The 2021 season will be a "throwaway" from the recruiting perspective. It takes a minimum of 2 years to build relationships, identify recruits, woo them, and then sign them. When you add in the completely new staff; new philosophies on both offense and defense; and pending NCAA penalties, anything in the Top 50 in the 2022 class is a win. With that being said...
If this staff can develop players and win games, then the timeline shortens. The recruits of 2022 and beyond are not blind. If UT starts winning, then the athletes will come. Bama is gonna be Bama, and then there's UGA, LSU, UF, TXAM, and you gotta know Lane Kiffin is going to somehow sell Oxford to top-flight players. I'm much less worried about Leach. He's recruiting a full level below, and coaching one level up, than where the rest of the SEC is. His best bet is to keep his Northwest recruiting pipeline open. They worry me not.
For UT, the 2021 season is all about chemistry. Can the staff come together, and put together a team that can reach its' potential? If so, then I'm less focused on the number of wins, and more focused on how that message plays with the Class of 2022, and beyond.
AD White knew what he was getting into, and took the job. So did Coach Heupel and every other member of the UT coaching staff. They think they can win here, or they would not have taken the job under the cloud of NCAA sanctions. Let's hope they are up to the challenge.
For now, UT is going to have to do more with less when it comes to recruiting. We've done it before, and we can do it again. As it stands today, UT is not in the same zip code as Bama, UGA, UF, TXAM, LSU, or maybe even Auburn or Mississippi. We're somewhere down in USCe, Arkansas, Mizzou, and Leach land. Just north of UK and Vandy. It is what it is. But if this staff, and this team, can play above their heads in 2021, then the Class of 2022, and no later than the season of 2024, will be where UT starts to become a force in the SEC again. Both in recruiting, and on-field results. JMO.
Just win, baby.
Go Vols.