BigOrange15
Never Falter, Never Yield
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2009
- Messages
- 23,097
- Likes
- 35,647
Recruiting Forum Football Talk II
- Thread starter jordan4vols
- Start date
- Status
quadlee21
West Tennessee Legend
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2015
- Messages
- 3,052
- Likes
- 11,841
volatil
Villains
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2009
- Messages
- 42,084
- Likes
- 100,405
Buddy’s Bandit
Tennessean by the Grace of God
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2017
- Messages
- 5,155
- Likes
- 18,441
JCP201
VFL GIRL, better or worse.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2010
- Messages
- 17,627
- Likes
- 57,655
SIAP: By Andy Staple...
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Phillip Fulmer stood near the exit to Tennessee’s locker room Saturday afternoon as an uncharacteristic cool breeze floated down from the street level above. Tennessee’s athletic director shook hands with Volunteers as they trudged from the locker room beneath what is now known as Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Then the players collected their boxed lunches and trudged some more up the hill toward the buses.
Watching Fulmer try to raise the spirits of the Vols in that particular spot couldn’t help but jog the memory. Only a few feet away was the room where Fulmer stood on the night of Dec. 1, 2001, the place where he told a team that everyone thought had no chance that it was 60 football minutes away from the GREATEST WIN OF THIS SEASON.
A few hours later, the Vols had pulled off the one of the greatest wins of any season in Tennessee history.
Tennessee has been trying to recapture the magic of that night ever since, and knowing nights like that have happened for players wearing Power Ts on their helmets only makes days like Saturday more painful. Florida has reconfigured its visitors’ area since that night, so current Vols coach Jeremy Pruitt had to explain away Saturday’s 34-3 loss to the Gators on almost exactly the same spot where Fulmer stood when he told that 2001 team that Florida players put on their jocks just like Tennessee players did. But a lot can change in 18 years.
The moment doesn’t feel that long ago, but a person born that night will be able to buy cigarettes in a few months. The current Vols were in diapers. Even though Tennessee won a division title in 2007 and didn’t fall off until the following year, those current players don’t remember a time when Tennessee was a legitimate threat to win championships. The college football world has changed completely, and the Vols have been left behind. The product Tennessee put on the field Saturday is not fit to compete in the SEC. The Vols will need to improve — and maybe get a little lucky — to avoid being 1-7 when they play UAB on Nov. 2.
As bad as the past 11 years have been, this next part probably will hurt worse. But at this point, it’s the only way.
The popular conspiracy theory whispered in college football circles is that this is all a master plan by Fulmer to get himself back on the sideline after he was unceremoniously fired in 2008 — that he is college football’s Count of Monte Cristo. But Fulmer knows better. He knows he must give Pruitt enough time to try to build a roster that can compete in the SEC. That’s Tennessee’s only hope.
The reset button won’t work. Tennessee fired Butch Jones less than two years ago. Another firing, no matter how dire the record, would only make matters worse. So much churn in so few years would only scare away recruits who crave a stable place where they can be trained to play in the NFL. Plus, the last thing the Vols need at this point is a Frankenstein roster built by three different administrations.
The losses are going to pile up with this team, but at least Tennessee fans can accept that and deal with reality on reality’s terms. At least they can stop hoping that Tennessee will magically improve. Georgia State wasn’t a fluke. It was a statement of fact. BYU wasn’t a miracle upset by the Cougars. BYU merely needed a miracle play to avoid getting upset by Tennessee.
Florida seems to have found a revelation at quarterback in Kyle Trask, but the Gators didn’t play particularly well Saturday. Florida left points all over the field, and if the Gators play against Auburn on Oct. 5 the way they played against Tennessee on Saturday, they’ll probably lose. But even at (what they hope) is their sloppiest, the Gators still dispatched Tennessee with ease. “We’re not good enough to beat a good team if we don’t play perfect,” Pruitt said. And if that’s what Florida does, what will Georgia and Alabama do?
Pruitt spent his postgame press conference Saturday trying not to throw anyone under the bus the way he did after the BYU loss, but the fact of the matter is there is plenty of blame to go around. The Vols have defenders who leave receivers wide open. Before the coaching staff decided to send extra rushers — to the detriment of the coverage unit — Trask had enough time in the pocket to knit a sweater before he threw because no defensive lineman could win a one-on-one matchup. The offensive line couldn’t open holes, and starting quarterback Jarrett Guarantano missed open receivers. The most egregious of these moments was when he couldn’t hit tight end Dom Wood-Anderson, who was running alone behind the entire Florida defense.
The buck, of course, stops with Pruitt, the $3.8 million-a-year head coach who specializes in teaching defensive backs but who has struggled to get his DBs to cover opposing receivers. Tennessee paid offensive coordinator Jim Chaney $1.5 million this year to get him away from Georgia, and for that amount he should have Guarantano and the offense trained to line up and run a play and not take a delay of game penalty coming out of a quarter break.
Pruitt yanked Guarantano at halftime in favor of freshman Brian Maurer, but that change only lasted a few series. Pruitt insisted afterward that every job is open and the best players will play.
That may be the hardest part for the Tennessee fan base to accept. The Vols don’t have a cache of reserve players ready to spring into action and save the season. The players playing now are doing so because they are the ones who give the Vols the best chance to win. Unfortunately, given the upcoming schedule, that’s almost no chance.
Pruitt’s area of expertise, the defensive secondary, has been among the Vols’ biggest weaknesses. (Kim Klement / USA Today)
Were this a pro sport, fans could take solace in a #TankFor[Insert Popular Quarterback Here] campaign. They could mutter about trusting the process while the team stinks and stockpiles draft picks*. But this is the Catch-22 of college sports. You still have to recruit while you rebuild. A basketball team can do this with one great recruiting class. A football team in this deep a hole needs three good classes and the time to develop those players. To pull that off, the coaching staff must sell the dream in spite of the evidence on the field. This typically is accomplished by convincing high school stars who want to play right away that their quickest path onto the field is to beat out the players currently getting throttled at their school instead of sitting behind the players currently winning games at other programs.
*Trusting the process in college football means something entirely different and involves much more pleasant results. We’re using the Philadelphia 76ers’ definition here.
But this can be dangerous, too. The players a program truly needs are the ones who either are mature enough to know they need time to develop or confident enough to believe they can beat out the players who are in the midst of winning games. Those players won’t be sold with that pitch. So the only way to get them is to convince them that they can be the ones who break the mold and bring a downtrodden program back to glory. Sometimes that happens, though. Senior receiver Collin Johnson and his classmates at Texas have brought the Longhorns out of the darkness. It takes a special group to do it.
Pruitt will have to be the one to find this group. He has worked at Alabama, Florida State and Georgia. He knows what the players he needs look like. Now he has to convince them to come to Tennessee even though the results suggest they should go elsewhere. It has to be him, because bailing on Pruitt and trying someone else at this point might set the program back another four years. Solid recruiting could get Tennessee out of this hole before the current team’s freshmen graduate. But that’s the only way. There is no magic bullet. There is no overnight fix. There is only long, painful work ahead.
When Gainesville native Tom Petty died two years ago, Florida added a second traditional song to the break between the third and fourth quarters. Now, after the fans lock arms and sway as they sing “We Are The Boys Of Old Florida,” the speakers blare Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.” Saturday, the Gators hadn’t gotten enough of their favorite homegrown singer. So after Florida’s Dameon Pierce scored on a 10-yard run that made it 31-3, another Petty standard blared.
The Tennessee band tried to drown it out, but everyone could still hear the song — which sounded like a dedication played especially for the visitors.
It was “Free Fallin’.”
For Tennessee, the bottom is close. And the only way back up is to stop digging further down and hope Pruitt can build a ladder
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Phillip Fulmer stood near the exit to Tennessee’s locker room Saturday afternoon as an uncharacteristic cool breeze floated down from the street level above. Tennessee’s athletic director shook hands with Volunteers as they trudged from the locker room beneath what is now known as Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Then the players collected their boxed lunches and trudged some more up the hill toward the buses.
Watching Fulmer try to raise the spirits of the Vols in that particular spot couldn’t help but jog the memory. Only a few feet away was the room where Fulmer stood on the night of Dec. 1, 2001, the place where he told a team that everyone thought had no chance that it was 60 football minutes away from the GREATEST WIN OF THIS SEASON.
A few hours later, the Vols had pulled off the one of the greatest wins of any season in Tennessee history.
Tennessee has been trying to recapture the magic of that night ever since, and knowing nights like that have happened for players wearing Power Ts on their helmets only makes days like Saturday more painful. Florida has reconfigured its visitors’ area since that night, so current Vols coach Jeremy Pruitt had to explain away Saturday’s 34-3 loss to the Gators on almost exactly the same spot where Fulmer stood when he told that 2001 team that Florida players put on their jocks just like Tennessee players did. But a lot can change in 18 years.
The moment doesn’t feel that long ago, but a person born that night will be able to buy cigarettes in a few months. The current Vols were in diapers. Even though Tennessee won a division title in 2007 and didn’t fall off until the following year, those current players don’t remember a time when Tennessee was a legitimate threat to win championships. The college football world has changed completely, and the Vols have been left behind. The product Tennessee put on the field Saturday is not fit to compete in the SEC. The Vols will need to improve — and maybe get a little lucky — to avoid being 1-7 when they play UAB on Nov. 2.
As bad as the past 11 years have been, this next part probably will hurt worse. But at this point, it’s the only way.
The popular conspiracy theory whispered in college football circles is that this is all a master plan by Fulmer to get himself back on the sideline after he was unceremoniously fired in 2008 — that he is college football’s Count of Monte Cristo. But Fulmer knows better. He knows he must give Pruitt enough time to try to build a roster that can compete in the SEC. That’s Tennessee’s only hope.
The reset button won’t work. Tennessee fired Butch Jones less than two years ago. Another firing, no matter how dire the record, would only make matters worse. So much churn in so few years would only scare away recruits who crave a stable place where they can be trained to play in the NFL. Plus, the last thing the Vols need at this point is a Frankenstein roster built by three different administrations.
The losses are going to pile up with this team, but at least Tennessee fans can accept that and deal with reality on reality’s terms. At least they can stop hoping that Tennessee will magically improve. Georgia State wasn’t a fluke. It was a statement of fact. BYU wasn’t a miracle upset by the Cougars. BYU merely needed a miracle play to avoid getting upset by Tennessee.
Florida seems to have found a revelation at quarterback in Kyle Trask, but the Gators didn’t play particularly well Saturday. Florida left points all over the field, and if the Gators play against Auburn on Oct. 5 the way they played against Tennessee on Saturday, they’ll probably lose. But even at (what they hope) is their sloppiest, the Gators still dispatched Tennessee with ease. “We’re not good enough to beat a good team if we don’t play perfect,” Pruitt said. And if that’s what Florida does, what will Georgia and Alabama do?
Pruitt spent his postgame press conference Saturday trying not to throw anyone under the bus the way he did after the BYU loss, but the fact of the matter is there is plenty of blame to go around. The Vols have defenders who leave receivers wide open. Before the coaching staff decided to send extra rushers — to the detriment of the coverage unit — Trask had enough time in the pocket to knit a sweater before he threw because no defensive lineman could win a one-on-one matchup. The offensive line couldn’t open holes, and starting quarterback Jarrett Guarantano missed open receivers. The most egregious of these moments was when he couldn’t hit tight end Dom Wood-Anderson, who was running alone behind the entire Florida defense.
The buck, of course, stops with Pruitt, the $3.8 million-a-year head coach who specializes in teaching defensive backs but who has struggled to get his DBs to cover opposing receivers. Tennessee paid offensive coordinator Jim Chaney $1.5 million this year to get him away from Georgia, and for that amount he should have Guarantano and the offense trained to line up and run a play and not take a delay of game penalty coming out of a quarter break.
Pruitt yanked Guarantano at halftime in favor of freshman Brian Maurer, but that change only lasted a few series. Pruitt insisted afterward that every job is open and the best players will play.
That may be the hardest part for the Tennessee fan base to accept. The Vols don’t have a cache of reserve players ready to spring into action and save the season. The players playing now are doing so because they are the ones who give the Vols the best chance to win. Unfortunately, given the upcoming schedule, that’s almost no chance.
Pruitt’s area of expertise, the defensive secondary, has been among the Vols’ biggest weaknesses. (Kim Klement / USA Today)
Were this a pro sport, fans could take solace in a #TankFor[Insert Popular Quarterback Here] campaign. They could mutter about trusting the process while the team stinks and stockpiles draft picks*. But this is the Catch-22 of college sports. You still have to recruit while you rebuild. A basketball team can do this with one great recruiting class. A football team in this deep a hole needs three good classes and the time to develop those players. To pull that off, the coaching staff must sell the dream in spite of the evidence on the field. This typically is accomplished by convincing high school stars who want to play right away that their quickest path onto the field is to beat out the players currently getting throttled at their school instead of sitting behind the players currently winning games at other programs.
*Trusting the process in college football means something entirely different and involves much more pleasant results. We’re using the Philadelphia 76ers’ definition here.
But this can be dangerous, too. The players a program truly needs are the ones who either are mature enough to know they need time to develop or confident enough to believe they can beat out the players who are in the midst of winning games. Those players won’t be sold with that pitch. So the only way to get them is to convince them that they can be the ones who break the mold and bring a downtrodden program back to glory. Sometimes that happens, though. Senior receiver Collin Johnson and his classmates at Texas have brought the Longhorns out of the darkness. It takes a special group to do it.
Pruitt will have to be the one to find this group. He has worked at Alabama, Florida State and Georgia. He knows what the players he needs look like. Now he has to convince them to come to Tennessee even though the results suggest they should go elsewhere. It has to be him, because bailing on Pruitt and trying someone else at this point might set the program back another four years. Solid recruiting could get Tennessee out of this hole before the current team’s freshmen graduate. But that’s the only way. There is no magic bullet. There is no overnight fix. There is only long, painful work ahead.
When Gainesville native Tom Petty died two years ago, Florida added a second traditional song to the break between the third and fourth quarters. Now, after the fans lock arms and sway as they sing “We Are The Boys Of Old Florida,” the speakers blare Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.” Saturday, the Gators hadn’t gotten enough of their favorite homegrown singer. So after Florida’s Dameon Pierce scored on a 10-yard run that made it 31-3, another Petty standard blared.
The Tennessee band tried to drown it out, but everyone could still hear the song — which sounded like a dedication played especially for the visitors.
It was “Free Fallin’.”
For Tennessee, the bottom is close. And the only way back up is to stop digging further down and hope Pruitt can build a ladder
volatil
Villains
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2009
- Messages
- 42,084
- Likes
- 100,405
volatil
Villains
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2009
- Messages
- 42,084
- Likes
- 100,405
jakez4ut
Patience... It's what's for dinner
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2005
- Messages
- 72,529
- Likes
- 133,060
Good stuff.
I think the hardest part now is how do you find or build confidence?
I would imagine, though I'd never expect to hear it publicly, doubt has set in at some level for players and coaches.... And at athletic director.
And your right... There are several contributors for other sec teams that were coming here had CBJ not flamed out, or at least not been fired, so I can see this class at least staying put for the most part, even falling well short of what was expected. May lose out on some of the big names still uncommitted..
Pruitt hasn't done himself any favors with the fans and the reaction from them is just gonna be what it is.
Anyway... We're not good again and the road back to being decent at least looks to still be as long as it did 3 years ago, which actually means it's longer now.
We are in the unfortunate position of not having a choice but to be patient whether we keep or fire Pruitt.
Buddy’s Bandit
Tennessean by the Grace of God
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2017
- Messages
- 5,155
- Likes
- 18,441
Memphisvol87
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2012
- Messages
- 4,244
- Likes
- 6,560
This was never a one year rebuild. Nobody could rationally expect that. I agree this year is just a complete disaster so far. It is. I’m not debating that.
But if our secondary, in the midst of all the sucking, played like bamas...who complains there. If Chaney fixed our qb.... we would be excited.
This all takes more than one year... band aid fixing a chainsaw wound doesn’t help. Pruitt for right or wrong has to stick to his plan. His system, his way of running a program. If he bails on what he teaches because it gets tough.. players and recruits lose belief.
Chaney is calling every game so far well enough to win if we were executing. Watch the film. The defense I’m not so sure on yet, but I have a feeling players like warrior and Burrell are just making mistakes. Players like tootoo are thriving, but also making completely understandable mistakes. Darell Taylor is crashing too hard sometimes. Everyone on d is thinking too much. And mistakes are inevitable.
I don’t know what you can do at this point but ride through the storm. If he does end up with 1-2 wins you have a serious problem. That hints more than either Pruitt’s system doesn’t work, or he just can’t teach it correctly. Either way coaches are fired for less all the time because 1-2 wins is never acceptable in any year frankly.
Pruitts recruits look really talented. They are just too few and too young to overcome the deficit so far. We should be 3-1. But we aren’t. But Pruitt can’t bail on his system period.
nicksjuzunk
Lurking
- Joined
- May 29, 2009
- Messages
- 35,560
- Likes
- 112,832
jakez4ut
Patience... It's what's for dinner
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2005
- Messages
- 72,529
- Likes
- 133,060
titansvolsfaninga
Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV
- Joined
- Mar 20, 2013
- Messages
- 12,401
- Likes
- 17,467
Dudley Smith
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2009
- Messages
- 4,492
- Likes
- 16,749
UpstateVol613
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2017
- Messages
- 5,480
- Likes
- 45,160
BigOrangeVols
Not an Insider
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2014
- Messages
- 6,429
- Likes
- 5,806
BigOrangeVols
Not an Insider
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2014
- Messages
- 6,429
- Likes
- 5,806
AppStVol
Send it, Jerry.
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2009
- Messages
- 1,531
- Likes
- 2,662
I have a family member on a ACC staff that employs a former UT coach. That former coach still has relationships in Knoxville and the word I heard before the season started is the majority of the holdovers from Butch hate Pruitt and don’t trust him. I think it’s pretty clear to see the ones going through the motions.
On the flip side, the freshman love him and will run through a wall. But having upper class man second guessing coaching and lacking trust is a recipe for split locker room disaster.
It’s going to be a long fall and until we flush out the duds/dead weight things aren’t going to get better.
As hard as it is going to be to watch, I’m onboard of giving Pruitt another year to get more of his guys in. Now that is with assumption recruiting doesn’t totally tank. At that point you have to make a tough decision.
On the flip side, the freshman love him and will run through a wall. But having upper class man second guessing coaching and lacking trust is a recipe for split locker room disaster.
It’s going to be a long fall and until we flush out the duds/dead weight things aren’t going to get better.
As hard as it is going to be to watch, I’m onboard of giving Pruitt another year to get more of his guys in. Now that is with assumption recruiting doesn’t totally tank. At that point you have to make a tough decision.
nicksjuzunk
Lurking
- Joined
- May 29, 2009
- Messages
- 35,560
- Likes
- 112,832
TechnoVol
010101100100011001001100
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2011
- Messages
- 7,064
- Likes
- 13,100
JCP201
VFL GIRL, better or worse.
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2010
- Messages
- 17,627
- Likes
- 57,655
Smyrna ATL Vol
We finally get it right and UT is great once again
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2019
- Messages
- 9,434
- Likes
- 45,284
We have plenty of coaches who would come. Just because our administration makes terrible decisions does not mean we could not get a good coach. Sumlin, Cutcliffe, Patterson all wanted this job at one point and we made bad hires. You can’t tell me we couldn’t get Babers or Campbell if we really tried. Believe what you want though.
HankHill
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2011
- Messages
- 14,393
- Likes
- 45,512
- Status
VN Store
