'15 LB FL Cecil Cherry (former Vol commit)

His first mistake was the visit. if a staff is looking for ways to make numbers fit then you don't give them a reason to move on. He opened that door and the staff is pouncing on an upgrade as a replacement. Cherry is a big hitter but struggles in space which is becoming big as our schedule is usually more spread teams than pro style. Kirkland is more complete player.

Taking the Texas visit may have been the SMARTEST thing Cherry did. The overall consensus is that Cherry is up and looking to leave. What we don't know, and probably will never know is why. Perhaps Cherry was encouraged to look at other opportunities. No kid is going to come out and say "I'm not wanted" after being committed to a school for over a year.
 
All of the sudden UT is one of the country's hottest teams and Texas (the "mini-me" of UTs) is trending downward. You'd have to wonder about a recruit's mind if he'd flip from us to them, especially if he's from Georgia.

Looking at their schedule they struggled early like us. They beat a ranked at the time West Virginia a couple weeks ago (Cherry's visit) they beat okie State by 21 this week to become bowl eligible. They're trending upward too.
 
I believe that the coaches talked it over after being contacted by Kirkland with his renewed interest following his decommitment. I think they have a preference for Kirkland. After talking it over, they contact Kirkland to let him know of their mutual interest, and tell Cecil that they are going to continue recruiting DKjr and he may want to consider all his options.

I just have a hard time believing that a guy who has been committed as long as Cherry has, and who has been as vocal as he has, all the sudden decides that he may not be as in love with Tennessee as he let on for over a year and Texas is suddenly his dream school.
 
Cecil retweeted this

@LegendOfNation: @cecil__cherry3 LOL so glad the Vols stopped recruiting you.

(There was an expletive by the longhorn fan here)
 
It's a shame but it appears the coaches opted to go in a different direction. Count me among those that are disappointed.
 
It's a shame but it appears the coaches opted to go in a different direction. Count me among those that are disappointed.
I am, too. I hope that is not the case. He is one of my favorite commitments, thus far...and I think the whole speed thing is being grossly exaggerated.

There have been some stellar college MLB's who turned out to have relatively slow 40 times at the NFL combine. Teo was one of them. Burflict's stock fell through the floor when he ran a slow 40 time, shocking a lot of scouts and GM's. He's turned out to be a huge asset for the Bengals

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbYkM9U1SWg[/youtube]

Both of them offset straight line speed with great instincts and playing speed (not every track star plays as fast as their 40 time would suggest).
 
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You're telling me if you scan our entire commitment list and are forced to cull a recruit to make room for another stud LB, Cherry is your choice? Just doesn't make sense
 
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It's a shame but it appears the coaches opted to go in a different direction. Count me among those that are disappointed.

Only after he decided take other visits. If he loses his spot it is because he decided to open things back up. That is a big no-no (and for good reason) with this staff this late in the game. It happened several times when they were up here at Cincy as well. They wont wait around on someone who isn't sure. They'll move on and find someone equal or better.
 
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Only after he decided take other visits. If he loses his spot it is because he decided to open things back up. That is a big no-no (and for good reason) with this staff this late in the game. It happened several times when they were up here at Cincy as well. They wont wait around on someone who isn't sure. They'll move on and find someone equal or better.

Do we know that for certain? That we only moved on after he decided to open up his recruitment? Or did he open up his recruitment after we stopped recruiting him? If your right, it doesn't bode well for Preston Williams either

Edit: just saw you had answered this in the Kirkland Jr. thread
 
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I've seen cherry play multiple times in person and when I say his opponents and team itself are weak I mean they are weaaakkkkk
 
Do we know that for certain? That we only moved on after he decided to open up his recruitment? Or did he open up his recruitment after we stopped recruiting him? If your right, it doesn't bode well for Preston Williams either

Edit: just saw you had answered this in the Kirkland Jr. thread

The VQ guys basically said everything was fine with Cherry being a Vol until he decided to take more visits. Once he decided to, all bets were off.

As for Preston... he is an elite prospect (someone you hold a spot for regardless), plus he told the staff all along he would be taking visits, which is irrelevant now as it appears he wont be taking any.
 
I mean I like this kid and I think he will be a damn good MLB even if it's for the Longhorns but once he started taking visits and Kirkland became available then we shifted our focus. Kirkland even said the numbers weren't working out for him to be taken at first, why? Because the staff still thought Cherry was firm to us. Once he took a visit he opened his spot up and Kirkland's recruitment heated up.

I think there is no doubt that we wanted Cherry BUT we're not going to play games with kids this late in the recruitment process and get snubbed.
 
I mean I like this kid and I think he will be a damn good MLB even if it's for the Longhorns but once he started taking visits and Kirkland became available then we shifted our focus. Kirkland even said the numbers weren't working out for him to be taken at first, why? Because the staff still thought Cherry was firm to us. Once he took a visit he opened his spot up and Kirkland's recruitment heated up.

I think there is no doubt that we wanted Cherry BUT we're not going to play games with kids this late in the recruitment process and get snubbed.

Agreed. It is what it is. IMO, great if Cecil is a Vol, but also great if Kirkland is. Cherry jeopardized his spot by taking visits so now all bets are off.
 
Grown men following kids on twitter.. Classic overachievers in life

I see this sort of comment a lot. . .I get it - they follow high schoolers on Twitter so they must be losers right? lol. Question. . . Do you ever take a step back and look at what we do on VolNation or on any recruiting message board? . . . Tracking every tid-bit of information released, obsessing over a 17 year old kid's decision, wanting to know more about the thought process, looking for insider scoops, wanting more direct quotes, etc, basically acting like creepy old men but in a more "socially acceptable manner". . .The whole industry is "grown men bending over backwards" to please 17 year old kids. . . So long as these "grown men" support the kids rather than critique them then it shouldn't be looked at like it's a problem. JMO
 
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Grown men following kids on twitter.. Classic overachievers in life

That does seem to be what many of these recruits enjoy and in many cases even ask for...Creepy or not they love the attention and they get it from (as one would expect) the people that care about college recruiting the most (grown men). We can all see that many of these recruits even go as far as to feign interest in teams with large fan bases just to increase their followers. Several recruits have done that to Tennessee.

If the college fan that follows recruiting on twitter is the creepy guy on the balcony, then the recruit is the girl parading around the pool in the G string.
 
Again, over 240 million users on Twitter. It's 2014 biopsyman, there are much weirder things out there.

Twitter is a platform used for communication and recruits eat it up. I'm not one of the guys who post "go vols" on every post they make, but they love the fans who do and Tennessee has one of the largest fan bases on Twitter and are pretty respectable for the most part.

Nearly all recruits have tweeted "man Vol fans show so much love," at some point so I consider it a tool that helps us.

You are the minority here. We aren't asking you to sign up, but to quit judging something you clearly do not understand.

/rant
 
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People forget how important a MLB is to this class, we don't have a true MLB for next year on the roster right now really. JJ played DE for a while and Bynum hasn't been able to crack a lineup really. Ill take Cherry who is an EE, over a guy we aren't even sure we are going to get. I hope the coaches put a full court press on cherry and get him enrolled in time for bowl practices.
 

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