Recruiting Forum Football Talk IX

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UTSuave’ said:
🫩 Tennessee all time favorite 🙄

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When I listen to Pawl, I feel like he is just a talking head now. No longer a real journalist. Gets his opinion from some underling. Most of the time when he's being interviewed or giving them, there seems to be very little substance to his hot takes.
 
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Weezer said:
You know what I call all these people claiming they saw copperheads?

Damn liars.
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Coming on over. I got a wood pile that needs to be moved. I will bet you a hundred bucks you find one before getting to bottom of pile.

I only do landscape overhauls in winter months for this reason, they are sleeping which gives me some advantage…

My wife finds on average 1-2 babies a year in pool skimmers. I had to build her an extension handle to raise the baskets because she won’t stick her hand in skimmers anymore.
 
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Volunteer821 said:
Yeah hiring Knowles and this defensive staff is heading in the wrong direction. Finebaum is an idiot. I know we won't know anything til the season starts but it kind of feels like we've righted the ship to me.
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Paulie tries too hard to stay relevant. He's still bummed that Bama has been in decline.
 
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Dadof2Vols said:
Coming on over. I got a wood pile that needs to be moved. I will bet you a hundred bucks you find one before getting to bottom of pile.

I only do landscape overhauls in winter months for this reason, they are sleeping which gives me some advantage…

My wife finds on average 1-2 babies a year in pool skimmers. I had to build her an extension handle to raise the baskets because she won’t stick her hand in skimmers anymore.
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y'all should stop pranking each other with fake rubber snakes
 
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Classes ended on Wednesday and final exams wrap up next week for the spring semester. For the football team weight room work finishes up and there are a couple weeks off before what Josh Heupel calls the third quarter of the offseason begins.

The strength staff is obviously pleased with the work this team has gotten done this spring as they touted on Wednesday, posting a graphic on social media saying the team had gained over 800 pounds of muscle mass and had lost over 200 pounds of fat.

On Thursday, the football program posted a video on social media from nutritionist Katie O’Conner about the food being served to the players daily at Smokey’s cafeteria in the football complex.

To say it’s a 180 in direction for the sports performance department is an understatement. For five years, no one ever heard from the strength staff as they worked in silence. That’s clearly not the case with Derek Owings and his staff.

And while there’s more discussion about strength training on football, the story is the work. And this team has changed the way they look which was the priority this semester. Offensive line coach Glen Elarbee wanted bigger linemen. Tennessee needed to get faster in the secondary. The Vols needed more muscle mass with many of the second-year players who are going to be counted on this season. Building a bigger team to be more durable for the entire season is a huge priority as the feeling was this team faded in November.

It’s clearly been a big change over the last five months and one that everyone seems to have bought into.

After a short break, it will be game on again in a critical 6-8 week stretch to have the team ready to go when call camp opens up. The team will be away for the next two weeks and summer conditioning will begin on May 25. It’s a pivotal two-week stretch where players are on their own and have to make sure they don’t slip back after their growth since Owings arrived.

Arion Carter is not fully cleared yet but is back around the team and running, which is a good sign. That’s an extremely deep linebacker room that William Inge will have to manage this fall.

Freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon continues to build on a strong spring with his work and the weight room. He is up around 220 pounds and continues to test well on the GPS monitors that the players have during workouts.

Another player who has seen growth in speed is Mike Matthews as he has drawn praise from the staff of late.

Quickly on the facilities front, the practice field expansion is complete and will be ready for use at the end of the month when some of the some work moves outside. The new area gives Tennessee about 270 yards or practice area for the team. It’s a far cry from the 1990’s when they had maybe 150 yards or practice area outside.

There’s been plenty of discussion about the entertainment district as it was voted to move forward on Monday. The first question now is not about the restaurants that will be there or even the hotel build, which is highly debated among fans. It’s about the parking plan for events and for class and what that looks like.

The thought is that details on how that will work from the university and athletic department side will be unveiled around the end of May or the first of June.

It was interesting in the presentation at the board meeting that the date for completion of the garage is late August of 2027, meaning they are going to get it destroyed and built in 13 months. That is an aggressive timeline for completion. For those too young to remember, there were issues with the construction of Thompson-Boling Arena. Beside the political squabbles and lawsuits, there were also ground issues. Sink holes that were found created a lot more work and expenses. The arena opened over a year later then originally planned.

When the G-10 garage was originally constructed there were no issues there, but you don’t know what’s in the ground till you start to dig, as everyone learned in the Lindsey Nelson Project. Sometime in July appears to be the start date of the project.

The clean out of the Hearing and Speech Center on the corner of Phillip Fulmer Way and Peyton Manning Pass appears to be getting started. That building is set to be demolished this offseason, creating a “green space” at the bottom of the hill in front of the stadium.
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-VQ War Room
 
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Happy Friday

Scripture — Book of Job 42:1–2 (NIV)
“Then Job replied to the Lord: ‘I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.’”

Reflection:
Job speaks these words after loss… confusion… silence… questions… and a long season where very little made sense.

Notice what changes in Job by chapter 42.
He doesn’t suddenly have every answer.
He doesn’t yet see every restoration.
He doesn’t get a step-by-step explanation of why everything happened.

What he gains is something deeper than explanation—he gains perspective.
“I know that You can do all things.”
Not I understand all things.
Not I can see where this is going.
Not I agree with every part of the process.
I know You.

There are seasons where faith is not built by having more data… it’s built by remembering who God is when the data doesn’t add up.
And then Job says, “No purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”

Trust doesn’t always begin when circumstances improve.
Sometimes it begins when we finally say:
“Lord… I may not understand this, but I know You.”

Prayer:
Lord, there are moments when I want explanations, timelines, and clarity before I move forward. But like Job, teach me that deeper faith is not always found in having answers—it’s found in knowing You. When circumstances feel confusing, anchor me in Your character. When plans shift, remind me that Your purposes are never threatened. Help me trust not what I can measure, but who You have proven Yourself to be. Your wisdom is higher, Your timing is perfect, and Your plans cannot be stopped. Amen.
 
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Hoops​

Tennessee basketball’s massive NCAA Transfer Portal class added its biggest piece Monday morning when Juke Harris committed to and signed with the Vols, while also removing his name from the NBA Draft.

There were reports early in the week of Harris getting $5 million from Tennessee, but we don’t believe that to be the case at all based on what we’ve heard.

The Vols were very competitive in the numbers game while battling Michigan, North Carolina and even Louisville, but make no mistake, Rick Barnes won this recruitment with his relationship with Harris and his family that dated back to high school.

After Barnes and his staff visited Harris in California last week, it felt more a question of when, not if the Vols would land the No. 1 overall player in the portal. And Tennessee did just that.

Moving forward, we believe Tennessee is operating with one open spot left on the roster and the Vols are looking to make one more addition.

Favour Ibe remains an interesting name as a possibility to fill that last spot after he took an official visit to Tennessee over the weekend. The 7-foot-1 center is a four-star prospect in the 2026 class and the best player currently available at his position after climbing to No. 82 in the Rivals Top150 earlier this week.

Ibe visited Virginia on Thursday and his recruitment remains open as of this writing. We believe Tennessee would take his commitment should he choose the Vols, and that they have been competitive in the NIL space with Ibe.

In 2027 recruiting news, On3’s Jamie Shaw updated Tennessee’s recruitment of 2027 four-star small forward Malachi Jordan and four-star guard Chase Lumpkin.

Jordan, a Nashville native, is ranked No. 10 overall in the Rivals rankings and is the No. 2 small forward in the class. He’s the No. 3 player in Arizona, where he attends Dream City Christian.

“It’s Rocky Top, man,” Jordan told Shaw. “That orange, you know, I mean, it runs through Nashville, where I’m from. It’s only a three-hour drive to Knoxville, I mean, it’s all you see, so I’ve grown up around it, and it’s home. The family aspect of Tennessee is big.

“I mean, they bring their players in, and it’s like a big family over there. The coaches treat all the players like their own sons. I mean, everyone is really close over there.”

Lumpkin, out of McEachern High School in Powder Springs, Ga., is the No. 44 overall player in the Rivals Industry Ranking. He’s the No. 9 shooting guard in the class and the No. 6 overall prospect in Georgia.

“(Tennessee is) good at developing players,” Lumpkin told Shaw. “You see Nate Amentthis year, they did really well with him. They had the guard, (Ja’Kobi) Gillespie, too. I like the way they play.”

More 2026-27 scheduling news arrived Thursday when The Players Era Festival announced its format for the 24-team event in November, making a move to bracket play. The event is also moving to two tournaments, with eight teams playing the week of November 16, then 16 teams playing the week of November 23.

Tennessee is in the group of 16 along with Michigan, Alabama, Gonzaga, St. John’s, Louisville, Iowa State, Miami, Texas Tech, Baylor, Maryland, TCU, Oregon, Creighton, San Diego State and Kansas State.

The group of eight is Florida, Houston, Kansas, Auburn, West Virginia, Notre Dame, Rutgers and UNLV.

ESPN is the new broadcast partner for all 37 games in the two tournaments. It’s safe to assume all teams involved will be guaranteed at least three games in Las Vegas. The Vols are in the second year of a three-year deal with Players Era and will be back there in 2027, too.

Next season’s schedule currently includes a neutral-site game against Justin Gainey and North Carolina State at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, a home game with Michigan State, a road game at Purdue and what should be a home game in the ACC-SEC Challenge. The Michigan State and Purdue games are the start of two-year home-and-homes. Tennessee is expected to play Illinois at the United Center in Chicago during the 2027-28 season.

In other bracket news, the NCAA Tournament officially announced its move to a 76-team field beginning in 2027. The main bracket looks the same, with 64 teams seeded 1-16 in four regions. The eight added teams will be in play-in games on the Tuesday and Wednesday before the first weekend.

The new play-in format features two games between No. 11 seeds, four games between No. 12 seeds, two games between No. 15 seeds and four games between No. 16 seeds.
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-VQ War Room
 
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Ace said:
PF just says anything to make him money and stir the pot. He is a perfect example of someone making a living talking about something he really knows nothing about. He knows people and not the strategy of the games he covers. He plays people against people, but knows little about the actual sports. He has become very wealthy by playing Alabama fans against Auburn fans on the radio and fooling ESPN into thinking he knows something about sports.
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🔥🔥🔥🔥
 
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