11th on Rivals 14th on 247

[swampfoxfan]

Who stays, who goes, transfers all make a difference not calculated into recruiting rankings. S.C. getting Rattler gives them a high 5*. Cade Mays stays and Hooker returning gives us 2 5*s. I'm happy with the current recruits, this staff does a great job of identifing and coaching the talent we need. Hope I'm wrong about the young man but I think W Nolen would have been a cancer to this team, kind of like ToTo and others.

 

[Mtnvol80]

Yeah by .2 points....

Wow they sure are doing well to only average .2 points more than we do with a bagillion five stars all over the field

Oh and we are 19th in total offense to their 27th and they only have 200 more total yards having played one more game than we did....and we had to go against their defense

So what exactly are you trying say?

I'm saying only an idiot calls their offense pedestrian when it's better than ours and who many on here think is the greatest since slice bread. Doesn't matter if it's by 20 points or .0001 points. They even did it with a midget walk on QB. They also blowed mostly everyone out by halftime and ran clock whereas CJH ran it up like he was known to do. That's not a knock as I'm for running your offense. It's up to the other team to stop it.

 

[peaygolf]

That's Michigan we are behind if you are looking at Rivals. This is the best class I ever remember Kentucky signing, it's not a sign of things to come but they did very well. We will still own them as long as JH is here because the offense he runs is a terrible match up for Stoops.

A lot of people on VN say the Wade twins are overrated, so they will never amount to anything at UK......
So their ranking is inflated.

 

[BeardedVol]

Who stays, who goes, transfers all make a difference not calculated into recruiting rankings. S.C. getting Rattler gives them a high 5*. Cade Mays stays and Hooker returning gives us 2 5*s. I'm happy with the current recruits, this staff does a great job of identifing and coaching the talent we need. Hope I'm wrong about the young man but I think W Nolen would have been a cancer to this team, kind of like ToTo and others.

Hooker was a 4*. Somewhat of a moot point considering that he has one year of eligibility left. The long term impact of middling SEC recruiting classes stacks every year, the same way that high end recruiting classes stack. There's no path to a return to relevancy that doesn't involve a drastic jump in the quality of players that Heupel is bringing to UT.

 

[stillavol]

A couple of those KY kids wanted to come to UT and we turned them down.

You're doing it wrong. crooting services have to protect their product.

UT did not turn them down. Not only were they offered scholarships, Golesh and a couple of others were at the state championship game watching them.

 

[bigorangepoppa]

The Rivals link shows Nolen as signed at aTm. Did he or didn't he?

 

[BeardedVol]

The Rivals link shows Nolen as signed at aTm. Did he or didn't he?

National Signing Day: Walter Nolen signs with Texas A&M Aggies

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

The Rivals link shows Nolen as signed at aTm. Did he or didn't he?

He has signed.
Texas A&M signee spotlight: Nation's No. 1 DL Walter Nolen inks with the Aggies

 

[Proud Army Wife]

That's true.

So with THAT in mind, how does Heupel and staff stack up against others coaching staff in SEC?

Spurrier made the SEC Championship game TWICE with South Carolina and they had a recruiting average of 8th (in conference)...over the years he coached.

Can Heupel get to Atlanta if his staff is recruiting top 15 nationally and 4th in the SEC overall every year?

Maybe. He’ll need a couple top 10 possibly top 5 classes to do it I think. He can definitely out-coach Kirby tho. That much is certain imo.

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

I'm saying only an idiot calls their offense pedestrian when it's better than ours and who many on here think is the greatest since slice bread. Doesn't matter if it's by 20 points or .0001 points. They even did it with a midget walk on QB. They also blowed mostly everyone out by halftime and ran clock whereas CJH ran it up like he was known to do. That's not a knock as I'm for running your offense. It's up to the other team to stop it.

Their offense was not better than ours dude. How many points would we score if we had that defense? We are also 8 spots ahead of them in TOTAL offense at 19th. So that kinda means we are better than them on offense.

Like think about it. They gave up 6 points a game! Their defense was historically great. 6 points a game! Our defense could not get off the field. If we had the best defense since God knows when this year, we might score 50 a game.

They run an outdated offense and they underachieve offensively every year because they refuse to modernize and its going to cost them a national title.

Our system is way better at maximizing talent than theirs is. Which is why, even with multiple classes around 10th in the nation, we could catch them on bad day because we are so good at scheming up points.

 

[RhodesVol]

ESPN is trash.

It sucks that ESPN even has a rating service, because they use it to talk about our class on television, as opposed to the services which devote actual time to evaluating players. So, it drives perception sometimes in a negative light, which blows.

 

[Proud Army Wife]

Who stays, who goes, transfers all make a difference not calculated into recruiting rankings. S.C. getting Rattler gives them a high 5*. Cade Mays stays and Hooker returning gives us 2 5*s. I'm happy with the current recruits, this staff does a great job of identifing and coaching the talent we need. Hope I'm wrong about the young man but I think W Nolen would have been a cancer to this team, kind of like ToTo and others.

I have to respectfully disagree with this. Nolen May very well be a “me” player but we don’t really know that. His decision likely came down to who offered the better NIL deal. That’s likely the case for many of the top prospects today and going forward. I also don’t think To’o-to’o and the others who transferred were cancers either. They played hard while they were here. They were players caught in the scandal and jumped ship. HT was torn between Bama and the Vols during his recruitment mind you. Not surprising that’s the place he ended up at after he entered the portal. It wasn’t meant to intentionally spurn TN.

 

[BeardedVol]

I have to respectfully disagree with this. Nolen May very well be a “me” player but we don’t really know that. His decision likely came down to who offered the better NIL deal. That’s likely the case for many of the top prospects today and going forward. I also don’t think To’o-to’o and the others who transferred were cancers either. They played hard while they were here. They were players caught in the scandal and jumped ship. HT was torn between Bama and the Vols during his recruitment mind you. Not surprising that’s the place he ended up at after he entered the portal. It wasn’t meant to intentionally spurn TN.

I think the reality is that at the moment UT does not have sway with in-state talent like other schools have. We've been down too long, and the CFB landscape has changed too much during that period.

 

[CAVPUT]

Just my opinion but signing day rankings will begin to have less and less significance in the next couple of years. The Portal is going to allow schools to sign what could be upwards of 20% of starters just from the portal. If a school can get 5 starters out of their 22 starters the HS signees have less impact. This also allows 3* players to develop into starters by maturing and learning the O & D with fewer mistakes.
I have said for several years, that the stars are assigned based on players probability of supplying meaningful playing time in college. Not their talent ceiling. 5*s should contribute immediately, 4* within 1 year, and 3* within 2 or 3 years. If a team can get to a point they are starting a majority of upper class men, they will be successful. This is how Missouri had back to back East championships. This is how Kentucky has been better than a decade ago. Stoops can keep the players on campus and continually play jr and sir’s.
Either way the portal and 1 time transfer is changing signing day status.

Agreed. They might as well just allow as many transfers as they like and allow schools and coaches to release kids as they like. Players wanted free agency so give it to them. They can sign contracts with the collectives and if they get released, that's between the player and the collective to settle the money issue. Treat this just like the NFL.

 

[Proud Army Wife]

I think the reality is that at the moment UT does not have sway with in-state talent like other schools have. We've been down too long, and the CFB landscape has changed too much during that period.

Agree and it’s a sad reality. I haven’t been following recruiting as much lately as I used to, but I do remember Pruitt pulling in some good TN talent out of Memphis “the Memphis Trio” lol. Also remember he recruited Ty Simpson hard but ultimately focused on Salter. I’m not exactly sure what all transpired since then regarding in-state recruiting since that’s where I left off following last year’s disastrous season. Apathy was at an all-time high for me at that point.

 

[peaygolf]

Agree and it’s a sad reality. I haven’t been following recruiting as much lately as I used to, but I do remember Pruitt pulling in some good TN talent out of Memphis “the Memphis Trio” lol. Also remember he recruited Ty Simpson hard but ultimately focused on Salter. I’m not exactly sure what all transpired since then regarding in-state recruiting since that’s where I left off following last year’s disastrous season. Apathy was at an all-time high for me at that point.

Lots on VN say in-state recruiting isn't important. "Get the best from wherever."
The fact is .....UT needs to get back to a place where they can get any state player they want.

 

[SaintLouisVol]

I think the reality is that at the moment UT does not have sway with in-state talent like other schools have. We've been down too long, and the CFB landscape has changed too much during that period.

I agree with you. However, I do think CJH can improve the situation over time. I have said since his hire that he won't come out of the gate as a barnstorming recruiter. He is going to have to win first, and more importantly, he is going to have to demonstrate that he can get players drafted.

Honestly, I think this year's team was only about 5-6 players away from being a 9-3 10-2 team. He should be able to close that gap. If he can win 8-9 games and scare the big boys next year, he should be able to attract an even better class.

 

[BeardedVol]

I agree with you. However, I do think CJH can improve the situation over time. I have said since his hire that he won't come out of the gate as a barnstorming recruiter. He is going to have to win first, and more importantly, he is going to have to demonstrate that he can get players drafted.

Honestly, I think this year's team was only about 5-6 players away from being a 9-3 10-2 team. He should be able to close that gap. If he can win 8-9 games and scare the big boys next year, he should be able to attract an even better class.

Over time I think it's possible as well; 'winning cures all'. The problem though in the short term, is that you've got an entire generation of football players, that have only known Tennessee to be a middling-to-doormat of the SEC, and until that changes, for a significant number of years, Heupel will struggle to get the top talent that Tennessee produces to come to UT.

Good players want to play for winning teams, and most don't have any school/state loyalty these days. It's just the nature of modern CFB.

 

[vettefool]

I agree with you. However, I do think CJH can improve the situation over time. I have said since his hire that he won't come out of the gate as a barnstorming recruiter. He is going to have to win first, and more importantly, he is going to have to demonstrate that he can get players drafted.

Honestly, I think this year's team was only about 5-6 players away from being a 9-3 10-2 team. He should be able to close that gap. If he can win 8-9 games and scare the big boys next year, he should be able to attract an even better class.

Scare the big boys and still win the rest would mean we are on the right track. Beat Pitt. Uscjr, ky., Missouri, fla. and just maybe LSU, and of course the sisters of the poor. Then we have had a good season. Should mean better recruiting next year, unless ncaa pounds us. It would help if instate recruiting improved immensely without a doubt.
I sure hope we have a QB for the future on our roster next fall.

 

[Cartervol]

Scare the big boys and still win the rest would mean we are on the right track. Beat Pitt. Uscjr, ky., Missouri, fla. and just maybe LSU, and of course the sisters of the poor. Then we have had a good season. Should mean better recruiting next year, unless ncaa pounds us. It would help if instate recruiting improved immensely without a doubt.
I sure hope we have a QB for the future on our roster next fall.

State doesn't look to be as strong next year. This year's class was loaded and we missed on a few. Not Heupel's fault though.

 

[ABINGDON VOL FAN]

A lot teams will finish with under 20 total recruits and finish with a high average ranking. That doesn't mean their class is better.

Take us vs Ole Miss last year. We finished with a better average recruit ranking, but took only 16 players. Ole Miss took 25. Clearly, OM had the better class and the final rankings reflected that.

Average ranking only matters with teams with a similar numbers of recruits.

Most teams will finish with about the same number of recruits. There is an exception here and there for different reasons. What I said about our current recruiting status is correct. How it turns out after NSD is anyone’s guess but expect us to drop a significant number of positions unless the recruiting staff pulls off a few surprises.