Closing the recruiting gap

#103
#103
Bassmaster_Vol said:
I'm not going to disagree on any of this. But it all feels like excuses. We've lost recruits to other schools who had momentum and we were told that's what happened. Here we are with momentum, and aren't seeing fruit of it in '23. Something is off here. Either we aren't a very good recruiter, we don't have enough NIL money, or something. We've lost kids to Michigan State, North Carolina (which is a basketball school don't care about any recent success) FSU who has been a dump as long as we have and whose coach entered on the hot seat, Ole Miss which isn't on our level as a program and never has been, Miami which is a dumpster fire and has been for as long as us, Florida which is a dumpster fire and in the first year of a head coach who we dominated in Knoxville, and others also. I'm surprised we're going to lose 2 DL targets to Clemson when Veneables is in OU.

It just seems like excuse making without a definitive reason. Maybe I'm wrong. I am glad to see that '24 however is off to the type of class we all want.
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I don’t have the answers. Personally I’m really happy with recruiting right now. If Nico wasn’t in the class then I’d prob feel differently.
 
#104
#104
Bassmaster_Vol said:
Bama, Clemson, and UGA can recruit this way against us. Florida, Miami, and LSU cannot. Now sure, FSU, Michigan State, and NC are behind us overall in the rankings, but again, how the crap can they negatively recruit us?

We all know why Francis is at Miami. AP said that Verse chose FSU because of NIL also. That makes me wonder if we don't have as much in the bank vault NIL wise as we need. Or maybe our staff just isn't a great recruiting staff.
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As a whole, the staff definitely isn’t a dominant recruiting staff. History wise at least… Garner is a STUD coach and recruiter. But no one else really has that kind of cachet at this point. It’ll probably be a waiting game honestly. Kirby & Nick first building their staffs went out after stud recruiters. The overall development has been great on the staff but reality is this is a very veteran roster and for UT to not have a noticeable dip we’ll have to recruit at a good level being in this conference
 
#105
#105
Best thing is to hope we land some stud portal pieces and not miss on them like last year. That’ll be enough of a stop gap to maintain a 9-3 10-2 season with a very young team. Then hope 24’ is when UT strikes gold finally in recruiting
 
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#107
#107
VolNash17 said:
Best thing is to hope we land some stud portal pieces and not miss on them like last year. That’ll be enough of a stop gap to maintain a 9-3 10-2 season with a very young team. Then hope 24’ is when UT strikes gold finally in recruiting
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I'll be surprised if we don't take a big step back next year unless Milton has vastly improved. We are losing a ton:

Gone:
Hooker
Tillman
Hyatt
Keyton
Darnell
Carvin
Fant
BY
Bumphus
Banks
Mitchell
Tank
Flowers

That is significant. We need to dominate the portal.
 
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#108
#108
Bassmaster_Vol said:
I'll be surprised if we don't take a big step back next year unless Milton has vastly improved. We are losing a ton:

Gone:
Hooker
Tillman
Hyatt
Keyton
Darnell
Carvin
Fant
BY
Bumphus
Banks
Mitchell
Tank
Flowers

That is significant. We need to dominate the portal.
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I don’t know about a huge step backwards. I think on paper UT will be more talented than 8/12 teams. Just have to hope the young guys start contributing and UT hits multiple home runs in the portal
 
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#109
#109
Bassmaster_Vol said:
I'll be surprised if we don't take a big step back next year unless Milton has vastly improved. We are losing a ton:

Gone:
Hooker
Tillman
Hyatt
Keyton
Darnell
Carvin
Fant
BY
Bumphus
Banks
Mitchell
Tank
Flowers

That is significant. We need to dominate the portal.
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Several of these have a Covid year they can use if they want to
 
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#112
#112
Bassmaster_Vol said:
I'll be surprised if we don't take a big step back next year unless Milton has vastly improved. We are losing a ton:

Gone:
Hooker
Tillman
Hyatt
Keyton
Darnell
Carvin
Fant
BY
Bumphus
Banks
Mitchell
Tank
Flowers

That is significant. We need to dominate the portal.
Click to expand...

Darnell is going to be hard to replace. He's an animal. I worry about who replaces Banks as a play-caller, but it's not like he's truly a game changer.

Heupel has proven he's going to score points regardless of who's at receiver. It's no guarantee Hyatt leaves and I'd be surprised if Keyton doesn't come back.

Tank and Flowers are slow. Bumphus is serviceable and has dudes behind him.

BY is good but with JJ and JP behind him and the recruits we have arriving, we should be okay there, if not better.

Idk. I just don't see anybody on this list Heupel can't replace, if not upgrade through the portal or from younger dudes being developed for next season.

I don't predict another season like this but if Milton has improved, I think the ceiling on offense is higher.
 
#113
#113
johnfnkelly said:
Darnell is going to be hard to replace. He's an animal. I worry about who replaces Banks as a play-caller, but it's not like he's truly a game changer.

Heupel has proven he's going to score points regardless of who's at receiver. It's no guarantee Hyatt leaves and I'd be surprised if Keyton doesn't come back.

Tank and Flowers are slow. Bumphus is serviceable and has dudes behind him.

BY is good but with JJ and JP behind him and the recruits we have arriving, we should be okay there, if not better.

Idk. I just don't see anybody on this list Heupel can't replace, if not upgrade through the portal or from younger dudes being developed for next season.

I don't predict another season like this but if Milton has improved, I think the ceiling on offense is higher.
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I don't think we can just take for granted what Hooker has given to us. If Milton still has the mental lapses and the overthrows, the offense will step back unless Nico or Tayven are ready from the jump. Hyatt is going to have a first or second round grade. I'd be stunned if he stayed. Keyton can come back for the covid year, but we need to upgrade there regardless.

Tank and Flowers are slow but they start for a reason. Bumphus has played a lot and is good depth and I'm not certain he has "dudes" behind him. BY has a first or second round grade. Pearce has yet to do anything. Josephs has shown promise, but its far from a guaranteed that we don't take a step back or that we upgrade there without him.
 
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#114
#114
Bassmaster_Vol said:
I agree partly. I would like to see more top end talent in this class. But at the same time, I do not believe for one second that Smith and some others should be 3 stars. I am surprised also that Telander and Conyers are rated as low as they are. I think we have some guys who will out perform their ranking.

But I'm disappointed that we aren't seeing any traction with more elite recruits in this class based upon our season. I'm surprised we aren't hearing from Lucas Simmons or Rico Walker, or that M'Pemba never really gave us a shot, or that Cobb won't even pick up the phone when we call, or that Francis won't reconsider, or that Searcy shut his recruitment down for Florida, or that we're not hearing about a highly ranked recruit who wasn't on our radar suddenly showing interest. None of that is happening and I don't get it.
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I though Carnell Tate might give us a second look too
 
#115
#115
johnfnkelly said:
Darnell is going to be hard to replace. He's an animal. I worry about who replaces Banks as a play-caller, but it's not like he's truly a game changer.

Heupel has proven he's going to score points regardless of who's at receiver. It's no guarantee Hyatt leaves and I'd be surprised if Keyton doesn't come back.

Tank and Flowers are slow. Bumphus is serviceable and has dudes behind him.

BY is good but with JJ and JP behind him and the recruits we have arriving, we should be okay there, if not better.

Idk. I just don't see anybody on this list Heupel can't replace, if not upgrade through the portal or from younger dudes being developed for next season.

I don't predict another season like this but if Milton has improved, I think the ceiling on offense is higher.
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I just hope Milton can get over his hesitation to run and run with abandon
 
#116
#116
Bassmaster_Vol said:
I'll be surprised if we don't take a big step back next year unless Milton has vastly improved. We are losing a ton:

Gone:
Hooker
Tillman
Hyatt
Keyton
Darnell
Carvin
Fant
BY
Bumphus
Banks
Mitchell
Tank
Flowers

That is significant. We need to dominate the portal.
Click to expand...
Keyton and Tank? Heard they may come back.
 
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#118
#118
Bassmaster_Vol said:
I'll be surprised if we don't take a big step back next year unless Milton has vastly improved. We are losing a ton:

Gone:
Hooker
Tillman
Hyatt
Keyton
Darnell
Carvin
Fant
BY
Bumphus
Banks
Mitchell
Tank
Flowers

That is significant. We need to dominate the portal.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't say "Big Step," but a little step should be expected. I really think CJH is building something to last.
 
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#121
#121
Bassmaster_Vol said:
I'll be surprised if we don't take a big step back next year unless Milton has vastly improved. We are losing a ton:

Gone:
Hooker
Tillman
Hyatt
Keyton
Darnell
Carvin
Fant
BY
Bumphus
Banks
Mitchell
Tank
Flowers

That is significant. We need to dominate the portal.
Click to expand...
When you actually see the list like that, it's more than significant, it's flat out a worry. Hoping some of the younger players are ready, but considering our recruiting these past couple of years and after seeing what 5 star talent can do in the GA game and it's hard not to see a step or three back next year. I'm all for development and character, but we've got to start getting some 4 and 5 stars who are character/culture guys into this program if we want to swim in these championship waters more than once every 20 years.
 
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#122
#122
CAVPUT said:
When you actually see the list like that, it's more than significant, it's flat out a worry. Hoping some of the younger players are ready, but considering our recruiting these past couple of years and after seeing what 5 star talent can do in the GA game and it's hard not to see a step or three back next year. I'm all for development and character, but we've got to start getting some 4 and 5 stars who are character/culture guys into this program if we want to swim in these championship waters more than once every 20 years.
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Well you can only do it 1 recruiting class at a time
 
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#123
#123
Bassmaster_Vol said:
I don't disagree. We're moving in the right direction. I'm just surprised we aren't seeing more fruit in the '23 class and no one can really explain why. Maybe we're NIL broke? LSU is top 5 and they were a dump last year! Yes, some of their guys are from Louisiana, but many are not. First year head coach too.

OSU was Tate's dream school. I'd be stunned.

However, I did ask in the chat last night if we were talking to any recruit that we are keeping quiet, and they never answered my question. Ignored it completely. That gives me hope that there might be someone out there that could surprise us.
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We need a Jahmyr Gibbs or two!!!!!
 
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#125
#125
Good discussions here. I agree with bass here. We have to recruit better than 12-15th overall. We will not sustain success or establish an elite program like that. The difference in our RBs vs UGAs was astounding. Secondary differences was also on display but I think we all knew that pretty well
 
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