Tennessee has a legitimate shot at signing ten of ESPN’s Top 100 Prospects

#1
V

Volosaurus rex

Doctorate in Volology
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Dec 2, 2009
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#1
I realize that rankings for prospects vary widely among recruiting services; I also realize that most contributors to this forum place far greater credence in Rivals’ rankings than those of ESPN. In assessing the outstanding job that Butch and his staff are currently doing on the recruiting trail, I thought, however, that readers might be interested to know that Tennessee has a legitimate-to-excellent shot at signing 10 of ESPN’s top 100 prospects (two of which are already committed) and 19 of their top 203 prospects, which currently includes a total of four commitments. These prospects include the following players; positions listed are based on ESPN projections:

No. 4: Josh Sweat DE
No. 8: Torrance Gibson DT-QB/Athlete
No. 10: Tim Settle DT
No. 22: Shy Tuttle DT
No. 28: Preston Williams WR (Committed)
No. 47: Deondre Francois DT-QB
No. 58: Drew Richmond OT
No. 60: Andrew Butcher DE (Committed)
No. 66: Jerome Baker Jr. OLB
No. 91: Micah Abernathy CB

No. 105: Jack Jones OG (Committed)
No. 112: Kahlil McKenzie DT
No. 118: Ricky DeBerry DE
No. 156: Kyle Phillips DT
No. 159: Darian Roseboro DT
No. 175: Jauan Jennings DT-QB/Athlete (Committed)
No. 183: Quarte Sapp OLB

No. 202: Van Jefferson WR
No. 203: Bryce Love RB
 
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#3
#3
Hear that...? Thats the sound of depth being built. Now let's put together a decent season so they'll stick around!
 
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#5
#5
Catbone said:
Hear that...? Thats the sound of depth being built. Now let's put together a decent season so they'll stick around!
Click to expand...

And also the sound of a stool being scooted hurriedly up to a toilet because Butch is scaring the pee outta Nicky.
 
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#6
#6
KoachKletus said:
Nice post but Cecil Cherry does not approve it.
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I don't know why ESPN or Rivals, for that matter, don't have Cecil ranked higher, unless it is simply a matter of him having taken himself off the recruiting block so early and remaining steadfast in his commitment to UT.
 
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#7
#7
Volosaurus rex said:
I don't know why ESPN or Rivals, for that matter, don't have Cecil ranked higher, unless it is simply a matter of him having taken himself off the recruiting block so early and remaining steadfast in his commitment to UT.
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I think it's because he plays smaller schools, is not real tall, and doesn't run track speed... But he can flat out hit!!!!
 
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#9
#9
And who knew that Gibson could play DT as well!
(Just having a little fun Rex!):)
 
#10
#10
ACvol3 said:
Lol at kahlil not being top 100
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I just looked this morning to see where they had him ranked...laughable! I think he will easily be within their top 100 by NSD, and probably their top 25. There's no way there are 12 DTs that are better than him.
 
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#11
#11
Thanks OP, I think this is pretty important to note as far as the perception of our team goes. Not saying espn rankings are the standard, but they easily provide the most coverage on NSD and the more top ranked players we get commits from on their board, the more national coverage Butch generates for the program.

We saw it last year being in the top 5 all season and Butch is orchestrating another top class. He has done a masterful job of keeping UT in the headlines for all the right reasons so far and I expect that to continue.

Having our name at the top of the espn rankings is huge for the perception of the program IMO as we all know the recruits love espn and their national coverage.

We might not agree with their player rankings, but it is a big deal come NSD to be up there in the team rankings like it or not, again JMO.
 
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#13
#13
Volosaurus rex said:
I realize that rankings for prospects vary widely among recruiting services; I also realize that most contributors to this forum place far greater credence in Rivals’ rankings than those of ESPN. In assessing the outstanding job that Butch and his staff are currently doing on the recruiting trail, I thought, however, that readers might be interested to know that Tennessee has a legitimate-to-excellent shot at signing 10 of ESPN’s top 100 prospects (two of which are already committed) and 19 of their top 203 prospects, which currently includes a total of four commitments. These prospects include the following players; positions listed are based on ESPN projections:

No. 4: Josh Sweat DE
No. 8: Torrance Gibson DT-QB/Athlete
No. 10: Tim Settle DT
No. 22: Shy Tuttle DT
No. 28: Preston Williams WR (Committed)
No. 47: Deondre Francois DT-QB
No. 58: Drew Richmond OT
No. 60: Andrew Butcher DE (Committed)
No. 66: Jerome Baker Jr. OLB
No. 91: Micah Abernathy CB

No. 105: Jack Jones OG (Committed)
No. 112: Kahlil McKenzie DT
No. 118: Ricky DeBerry DE
No. 156: Kyle Phillips DT
No. 159: Darian Roseboro DT
No. 175: Jauan Jennings DT-QB/Athlete (Committed)
No. 183: Quarte Sapp OLB

No. 202: Van Jefferson WR
No. 203: Bryce Love RB
Click to expand...

Why is Kahlil McKenzie ranked so low on ESPN? I've read that he's in contention to be the top overall prospect on Scout.

Edit: Oops, didn't see that other commenters already noticed. Sorry for being redundant.
 
#15
#15
ionaVOL said:
Thanks OP, I think this is pretty important to note as far as the perception of our team goes. Not saying espn rankings are the standard, but they easily provide the most coverage on NSD and the more top ranked players we get commits from on their board, the more national coverage Butch generates for the program.

We saw it last year being in the top 5 all season and Butch is orchestrating another top class. He has done a masterful job of keeping UT in the headlines for all the right reasons so far and I expect that to continue.

Having our name at the top of the espn rankings is huge for the perception of the program IMO as we all know the recruits love espn and their national coverage.

We might not agree with their player rankings, but it is a big deal come NSD to be up there in the team rankings like it or not, again JMO.
Click to expand...


Excellent points. I really don't expect Butch to wait until NSD for an answer, but it would be a huge signing day coup if he received a commitment from Torrence Gibson, one that was highly publicized by ESPN.
 
#16
#16
#27VFL said:
I think it's because he plays smaller schools, is not real tall, and doesn't run track speed... But he can flat out hit!!!!
Click to expand...

Yeah sounds like AJ Johnson in high school but haters from ESPN, Rivals, Scout & 247 Sports are showing no love. That's okay though because in my opinion it will give him even more motivation.
 
#19
#19
Volosaurus rex said:
I realize that rankings for prospects vary widely among recruiting services; I also realize that most contributors to this forum place far greater credence in Rivals’ rankings than those of ESPN. In assessing the outstanding job that Butch and his staff are currently doing on the recruiting trail, I thought, however, that readers might be interested to know that Tennessee has a legitimate-to-excellent shot at signing 10 of ESPN’s top 100 prospects (two of which are already committed) and 19 of their top 203 prospects, which currently includes a total of four commitments. These prospects include the following players; positions listed are based on ESPN projections:

No. 4: Josh Sweat DE
No. 8: Torrance Gibson DT-QB/Athlete
No. 10: Tim Settle DT
No. 22: Shy Tuttle DT
No. 28: Preston Williams WR (Committed)
No. 47: Deondre Francois DT-QB
No. 58: Drew Richmond OT
No. 60: Andrew Butcher DE (Committed)
No. 66: Jerome Baker Jr. OLB
No. 91: Micah Abernathy CB

No. 105: Jack Jones OG (Committed)
No. 112: Kahlil McKenzie DT
No. 118: Ricky DeBerry DE
No. 156: Kyle Phillips DT
No. 159: Darian Roseboro DT
No. 175: Jauan Jennings DT-QB/Athlete (Committed)
No. 183: Quarte Sapp OLB

No. 202: Van Jefferson WR
No. 203: Bryce Love RB
Click to expand...

Very nice looking list. After Butch managed to reel in such a great quality class for this year, it starts to make me feel like he has the recruiting strategy to bring in a top quality class every year. I am equally excited about many of the walk-on guys.

However, and I know I can be repetitive about this, the player's star rating is not the end all, be all of recruiting. ESPN and Rivals and all the other rating services have their formulas that rate these players. How often they get it right is subject to debate.

Butch and his staff are tirelessly getting to know these recruits as well as they can. They are plenty of four and five star recruits that flame out, and three star and below guys that end up with great college and pro careers.

However, I want these highly rated guys if they have the work ethic to live up to their ratings, and I hope they get meaningful degrees, stay out of trouble, and love being a Vol. If they can't do all that, there are plenty of other places they can go to screw up.
 
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#21
#21
I apologize for the redundancy, but someone recently suggested, as a thread topic, the presentation of comparative data for rankings by the various recruiting services of leading targets and commitments for our 2015 class. I am initiating this process with the following caveats: (1) For the sake of uniformity, all prospects listed below are ranked in the top 250 nationally by at least one service; (2) Due to condition no. 1, some prospects are included whom Tennessee would have an excellent chance at signing but probably are not currently highly targeted by our staff, simply because UT has more highly ranked options at that position. For example, Josh Smith, an OLB from Murfreesboro, is ranked no. 223 by ESPN but would not be considered among the first tier of linebacker targets on Tennessee’s board. Taking those factors into consideration, I present the following data on some of our leading prospects:

Josh Sweat DE: ESPN (No. 4); Rivals (No. 11); Scout (No. 6); 247 Sports (No. 6).
Torrance Gibson DT-QB/Athlete: ESPN (No. 8); Rivals (No. 51); Scout (No. 14); 247 Sports (No. 20).
Tim Settle DT: ESPN (No. 10); Rivals (No. 62); Scout (No. 15); 247 Sports (No. 44).
Shy Tuttle DT: ESPN (No. 22); Rivals (No. 60); Scout (No. 36); 247 Sports (No. 23).
Preston Williams WR (Committed): ESPN (No. 28); Rivals (No. 63); Scout (No. 12); 247 Sports (No. 21).

Deondre Francois DT-QB: ESPN (No. 47); Rivals (No. 170); Scout (No. 273); 247 Sports (No. 243).
Drew Richmond OT: ESPN (No. 58); Rivals (No. 40); Scout (No. 115); 247 Sports (No. 119).
Andrew Butcher DE (Committed): ESPN (No. 60); Rivals (No. 182).
Jerome Baker Jr. OLB: ESPN (No. 66); Rivals (No. 36); 247 Sports (No. 52).
Micah Abernathy CB: ESPN (No. 91); Scout (No. 203).

Jack Jones OG (Committed): ESPN (No. 105); Rivals (No. 96); 247 Sports (No. 195).
Kahlil McKenzie DT: ESPN (No. 112); Rivals (No. 31); Scout (No. 10); 247 Sports (No. 10).
Ricky DeBerry DE: ESPN (No. 118); Rivals (No. 123); Scout (No. 24); 247 Sports (No.86).
Kyle Phillips DT: ESPN (No. 156); Rivals (No. 172); Scout (No. 119); 247 Sports (No. 103).
Darian Roseboro DT: ESPN (No. 159); Rivals (No. 79); Scout (No. 192); 247 Sports (No. 156).
Jauan Jennings DT-QB/Athlete (Committed): ESPN (No. 175); Scout (No. 237); 247 Sports (No. 80).

Quarte Sapp OLB: ESPN (No. 183); Rivals (No. 198).
Van Jefferson WR: ESPN (No. 202); Scout (No. 209); 247 Sports (No. 99).
Bryce Love RB: ESPN (No. 203); Rivals (No. 98).
Josh Smith OLB: ESPN (No. 223); Rivals (No. 190).
Cameron Ordway CB: Scout (No. 172).

Based on these data, Tennessee has a legitimate-to-excellent shot at signing 6 of ESPN’s top 50 prospects, 10 of their top 100 (two of which are already committed) and 19 of their top 203 prospects, which currently includes a total of four commitments. Turning next to Rivals.com, Tennessee has a decent-to-excellent shot at signing 4 of their top 50 prospects, 11 of their top 100 (two of which are already committed) and 16 of their top 200 prospects, which currently includes a total of three commitments.

Let us all hope that Scout turns out to be the most accurate predictor of the crème de la crème this year . . . and that we land all of our targets whom they have ranked in this category. Tennessee is in good-to-excellent standing with 5 of Scout’s top 15 prospects, 6 of their top 25 and 7 of their top 100. UT is a major player for 14 of their top 250. With respect to 247 Sports’ rankings, we have a legitimate-to-excellent shot at signing 6 of their top 50 prospects, 10 of their top 100, 14 of their top 200 prospects and 15 of their top 250.

If you prefer a composite figure for the number of players within each tier for whom Tennessee is a serious contender, we are, on average, a finalist for 5.75 of the top 50 prospects nationally, 9.5 of the Top 100 and 16 of the Top 250. And this crop may be particularly bountifully at the critically important defensive tackle position. It should be noted that these figures do not include a number of prospects, such as quarterbacks Quinten Dormady and Travis Waller, and linebacker Roquan Smith, who may be a bit farther down on Tennessee’s prioritized board but would still be ranked in the 101-250 tier. A number of players from this group may ultimately sign with Tennessee, depending on the decisions of players listed above. Although the rankings of individual prospects varies widely from one recruiting service to another, the average number of prospects for whom Tennessee is a serious contender clusters rather closely to the figures cited immediately above.

To more knowledgeable observers, please feel free to point out omissions in terms of elite targets for whom we have a legitimate-to-excellent chance of signing.
 
#22
#22
Not to be 'that guy', but technically we'd only sign 9. We won't land Gibson and Francois. But, that would still be an amazing haul that would probably land us another top 5 class.
 
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