*****VolNation SIGNING DAY

#78
#78
JBVolunteer said:
Not griping. Just cold, hard facts. Deal with it in your own way.
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You might be stating cold hard facts, but some wish you'd do it in the threads meant for that, and not in the thread meant for early signing day info.
Most folks don't have time to sift thru things that don't have to do with signing day ... that's the purpose for this thread.
 
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#82
#82
n_huffhines said:
What do we lack besides the coach? Knoxville is a great college town. We have all the $ and facilities you could ever want as an athlete. We have HS talent in the region. Academic standards aren't high enough to hamper us. We have rabid fan support. It's an SEC schedule.

Why can't we be upper echelon? All we have to do is get the coach right. Hell, if we could just the QB right, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
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Everything you said is true, however the UT administration is not interested in fielding a successful football program, if they were, you would see strategic coaching searches that would provide the Vols with Top Tier candidates who are solid top tier program builders. That has not happened, we are on Coaching Carousal #4 and the results are worse now than Dooley and Jones. The extensions and buyouts are ridiculous. The HS talent in Tennessee is much much better than it was 10 years ago but the top 5 recruits in-state are going somewhere else, all 4-stars who would have helped TN greatly in positions of need. Why is that? Money, facilities, great college town mean nothing to recruits, because they want to be part of a winning program, they could care less about tradition and a program that has not succeeded since the 90's and early 2000s. The Vols have now entered into long term irrelevancy due terrible coaches, underwhelming performances and losing consistently to the top teams in their conference. The recruiting rankings prove that.......
 
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#83
#83
CA_Vol said:
Listen; I’ve been one of the most pessimistic fans on this board. And unfortunately I’ve been proven right more times than not.

That said, there is absolutely no reason that with a real football coach, UT can’t compete with other top programs. We have EVERYTHING necessary to be successful.
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We have everything but success......over a long period of time......a timeframe where recruits have never seen TN be successful........
Look, I want UT to relevant, I want to see the success I witnessed in the 90's and early 2000's. 13+ years of botched coaching hires does not give me any indication that the Administration is interested in a successful football program. They know Tennessee fans are loyal and will spend their money whether the team is good or not.......why should they invest when the fans will do it for them?
 
#85
#85
JBVolunteer said:
We’ve had 15 years of abysmal coaching hires which has led to only a handful of our kids even getting a crack at the NFL.

Meanwhile, Saban has managed to guide 31 of his players at Alabama to being 1st Rd draft picks.

If we can’t bring in coaches that know how to bring the best out of these kids, and coach them up to the level it takes to help them realize their NFL dreams; we don’t deserve them.

Bottom line: Elite HS athletes with NFL dreams shouldn’t even be considering Tennessee.
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Most relevant statement to my quote above, this is it.......
 
#86
#86
No offense to these kids, but this is not a good recruiting class for Pruitt after his 3rd year. We should be building momentum, but we are now trending in the opposite direction.

Even then, I can't trust Pruitt ability to develop or have an eye for talent. What defensive players have played above their rating? Not many. Where are the developmental breakout players??
 
#89
#89
VolunteerCeltic said:
We have everything but success......over a long period of time......a timeframe where recruits have never seen TN be successful........
Look, I want UT to relevant, I want to see the success I witnessed in the 90's and early 2000's. 13+ years of botched coaching hires does not give me any indication that the Administration is interested in a successful football program. They know Tennessee fans are loyal and will spend their money whether the team is good or not.......why should they invest when the fans will do it for them?
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This is understandable frustration, but the idea that thie Admin purposefully half-asses its efforts because they “know the fans will still show up” is laughable. Never ascribe ill motives when incompetence is still an option.
 
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#90
#90
I think "half-ass it" is exactly what the administration has done since Fulmer was fired by Mad-eye Mike Hamilton.....
 
#91
#91
keenobserver said:
I definitely agree with you on pass rushers and DB's (specifically Corners). However, I strongly believe RB play as a whole has been a glaring weakness for us since Pruitt has been here. I love EG as a scatback/playmaker in space, but we've definitely been in need of a bruiser---or a 1st, 2nd down SEC back for at least 2-3 years. We've got 3 really good one's in this class that can run between the tackles, fall forward for extra yardage, AND break away.
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Backs have been ok, the biggest glaring weakness has been line play both offensively and defensively.
Can’t do anything when the o-line is getting pushed around and the defense is in the backfield almost ever play. Defense definitely need some big time pass rushers, hardly no pressure on the QB to force him to get rid of the ball.
 
#92
#92
I have long said our biggest problem in recruiting is two things:
1) Stability - kids do not want to come play for a staff that they feel will not be there in a year or two
2) Lack of RECENT success - today's kids have short attention spans and even shorter memories. They want to play for a school that has had some modicum of recent success. It's always been this way.

I think by giving out the extension earlier this year, Fulmer is trying to make the first thing happen.
By that same token, by giving out the extension Fulmer might not be facilitating number two very well though...
 
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#93
#93
utvolsfan131 said:
Backs have been ok, the biggest glaring weakness has been line play both offensively and defensively.
Can’t do anything when the o-line is getting pushed around and the defense is in the backfield almost ever play. Defense definitely need some big time pass rushers, hardly no pressure on the QB to force him to get rid of the ball.
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I'll agree with you about line play, but I'm afraid offensive line play may be more a result of inadequate coaching instead of lack of ability, right? 3 five stars, 2 four stars on oline?

In other words, Eric Gray's talent is maximized with what he's good at (catching the ball in space, outside zone runs, etc)......There's no other real RB threat to speak of, particularly one that has the abililty to wear down a defense. One that can make a two yard gain a four yard gain.......
 
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#94
#94
gtin723 said:
Here is the problem:

Stars 5* 4* 3*
Alabama 6 13 4
Georgia 3 11 5
Florida 1 14 5
Tenn. 0 10 11

Being #15 is not going to cut it folks. 24/7 Sports Class 2021

2021 Football Team Rankings
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Not that I’m necessarily disagreeing with you, but I think that quite a few 3 star recruits fill NFL rosters and our history with 5 star recruits has had a fair number of players who never panned out.
 
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#96
#96
EconVol92 said:
Not that I’m necessarily disagreeing with you, but I think that quite a few 3 star recruits fill NFL rosters and our history with 5 star recruits has had a fair number of players who never panned out.
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Bingo. It is a proven fact that star ratings do not necessarily mean a lifelong great career.
 
#97
#97
CA_Vol said:
This is understandable frustration, but the idea that thie Admin purposefully half-asses its efforts because they “know the fans will still show up” is laughable. Never ascribe I’ll motives when incompetence is still an option.
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I agree. Add to that egos driving instead of logic (hello Haslams, hello Fulmer - and add greed to Fulmer) and you have a recipe for......well, exactly what we have now, a once great program driven into the freaking ground.
 
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#98
#98
Seeing as where we're currently at as far as on the field progress, this class aint bad, there are some good players coming here, just not enough of them I'm afraid. But hey we're a middle of the pack SEC team and that's exactly where we'll end up in the rankings
 
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#99
#99
A given player's star rating is certainly anything but infallible.

However, in the aggregate, it matters. If you could choose, sight unseen, a roster of 4*s with a few 5*s sprinkled in, or a roster of 3*s, with a few 4*s sprinkled in, which do you take?
 
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#100
#100
gtin723 said:
Here is the problem:

Stars 5* 4* 3*
Alabama 6 13 4
Georgia 3 11 5
Florida 1 14 5
Tenn. 0 10 11

Being #15 is not going to cut it folks. 24/7 Sports Class 2021

2021 Football Team Rankings
Click to expand...

Not that I’m necessarily disagreeing with you, but I think that quite a few 3 star recruits fill NFL rosters and our history with 5 star recruits has had a fair number of players who never panned out.
 
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