Old timers---Reggie Cobb and Chuck Webb recruitment.

#26
#26
Actaully, Majors was a good recruiter, but sometimes was victim of his conservative game management, My late Father once remarked that UT should have Johnny do all the recruiting/coaching and then have him sit in the press box on game day. His recruitment at Pittsburg (seems like he brought in something like 90 players in a year and a half, before the NCAA limits) was remarkable, and led to the National Championship season there.

In some ways, Bill Battle was a better game day coach, but didn't put as much into the recruiting process as many thought he should. That was why the program declined over those years, and left Majors with a big rebuilding project when he came back to UT.
 
#27
#27
10 team parlay said:
Thank you. This is exactly what I was looking for. I had no idea Cobb did that in 1/2 of a year. So Webb was an all-American...this I did not know either. Was Majors a good recruiter or so-so?
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I remember when Fulmer was recruiting Charlie Garner and there was an article in our local newspaper that basically said when he touched the ball you could count 1....2....3 and if he wasn't tackled, he was gone.
 
#28
#28
Though I first started payin attention to UT football during the 1966 season, I never really thought about recruiting until Majors started reelin em in long about 1978 with players like rbs James Berry (#14's dad), Ford, Mahan (he didn't stick), Daniels, receivers like Hancock, Gault, Mike Miller and linemen like Lee Otis Burton, Mike Cofer and Lee North. I don't know how he landed that class but it made a lot of us sit up and take notice.
 
#29
#29
I was at the 89 UCLA game at the Rose Bowl stadium. Vols were big underdogs after finishing previous season at 5-6 and first game at home in 89 a lackluster 3 pt win over Col St. while UCLA had great season in 88 and were ranked number 6 at game time.. The Vols dominated 24-6. If one game could be picked as the game that turned around the Vols for our decade of dominance in the 90's, it was this one.
 
#30
#30
Just my thoughts but Reggie Cobb was one of the best backs I ever saw at UT> Came from Knox Central. Great Running back, but got in trouble and was dismissed,
 
#31
#31
One of my family members played with both.

I dont remember anything about Cobb's recruitment but Chuck Webb was the #1 RB in the country out of Toledo, Ohio. He was a 1st Team All-USA by USA Today and many had him as the #1 overall prospect in the entire nation coming out of high school.

That was one of the best recruiting jobs I've ever seen a Tennessee staff member do. It was Kevin Steele who recruited him to Tennessee (this is why I'm not surprised at all at Clemson's recruiting success). Steele is just an awesome recruiter.

And yes Johnny Majors and his staff could definitely recruit.

His rosters in 89, 90 and 91 were unbelievably loaded. Chuck Smith and Dale Carter, although they signed them out of JUCO were both former 1st Team All-USA players coming out of high school. Carl Pickens was another. The whole roster was stacked. The 1990 team probably had the best talent in the country in my opinion. They tied Colorado in the first game that year, who went on to win the national title. Webb ran for 150 in that game...

If ONLY Chuck had not gotten hurt in that first game and missed the rest of the year................ They would not have lost another game and very possibly won the national title.......
 
#32
#32
I think Chuck Webb and Stanley Morgan were the best running backs Tennessee has ever had! Majors signed 105 players one year at Pitt...That was the year he signed Dorsett!
 
#33
#33
tennezz said:
I think Chuck Webb and Stanley Morgan were the best running backs Tennessee has ever had! Majors signed 105 players one year at Pitt...That was the year he signed Dorsett!
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Webb was definitely the best I have seen at Tennessee. For those who never saw him play do yourselves a favor and find a copy of the 1989 Cotton Bowl against Arkansas. Both were Top 10 teams. I think Tennessee was 6th and Arkansas 9th.

Remember this is when the Cotton Bowl was one of the Top 3-4 bowl games out there and it was basically equivalent in today's world to a BCS game game. You had the league champ from the Southwest Conference (great conference back then) against basically a BCS at-large team.
 
#34
#34
The year Cobb came out there was a great TB in Tennessee named Leroy Thompson (I think that was his last name). If memory serves correctly, he was not only the top recruit in the state but the top TB in the nation. He spurned the vols and went to Penn State and the Vols "settled" for Cobb. Cobb was a much better college TB and I think LT was drafted but never panned out.

Webb was a highly recruited player that UT somehow stole from Ohio State, his home state. In '88 when we went 0-6 to open the season, it was too late, but Majors redshirted Webb & Pickens that year. I remember reading back then that those two tore up the varsity in every scrimmage and people were wondering why they weren't playing. This was a different time than today but the train of thought today is not to waste talent with a reshirt. I believe Majors has been quoted as saying redshirting these two might has been his single greatest coaching mistake
 
#35
#35
1Big_Orange_Fan said:
The year Cobb came out there was a great TB in Tennessee named Leroy Thompson (I think that was his last name). If memory serves correctly, he was not only the top recruit in the state but the top TB in the nation. He spurned the vols and went to Penn State and the Vols "settled" for Cobb. Cobb was a much better college TB and I think LT was drafted but never panned out.

Webb was a highly recruited player that UT somehow stole from Ohio State, his home state. In '88 when we went 0-6 to open the season, it was too late, but Majors redshirted Webb & Pickens that year. I remember reading back then that those two tore up the varsity in every scrimmage and people were wondering why they weren't playing. This was a different time than today but the train of thought today is not to waste talent with a reshirt. I believe Majors has been quoted as saying redshirting these two might has been his single greatest coaching mistake
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This is all true. Thompson went to Penn State and had an average career. He was nowhere near the players Cobb and Webb were.

And you're absolutely right about the 88 season. That was probably a 10 win team had those two played that year. They were both that good!
 
#36
#36
Weird, but I heard someone talking about Cobb-Webb on the radio the other day. His opinion was that Cobb played on a good team but not a great team. The UT teams of the early 90's, a couple of years after Cobb, were great and Cobb would have set records never to be touched. His opinion. Cobb is working for the 49ers as a scout. Very good NFL career.

My opinion - Webb was better. The best was Charlie Garner hands down.
 
#37
#37
Montrell you sir are exactly correct.Chuck Webb was the closest thing to Barry Sanders as I have ever seen,but Chuck was faster and bigger.I was at the 89 Ole Miss game and Webb just wore them down,The most rushing yards in a game by any Tennessee back in Tennessee history.The Cotton bowl was amazing if any of you can find footage of it just watch how special Webb was.
 
#38
#38
Montrell Hardy said:
This is all true. Thompson went to Penn State and had an average career. He was nowhere near the players Cobb and Webb were.

And you're absolutely right about the 88 season. That was probably a 10 win team had those two played that year. They were both that good!
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Thanks for your input too! Funny thing about Webb & Pickens is that neither played 4 years. Wasted that '88 year. You also remember all those great Juco players in that era? Chuck Smith, Chris Mims, Dale Carter....that was some major talent and won some big games for us.
 
#41
#41
WesternKyVol said:
Darryl Hardy? The linebacker who blocked the field goal at the end of the first half in South Bend? He was good!
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That was my favorite LB corp....Darryl Hardy, Shon Walker and Ernest Fields. I played against Earnest in high school and got to meet him once when a buddy snuck us into the locker room at the Ole Miss game in Memphis - '91-'93, can't remember what year.
 
#42
#42
Our offense really needs another big time back. I love Poole but we need a game changer ala Webb/Lewis in the backfield to really turn the SEC upside down.
Maybe one of the guys coming in (Smith/Lane) will be that guy.
 
#43
#43
tennezz said:
I think Chuck Webb and Stanley Morgan were the best running backs Tennessee has ever had! Majors signed 105 players one year at Pitt...That was the year he signed Dorsett!
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Jamal lewis is right up there too. I may take Lewis if I am picking a team. He obviously had the better NFL career. Not that that matters in college but he was as good or better than Webb. Charlie Garner was awful good too.
 
#44
#44
Montrell Hardy said:
One of my family members played with both.

I dont remember anything about Cobb's recruitment but Chuck Webb was the #1 RB in the country out of Toledo, Ohio. He was a 1st Team All-USA by USA Today and many had him as the #1 overall prospect in the entire nation coming out of high school.

That was one of the best recruiting jobs I've ever seen a Tennessee staff member do. It was Kevin Steele who recruited him to Tennessee (this is why I'm not surprised at all at Clemson's recruiting success). Steele is just an awesome recruiter.

And yes Johnny Majors and his staff could definitely recruit.

His rosters in 89, 90 and 91 were unbelievably loaded. Chuck Smith and Dale Carter, although they signed them out of JUCO were both former 1st Team All-USA players coming out of high school. Carl Pickens was another. The whole roster was stacked. The 1990 team probably had the best talent in the country in my opinion. They tied Colorado in the first game that year, who went on to win the national title. Webb ran for 150 in that game...

If ONLY Chuck had not gotten hurt in that first game and missed the rest of the year................ They would not have lost another game and very possibly won the national title.......
Click to expand...

Steele recruited Webb? Wow great stuff :hi: Does anyone know who recruited the late great Reggie White? I also remember the Colorado tie and my dad was so upset he was out of work for a week lol. I remember this as if it were yesterday.
 
#45
#45
i remember scrimmaging webb from macomber high school he is the best tailback i think to come out of ohio (toledo for sure)
 
#46
#46
1Big_Orange_Fan said:
The year Cobb came out there was a great TB in Tennessee named Leroy Thompson (I think that was his last name). If memory serves correctly, he was not only the top recruit in the state but the top TB in the nation. He spurned the vols and went to Penn State and the Vols "settled" for Cobb. Cobb was a much better college TB and I think LT was drafted but never panned out.

Webb was a highly recruited player that UT somehow stole from Ohio State, his home state. In '88 when we went 0-6 to open the season, it was too late, but Majors redshirted Webb & Pickens that year. I remember reading back then that those two tore up the varsity in every scrimmage and people were wondering why they weren't playing. This was a different time than today but the train of thought today is not to waste talent with a reshirt. I believe Majors has been quoted as saying redshirting these two might has been his single greatest coaching mistake
Click to expand...

Reggie Cobb was a year earlier than Leroy. Reggie was a red shirt freshman that year. Leroy knew that Reggie was sitting on the bench and decided to go to PSU. Smart move on his part. Reggie was twice the college back than him. It also allowed us to sign Chuck Webb the next year.

Also, an ex-Clemson coach told me that the story on Chuck Webb was that he had narrowed it down to UT and Ohio State. OSU had set up a visit for Chuck to Columbus and had arranged a private jet to go up to Toledo to pick him up. Someone connected to Steele supposedly called the OSU coaching office imitating Chuck and told them that he would not be able to visit on that particular day and he would have to reschedule. Chuck, who was unaware as to what was going on showed up at the airport at the designated time and waited for the private jet that never showed. It is reported that on that night he decided to go to UT after being stood up by OSU.
 
#47
#47
The biggest thing I remember about recruiting that year was how bummed everybody was that we had to "settle" for Centrals Reggie Cobb when Austin-East RB Leroy Thompson went to Penn state. I don't remember any of the guys I hung out with even being that excited about Webb because of it. IMO Chuck Webb was the best RB UT has ever had. What happened to him was a tragedy. If I had to compare him to anybody it would be Adrian Peterson at his best.
 
#48
#48
onevol74 said:
Reggie Cobb was a year earlier than Leroy. Reggie was a red shirt freshman that year. Leroy knew that Reggie was sitting on the bench and decided to go to PSU. Smart move on his part. Reggie was twice the college back than him. It also allowed us to sign Chuck Webb the next year.

Also, an ex-Clemson coach told me that the story on Chuck Webb was that he had narrowed it down to UT and Ohio State. OSU had set up a visit for Chuck to Columbus and had arranged a private jet to go up to Toledo to pick him up. Someone connected to Steele supposedly called the OSU coaching office imitating Chuck and told them that he would not be able to visit on that particular day and he would have to reschedule. Chuck, who was unaware as to what was going on showed up at the airport at the designated time and waited for the private jet that never showed. It is reported that on that night he decided to go to UT after being stood up by OSU.
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Are you sure about Cobb and Thompson being a year apart? I could have sworn it was the same year. Maybe it's because as you say Cobb was a redshirt who didn't get a lot of press beforehand, it may have just seemed to me all this time that he came in that year, instead of Leroy. You young guys have to remember that it was nothing like it is now. If a recruit wasn't from the area you lived in you didn't know much about them. The News Sentinal would have a few small stories and that was about it. Also when the NS would come out with their post signing day pullout section was the first we heard of most recruits. And they didn't rate guys by stars either back then, the equivalent to 5*s were called Blue Chippers. I can't remember what color the lower esteemed players were designated.
 
#49
#49
I was watching with my wife on the old satellite systems with the big 10 ft dish. During the UCLA game I remember telling her I wish they would put in the freshman RB Webb. I had read in the Nashville Tennessean that he was one of the best in the country. And by gosh next series he came in and just started shredding the Bruins defense. The Cobb Webb offense was born. I think Reggie got in trouble for drugs if i remember right, and dang it was the week before we played Bama.
 
#50
#50
Montrell Hardy said:
Webb was definitely the best I have seen at Tennessee. For those who never saw him play do yourselves a favor and find a copy of the 1989 Cotton Bowl against Arkansas. Both were Top 10 teams. I think Tennessee was 6th and Arkansas 9th.

Remember this is when the Cotton Bowl was one of the Top 3-4 bowl games out there and it was basically equivalent in today's world to a BCS game game. You had the league champ from the Southwest Conference (great conference back then) against basically a BCS at-large team.
Click to expand...

I believe it was the 1990 Cotton Bowl. Doesn't really matter though, because you are right, in that game, Webb was a man among boys. 26 rushes, 250 yds, 2 TD's. This is just a glimpse.

YouTube - Chuck Webb's "relentless" day at the Cotton Bowl
 
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