby, culturally void of content and best suited for the Mississippi JUCO circuit.
Click to expand...

You're part of the problem
 
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#50
#50
Pruitt had relationships in Memphis dating back to jobs at FSU, UGA, and Alabama. The staff knows Memphis well. He didn’t have relationships with mid state and east TN highschools.
 
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