We got a commit! Vols land GA OLB/DE Joshua Josephs

We would be in better shape, yes but great shape is a bit of a stretch. He could take 10 of the top 30 every year and be in great shape, once you get outside the top 10-15 in Tennessee it’s a massive drop off. Georgia has 37 4/5 star recruits in the state this year, Tennessee has 15. Last year Georgia had 27 and Tennessee had 11. As of right now Georgia has 28 for the 23’ class and Tennessee has 8. You are comparing apples to hand grenades
Actually I'm not. You take 10 of the top 15 in TN this year your recruiting class moves in to the Top 10. TN has some great prospects this yr. When TX A&M, Alabama, Ohio St etc are offering then you have talent.
 
In Georgia, Cobb and Gwinnett counties have become fertile ground for Tennessee. For one, I’m glad for this. CJH’s staff have a knack for recruiting players who will excel in their program. It’s not the star ratings of keyboard pundits but the stars on the field who win games.

I am surprised that Vitello hasn't dramatically engaged these hotbeds for baseball. Maybe he has, dunno but the East Cobb program is one of the most dynamic in the country.

East Cobb Baseball

Umpired many games and their most successful coach, James Beavers, over 18s, is my insurance guy when I was there.

Gwinnett, the same, explosive growth, the Braves and the Gwinnett Stripers have been major successes.
 
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Yes, I umpired at North Cobb HS, and many other places around and about like Kennesaw JC, Cherokee etc. My daughter played for Roswell HS and I watched many games there as well. The filed is gorgeous but the outfield slopes away from the infield so much that the outfielders, from behind the plate, are shoulders and heads only lol.

Mostly MABL ball, 18+ and 25+; ex-pro and collegiate players, high level ball, really fun to call.
 
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I have been looking at our recruiting pages and i have a Question. Why is it that we are only talking about 3* players. No i don't think that stars are the only thing that matters but even in our bad years we had a shot at a few 5* players and several (10 or more) 4* players.
 
I'd offer several qualifications to the above statement:

Every recruiter knows he's working within a limited window of time and a limited number of young men with whom he can use that time to build a recruiting/coaching relationship. WHAT to target is about position needs, skillsets, and athletic ceiling.

But Skill #1 for being a good recruiter is the ability to quickly assess WHO to target, so that you don't waste precious time on great athletes who are very desirable but ultimately unobtainable (for any number of reasons). No matter how good a "salesman" you are, if a guy has his heart set on a pickup truck, you're not going to sell him a Lexus sedan--no matter how much "better" the Lexus may be in quality or status. You have no control over what the kid values, or imagines for his future.

Recruiting is not manipulating--not if you want to make a career of it. It's about building a trust relationship. Part of being in a trusting relationship is the freedom to say, "I like you, but I don't think your team/academic offerings/geographical location/etc. is the best fit for me"--and visa-versa: "I don't think you're exhibiting the kind of character, commitment, academic discipline, etc., that makes you the best fit for us."

We fans need to remind ourselves that we will never know from recruiters if or why a player ceased to be recruited. That betrayal of confidence would destroy the recruiter's reputation if he allowed it to be known that he discovered something (off the field) negative about the recruit that changed the estimation of his value to the program. And the same can be said if it's the family which becomes the reason for not pursuing a player. Everyone knows you have to recruit the entire family, and sometimes a key person in the family demands that you compromise your (or your program's) standards or character to recruit them, and you know that they would remain a source of poison in your program over the next 4-5 years.

For fans who have never recruited (for any capability--academic, artistic, or athletic) you can still appreciate the intangibles from your own life experiences. Romantically, why did you "fall in love" with certain people in your lifetime? You had certainly met better looking, smarter, funnier, warmer people, yet never developed the same feelings for them. No, something just "clicked" with that certain person, and even years later, it's hard to say why.

Same with friendships. Why did those special friends become so? Something just "clicked" between you two--likely beginning with a shared interest, value, communication style, or goal--and trust eventually developed as you continued to enjoy or value time spent with together.

Listen to how recruits talk. It's the same dynamic at work. A young, human brain is assimilating the widest variety of data, from multiple, competing sources simultaneously, while trying to reach the most important , appropriately self-interested decision of his lifetime. And after several suitors are objectively eliminated, somewhere in the process, with someone, something just clicks and the athlete just knows.

The best recruiters know themselves and quickly assess who they have the best chance of clicking with. If they think another coach on staff could click with this recruit, and it's a coach with whom he'd be relating at his expected playing position, the initial recruiter sees if he can coordinate that handoff. But all the recruiters are working with limited windows of time, which is why relationships are initiated at earlier and earlier ages--to maximize that time for building a trust relationship.

The ultimate goal is for when the newly admitted student-athlete arrives on campus, he feels like he's coming home instead of leaving home. That usually takes years.

The portal is now forcing recruiters to figure out how to recreate the same results in just a matter of weeks. It's also creating a new category of staying in touch recruiting relationships after the recruit has signed with someone else: "I hope you succeed there, but if it doesn't work out with ______... remember us."

That was a lot to digest. I don’t think you have to manipulate to sell Tennessee. You bring up a good point about the portal. This will not only limit the ability to “manipulate“ but will also cause schools to service after the sale.
 
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The only recent evidence we have is Pruitt’s bags of money. I never said we couldn’t recruit some 4/5 star talent but that is much different than recruiting head to head with Georgia/Alabama on a consistent basis. We will have to start consistently winning more to do that

That’s not true. Both Butch and Dooley (Who didn’t even try) had good recruiting classes. As a matter of fact Butch had some great ones. You make it sound like if Georgia and Alabama walk in the living room we should turn around and leave. Not only does Tennessee have a lot to offer but this recruiting staff has done a great job. It’s early and I say you need to give them 3 to 5 years to find out what you really have in a coaching staff. But in all phases of the game you have to be pleased with this staff so far. If you are a player and you want to be developed, have a chance to succeed as well as come to a great school with great facilities and a great tradition Tennessee has a lot to offer.
 
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Lol, taking honest stock of what you're up against is absolutely mandatory in any adversarial situation. If you think other teams aren't telling recruits we are going to get hammered and that doesn't put a us at a disadvantage you are either an idiot or a troll.

I never said other schools weren’t saying that. Everybody has a negative they have to deal with. We have a lot to overcome. But I don’t believe CJH is going to use it as an excuse for having piss poor recruiting classes. Also, I don’t think CJH needs top-five recruiting classes to be successful. He appears To be able to coach up the players he has up.
 
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Lol, taking honest stock of what you're up against is absolutely mandatory in any adversarial situation. If you think other teams aren't telling recruits we are going to get hammered and that doesn't put a us at a disadvantage you are either an idiot or a troll.

I guess I believe in Tennessee and the ability of this staff to succeed through adversity. You can give up and go home. Come back in five years.

I will admit… I’m a glass half full kind of guy.
 
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I guess I believe in Tennessee and the ability of this staff to succeed through adversity. You can give up and go home. Come back in five years.

I will admit… I’m a glass half full kind of guy.
As it is, our class for the current cycle is ranked No. 27 in the nation on the composite with less than a month, right between Indiana and Oklahoma State. I think we'd be considerably higher than that without the pall cast by the unresolved NCAA investigation. You insinuating that was an "excuse" sounded like you were ripping the staff rather than being a "glass half full kind of guy". It was rather more like you were being a "head up your rear kind of guy" or a troll which given your low post count, I figured was a distinct possibility.
 
I'm just giddy to hear an announcement. Such a dry spell.

I hear ya. This "dry spell" is not all that surprising with this idiotic investigation going on. However, with one finally going verbal. I respond with a hopeful sounding, "And so it begins."
 
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As it is, our class for the current cycle is ranked No. 27 in the nation on the composite with less than a month, right between Indiana and Oklahoma State. I think we'd be considerably higher than that without the pall cast by the unresolved NCAA investigation. You insinuating that was an "excuse" sounded like you were ripping the staff rather than being a "glass half full kind of guy". It was rather more like you were being a "head up your rear kind of guy" or a troll which given your low post count, I figured was a distinct possibility.

Nope just get a little tired of the “head out of their ass”, excuse giving (consistently telling us why we are going to suck), doomsaying, Nega Vol “realists”. (I do that if you’re overly optimistic as well. Guess I’m just an a**hole :)). I would have a hard time accepting any excuse for having a lower recruiting class than Indiana. Maybe CJH and staff are better at evaluating talent and character and the recruiting class looks a whole lot better when it leaves and when it came in.

I have worked and spent a lot of time on many college campuses around the country and all in the SEC. Can’t say there are any better than Tennessee. Everyone has a little something different to offer and some may come close to equaling it but few if any better. CJH, for the most part, has exceeded expectations (I would like to play Pittsburgh, Mississippi and Florida now that’s for sure). I don’t doubt that he will exceed expectations in recruiting as well. It’s still early but I did not expect to have this excitement after his first year.
 
You can't remotely begin to judge Heupel's recruiting ability at UT until this NCAA investigation is over. It's like trying to judge your dating ability if there is a persistent rumor you have syphilis. It's not a level playing field.
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