Ole Miss has 4 RB's Committed....

[KBVol]

UT's offense last year scored a LOT of points. UT lost on the D side of the ball last year.

What do ya say we try both this year? I think we should be able to multitask-- sign a couple of stud rbs AND shore up the most pathetic defense in the history of..... History (or something)

 

[KBVol]

We must've been watching different games because if last year taught me anything it was that our defense was terrible and cost us a hand full of games
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I saw the most pathetic defense on record in my lifetime And i saw an offense that could rack up yards and points until it counted -- late in close games when we needed clutch scores.

 

[kamoshika]

and 3 are 4 stars with 1 being a 3 star... worst part, 2 of the 4 stars are from Tennessee....

Ole Miss also signed two outstanding RBs from TN last year in I'tavius Mathers and Jaylen Walton. They both looked really good last year in limited action, combining for 326 yards and two TDs on 50 carries. I really wanted us to get Mathers in particular (and Dy'Shawn Mobley).

 

[Vols4us]

Check the final stats - UT scored over 35 points per game on average - top 20. Defense cost the season. It was one big giant fail from start to finish starting with the Dools/Sal connection. CJG is the one good thing that remained after last season.

If they could not get a top RB this recruiting season, they got a seviceable one. The truth is nobody knows for sure how this offense will go in the SEC. If it works, great RB recruits will line up to play in it starting with Hurd - who is all I really care about them getting next season. We already have 2 seasoned 4* RBs with a hammer RS freshman that will play this season (Hill). Add in DY for specialty stuff. The cupboard is well stocked going into next season.

Don't confuse Dools' offensive blocking scheme and lack of running game emphasis issues with not having quality RB's on the roster.

 

[lastlap]

Just wanted to say... I have never seen anyone else actually admit they are an Astros fan. Holy crap.

Other than that, just because he is RB coach doesn't mean he is only responsible for recruiting RBs. He recruited (and got committed) the following:

Riley Ferguson
Malik Foreman
Paul Harris (4*)
Marquez North (4*)
Jalen Reeves-Maybin (4*)
Jabo Lee

I think this staff knows they need to get a RB, but- CJG has been doing a pretty good job tbh.

Nuff said!

 

[rickyb712]

i think someone will flip to us because other schools getting recruits in same postition

 

[sjt18]

If we don't land Ford or flip some other decent RB i will have my doubts about this staffs ability to recruit at the level we need them to. RB's are a must in the SEC. Can't get them to sign on the dotted line, you're in the wrong conference. eace2:

If they do flip him then the jury is still out until they start winning head to head battles over desired players. Ford's reasoning would likely include Auburn's current RB commits. UT won't excel while being the back up plan for players who look to be back up plans for other SEC programs.

I am not going to write this staff off. The answer right now is "wait and see" and will be the same on Wednesday unless they pull off one of the biggest suprirse classes ever seen.

Recruiting does take relationship building. It does appear that Dooley essentially quit putting sufficient effort into recruiting after he saw the handwriting on the wall. My guess would be that he put all of his eggs into a sales pitch something like this: "Watch us this year. We're going to shock the CFB world." What do you go back to kids with after miserably failing like that?

The new staff started out behind. Graham is a good coach and recruiter but he was the only coach retained. Turnover does matter to recruits... and it is easier to keep commits after turnover than to get them (ex: Dooley following Kiffin, Malzahn following Chzik).

But the biggest thing now is that Jones needs to coach up what he has and win some games this fall... and not just the six you might count as good possibilities. He has to prove right away that he can out coach Oregon... USCe.... UGA.... AUBURN ESPECIALLY... Bama... UF... He has to beat someone who matters. Preferrably he needs to make a bowl that matters... or at least will be seen.

If he doesn't... then prepare yourself to go through the same non-sense 3 years from now. The '14 schedule and roster will NOT be more favorable than '13. That would make year 3 make or break again. If he has not already proved he can coach then it is unlikely he'll save himself then.

 

[OddFuture]

Kalio Moore is likely to be a SWR. Also if I'm not mistaken another one of these guys is an APB. Slightly different than 4 RBs.

 

[sjt18]

To start judging these coaches recruiting abilities after 2 months on the job is premature and ridiculous. Let's let these kids actually play in a Vol uniform before we judge them or the coaches.

That's fine but he still has to win games. Dooley was condemned by many here while still trying to rebuild a roster that was decimated when he arrived. He deserved to be fired but he also deserved a chance to coach a team with SEC credible talent... which he didn't have the first two years.

Jones inherits lots of JR's and SR's that were highly rated recruits. This class is beginning to look like a "gap". That essentially means his fortunes could come down to '15 when he will be dependent on last year's class by Dooley minus 7 guys who were either JUCO or are gone already, this year's class, and his '14 class that will be Sophs.


The best case scenario is that he finishes this class strong, has some underrated players (Jabo has potential if he's as fast as reported), and knocks it out of the park with the '14 class.

 

[1truevol]

and 3 are 4 stars with 1 being a 3 star... worst part, 2 of the 4 stars are from Tennessee.... It's also worth noting Arkansas just landed a stud RM out of FL.

Tennessee on the other hand just picked up their first RB commitment and he's a 3 star that flipped from ECU....

Jay Graham's my boy and all, but dude HAS to do better than this. If last year showed us anything... to even come close to winning in the SEC you need a couple quality RB's. We had 2 1st round NFL WR's and what some would call a good QB and we won 5 games.

If we don't land Ford or flip some other decent RB i will have my doubts about this staffs ability to recruit at the level we need them to. RB's are a must in the SEC. Can't get them to sign on the dotted line, you're in the wrong conference. eace2:

They have a higher pay scale than we do!

 

[BigSteve09]

Getting back to OP

I was just noticing that the other day.

It's very frustrating when we've been chasing elite RB and DL talent for years and Freeze gets to Ole Miss and has his pick of the litter.

 

[ThunderSK]

I don't agree with the offense getting the blame for our losses last year... Kinda like Peyton Manning getting blamed for losses even though he doesn't play defense.

 

[Giveem6]

That's fine but he still has to win games. Dooley was condemned by many here while still trying to rebuild a roster that was decimated when he arrived. He deserved to be fired but he also deserved a chance to coach a team with SEC credible talent... which he didn't have the first two years.

Jones inherits lots of JR's and SR's that were highly rated recruits. This class is beginning to look like a "gap". That essentially means his fortunes could come down to '15 when he will be dependent on last year's class by Dooley minus 7 guys who were either JUCO or are gone already, this year's class, and his '14 class that will be Sophs.


The best case scenario is that he finishes this class strong, has some underrated players (Jabo has potential if he's as fast as reported), and knocks it out of the park with the '14 class.

I think that our recruiting is directly influenced by the results on the field the last couple of seasons. Giving Butch a pass like some say isn't the answer, but being so over critical isn't either. If we had had a decent ass coach we would be looking at a class with a Green, Alexander, Ramsey, Heron, and North.

I think CBJ gets the benefit of the doubt because of what he walked into. I think if he doesn't end up 20-25 then it doesn't look good on his resume but not the end of the world. Anything better I'd be overjoyed for UT.

And its funny that the Tyler Bray haters still somehow blame the offense for our short comings. In case you people didn't actually watch the damn games the vols had the 2nd best offense statistically in history. So, gtfo

 

[volboy81]

This time next year UT will be doing what Ole Miss is now. Jones will kill the recruiting world once he has been here a while. I'm glad to see OM doing good. More chances to de-thrown that heinous place just east of them!

 

[UT's#1Fan]

If they do flip him then the jury is still out until they start winning head to head battles over desired players. Ford's reasoning would likely include Auburn's current RB commits. UT won't excel while being the back up plan for players who look to be back up plans for other SEC programs.

I am not going to write this staff off. The answer right now is "wait and see" and will be the same on Wednesday unless they pull off one of the biggest suprirse classes ever seen.

Recruiting does take relationship building. It does appear that Dooley essentially quit putting sufficient effort into recruiting after he saw the handwriting on the wall. My guess would be that he put all of his eggs into a sales pitch something like this: "Watch us this year. We're going to shock the CFB world." What do you go back to kids with after miserably failing like that?

The new staff started out behind. Graham is a good coach and recruiter but he was the only coach retained. Turnover does matter to recruits... and it is easier to keep commits after turnover than to get them (ex: Dooley following Kiffin, Malzahn following Chzik).

But the biggest thing now is that Jones needs to coach up what he has and win some games this fall... and not just the six you might count as good possibilities. He has to prove right away that he can out coach Oregon... USCe.... UGA.... AUBURN ESPECIALLY... Bama... UF... He has to beat someone who matters. Preferrably he needs to make a bowl that matters... or at least will be seen.

If he doesn't... then prepare yourself to go through the same non-sense 3 years from now. The '14 schedule and roster will NOT be more favorable than '13. That would make year 3 make or break again. If he has not already proved he can coach then it is unlikely he'll save himself then.

solid post

 

[UT's#1Fan]

LONG, SUSTAINED drives is what the elite teams do in the SEC. Clearly we sucked last year because our defense was horrible, not sure that’s debatable. However, something that didn't help was our inability to maintain, on some level of consistency, sustained drives which would help keep our defense off the field. This is done by being able to RUN THE BALL. Sure we were okay at running the ball before Neal went down... but I would say that was more because of our ability to pass which opened up the run. History has shown us it needs to be the other way around... run to open up the pass, this is what championship teams do.

It was often looked at as strength when we would score on drives of less than a minute or a minute and a half, etc..... IMO that is counterproductive when all you’re doing is putting your worst unit back on the field. It's all relative. So what if we had a high powered prolific passing offense... If you can't run the ball and control the clock, you've already lost. The offense has to help the defense in this case. And the only way to do that is by again, controlling the clock which is done by running not passing… and we have one RB committed so far. Not good.

I’m not indicting this staff or Graham specifically… just pointing out this glaring issue and venting a little. Isn’t that what forums are for? I’ll hang up and listen.

 

[JoseDaMofo]

LONG, SUSTAINED drives is what the elite teams do in the SEC. Clearly we sucked last year because our defense was horrible, not sure that’s debatable. However, something that didn't help was our inability to maintain, on some level of consistency, sustained drives which would help keep our defense off the field. This is done by being able to RUN THE BALL. Sure we were okay at running the ball before Neal went down... but I would say that was more because of our ability to pass which opened up the run. History has shown us it needs to be the other way around... run to open up the pass, this is what championship teams do.

It was often looked at as strength when we would score on drives of less than a minute or a minute and a half, etc..... IMO that is counterproductive when all you’re doing is putting your worst unit back on the field. It's all relative. So what if we had a high powered prolific passing offense... If you can't run the ball and control the clock, you've already lost. The offense has to help the defense in this case. And the only way to do that is by again, controlling the clock which is done by running not passing… and we have one RB committed so far. Not good.

I’m not indicting this staff or Graham specifically… just pointing out this glaring issue and venting a little. Isn’t that what forums are for? I’ll hang up and listen.

The NFL has definitely proven this to be false. I'm not saying you can't win with ball control offense, however, it's far from being the only way to win championships.

Our defense last year was putrid. It wasn't due to the offense's quick-strike offense -- it was just plain bad, it couldn't stop anybody. The Florida game's defensive breakdowns weren't due to exhaustion from being on the field. Bad positioning, terrible tackling, lack of speed, poor coaching and a mental hump against the Gators is what lost that game -- along with some inefficient offense in this instance.

The UGA game, the defense practically never showed up. Arguably, they played "better" as the game wore on, but giving up 50+ points is absolutely terrible. Likewise with SC. Game like Akron they, again, just didn't show up.

The only game I'd lend credence to your theory was Vanderbilt -- except I blame that game equally on the offense as it didn't do squat.

 

[easleychuck]

To start judging these coaches recruiting abilities after 2 months on the job is premature and ridiculous. Let's let these kids actually play in a Vol uniform before we judge them or the coaches.

I cannot understand why you would put common sense into the discussion. How dare you?

 

[easleychuck]

............The only game I'd lend credence to your theory was Vanderbilt -- except I blame that game equally on the offense as it didn't do squat.

We were being coached by a dead man walking in that game and, unfortunately, the kids did not handle it very well. Dooley should have been fired after the Missouri game, not for losing the game but giving up in the fourth quarter when he had seconds on the clock and time outs available.

 

[easleychuck]

LONG, SUSTAINED drives is what the elite teams do in the SEC. Clearly we sucked last year because our defense was horrible, not sure that’s debatable. However, something that didn't help was our inability to maintain, on some level of consistency, sustained drives which would help keep our defense off the field. This is done by being able to RUN THE BALL. Sure we were okay at running the ball before Neal went down... but I would say that was more because of our ability to pass which opened up the run. History has shown us it needs to be the other way around... run to open up the pass, this is what championship teams do.

It was often looked at as strength when we would score on drives of less than a minute or a minute and a half, etc..... IMO that is counterproductive when all you’re doing is putting your worst unit back on the field. It's all relative. So what if we had a high powered prolific passing offense... If you can't run the ball and control the clock, you've already lost. The offense has to help the defense in this case. And the only way to do that is by again, controlling the clock which is done by running not passing… and we have one RB committed so far. Not good.

I’m not indicting this staff or Graham specifically… just pointing out this glaring issue and venting a little. Isn’t that what forums are for? I’ll hang up and listen.

I understand your frustration, but did call out Coach Graham and the entire new staff. The improvement in our running backs was impressive this past season. Obviously, the OL was more seasoned. If we show progress and win, the recruits most likely will come. Heck, Ole Miss, specifically, should be broke next recruiting cycle.