2021 Recruit Class Rating Plummets Dangerously

[roberthunter]

Someone should have been able to detect 3 minutes into a Jeremy Pruitt interview, that he was not a man to hand the keys to UT football over to. Fulmer should have detected it and anyone else who spoke with him. Most of the world knew it 5 minutes into his opening press conference.

I don't really think you can "win" a press conference, but you can certainly lose one. My wife and I watched that press conference and both immediately knew that we had hired a complete and total moron.

Fulmer absolutely wanted to hire a good ol' boy that didn't intimidate him. And he torpedoed the program (again) in doing so.

 

[BigSteve09]

I don't really think you can "win" a press conference, but you can certainly lose one. My wife and I watched that press conference and both immediately knew that we had hired a complete and total moron.

Fulmer absolutely wanted to hire a good ol' boy that didn't intimidate him. And he torpedoed the program (again) in doing so.

cornbread.gif

ugh

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

I don't really think you can "win" a press conference, but you can certainly lose one. My wife and I watched that press conference and both immediately knew that we had hired a complete and total moron.

Fulmer absolutely wanted to hire a good ol' boy that didn't intimidate him. And he torpedoed the program (again) in doing so.

Fulmer wanted someone he thought he could control.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

cornbread.gif

ugh

 

[jtdavis]

Until the NCAA hands down the sanctions getting top tier players to commit will be a challenge. We can thank the last train wreck for that. Heupel gets a pass until we work our way through this. I hope Heupel can develop players because we havent had that in a generation.

 

[Envolronment]

At one time, if I remember correctly, this recruit class was ranked 2, 3.

Now, on 247, after removing the rating points from Kaidon Salter and Isaiah Washington it has fallen all the way to #36.

There are now only 15 recruits left in that defection strapped class.

This is the kind of class a Bowling Green or Vanderbilt would aspire to.

Huge pressure on Heupel to bring in a top class this year. You CANNOT have two weak classes in a row. That will destroy you 3, 4, 5 years down the road.

IMHO we need a loaded top 5-10 class to overcome the 2021 debacle.

We will see how the transfer portal fits into everything.

 

[Envolronment]

At one time, if I remember correctly, this recruit class was ranked 2, 3.

Now, on 247, after removing the rating points from Kaidon Salter and Isaiah Washington it has fallen all the way to #36.

There are now only 15 recruits left in that defection strapped class.

This is the kind of class a Bowling Green or Vanderbilt would aspire to.

Huge pressure on Heupel to bring in a top class this year. You CANNOT have two weak classes in a row. That will destroy you 3, 4, 5 years down the road.

IMHO we need a loaded top 5-10 class to overcome the 2021 debacle.

I don't think it would hurt as bad as you say. Remember the transfer portal has changed everything.

 

[Volfan76]

2021 isn't on Heupel and honestly, given the uncertainty he inherited, he will get a partial pass for 2022. With that being said, he will get some blame if the 2022 class falls outside of the Top 25-30.

If you think what he inherited is bad...wait til you see what the next coach inherits. Sooner or later somebody has quit making excuses and step up.

 

[GoodmanVol]

We had at least 2 5 stars, lewis and Brooks, a couple other really highly ranked guys at LB and other positions. It's not like our class stayed the same and everyone passed us.

At the time we were #2, our average player ranking was less than our 2019 class finished with. Did it get worse over time? Yes. Was it great to begin with? No.

 

[Bigorange123]

Recruiting woes all for naught if they end up compromising with Pruitts buyout.

 

[MWAVolfan]

Yes dont forget 9-10 transfers coming in count towards that 25 and all will help immediately. Sadly Salter will still count towards that 25.
#36 is not ideal but Oklahoma State and many other programs win 8-9 games regularly with 40 in rankings. Heupel needs to show he can win before he can rake in big recruits due to the mess we are in.
Dabo built his program initially on left over recruits form SEC so good coach can do it.

Oklahoma State wins 8 games because they play in the Big12. A 40 ranking in the SEC will make you the 13th best team in the conference and you'll never have a winning season.

 

[butchna]

Someone should have been able to detect 3 minutes into a Jeremy Pruitt interview, that he was not a man to hand the keys to UT football over to. Fulmer should have detected it and anyone else who spoke with him. Most of the world knew it 5 minutes into his opening press conference.

“Most” = you with the benefit of trolling and hindsight. KNOWING is overrated…as well as impossible in this context.

 

[Tyler865]

If you think what he inherited is bad...wait til you see what the next coach inherits. Sooner or later somebody has quit making excuses and step up.

Only going to get worse under this current staff. Recruiting is awful and the scheme we're going to play is totally antithetical to SEC football or what our next coach will run.

 

[GoodmanVol]

Only going to get worse under this current staff. Recruiting is awful and the scheme we're going to play is totally antithetical to SEC football or what our next coach will run.

Hey, we rid ourselves of all those antithetical practices when we fired that cheater Pruitt!!

 

[GoodmanVol]

2021 isn't on Heupel and honestly, given the uncertainty he inherited, he will get a partial pass for 2022. With that being said, he will get some blame if the 2022 class falls outside of the Top 25-30.

2021 - Not on Heupel
2022 - Totally on Heupel
2022 is his opportunity to say “Come be a part of the championship program I’m building. Don’t worry about the depth chart because those aren’t my guys. You fit my scheme perfectly. I want/need your elite talent to help me restore victory to Rocky Top.”

Many will give him a pass if/when sanctions come down and many will say “well, other programs used that to recruit negatively.” I say he knew all that coming in and if he doesn’t know of a way to overcome that then he’s not the right man for the job.

 

[Elhanan]

We’ve passed the “easy fix” exit a long time ago.

Eventually we are going to need a coach that can do more with WAY less. Pull off unexpected runs and recruit out of their minds,

Maybe some big money donors and local businesses can pay the high end prospects enough to get them interested in UT again.

 

[TNHopeful505]

Develop what you have first. The recruits will come if you prove to them you can make them the best version of themselves possible, and win along the way. Winning means exposure, and exposure means implications for NLI.

If this staff can show major development, especially at the QB and WR positions, things will turn around quickly.

 

[Tyler865]

2021 - Not on Heupel
2022 - Totally on Heupel
2022 is his opportunity to say “Come be a part of the championship program I’m building. Don’t worry about the depth chart because those aren’t my guys. You fit my scheme perfectly. I want/need your elite talent to help me restore victory to Rocky Top.”

Many will give him a pass if/when sanctions come down and many will say “well, other programs used that to recruit negatively.” I say he knew all that coming in and if he doesn’t know of a way to overcome that then he’s not the right man for the job.

Correct. Heupel has a reputation in the business as not being a strong recruiter. People are giving him a pass due to the impending sanctions, but that is just a convenient circumstance of the job at this point. When the sanctions have passed, recruiting will not get demonstrably better - only winning games will do that. And I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[VolInNW]

I don't really think you can "win" a press conference, but you can certainly lose one. My wife and I watched that press conference and both immediately knew that we had hired a complete and total moron.

Fulmer absolutely wanted to hire a good ol' boy that didn't intimidate him. And he torpedoed the program (again) in doing so.

Uh, aight. And he didn't done real gud on that first press thing, uh, aight. And he didn't done real gud from that point on, either. aight?

What a simpleton. And we paid him 8 figures. I wanna hurl.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

If you think what he inherited is bad...wait til you see what the next coach inherits. Sooner or later somebody has quit making excuses and step up.

So how can you equate facts as excuses?

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Correct. Heupel has a reputation in the business as not being a strong recruiter. People are giving him a pass due to the impending sanctions, but that is just a convenient circumstance of the job at this point. When the sanctions have passed, recruiting will not get demonstrably better - only winning games will do that. And I wouldn't hold my breath.

Convenient circumstance? That’s a very shortsighted way to look at it. Brand new coaching staff. Brand new AD. Brand new recruiting department. NCAA sanctions. Probably reduced scholarships. Massive attrition. Massive negative recruiting by other schools that isn’t his fault. These are all facts.

Nobody knows what Heupel will do here. You and some others can wish him to fail all you like. Just don’t jump on the train when he succeeds.

 

[GoodmanVol]

Convenient circumstance? That’s a very shortsighted way to look at it. Brand new coaching staff. Brand new AD. Brand new recruiting department. NCAA sanctions. Probably reduced scholarships. Massive attrition. Massive negative recruiting by other schools that isn’t his fault. These are all facts.

Nobody knows what Heupel will do here. You and some others can wish him to fail all you like. Just don’t jump on the train when he succeeds.

Agreed none of that is his fault. But that was all out in the open when Danny White called him up. Danny said “you’re the man who’s going to get us through this.” CJH said “yes I am.” Either he took the job with a plan to overcome these adversities or he took the job knowing he wouldn’t get fired for a few years. His plan, if he has one, must include recruiting better players to Knoxville. If he can’t do that in this climate then he was the wrong man for the job.

 

[butchna]

Correct. Heupel has a reputation in the business as not being a strong recruiter. People are giving him a pass due to the impending sanctions, but that is just a convenient circumstance of the job at this point. When the sanctions have passed, recruiting will not get demonstrably better - only winning games will do that. And I wouldn't hold my breath.

Dang…wish you would.

 

[Tyler865]

Convenient circumstance? That’s a very shortsighted way to look at it. Brand new coaching staff. Brand new AD. Brand new recruiting department. NCAA sanctions. Probably reduced scholarships. Massive attrition. Massive negative recruiting by other schools that isn’t his fault. These are all facts.

Nobody knows what Heupel will do here. You and some others can wish him to fail all you like. Just don’t jump on the train when he succeeds.

I don’t believe the NCAA issue are the reason we’re sitting at 50th in the class rankings and we only seem to be recruiting MAC and low P5 prospects going forward.

I don’t think this staff has the ability, nor the connections, to recruit at the level required to win consistently in the SEC.

 

[YankeeVol]

I don’t believe the NCAA issue are the reason we’re sitting at 50th in the class rankings and we only seem to be recruiting MAC and low P5 prospects going forward.

I don’t think this staff has the ability, nor the connections, to recruit at the level required to win consistently in the SEC.

Probably not, but the last 15+ years of not being nationally relevant (or even SEC relevant minus the one year Lyle f'd it up) absolutely does.