Recruiting Forum Football Talk IV

[Maxwell865]

Just further proof that Kentucky sees Tennessee as its #1 SEC rival. I like that. Meanwhile, depending on which UT fan you ask, he/she would list Kentucky anywhere between 3rd and 5th among conference rivals.

Literally don't know a single person that would say Kentucky is not our #1 rival.... Florida is up there, but hasn't been that crazy since Billy Donovan left. No way they will ever between 3rd and 5th among conference rivals...

 

[Orange Studs]

Alright I'm going to give everyone some notes from Swain this morning, since apparently it was must-listen:

And after listening and typing this out, this podcast episode should be REQUIRED LISTENING. Please share this info with other fans. Gain perspective, provide perspective.

On Neyor:
- our passion is unrivaled, our fans love the program and support the program/team
- our same passion that is our superpower is also our curse
- Neyor had great RFr year at Wyoming, will be a pro player
- initial reports were he could go, and where the experts expected him to look - all TX schools (Texas, A&M, Baylor), because HE'S FROM TEXAS
- Tennessee shot their shot, pushed hard on Neyor, got commitment
- Swain and crew initial reaction when Neyor committed - shocked and surprised, very surprised. Not that he picked TN, but that he picked TN so quickly and without visiting.
- Think that most fans had the same reaction about Neyor surprise commitment - "ok, wow, who is this guy" (as an aside, I agree with this)
- committing like that without visiting is so abnormal
- Who was last player to commit without visiting? - Bryce Brown
- Our biggest strength, which is our passion, is also one of our biggest weaknesses
- There is a narrative now that we aren't doing anything with NIL, and it has been repeated WAY MORE THAN IT SHOULD, now people actually think it's the truth
- Most fans would not be saying this if they knew what was really going on, if they really had inside info
- Some fans choose to be upset, choose to believe false info, choose to share false info - that is on YOU (you are a miserable person)
- This is not worth freaking out about
- Neyor initially said that he wanted to stay close to home, translates to a high priority
- gets on phone with TN, talks to coaches, talks to players, without a visit he commits
- use your brain, what does that tell you? He says he wants to stay home, but commits to a school 12 hours away
- this means that Tennessee was VERY CONVINCING (NIL) - we had a great deal for him
- we pulled a player from TX, who said he wanted to stay home, he tried to talk about what he liked when he committed, but between the lines he was saying that the deal was good
- so if our NIL is so bad, how the hell did we get a kid to commit without even visiting??
- Obviously our NIL program is in place to be strong enough to pull kids without them even visiting
- Fear the whole time was that Texas would enter the picture
- Tennessee was never worried about Ole Miss - they don't have a NIL program like we do, they don't have the other factors that we have that have always made us a more attractive program
- Swain thought that he was going to Texas as soon as he stepped on campus there, for all of the reasons that we have discussed on this board (Recruiting Forum Football Talk IV)
- Texas wouldn't be worth a damn if they couldn't get a kid from Texas that they intended to get, that liked Texas
- Same deal with us and Trey Smith, and Cade
- We have a ton of non-millionaires telling millionaires what they should be doing with THEIR MONEY, and they don't even know that those same boosters/donors are HELPING
- WE HAVE PROMINENT FORMER PLAYERS INVOLVED IN HELPING WITH NIL - think about who you think that may be
- NIL is not going to be a problem
- what is a problem? NIL + the new transfer portal has created insanity. Two new rules at the same time that would change the game on their own.
- now you have players getting in the portal just to see how much money they can get from other schools, then deciding if they want to leave or not
- the environment now is that if you have ONE GOOD YEAR (like Neyor), you can hop in the portal now and get money
- most would do the same thing, when you have leverage you use it
- The meltdown outrage is NOT WORTH IT with Neyor and it's MISGUIDED and it's based on BAD INFO
- he wanted to be closer to home, his family wanted to come to the games, he is an hour away now
- our offense and system is way more attractive than what Texas had going on, but people make decisions based on whatever is important to them
- he committed WITHOUT TAKING A VISIT - a guy that grew up in Texas, that loved Texas, raised to love Texas, and he wanted to be home
- Simply put - Tennessee did not lose out on Neyor based on NIL
- We had a great deal for him.
- Word on the street about Neyor was that Tennessee had outbid everyone else, but it came down to location/home for him

On the state of the program and our standing with NCAA, how that is impacting the goings on:
- Jeremy Pruitt got caught RED HANDED, and it's the reason that everyone got fired
- Tennessee told the NCAA what they were going to do in regards to punishing ourselves, they still played in the bowl game (implying that the NCAA would have liked for us not to have played in bowl game(s))
- There is another narrative that Tennessee is scared of the NCAA, but we played in the bowl game
- but we got caught red handed so we have to do SOMETHING, besides firing everyone
- That means - reduction of scholarships, limiting eval time
- as soon as Spring is over, Tennessee will be able to get back into the hunt and start adding players to this roster
- but right now we cannot do that because we are still serving out our little bit of time - we are like in the halfway house right now, or on house arrest. Light at the end of the tunnel but we're still locked down.
- this is the LAST STRETCH, we have a couple more months then we have satisfied what you told the NCAA that you were gonna do
- we got caught, we told the NCAA what we were going to do, and that's it - that's pretty good
- so we can't take 5, 6, 7 dudes from the portal right now like others
- DO NOT LET F.O.M.O. GET TO YOU - we aren't missing out
- What did TN do after spring last year? they added transfers. they already proved that they could do that.
- but narratives have been created - the sky is falling, the staff isn't doing a good job
- sometimes you just won't know what the plan is, and you have to be ok with that
- WE CAN'T JUST TELL EVERYONE WHAT WE'RE DOING

Swain: "I wish I was coming out right now and was about to get that deal that Neyor was about to get at Tennessee."

Thank you, Thank You, Thank You! Great stuff. Exactly why I said we have no clue what is going on behind the scenes. So please let's lighten things up and see what happens after Spring practice! There is light at the end of the tunnel and its not a train. LOL GBO!!

 

[The Dog]

I was generally meaning all sports as a whole. In basketball, Kentucky is definitely #1 but in football, they’re 4th-6th range.

Agree

 

[VolGee4]

Bowls mean absolutely nothing. And they did 10 times worse than us. They barely did anything but skip a low crap bowl and got a slap on the wrist. Scholarship reductions that we are taking are way worse for our program than missing a meaningless bowl game. LSU has been under investigation over four years. Nothing is happening to them. Odell was passing out $100 bills to players on live tv and they just banned him from the sideline. That was it.

Whatever you want to tell yourself. Miami only had to beat Duke to go to the ACC Championship Game, and they took themselves out of it. They don't get their bowl share from their conference if they don't go to a bowl (2 years in a row). They also lost 9 scholarships. Your first statement was simply not true- Miami got hit pretty hard. They probably got 10 times worse than us, too. No one pays attention anymore.

People would have been pissed if we had self-imposed a bowl ban this year, and we didn't.

 

[Orange Studs]

This dude is going to be special!

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

On Neyor:
- our passion is unrivaled, our fans love the program and support the program/team

- our same passion that is our superpower is also our curse

- Our biggest strength, which is our passion, is also one of our biggest weaknesses

I have said this for years..

We are the best fanbase...
We are the worst fanbase..

Both are truth..

 

[VolNash17]

Any chance that “turning ourselves in and trying this ‘the right way’” was a nothing more than a power move to remove Fulmer and Pruitt from their respective positions?

I hope the “doing this the right way” is just silly talk for the Investigation and all of that mess. We won’t win $hit doing anything “the right way” while criminal cheater programs such as Bammer, Georgia, LSU, Aggie, Florida etc continue forward… THANKFULLY from what Swain said I take from it that it is just talk for the meantime. Which is exciting to hear to say the least.

 

[peaygolf]

Literally don't know a single person that would say Kentucky is not our #1 rival.... Florida is up there, but hasn't been that crazy since Billy Donovan left. No way they will ever between 3rd and 5th among conference rivals...

The odd thing is the only school in the country that classifies UT as their biggest rival is Vandy.

 

[SweetasSoda]

It was a complete misrepresentation of what I said, but whatever.

Well, I was not looking at through the lens of what you said. Read it without considering that. Glass half empty or half full. It’s all about how we look at the situation. I am definitely a glass half full person... and can’t understand why people want to only see what is wrong.

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

My only questions with this.
1. If NIL is so hush hush, why is Swain so confident he knows what other programs have been/are capable of doing. UT, I can believe.. other programs, idk.

2. Our NIL supposedly being ahead of the game, sounds good for the Neyor, stay at home, situation.
Not sure how I feel about some other battles if we had as good/better deals.

I believe Texas said they would match whatever we offered and all other things being equal (he liked our offensive staff better, but Texas is home..canceled each other out)...our guys just were not going to get in a bidding war over a #2 WR.

I think the same with Verse.

If/when we get to the place where there are one or two guys that would be the difference in competing for a championship or not...then you will see them go all out scorched earth to make it happen. We are not at that place and neither of those guys were going to be all-SEC.

I know a lot of folks really really valued Verse highly, and I'm not saying I didn't want him to play for us..but I just did not see him as a can't miss/gotta have right now. I think Pearce will do just as well down the road.

 

[Batman1948]

Okay, I am getting a sinus infection. Fought it since November. Any of my nice doctor friends willing to call me in a prescription so I don’t have to go in the doctor’s office and get the flu? It’s the only thing I have not had.

Nyquil is what I take when I get a cold or have sinus issues. It works all the time too. Try it and I'm sure it'll work for you. Get the green night time stuff

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

Personally don’t see the need. If we miss out on Iamaleava or Moore, Vizzina is next on the list.

Agreed..Arch is going to be a good QB, but I think I'd just as soon have Iamaleava.

 

[Weezer]

Well, I was looking at through the lens of what you said. Read it without considering that. Glass half empty or half full. It’s all about how we look at the situation. I am definitely a glass half full person... and can’t understand why people want to only see what is wrong.

The problem being I don't only see what is wrong. What is completely ignored is me praising the coaches and the job they did this year. That doesn't change the truth of us struggling in recruiting. People want to see positive or negative. I see both and am perfectly willing to acknowledge they coexist. This staff did a tremendous coaching job. We've also struggled in recruiting. Both can be and are true. There are many whys as to why we've struggled in recruiting, most well beyond the control of the staff, but it doesn't change the fact we're missing on players the staff clearly hoped to get. It's okay to acknowledge that without people screaming, "you're being negative!". Truth is truth, and no amount of half full half empty glasses will change the truth.

 

[peaygolf]

KJ Wallace, Notre Dame, Cornerback


RG recruited him for Auburn...........????

 

[mccrackb]

Agreed..Arch is going to be a good QB, but I think I'd just as soon have Iamaleava.

How bout neither??

 

[mccrackb]

That’s what y’all probably get

 

[MrVolton]

I hope the “doing this the right way” is just silly talk for the Investigation and all of that mess. We won’t win $hit doing anything “the right way” while criminal cheater programs such as Bammer, Georgia, LSU, Aggie, Florida etc continue forward… THANKFULLY from what Swain said I take from it that it is just talk for the meantime. Which is exciting to hear to say the least.

I believe bringing the house down on our heads was the only way to get Fulmer and Pruitt out. As far as Plowman’s press conference, what else was she going to say? “The next guy will be more careful with cash drops.” Anyhow, with NIL, paying players is no longer the wrong way.

Swain’s pep talk has once again got me believing that UT has some master plan for football. However, I have to admit that I’ve been wrong about that many times over the last 20 years

 

[Weezer]

I believe Texas said they would match whatever we offered and all other things being equal (he liked our offensive staff better, but Texas is home..canceled each other out)...our guys just were not going to get in a bidding war over a #2 WR.

I think the same with Verse.

If/when we get to the place where there are one or two guys that would be the difference in competing for a championship or not...then you will see them go all out scorched earth to make it happen. We are not at that place and neither of those guys were going to be all-SEC.

I know a lot of folks really really valued Verse highly, and I'm not saying I didn't want him to play for us..but I just did not see him as a can't miss/gotta have right now. I think Pearce will do just as well down the road.

Verse is from PA, so home wasn't a factor in choosing FSU.

Pearce may very well do just as fine down the road, but it's not likely he'll be an impact next year whereas Verse may have been.

 

[SweetasSoda]

Nyquil is what I take when I get a cold or have sinus issues. It works all the time too. Try it and I'm sure it'll work for you. Get the green night time stuff

Thanks will do it tonight!

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

It was a complete misrepresentation of what I said, but whatever.

Weezy...you are getting lumped in with the negatroll ass cancers because it sounds like you are saying a lot if the same things.

I take your word for it, and I don't think you mean it the same way they do, but people are rightly defensive towards this neverending exhausting .

The negatrolls and their corrosive and loud opinions have no value...they are the anal cancer of the fanbase.

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

Verse is from PA, so home wasn't a factor in choosing FSU.

Pearce may very well do just as fine down the road, but it's not likely he'll be an impact next year whereas Verse may have been.

I know he is not from Florida..that was not what I meant, I meant they were not going to get in a bidding war over the guy...and I agree, I don't think he was worth it.

 

[Batman1948]

I've been lurking lately. It has the feel of being in the FF. lol May I suggest that next time we are on a recruit don't get your hopes up so much. I trust the coaches. They didn't get to this level by not knowing what they need and who they want to go after. I my opinion, I still feel we need another good season before some of these recruits we have lost will start turning more in our favor. I just hate to see people at each others throats when we really don't know what is going on inside the administration. Its like we have forgotten that just a year ago we were position to both coaches and recruits. I think Coach hype did a great job on the recruiting class and I have confidence that he will fill positions of need the best he can. There are a few in here that post the same crap day after day about the staff not doing their job when they don't have a clue what is going on behind the scenes. CJH could have been told he can only take this class and get the dang penalty over with. I hope we can get less sensitive and personal and let's go back to having fun. Feel like I been in here long enough to stay all this. LOL Here's for a more fun RF!! Let's be more patient and let the coaches do the job we heired them to do. GBO!!

Thank you

 

[SweetasSoda]

The problem being I don't only see what is wrong. What is completely ignored is me praising the coaches and the job they did this year. That doesn't change the truth of us struggling in recruiting. People want to see positive or negative. I see both and am perfectly willing to acknowledge they coexist. This staff did a tremendous coaching job. We've also struggled in recruiting. Both can be and are true. There are many whys as to why we've struggled in recruiting, most well beyond the control of the staff, but it doesn't change the fact we're missing on players the staff clearly hoped to get. It's okay to acknowledge that without people screaming, "you're being negative!". Truth is truth, and no amount of half full half empty glasses will change the truth.

You still don’t get it. There will always be things that are negative. People who see the glass half full see the negative but expect there to be some and so they look for the positive and focus on that. Come to the conclusion we are not struggling because there is so much that was positive especially considering the circumstances. Those who are half empty focus on the half empty part of the glass even though they see the positives of the half full and even mention them occasionally. They have a need to fix what is wrong even though they can’t.

This really helped me at looking at how people come to their conclusions. And why we can argue without ever reaching an agreement.

 

[HoleInTheRoof]

Want to help Tennessee NIL (Spyre Sports)?

TLDR version : throw in and help me buy Nico and Carnell Tate

I’m basically a booster. And while I know it’s all doom and gloom now, guys listen, I’m absolutely over the moon about our next commit.

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

I hope the “doing this the right way” is just silly talk for the Investigation and all of that mess. We won’t win $hit doing anything “the right way” while criminal cheater programs such as Bammer, Georgia, LSU, Aggie, Florida etc continue forward… THANKFULLY from what Swain said I take from it that it is just talk for the meantime. Which is exciting to hear to say the least.

I don't want to pull for a bunch of scumbags. I get doing what you have to to a degree, but I do hope we are honest and as above board as we can be.