Recruiting Forum Football Talk II

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#20,001
#20,001
From UTK in the FF:
UTK said:
I have changed my tone a bit. I have let it fully sink in that Tennessee Football is on life support. That's not even being dramatic, it literally is on life support. We are staring a 2-10 or maybe 3-9 season in the face. But that's not the reason it's on life support. It may be the final nail in the coffin, but it doesn't have to be.

UT football is important to everyone here. Even the rival fans, the status of UT football matters to them. Listen, UT football is in the shape it is because of bad decision after bad decision over the coarse of 12 years. And that all starts at top. Poor decisions from boosters and board members time and time again. The fighting between these groups of people have created an absolutely toxic environment.

With that being said, what can we do as fans? I have the past couple weeks urged people to not go to games and make a statement that way...but you know what? I've changed my tone. We have done that in the past and nothing has changed. We have let Bama invade Neyland and nothing has changed. All we can do is support this Team and Coaches. Show up and cheer for them because quite frankly...Jeremy Pruitt, this staff and the young players we have on our team may just be UTs final hope.

No matter the record this year, as long as the young players keep improving game by game and you start to see some fight, we have to stick by this team. We can't add to the toxic environment that already exists. These coaches have to be able to pull recruits in to continue to stay afloat. It's going to be a long road, championships may be years and years down the road....but if we give this staff time to learn and grow together...then just maybe UT Football will take a breath on its own again. That is the only option we have. It sucks. But it is what it is, so let's band together and support this team and program until it either heals or takes its last breath.
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#20,002
#20,002
Smyrna ATL Vol said:
Of course they are. Fulmer wouldn’t fire Pruitt until after early signing period because he knows the only way we can survive is recruiting. Not that he will be fired, but his job would not be the safest if we only win two games. I only pray this team finds itself in the bye week and decides they have nothing to lose and plays all out. We can win 4-6 games if they get it together. And that would be the best thing possible right now.
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If this team wins 6 games, Pruitt is coach of the year for the second half.
 
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#20,005
#20,005
Memphisvol87 said:
After the start of this year, I don’t care if we Lose by 1 or lose by 80 I just want to see players giving their all and some progress. Fill that recruiting class like last years and hopefully we get some leaders and dogs to represent the T.
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Agree with this. Most 5 stars get there to some degree because they have worked very hard to maximize the athletic skills that they were blessed with. We need great players who are willing to continue to strive to get better and who leave it all on the field. I think it's very ironic that Butch talked about players with five star hearts and still recruited a number of them who clearly don't have that quality.
 
#20,006
#20,006
Kingston Vol said:
Understood. Not advocating for it. Just wondered how people feel because the general consensus of those who want to avoid a search has been that there would be no continuity going forward and it would set the program back further. The continuity needs to contain positive progress.

I don’t know. Thought it was an interesting thought exercise.
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Continuity has its place and importance. I don't think its the main issue in this case for this reason. Season 1 given the circumstances was not hard to see coming. It wasn't good by any means but understandable. Season 2 to this point has been regression. Why? has been talked about on the hour since Ga St and for good reason.

Personally, its not as much a continuity issue as a confidence issue from a decision making standpoint.

During my lifetime UT has hired,

Majors (former player and Tn native)
Fulmer (former player, Tn native, and on staff at the time he was hired as HC)
Kiffin (hot name at the time even tho he failed in the NFL, last name didn't hurt)
Dooley (Vince had a son? He was on Saban staff)
Jones (decent success following Kelly, he had lost to Dooley)
Pruitt (successfully DC at some good schools, but not a lick of HC experience)

A few things that stick out to me about this list.

1. Majors and Kiffin are the only 2 coaches you could argue were guys that UT identified very early and hired. I don't remember the Majors hire but I doubt he was not the primary from the start. Majors being a UT guy makes it slightly different from Kiffin but he had also won a NC at Pitt where Kiffin had struggled in the NFL.

2. Fulmer and Pruitt are the only 2 guys that were hired as HC without any HC experience. Fulmer walked into a substantially better situation from UT's end and the conference was not nearly as good either.

3. On paper Kiffin was the last hire that before hand was considered a good hire by most people. It wasn't Saban to Bama or Urban to OSU but a good hire.

Its not a ground breaking statement to say UT has not exuded any confidence from anyone (much less the fans) in the last 3 hires. And some would argue 4. And even Fulmer was based on a handful of interim games by comparison to a guy that had won a NC and 3 SEC titles that he was replacing.

If confidence in what they do after the fire Pruitt is not at the top of the list I have no idea what should be.
 
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#20,010
#20,010
LA Vol said:
The staff is assuring players and recruits that Pruitt has admin support and will be here next year, and Fulmer is reiterating that. Fulmer has contacted recruits personally with his assurance. Recruits are sticking because they believe it. They hear what Fulmer says and what young players like QC say, and they buy-in to the rebuild. This year is abysmal, but the losses are baked-in and recruits are looking forward. Hopefully, that mindset can continue as we hit the wood chipper part of the schedule and negativity soars.
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That’s the only hope really. If recruiting takes a nose dive then the Pruitt experiment has to end quickly.
 
#20,011
#20,011
Smyrna ATL Vol said:
Of course they are. Fulmer wouldn’t fire Pruitt until after early signing period because he knows the only way we can survive is recruiting. Not that he will be fired, but his job would not be the safest if we only win two games. I only pray this team finds itself in the bye week and decides they have nothing to lose and plays all out. We can win 4-6 games if they get it together. And that would be the best thing possible right now.
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Getting the signature isn't what it used to be. The transfer portal very much illustrated that this past off season. That makes it even more unlikely Fulmer is just selling them a bill of goods.
 
#20,014
#20,014
JohnnyD1024 said:
We've been fairly competitive with Georgia this decade despite our record against them being 2 and 7. 6 of the 9 meetings have been decided by 8 points or less.

Out of the schools we have played every year this decade we have score the 3rd most points(217) against Georgia. Out of the schools Georgia plays each year we have scored the second most points on them. Only South Carolina has scored points on Georgia this decade and it's only by 10 points.

This decade it seems like we are most likely to play above ourselves against Georgia.
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Two things give me hope of an upset.
1. Our roster is full of players from Georgia and this is a pride thing.
2. UGA always loses inexplicably to someone. Hope we are that someone.


Two weeks to fix issues and prepare. The staff could earn a lot of clout with an upset or a spirited effort.
 
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#20,016
#20,016
bignewt said:
So this will probably get dumped as political, but isn't UT football a microcosm for the USA? In-fighting and incompetence by those in power leaving a once proud winning entity in shambles and a shadow of its former self with no glimmer of hope to recapture past glory?
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You ok?
 
#20,017
#20,017
UTSuave’ said:
Lol..13 attempts.if I had to guess he’s really been no position to get in any kind of rhythm,oh and by the way he got us points in swamp..👍🏽
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I know they won’t do it bc they haven’t this week. But i would love for them to just fully turn the job over to Maurer or shrout i really dc. And let them prepare as the true starter the rest of this week and half and take virtually every rep and give them a real shot. Don’t just put them in just to do it
 
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#20,019
#20,019
HankHill said:
I know they won’t do it bc they haven’t this week. But i would love for them to just fully turn the job over to Maurer or shrout i really dc. And let them prepare as the true starter the rest of this week and half and take virtually every rep and give them a real shot. Don’t just put them in just to do it
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Suspect they've decided on 10/26. Long ago.
 
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#20,020
#20,020
drvenner said:
Kiffin's foundation was way better than Butch's.
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Lol, Kiffin's one recruiting class was a complete bust. Most never did anything. Saying that Kiffin ever contributed anything to Tennessee football is laughable. He had no foundation. At least Butch left some 4* recruits, they just were never developed. By all accounts, development is still lacking. That's part of the overall problem at Tennessee.
 
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#20,021
#20,021
HankHill said:
Funny how the narrative has flipped from that...to now Pruitt is in an impossible situation with this roster. Especially with the media and Rucker’s article.

I remember a lot of the media guys said the floor of this year was 7-5 bc the schedule was so easy.
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I know sometimes coaches think they have a good team, but the season goes bad. And sometimes coaches think their team is going to struggle, but they put together a good season. I haven't heard anyone articulate why there was such a disconnect.
 
#20,022
#20,022
rekinhavoc said:
Two things give me hope of an upset.
1. Our roster is full of players from Georgia and this is a pride thing.
2. UGA always loses inexplicably to someone. Hope we are that someone.


Two weeks to fix issues and prepare. The staff could earn a lot of clout with an upset or a spirited effort.
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Dude this is comedy gold! Satire?

You are truly one of the great comedic minds of our generation.
 
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#20,023
#20,023
UTSuave’ said:
Lol..13 attempts.if I had to guess he’s really been no position to get in any kind of rhythm,oh and by the way he got us points in swamp..👍🏽
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I get that the field evidence is limited. I was just trying to find whatever data points we had. None of the QBs have looked like you'd hope, but Maurer being the newest does get the most benefit of the doubt.
 
#20,024
#20,024
WriterVol said:
I know sometimes coaches think they have a good team, but the season goes bad. And sometimes coaches think their team is going to struggle, but they put together a good season. I haven't heard anyone articulate why there was such a disconnect.
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Georgia State 10
Western Michigan 57
Is that articulate enuf?
 
#20,025
#20,025
WriterVol said:
I know sometimes coaches think they have a good team, but the season goes bad. And sometimes coaches think their team is going to struggle, but they put together a good season. I haven't heard anyone articulate why there was such a disconnect.
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The media doesn’t really get to see the team so they speculated just like us. On paper this team should’ve been better and the schedule was easy. We missed our chance to build momentum and now we’re witnessing the blowback. JG is horrendous and the coaches were fools for not getting a transfer. They need to get Maurer ready and let him carry us the rest of this season. Only way to get any sort of credibility back. Trotting 2 out there makes them look like complete morons
 
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