2007 In-State Talent Lost

#1
tclowers23

tclowers23

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#1
I know UT has a tremendous class this year, but it still bothers me that they can't keep more top-notch in-state talent. This trend is getting old.

Here's some names from the 2007 class:

Golden Tate, WR: 4-star (Notre Dame)
Alex Watkins, DE: 4-star (Alabama)
Rashad Mason, WR: 4-star (North Carolina)
John Stokes, DE: 4-star (Vanderbilt)
Harrison Smith, S: 4-star (Notre Dame)
Roderick Davis, WR: 4-star (Mississippi)

Last year it was Brandon Warren. Before that, you've got Patrick Turner. Before that, there was Adarius Bowman.

This class is fabulous, but UT must do a better job in the future getting top-notch in-state talent to Knoxville.

I'm not meaning to bring down the mood on Signing Day, but lets not get too cocky about UT's recruiting efforts. There are still things to work on for the seasons to come!
 
#2
#2
I can understand your concerns but we can't always depend on in state talent. It seems we don't have any problems pulling better talent from other states
 
#3
#3
tclowers23 said:
I know UT has a tremendous class this year, but it still bothers me that they can't keep more top-notch in-state talent. This trend is getting old.

Here's some names from the 2007 class:

Golden Tate, WR: 4-star (Notre Dame)
Alex Watkins, DE: 4-star (Alabama)
Rashad Mason, WR: 4-star (North Carolina)
John Stokes, DE: 4-star (Vanderbilt)
Harrison Smith, S: 4-star (Notre Dame)
Roderick Davis, WR: 4-star (Mississippi)

Last year it was Brandon Warren. Before that, you've got Patrick Turner. Before that, there was Adarius Bowman.

This class is fabulous, but UT must do a better job in the future getting top-notch in-state talent to Knoxville.

I'm not meaning to bring down the mood on Signing Day, but lets not get too cocky about UT's recruiting efforts. There are still things to work on for the seasons to come!
Click to expand...


Well...four of the 6 went to Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, or North Carolina - and those are all schools that could convince a kid and his family that they have stronger academic programs (and depending on the area could definitely be right). Did that have an impact? I know that it did in at least one case (Smith).

I don't know why you would go to Alabama or Ole Miss , being from TN!! :crazy:
 
#4
#4
You're right Bigvolfan, but it seems like the state of Tennessee's high school football talent keeps getting better and better.
 
#5
#5
tclowers23 said:
I know UT has a tremendous class this year, but it still bothers me that they can't keep more top-notch in-state talent. This trend is getting old.

Here's some names from the 2007 class:

Golden Tate, WR: 4-star (Notre Dame)
Alex Watkins, DE: 4-star (Alabama)
Rashad Mason, WR: 4-star (North Carolina)
John Stokes, DE: 4-star (Vanderbilt)
Harrison Smith, S: 4-star (Notre Dame)
Roderick Davis, WR: 4-star (Mississippi)

Last year it was Brandon Warren. Before that, you've got Patrick Turner. Before that, there was Adarius Bowman.

This class is fabulous, but UT must do a better job in the future getting top-notch in-state talent to Knoxville.

I'm not meaning to bring down the mood on Signing Day, but lets not get too cocky about UT's recruiting efforts. There are still things to work on for the seasons to come!
Click to expand...

What? Not this topic again! UT only has so many slots open and many in-state guys want to go out and see more of the big mudball. Not everyone want's stay local and see the same old scenery. Plus, if you look at the positions you have above, UT has managed to plug em up pretty well.
 
#6
#6
TennTradition said:
Well...four of the 6 went to Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, or North Carolina - and those are all schools that could convince a kid and his family that they have stronger academic programs (and depending on the area could definitely be right). Did that have an impact? I know that it did in at least one case (Smith).

I don't know why you would go to Alabama or Ole Miss , being from TN!! :crazy:
Click to expand...
west and middle TN, esp the southern sides of each, have a fairly good mix of fans......lots of Ole Miss fans in the Jackson area...and down south of Nashville lots of Bama fans down there...and Memphis...forget about it. probably the most SEC diverse city in the South. Memphis might as well be in another state.
 
#7
#7
J.Quest said:
What? Not this topic again! UT only has so many slots open and many in-state guys want to go out and see more of the big mudball. Not everyone want's stay local and see the same old scenery. Plus, if you look at the positions you have above, UT has managed to plug em up pretty well.
Click to expand...

Don't remember discussing this topic recently, but okay.
 
#8
#8
My view would be that this only speaks to the increasing talent pool in the state of Tn. I live in Ohio which is a hotbed of football recruits, and OSU seems to lose kids every year to PSU, Iowa, and especially Mich. their biggest rival! I know that you like to keep as many kids in state as possible but you can't keep them all. And it's not like UT didn't get equitable talent in the guys they did sign. All in all I'm very pleased with the recruiting efforts, both in state and out. While Bowman, Warren, and Turner were big losses for UT. Coker, McClendon, and Donald are big wins for the program.
Just my two cents.
 
#10
#10
volsfan_17 said:
My view would be that this only speaks to the increasing talent pool in the state of Tn. I live in Ohio which is a hotbed of football recruits, and OSU seems to lose kids every year to PSU, Iowa, and especially Mich. their biggest rival! I know that you like to keep as many kids in state as possible but you can't keep them all. And it's not like UT didn't get equitable talent in the guys they did sign. All in all I'm very pleased with the recruiting efforts, both in state and out. While Bowman, Warren, and Turner were big losses for UT. Coker, McClendon, and Donald are big wins for the program.
Just my two cents.
Click to expand...

Very true.
 
#11
#11
J.Quest said:
What? Not this topic again! UT only has so many slots open and many in-state guys want to go out and see more of the big mudball. Not everyone want's stay local and see the same old scenery. Plus, if you look at the positions you have above, UT has managed to plug em up pretty well.
Click to expand...

Ahtough it does seem like the Watkins kid would have been a nice addition at DE in this class (one 5*, a 3*, and a 2*). A 4* and 5* would help out that line in the figure...I would hope.
 
#14
#14
Harrison Smith and Golden Tate went to Catholic schools. They both went to Notre Dame. It is hard to recruit against that.

Memphis might as well be in Mississippi. Ole Miss' campus is closer to Memphis than Knoxville is to Memphis.

Stokes got a 29 on his ACT. Football may not be his future job thus a degree from Vandy is better than a degree from UT.

Mason did not appeal to Tennessee's coaches. He was here for a camp and did not impress but he was recovering from a severe car wreck.

We did blow our chances with Watkins by recruiting him too late.
 
#15
#15
justingroves said:
Memphis might as well be in Mississippi. Ole Miss' campus is closer to Memphis than Knoxville is to Memphis.
Click to expand...
Ole Miss, Bama, (maybe even auburn too) MSU, ARk, Vandy, Southern Miss and Mem. St are all closer than Knoxville.
 
#16
#16
tclowers23 said:
I know UT has a tremendous class this year, but it still bothers me that they can't keep more top-notch in-state talent. This trend is getting old.

Here's some names from the 2007 class:

Golden Tate, WR: 4-star (Notre Dame)
Alex Watkins, DE: 4-star (Alabama)
Rashad Mason, WR: 4-star (North Carolina)
John Stokes, DE: 4-star (Vanderbilt)
Harrison Smith, S: 4-star (Notre Dame)
Roderick Davis, WR: 4-star (Mississippi)

Last year it was Brandon Warren. Before that, you've got Patrick Turner. Before that, there was Adarius Bowman.

This class is fabulous, but UT must do a better job in the future getting top-notch in-state talent to Knoxville.

I'm not meaning to bring down the mood on Signing Day, but lets not get too cocky about UT's recruiting efforts. There are still things to work on for the seasons to come!
Click to expand...
It is really not that much of a loss. We got what we needed from In State and some very good players. Golden Tate as a WR in the Tennessee Offense was not going to happen he was Over rated.

Three WRs we got a premier WR group outside of Tennessee.
Two DEs on this list them versus Martin and Sykes a real no brainer

Safety may have been the only loss in state but look at what we got coming in defensively in the back field.

Look at Notre Dame year in year out it is a bust We have different needs and I am not sure that any of these 6 players with one exception would ever start at Tennessee
 
#17
#17
Sudden Impact said:
It is really not that much of a loss. We got what we needed from In State and some very good players. Golden Tate as a WR in the Tennessee Offense was not going to happen he was Over rated.

Three WRs we got a premier WR group outside of Tennessee.
Two DEs on this list them versus Martin and Sykes a real no brainer

Safety may have been the only loss in state but look at what we got coming in defensively in the back field.

Look at Notre Dame year in year out it is a bust We have different needs and I am not sure that any of these 6 players with one exception would ever start at Tennessee
Click to expand...


I think it'd be nice to have Patrick Turner next year to go along with Vinson and O'Neal....
 
#18
#18
I understand what you are saying. But, we did not lose a Warren or Turner this year.

Golden Tate, WR: 4-star (Notre Dame)
We didnt push very hard for him. He wanted to play a position we did not want to play him at so it was not so much us not getting him as us not wanting him. We were only going to take him as a CB and he did not want to play CB so we were not going to lie to him and tell him otherwise.

Alex Watkins, DE: 4-star (Alabama)
This is the one that actually hurt. We jumped on him too late and could not recover. I dont think we realized how good he would be.

Rashad Mason, WR: 4-star (North Carolina)
We did not lose him because we did not want him.

John Stokes, DE: 4-star (Vanderbilt)
Again, we did not push for him. He had an academic standard that was leading him to a Vanderbilt type school all the way.

Harrison Smith, S: 4-star (Notre Dame)
Smith, along with Watkins, are the two we actually pushed for and lost. We had to fight against it being a Catholic school and his parents wanting a Notre Dame eduction. Still, we wanted him.

Roderick Davis, WR: 4-star (Mississippi)
We did not push very hard for him either. At one point he was very, very interested in UT. Then we backed off a little when we realized we were getting some bigger names at WR. We could have had him if we really pushed hard enough, but that would have meant our bigger names at WR had fallen through.


*So basically it was only 2 and neither are of the Turner or Warren mold. We got the one in the state that is in their mold, Donald.
 
#19
#19
therickbol said:
Rashad Mason, WR: 4-star (North Carolina)
We did not lose him because we did not want him..
Click to expand...

We did not want him until early December. He said that is when UT coaches started to recruit him, but it was too late. Fact is, UT missed the boat with Mason. Again, I'm not complaining about the talent we have in this class at WR. It'd just be nice to have more Tennessee boys in Orange and White.
 
#20
#20
i see all your points. This year's class now comes down to coaching. Tennessee's statewide talent level is on the rise. But we had alot of holes to field. We have done well to meet our needs. It is now in the coaches hands to make everybody happy and build on talent that we already have. Should be an interesting year. I am excited about the defense!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
#21
#21
Ive seen all of these kids play except for Watkins, Stokes, and Davis and I will say out of the others the only one that Im concerned about losing is Mason. I know he came on late but I think he has a chance to be special. Not taking anything away from the other players(cause they are all good), but I think we got better players at their respective positions. We have to understand that we cant tak in state kids just to take them were not in Florida, Texas, of Cali. We have to take the best we can get no matter where there from to be able to compete at the level that we want to. Just my two cents.
 
#22
#22
it may not help matters that TN has 7 states that border it. Lots of kids may actually be closer to other Universities than Knox. I think it speaks volumes that TN can recruit kids from CA, TX, FL, GA, NC, DC, etc.. Its gotta be the whole package.
 
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