Recruiting Football Talk VIII

[rikberry31]

So what is the consensus around here. I have been swamped and not kept up.

Kids want Nike, Good guys want Adidas. Hospitals and Health insurance are ripping us off. If your boss is a prick, have him whacked.

 

[tnvols72]

 

[rikberry31]

When I first got married wife was folding towels. I showed her how I always folded mine and response was “I don’t like that, I will fold the towels”…. Ok. Fast forward a few years, I come home one day and wife is excited that my daughter showed her a new way to fold towels. This was the way she was going to fold them moving forward. It was the way I had shown her when we first got married.

Ranger roll them.

 

[Ten_Titans]

And, just to be clear, we are all still adamant that college sports requires no federal oversight whatsoever?

 

[Rishvol]

So what is the consensus around here. I have been swamped and not kept up.

Moran is the correct terminology

 

[HoleInTheRoof]

Agreed.

Then I won’t both typing a response to your long thought out reply.

You make good points. And I am a Sampson fan and don’t have it in me to try and convince others he isn’t elite.

My general point was that when mediots discuss Tennessee they point to losing Nico and Sampson as huge losses and why we don’t get playoff consideration.

I disagree.

I actually think we see an improvement at QB and likely a push (collectively) in the run game.

 

[Go Fight Win]

Feeling like we are going to make some recruiting noise over the summer

 

[rikberry31]

If this adidas deal is really as high as everyone says, I'm all for it as long as they have their best guys working on our jerseys. But still, all of these "money plays" like Pilot sponsoring Neyland seem to never go towards the actual NIL. If this leads to Tennessee having top 5-7 classes, then I'm all for it. If it doesn't, then the university is going to lose a ton of money in apparel sales. Adidas just doesn't make cool stuff.

We don't want cool stuff, we want bad, take it by the scruff, and kick it in the azz stuff. No alternate unis, only altered dental arrangements and anatomies.

 

[TN-POSSUM]

The concensus is that MJ is the best basketball player ever except for one nut trying to push Bird.

Grrrr......

 

[rikberry31]

They should start by outlawing their mascot that looks like a scoury calf's buthole. They could do better if the made that stupid gas station beaver their mascot.

 

[screenthis]

And, just to be clear, we are all still adamant that college sports requires no federal oversight whatsoever?

I'm good with some oversight in that the NIL collectives need to be reigned in and the courts aren't going to do that. But, oh those politicians. Yes, let's pass this 'NOON' legislation to improve my ratings.

 

[screenthis]

Grrrr......View attachment 742183

Being a Lakers fan, I felt I had to say it. By the way, the family rescued a baby possum. I'm sure mom got squashed. Cute lil fellar.

 

[VolsDoc81TX]

@VolsDoc81TX

Is waking up in middle of night with heart racing a sign of Sleep Apnea? Last couple of weeks it happens about every night or could it be anxiety related? Hopefully I wont be in ICU by the time you get to this message...

Very possible if you are apneic long enough.
I would suggest you get a sleep study.

Anxiety is also a possibility. I would look at sleep apnea first.

Hopefully this finds you alive and well.

 

[Visidog]

interesting. My friendly refute:

1) 4th rounder 12th back selected in draft-- proceeds to use Hendon Hooker as the example of elite here (he absolutely was) but Hendon was also a 3rd rounder and has done diddly squat in the league thus far. Plenty agree Dylan's slide was unexpected but it was also a fairly stacked RB class. Regardless, the discussion is not his NFL projection but a retrospective on his career as a college football player.

2) light boxes-- This has been a common refrain on this website. The NFL draft smartguys mentioned it once and we ran with it. They mentioned it as a generality but in fact, if you re-watch the games, we often faced a fairly stacked box in rushing downs, especially in SEC play (where Dylan dominated) once teams realized Nico was a high sack % target. See: Vandy, UGA, BAMA, UK, UF games if you need proof. In fact, we faced a heavier box on average than other teams if you take out the OU and Arkansas game where their gameplan was specifically a 3-2-6 light box. Interestingly, OU game was one of 3 total games he failed to eclipse 100 yards.

3) goal line touches-- staple of CJH/ any sane coach is to have your 5.8 ypc RB punch the ball in near the goal line. (???) I don't have any further retort on that one...

4) He holds a ton of Tennessee records-- Yeah, that guy was so good at football. Friggin awesome.

5) 5 to 10(that's a big swing) of backs you'd take over him?-- Well, sure. Gene McEver over Dylan Sampson, why not. We have had probably 15 or so ELITE running backs come through our school, Dylan Sampson being one of them. Not sure it will ever make sense to pick a running back over another since you have to take the style of play and context of the generation they are playing into consideration, but you do you.

6) replicating the success of an elite quarterback less than 3 years since he moved on from the program is a bit soon, no?

7) Our run game in previous years and going forward will be able to, for the most part, replicate what Sampson did. Just not by a singular individual most likely due to our tendency to rotate. We agree here.

I dunnnooooo man I really agree w you on the quarterback issues but Dylan was a damn monstar last year

I had Sampson as a top 1/2 RB in the SEC last year. Love the guy’s game and how he represented your program.

That said, he did benefit from high volume. He had 200 carries in SEC play. Second place had 157. As a result he was merely top 10 in YPC—behind guys like Hunter from Auburn and Sanders from SC that also had more than 100 carries in SEC play.

He also scored a lower clip than other guys, though still impressive to me. He scored a TD every 16-17 carries in SEC play on average. Moss at A&M was under 11, which is wild. Etienne at UGA was under 12, Sanders was under 14. Again, this isn’t a knock on Sampson—it took Hunter over 20 carries per TD in SEC play. And Sampson had higher YPC than Etienne or Baugh at UF, which suggests those guys are benefitting from getting a higher percentage of goal line carries.

The light box thing isn’t really worth arguing. Yeah, UT often faces boxes with light numbers, but those defenders are reading run hard on most plays. Atypical formations create atypical assignments, which in turn make it hard to generalize.

 

[Go Fight Win]

I had Sampson as a top 1/2 RB in the SEC last year. Love the guy’s game and how he represented your program.

That said, he did benefit from high volume. He had 200 carries in SEC play. Second place had 157. As a result he was merely top 10 in YPC—behind guys like Hunter from Auburn and Sanders from SC that also had more than 100 carries in SEC play.

He also scored a lower clip than other guys, though still impressive to me. He scored a TD every 16-17 carries in SEC play on average. Moss at A&M was under 11, which is wild. Etienne at UGA was under 12, Sanders was under 14. Again, this isn’t a knock on Sampson—it took Hunter over 20 carries per TD in SEC play. And Sampson had higher YPC than Etienne or Baugh at UF, which suggests those guys are benefitting from getting a higher percentage of goal line carries.

The light box thing isn’t really worth arguing. Yeah, UT often faces boxes with light numbers, but those defenders are reading run hard on most plays. Atypical formations create atypical assignments, which in turn make it hard to generalize.

All fair points and good rebuke. Still in the elite category for me though

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Yes, to various degrees.

Ok why?

 

[BigOrange15]

Ok why?

Mostly:

- Quality differences in fan and on-field apparel.
- Kids have always preferred Nike and still do

It's not like, the end of the world but I certainly prefer Nike and think Adidas was really pretty low quality when we had them, although they have gotten better.

 

[Visidog]

All fair points and good rebuke. Still in the elite category for me though

Sure thing. That kind of production and durability is rare. And he’s just a good dude, too. He’s a strong, fast, and savvy back.

The thing that counts against him (to me) in the elite conversation is how UT’s rushing attack fared as against prior years. 2024 saw UT have its lowest YPC in the last 3 years in SEC play with Sampson getting the majority of the carries. He produced at a very high level, but the overall team numbers do not stand out. Again, it’s not a knock on him at all, but UT may find it easier to replicate his success with a committee of guys.

Thanks for letting me participate. I’m happy to give you the last word.

 

[knoxvol52]

Very possible if you are apneic long enough.
I would suggest you get a sleep study.

Anxiety is also a possibility. I would look at sleep apnea first.

Hopefully this finds you alive and well.

Thanks, I'm going to see my doctor tomorrow and get a study set up ...always a pleasure sir..

 

[rikberry31]

Mostly:

- Quality differences in fan and on-field apparel.
- Kids have always preferred Nike and still do

It's not like, the end of the world but I certainly prefer Nike and think Adidas was really pretty low quality when we had them, although they have gotten better.

I have a thirty year-old Adidas straw hat (my sun hat) that has been through the wars and is still in good shape. If we go back to Adidas I'll buy another one.

 

[tnhunter 10]

 

[Jimmy Football]

Tony can’t develop.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

If someone has already said this in regards to Adidas...my apologies, but I'm not reading every post on here (we have several below average posters).

If Adidas wanted to dump a large amount of cash into the coffers every year for NIL and really back UT as their flagship program, then you absolutely do it. I don't care if Lululemon supplies the gear as long as they win.

 

[vol9799]

I'm good with some oversight in that the NIL collectives need to be reigned in and the courts aren't going to do that. But, oh those politicians. Yes, let's pass this 'NOON' legislation to improve my ratings.

I would rather let the market sort it out. Keep the government and the media out of it. Let schools lose games/boosters/etc when they handle it badly. Let agents/players wind up bankrupt and without any hope of future financial gain from their sport when they handle it badly. True market consequences without artificial safety nets will pressure 95% to handle it prudently. Government meddling and media demagoguery will just turn it into something akin to the NCAA where the winners are the ones who can best manipulate the system and media sympathies that are put in place.

 

[Orangeburst]

What is this big summer coming up in regards to?