Recruiting Forum Football Talk II

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#14,326
#14,326
Kingston Vol said:
Pretty interesting discussion on the Russillo pod today with Andy Staples. Two of my favorite guys in their respective fields. Russillo is really smart and thoughtful on the NBA and I think Staples is one of the smartest guys covering college football nationally. I believe Staples is one of the few who still defends Tennessee fans over Schiano Sunday.


Anyway, they spend about 3 minutes talking about the Tennessee program. The takeaway was basically that the only difference between Tennessee and Nebraska is Nebraska has accepted where they are and Tennessee hasn’t. Not sure I agree that’s the only difference - but it may be my orange blinders.

Anyway, inevitably Pruitt’s future comes up, as should be expected. I think Staples believes in Pruitt pretty highly (doesn’t say so in this podcast but has before on Twitter and such) but he says his fear for Tennessee is that we’re essentially trying to recruit the same types of players as Alabama and Georgia. The problem is that, because we’re down right now, we’ll continue to get the lesser talented 1/3rd of those high school players - i.e., we’ll never catch up to those two - and that doesn’t even mention the problem in Gainesville. Basically you start the season at a disadvantage against your top three opponents - and it’ll take better gameday coaching to bridge that gap both in the short term and long term.

Tl;dr, I don’t think I ever really thought of it this way. That we should be zigging when the top of the conference is zagging. I don’t know that it’s true or false - just a different way of looking at things.

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Interesting points. I think Tennessee is by far the most difficult coaching job in America right now. In addition to what you mention, to get all the way to the top you have to play Bammer twice, maybe 3 times in a year. Or maybe LSU stands in for one of those. Or maybe you have to beat Georgia twice and Bammer and Florida. I think potential coaches realize this VERY well.
It seems to me that our fans underestimate what Pruitt is up against. I continue to believe that he is the guy. If he can get us, first, to the very top of the second tier in the conference with those 1/3 guys -- and look at To'oto'o and Gray, et. al.!-- then he will be in position to make a move from there. I further think Fulmer picked him as a mini-me, among other things. And there's more to say but TL;DR
 
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#14,332
#14,332
Kingston Vol said:
Pretty interesting discussion on the Russillo pod today with Andy Staples. Two of my favorite guys in their respective fields. Russillo is really smart and thoughtful on the NBA and I think Staples is one of the smartest guys covering college football nationally. I believe Staples is one of the few who still defends Tennessee fans over Schiano Sunday.


Anyway, they spend about 3 minutes talking about the Tennessee program. The takeaway was basically that the only difference between Tennessee and Nebraska is Nebraska has accepted where they are and Tennessee hasn’t. Not sure I agree that’s the only difference - but it may be my orange blinders.

Anyway, inevitably Pruitt’s future comes up, as should be expected. I think Staples believes in Pruitt pretty highly (doesn’t say so in this podcast but has before on Twitter and such) but he says his fear for Tennessee is that we’re essentially trying to recruit the same types of players as Alabama and Georgia. The problem is that, because we’re down right now, we’ll continue to get the lesser talented 1/3rd of those high school players - i.e., we’ll never catch up to those two - and that doesn’t even mention the problem in Gainesville. Basically you start the season at a disadvantage against your top three opponents - and it’ll take better gameday coaching to bridge that gap both in the short term and long term.

Tl;dr, I don’t think I ever really thought of it this way. That we should be zigging when the top of the conference is zagging. I don’t know that it’s true or false - just a different way of looking at things.

Click to expand...


That’s why Leach was so attractive. Runs a completely different style than most of our rivals are used to. Different recruiting needed for that. Would have been fun.
 
#14,333
#14,333
We aren’t very far behind Fl at all.

We are lightyears behind Bama and Ga.

But, we can catch them. In order to do it, we have to recruit top classes. They can only sign 25 players, as can we. Clemson caught them and they didn’t recruit number 1 or 2 in the country. We can catch them by landing more top players like Crouch and Henry and others, developing our players, and winning. The more we win, the more we’ll get these players. If this staff can get us to where we win 9-10 games, they’ll sign one of the best classes in the country.

And here’s the thing, Bama and UGA won’t always be that good. How do I know? Because they weren’t this good a decade ago. These things ebb and flow. When saban leaves most likely Bama will fall back down. And even tho Kirby has ga rolling, if he doesn’t win a championship, how long will that continue?

Everyone thinks they’re gonna be elite forever. But in the 90s everyone thought TN and Nebraska would always be elite. When Spurrier and Meyer were at Fl, people said they would always be great. When Mac was at Texas, people always thought they’d be elite. When Bowden was at FSU, same thing. When Carroll was at USC, same thing. Programs always take a step back. It will happen to Bama, UGA, and Clemson also. Just like TN will eventually rise back to the top. We have everything that every other program in the country has. Just takes the right coach. Hopefully Pruitt is the right coach. I think he has potential to be.
 
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#14,336
#14,336
Jack Burton said:
That’s why Leach was so attractive. Runs a completely different style than most of our rivals are used to. Different recruiting needed for that. Would have been fun.
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This point of view used to irritate me, but I've come to understand it. There's some sense in it. I myself still prefer Pruitt. But I see what you're talking about.
 
#14,340
#14,340
You know, the Pirate can take Bammer, GA, and Florida or LSU for their 3 non-conference games next year and then we can further discuss.

Because the whole argument seems to assume that the scheme can beat the athletes we face. And I still think the LSU-Oregon kickoff game from years back is a good example of how that tends to work in real life.
 
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#14,347
#14,347
SLICKYINC said:
By different, do you mean leftovers?
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Smaller, faster skill guys. An actual dual threat QB. Pruitt isn’t beating the big rivals running the same system with less quality players which is the current model. Ga State already showed he’ll do less with more.
 
#14,349
#14,349
Paper_Towel said:
PUT ON MORE DAMN STEAM
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