Recruiting Forum Football Talk IX

[Smokey123]

Lol, of course it is.

“Current state of program” != “Quality of the job”

Florida is an absolute mess right now, and has been.

But they have all the pieces required - Revenues, AD Commitment, Boosters, Goldmine Recruiting Grounds, Fans, Facilities.

Average Coaches win a lot of games there.
Great Coaches win Titles there.

I hope they don’t get a great Coach.

I hear they’re going after butch

 

[RandomUTfan]

I would love to hear from a coach with absolutely no horses in the race which job they would rather have: UF or FSU.

 

[BigSteve09]

I did not like punting on 4th and 1 to start the game.

It seems like Heupel is aware that our defense is not great. Just go balls to the wall man. What happened to being aggressive.

We are acting like we did last year with TOP and LOS being of the utmost importance.

We need to go back to 2021, 2022 and go redneck crazy on offense. If we turn it over or score too fast, whatever. We are asking the offense to compliment a defense that is porous and cannot compliment the offense. When we do have a situation to capitalize on, we start clock watching or playing super conservative.

I'd rather play like we have nothing to lose again. Every time that we try to do something aggressive in 2024/2025, we do it conservatively. It screws everything up.

 

[RandomUTfan]

I hear they’re going after butch

They could do worse. Billy might have been worse.

 

[OGbabyaviVol]

Birmingham looking for any way it can screw UT out of a home night game this season.

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They have 3 timeslots but only 2 games for those slots. Whats the hold up announcing the times?? One is the prime time game in ABC. The other is the 7 game on ESPN. Please tell me you aren’t considering making SC/Ole Miss your prime time ABC game when you have TN/OK that you can make the prime time?

 

[jordan4vols]

Birmingham looking for any way it can screw UT out of a home night game this season.

View attachment 783114

Why would ESPN want us or Ole Miss/SC at the same time as Georgia/Florida? It would make more sense to put one of us at 7pm and one of us at 7:30 but if you have to have one play at 3:30 obviously you would want the ranked match up of us vs OU at night because South Carolina is going to suck whether you wait until after this week or not and will pull viewership from Georgia/Florida for our game but if you have them at separate times then you get both.

 

[Visidog]

I think the "parity" we are seeing is largely illusory. It's just my opinion, but I think what you've seen is some of the teams that had success under the former model, having less of it now, and teams that had less success in the previous model, are finding unheard-of-previously success in this modern college football world.

We have really yet to see long-term what this is going to look like. There are a handful of teams that have virtually unlimited funds to spend on buying players, but they've only been doing it one (Texas Tech) or a couple of seasons (Indiana). I'm really fearful of what the landscape is going to look like after 4 years of a handful of schools investing at a level only they can compete at.

I agree with all of this. The old recruiting powerhouses are still near the top of the game, but more transfers mean that talent spreads out more—both from players leaving the traditional powers and from players coming up from perceived weaker teams.

I also think the player market will settle down. Texas Tech spent its way into relevance, but Texas (the biggest spender) has struggled with its Rolls Royce roster. If the player market keeps going like it has, I don’t know how anybody runs a program.

 

[SmyrnaATLVolisback]

You their shrink?
I mean you know they lack confidence?

I highly doubt either do.
They absolutely drop to many, but I highly doubt it’s because of confidence, but less than great hands most likely

Telander and others have talked about lacking confidence in spots. Kitselman caught everything last year. Now all the sudden he can’t catch well? And most of the time with catching it’s confidence or not fully engaging. Less than great hands doesn’t get you starting on offense at Tennessee right now and large NiL deals.

 

[RandomUTfan]

This is off-topic but I just wanted to share it because I'm listening to Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever which Jeff Lynne produced and co-wrote several songs for. The Heartbreakers weren't exactly thrilled that Tom was taking material that could have been a new Heartbreakers record and putting out a solo record. I think it was bassist Howie Epstein who showed up to one of the sessions and told Tom that he really didn't like the song he was working on and thought it was awful. That song? Free Fallin'.

 

[screenthis]

K at home vs Candy. They won't be favored. The Pony Carts are at home and FU is in chaos, we'll win out.

Did Kentuky look good against Texas this past weekend?

 

[SpringBokVol]

Did Kentuky look good against Texas this past weekend?

No. Texas looked bad. But so did we.

 

[RandomUTfan]

I agree with all of this. The old recruiting powerhouses are still near the top of the game, but more transfers mean that talent spreads out more—both from players leaving the traditional powers and from players coming up from perceived weaker teams.

I also think the player market will settle down. Texas Tech spent its way into relevance, but Texas (the biggest spender) has struggled with its Rolls Royce roster. If the player market keeps going like it has, I don’t know how anybody runs a program.

I hope that prediction comes to pass because I don't feel that way. To me it seem that once the genie is out of the bottle there's no getting her back in. Expectations have been set for a certain level of pay at this point and to land the premier players every recruiting cycle and portal cycle you have to spend the money. You might luck out and get a discount here or there at a position you've put a lot of players in the league at or due to location, but it usually will come down to $$.

And I get a lot of fans don't want to accept this-sort of sunk cost fallacy to a degree-but it's reality, and when we lose out on recruits it's almost ALWAYS due to someone else placing a higher dollar-value on that recruit than we place. We could have spent and landed Hiter. It was a choice not to go that high and there are a lot of things that factor into decisions like that including what you are already paying the other players at the position of that recruit. But also budget. We would not be beat on David Sanders. We would not be beat on Faizon Brandon. But we are willing to be beat on Hiter, because we've proven we can get guys out of the portal and coach up HS RB recruits to play at a very high level. It's not like we're not landing good RBs in recruiting. And I think DGG is going to be a different situation from Hiter due to the teams involved.

I don't know what's going on at Texas but they have not recruited well at OL and then they missed on several OL they went after aggressively in the portal. It doesn't make sense it would be a $ issue, but something is going on. That OL isn't that talented and what talent they have brought in hasn't been developed well. Development is 75%.

 

[85SugarVol]

I would love to hear from a coach with absolutely no horses in the race which job they would rather have: UF or FSU.

FSU has an “easier path”. FSU also probably comes with less stress and expectations.

But Florida has much better infrastructure, much more “going for” it. Better Conference, More Money, Better Recruiting.

 

[volKano]

Next season nobody-G tech-nobody-9 straight SEC games
Fans in the SEC better adjust to the new normal of 1 lost team is elite, 2-lost teams upper echelon and 3 lost normal. I’m not saying I’ll like it but it’s about to get way harder to get 10-11 wins year after year.

The Big 10 and tv played the SEC. Everyone with a brain knows a 9 game Big 10 schedule means you play 1-3 good teams a year. In the SEC you play 4-7. Then you add in Texas Tech and Georgia Tech type teams (who play 0-1) and there will be SEC teams left out of the playoffs ever year that are deserving a trip.

 

[peaygolf]

October 20, 1967
Patterson Gimlin film taken….

 

[RandomUTfan]

FSU has an “easier path”. FSU also probably comes with less stress and expectations.

But Florida has much better infrastructure, much more “going for” it. Better Conference, More Money, Better Recruiting.

here are another few things Florida has that FSU seemingly doesn't.

-A corrupt administration that put a career politician in the presidents seat who was so corrupt he was forced to resign amist investigations into wanton spending
-A booster collective that seems way more interested in donating to projects that reduce the capacity of The Swamp than to NIL to buy players
-A division between the administration and boosters that led to public reports the UAA's hand was being forced by boosters to fire Napier after the MSU game win or lose. (FSU boosters and admin are still on same page as of yest.)
-No permanent president
-An AD so unpopular with the fan base an out-going interim president extended him as his last act prior to carrying the last box of his stuff to his car which was released as a Friday night news-dump the day before the season kicked off.
- A shadow AD operating behind the scenes pulling strings (who puts his name on banners) and the public-facing AD who is just a fundraiser.

 

[RandomUTfan]

October 20, 1967
Patterson Gimlin film taken….


View attachment 783121

I can see this starting a debate. I loved cryptozoology as a kid. I checked out every book in my library even remotely-related multiple times. I lived a blessed childhood. I've seen great arguments from people who say it was faked and even go into detail on how it would have been possible. Bear in mind this was filmed in California.

 

[05_never_again]

here are another few things Florida has that FSU seemingly doesn't.

-A corrupt administration that put a career politician in the presidents seat who was so corrupt he was forced to resign amist investigations into wanton spending
-A booster collective that seems way more interested in donating to projects that reduce the capacity of The Swamp than to NIL to buy players
-A division between the administration and boosters that led to public reports the UAA's hand was being forced by boosters to fire Napier after the MSU game win or lose. (FSU boosters and admin are still on same page as of yest.)
-No permanent president
-An AD so unpopular with the fan base an out-going interim president extended him as his last act prior to carrying the last box of his stuff to his car which was released as a Friday night news-dump the day before the season kicked off.
- A shadow AD operating behind the scenes pulling strings (who puts his name on banners) and the public-facing AD who is just a fundraiser.

UF isn't on the same page internally, but has the resources.

FSU is on the same page internally, but doesn't have the resources.

My bet is on the school that has the resources eventually working their issues out, rather than the school that is functioning better suddenly finding a lot more resources.

 

[tnvols72]

This could mean anything from “no lingering injury” to “procedure went well and is in stable condition.”

Spit my drink up, thanks...The sad part its probably true

 

[Checker_the_Shire]

I feel out of my limit in the baseball forum so I’ll ask here. IF TV were leaving and it was an absolute done deal, wouldn’t that last part have leaked by now? I have no idea how professional baseball works in terms of manager searches. I’m not a baseball guy aside from the Vols.

 

[Visidog]

I hope that prediction comes to pass because I don't feel that way. To me it seem that once the genie is out of the bottle there's no getting her back in. Expectations have been set for a certain level of pay at this point and to land the premier players every recruiting cycle and portal cycle you have to spend the money. You might luck out and get a discount here or there at a position you've put a lot of players in the league at or due to location, but it usually will come down to $$.

And I get a lot of fans don't want to accept this-sort of sunk cost fallacy to a degree-but it's reality, and when we lose out on recruits it's almost ALWAYS due to someone else placing a higher dollar-value on that recruit than we place. We could have spent and landed Hiter. It was a choice not to go that high and there are a lot of things that factor into decisions like that including what you are already paying the other players at the position of that recruit. But also budget. We would not be beat on David Sanders. We would not be beat on Faizon Brandon. But we are willing to be beat on Hiter, because we've proven we can get guys out of the portal and coach up HS RB recruits to play at a very high level. It's not like we're not landing good RBs in recruiting. And I think DGG is going to be a different situation from Hiter due to the teams involved.

I don't know what's going on at Texas but they have not recruited well at OL and then they missed on several OL they went after aggressively in the portal. It doesn't make sense it would be a $ issue, but something is going on. That OL isn't that talented and what talent they have brought in hasn't been developed well. Development is 75%.

Yes to all this, too. Money will get most people, but paying top-of-market for players who don’t produce top performance—or overpaying positional value—will get teams burned. Teams having the discipline to lose players in bidding wars is what it’s going to take to keep a program functioning.

I wonder what the Mike Matthews dynamic is like in the locker room, especially when I suspect Brazzell isn’t getting the same bag. Or when you have a great player like Gibson get hurt and have his replacement (Hood) over perform his NIL (I assume). The whole system feels so unstable.

 

[Orangeburst]

Our defense did enough to win.

Snap & Clear

Think it safe to assume Portnoy bet the Vols..probably million bucks. Enki type of bet...lol

 

[TheRain]

So November 1... Got it.

 

[Jimmy Football]

So November 1... Got it.

Hooray!

 

[RandomUTfan]

Yes to all this, too. Money will get most people, but paying top-of-market for players who don’t produce top performance—or overpaying positional value—will get teams burned. Teams having the discipline to lose players in bidding wars is what it’s going to take to keep a program functioning.

I wonder what the Mike Matthews dynamic is like in the locker room, especially when I suspect Brazzell isn’t getting the same bag. Or when you have a great player like Gibson get hurt and have his replacement (Hood) over perform his NIL (I assume). The whole system feels so unstable.

Skill position players are easy to please because the portal market is flush with talent every year. They are cheaper. That's why you see teams like Georgia let a QB walk they can't afford to keep, but load up with elite WR talent to put around the guy you are going to have to depend on.

I bet our receivers are making about the same. You want to keep everyone happy in that room. Now I bet both Brazzell and Matthews are making more than a guy like Jefferson or Jackson even. If you're being depended on as a starter you're getting paid.