Kirby Smart and Josh Heupel

[docterjaws]

I would like to remind all the worrying and Debby downers of Tennessee football that Kirby Smart widely considered the king of college football right now was 32 and 10 in his first 3 years at Georgia. He inherited a much more favorable condition than JH by far but rose to the occasion. JH is now 26 and 12 in his first 3 years and will be 27 and 12 if we win the Citrus bowl. I keep hearing about how poor the offense was this year - ranked 17th in the nation is not too shabby. I keep hearing about can JH recruit but has consistently been a top 15 recruiting class. For all those who continue to really want Tennessee to win and win big - STOP WITH ALL THE POSTED NEGATIVE ISSUES - You are only hurting the Tennessee football team.

 

[General Jack]

I agree that the future is bright with Heupel.

 

[MurphyVol]

I'm not down on Josh, but comparing him to Kirby is apples and oranges.

Year 2 Kirby signed the #3 class, year 3 #1 class, year 4 #2 class etc....

That's why they are where they are now.

 

[The Original Fade]

I’ve yet to hear any convincing argument that message board negativity actually hurts the team.

 

[Volfan76]

I'm not down on Josh, but comparing him to Kirby is apples and oranges.

Year 2 Kirby signed the #3 class, year 3 #1 class, year 4 #2 class etc....

That's why they are where they are now.

Thank you for posting these. I was just about to look those up. We've got to recruit better.

 

[hog88]

I would like to remind all the worrying and Debby downers of Tennessee football that Kirby Smart widely considered the king of college football right now was 32 and 10 in his first 3 years at Georgia. He inherited a much more favorable condition than JH by far but rose to the occasion. JH is now 26 and 12 in his first 3 years and will be 27 and 12 if we win the Citrus bowl. I keep hearing about how poor the offense was this year - ranked 17th in the nation is not too shabby. I keep hearing about can JH recruit but has consistently been a top 15 recruiting class. For all those who continue to really want Tennessee to win and win big - STOP WITH ALL THE POSTED NEGATIVE ISSUES - You are only hurting the Tennessee football team.

Kirby's first 4 classes at UGA were all top 5 including a #1 class. The Hype has only cracked the top 10 once and even getting in the top 15 this year is going to be close.

 

[Voltopia]

For all those who continue to really want Tennessee to win and win big - STOP WITH ALL THE POSTED NEGATIVE ISSUES - You are only hurting the Tennessee football team.

 

[volfan411]

Kirby's first 4 classes at UGA were all top 5 including a #1 class. The Hype has only cracked the top 10 once and even getting in the top 15 this year is going to be close.

Pretty amazing he cracked the top 20 with the looming sanctions he faced. I agree he has to recruit better to compete with the elite but up until this point he has been handcuffed with the unknown of sanctions.

 

[hog88]

Pretty amazing he cracked the top 20 with the looming sanctions he faced. I agree he has to recruit better to compete with the elite but up until this point he has been handcuffed with the unknown of sanctions.

I'll agree with all of that but this years class has the threat of sanctions behind them, I expected better results with all of that cleared up. I guess next years class will be the telltale.

 

[volfan411]

I'll agree with all of that but this years class has the threat of sanctions behind them, I expected better results with all of that cleared up. I guess next years class will be the telltale.

I agree I think next year will tell us how he is going to recruit vs the big boys.. I think other coaches were using the sanctions as a negative recruiting tool.

 

[JoeMiltonsAgent]

Look guys, posting is simple.

If you french fry when you should have pizza you're gonna have a bad time.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

I'm not down on Josh, but comparing him to Kirby is apples and oranges.

Year 2 Kirby signed the #3 class, year 3 #1 class, year 4 #2 class etc....

That's why they are where they are now.

Not entirely. Kirby took over an outstanding program that was tired of going 9-3 and 10-2 under Mark Richt. Heupel followed dumpster fire after dumpster fire . The mountain Heupel has to climb is much steeper.

 

[Fatman Photos]

I'm not down on Josh, but comparing him to Kirby is apples and oranges.

Year 2 Kirby signed the #3 class, year 3 #1 class, year 4 #2 class etc....

That's why they are where they are now

Kirby also DIDN't come into a dumpster fire. Georgia had been winning. Their WORST season that had under Richt was 6-7 in 2010 and most of the seasons under him were 9-4 and 10-3 Seasons where under our coached over that same period we had 6 losing seasons. It's so much easier to recruit top notch when you are winning and winning big.

 

[MurphyVol]

Not entirely. Kirby took over an outstanding program that was tired of going 9-3 and 10-2 under Mark Richt. Heupel followed dumpster fire after dumpster fire . The mountain Heupel has to climb is much steeper.

Like I said, it's an apples to oranges comparison. Whether it's JH fault or not, you are more likely to win the SEC by signing a top class than you are with the class he has going so far this year. Maybe nobody could come into UT and sign a top class right now. Either way, you can't say it's a comparable situation.

 

[MurphyVol]

Kirby also DIDN't come into a dumpster fire. Georgia had been winning. Their WORST season that had under Richt was 6-7 in 2010 and most of the seasons under him were 9-4 and 10-3 Seasons where under our coached over that same period we had 6 losing seasons. It's so much easier to recruit top notch when you are winning and winning big.

It certainly is. It's almost like comparing oranges to apples

 

[Zues1]

I would like to remind all the worrying and Debby downers of Tennessee football that Kirby Smart widely considered the king of college football right now was 32 and 10 in his first 3 years at Georgia. He inherited a much more favorable condition than JH by far but rose to the occasion. JH is now 26 and 12 in his first 3 years and will be 27 and 12 if we win the Citrus bowl. I keep hearing about how poor the offense was this year - ranked 17th in the nation is not too shabby. I keep hearing about can JH recruit but has consistently been a top 15 recruiting class. For all those who continue to really want Tennessee to win and win big - STOP WITH ALL THE POSTED NEGATIVE ISSUES - You are only hurting the Tennessee football team.

Notice how Kirby played more games in that stretch...wonder why that happened..

 

[KTrain]

Kirby's first 4 classes at UGA were all top 5 including a #1 class. The Hype has only cracked the top 10 once and even getting in the top 15 this year is going to be close.

Did Kirby take over a 3-win team that was under sanctions and still is and Mark Richt was in the Top 10 in recruiting all 15 years except 2 years he finished #11 & #12 his lowest. He had the #5 recruiting Class the year before Kirby took over. In other words, he recruited well enough to win a Championship but didn't and left the Cupboard teeming with top notch players when Kirby took over. Kirby is a better coach than Richt but Richt wasn't terrible HC like Pruitt Butch & Dooley. Hype has a much steeper climb.

 

[DaddyChad]

I’ve yet to hear any convincing argument that message board negativity actually hurts the team.

Cai Bates will likely sign with FSU bc of the BS surrounding Martinez possibly not being back. To be fair I think it’s more social media particularly twitter that does more damage than VN.

 

[OrangeTsar]

I’ve yet to hear any convincing argument that message board negativity actually hurts the team.

Oddball disagrees

 

[SGMVols]

I'm not down on Josh, but comparing him to Kirby is apples and oranges.

Year 2 Kirby signed the #3 class, year 3 #1 class, year 4 #2 class etc....

That's why they are where they are now.

It’s much easier to recruit to UGA. Georgia is loaded with in state talent. Tennessee isn’t.

 

[MurphyVol]

It’s much easier to recruit to UGA. Georgia is loaded with in state talent. Tennessee isn’t.

It certainly is, it's almost like comparing apples to oranges

 

[DaddyChad]

Kirby's first 4 classes at UGA were all top 5 including a #1 class. The Hype has only cracked the top 10 once and even getting in the top 15 this year is going to be close.

Georgia had several advantages built in. Kirby inherited a full cupboard. He could just recruit the state of Georgia and likely build a contender every year. Tennessee has to regional recruit. Heupel has done a good job so far; he has to do better though. Idk that he can get that done unless he starts recruiting coaches outside just internal promotions.

 

[Ratvol]

I'm not down on Josh, but comparing him to Kirby is apples and oranges.

Year 2 Kirby signed the #3 class, year 3 #1 class, year 4 #2 class etc....

That's why they are where they are now.

But Kirby followed a much better coach/recruiter than Cornbread. Plus Kirby didn't have NCAA sanctions/loss of scollys looming over his head. Kirby had it much much much better/easier.
Relax, things are looking much better than originally thought.

GO VOLS!!!!!

 

[volbound1700]

I think people are grounded in reality. Tennessee just doesn't have the resources Georgia had when Kirby took over. I still don't think we are recruiting well enough to be like Alabama or Georgia. Heupel's staff hasn't had a top 5 class yet. However, Heupel is definitely better than anything we have had the last 15 years and we are in a bright spot compared to that. However, he isn't going to come and take over the SEC like Spurrier, Saban, Smart, and others did as some of us initially thought. He is a good but not great coach. This year showed that as we were not able to win some games that the more elite coaches would have won (@ Florida, @Alabama, @ Missouri). However, the ELITE coaches are only 3-4 coaches on the list.

I consider Heupel to be more of a Mark Richt level coach. That is still, very much, a compliment. When the stars aligned, we will compete with the ELITE but it won't be every year.

I do think Spyre has been a little bit of a letdown. For such a great NIL, we should be pulling more than 1* a year.

 

[MurphyVol]

But Kirby followed a much better coach/recruiter than Cornbread. Plus Kirby didn't have NCAA sanctions/loss of scollys looming over his head. Kirby had it much much much better/easier.
Relax, things are looking much better than originally thought.

GO VOLS!!!!!

Have we covered them all....dumpster fire, looming sanctions, geographical disadvantage....feels like we're missing one.

Based on what I'm hearing we'll likely never compete for the SEC again. I'll have to admit, after a quarter of a century it certainly is starting to feel that way.