We may be 4-4 but...

[VolArmy74]

Things recruits look at more than record.

1t) Money (N.I.L, NFL, bags of cash)
1t) Girls/Campus fun.
2) System/Playing time
3) Mom likes coach/school
4) Position coach/relationship with recruiter.
5) Academic program player wants.

Over the years I've spoken with a ton of NCAA Div 1 hs recruits and those reasons crop up way more often than record. Normally most recruits are completely certain that they are going to be the class that returns a program to glory rather than being worried they are going to be on bad teams.

N.I.L boosted money to #1 in a tie with girls/fun campus life. When you hear "if we can get them on campus I like our chances over the year it's because of girls and campus party life.

The top programs, including Tennessee, have always paid players in some way or another, it used to be 200 here, 500 there etc. Pruitt apparently just took it to another level. Wonder where he got that from? Sure it's nothing to do with his time at Bama where kids go from poor families to 40-60k vehicles as freshmen and 5 star guys are content to ride the bench. UCLA basketball is the only other place I've ever seen that happen and several of them said they took a paycut to go to the NBA.

 

[jim pique]

House of Neyland,Poor coaching didn't cost us the Pitt game,three overthrown for touchdowns did.Try to look for the grip on reality that you have lost.

 

[Other_Guy]

We should be 6-2 poor coaching decisions cost us the Pitt game and the refs screwed us out of a win against Ole Miss.

No and no.

 

[Other_Guy]

So it was a good decision to start Milton in your opinion. Makes sense

Lol it's like some of you people have no idea about anything.
Everyone said Milton was great in practice. You aren't benching him after some overthrows in his first game. Maybe in the Florida game but then he got hurt anyway. Hooker did what no one really expected.
But tell us more about what makes sense!

 

[Volsfannn]

Well, were you here last December ? Of course the program was at an all time low.

Kentucky has beaten UT 3 times in my life. So expecting to lose is unacceptable

 

[Zues1]

Some of yall just love to wallow in misery.

I cannot imagine the joy you spread to people in your life.


This staff may not win a NC or SECC but they have taken a beaten down and thin roster and competed into the 4th quarter every game. If you cant acknowledge that the job theyre doing is above average and far better tham weve seen in sometime...you either havent been watching or are still butt hurt we didnt land a big name.

Bawahaha, relax man and have laugh every now and then.

 

[vols 30]

Lol it's like some of you people have no idea about anything.
Everyone said Milton was great in practice. You aren't benching him after some overthrows in his first game. Maybe in the Florida game but then he got hurt anyway. Hooker did what no one really expected.
But tell us more about what makes sense!

Who said he looked great in practice? The players and/or coaching staff? You think they are going to say he sucks to the media? Come on, you are smarter than that.

The dude wasn't good at Michigan during games. Follow along

From what we've seen of Milton here and at Michigan, there's no way he was lighting it up during practice.

 

[Volbrando]

we shouldn't have had a chance to win the Pitt game
we shouldn't have had a chance to win the Ole Miss game
we shouldn't have even been in the game with Bama

but we were... and this is an awesome "team" and coaching staff in year 1. - just performing how we have is performing miracles considering where this team was when Pruitt left


also win or lose, this team is fun to watch and plays hard - how many times have we said that in the last 10 years

 

[JohnWardForever]

We should be 6-2 poor coaching decisions cost us the Pitt game and the refs screwed us out of a win against Ole Miss.

Really, that's the truth. AND if Hooker had started vs Fla, we could be 7-1.

 

[Other_Guy]

Who said he looked great in practice? The players and/or coaching staff? You think they are going to say he sucks to the media? Come on, you are smarter than that.

The dude wasn't good at Michigan during games. Follow along

From what we've seen of Milton here and at Michigan, there's no way he was lighting it up during practice.

The level of ignorance in this post regarding Milton winning the job and his time at Michigan is astounding.

 

[overseasorange2]

Our FPI is 25th and our SOS is 15th

I just wanted to post this as we our halfway through our murderers row to keep things in perspective.

We weren't projected to make a bowl this year, and had one of the thinnest rosters (by bodies) in the NCAA.

Our Schedule turned out to be even harder than we thought...

Pitt is the favorite to win the ACC Championship with a Heisman QB
Ole Miss is a top 10 team with a Heisman QB
UK was projected to be middling, yet are a top 20 team

Yet through all this we took two top 20 teams down to the wire and pushed Bama to the 4th Quarter.

I know it is hard for some of us to be excited at 4-4 especially with the NCAA looming, but with the above stats, it is also hard not to!

GBO!

We played against the 3 top Qb's in the country.................

 

[overseasorange2]

I never in my life thought I would see the time when a good football season depended on the vols beating Kentucky. Vols fans expectations are at an all time low.

Or maybe Kentucky football is at an all time high.

 

[Remy]

I'm not buying nor selling the moral victories hype or BS. That path leads to forever mediocrity and happiness with 8 or 9 win seasons. That to me is NOT Tennessee football. We ought be in the SEC East title hunt every year at the minimum. I'm throwing no parties for 4-4 at this point in the season. I have seen improvement, yes. But I also have seen blowout wins by Florida, Bama, and a coming one from UGA. Let me help some of you, that Bama win was done where they covered a sprtead of 26.5 mpoints, which is dreadful for a UT team. Find all the talent and outmanned and injury excuses you want, but everybody on the field had two arms and two legs and their's out played ours by a long shot. Our coaching staff is supposed to be there to close that gap, I ain't seeing it so far, we're playing better, but we are no where close to where we have to be. Heupel needs and deserves next year to get us there, but lopsided penalty amounts and turnovers against our rivals have to end.

 

[Volinnooga]

We lost the Pitt game because CJH made a terrible coaching decision before the first game. He named Milton the starter

It turned out to be a mistake but you don't know it was a terrible coaching decision unless you attended all the practices and observed, through the eyes of a trained coach, what the coaches saw. Your vision is 20/20 hindsight and it's ridiculous that you sit behind your screen and criticize over something you don't have the facts to criticize about. SMH

 

[Volinnooga]

I'm not buying nor selling the moral victories hype or BS. That path leads to forever mediocrity and happiness with 8 or 9 win seasons. That to me is NOT Tennessee football. We ought be in the SEC East title hunt every year at the minimum. I'm throwing no parties for 4-4 at this point in the season. I have seen improvement, yes. But I also have seen blowout wins by Florida, Bama, and a coming one from UGA. Let me help some of you, that Bama win was done where they covered a sprtead of 26.5 mpoints, which is dreadful for a UT team. Find all the talent and outmanned and injury excuses you want, but everybody on the field had two arms and two legs and their's out played ours by a long shot. Our coaching staff is supposed to be there to close that gap, I ain't seeing it so far, we're playing better, but we are no where close to where we have to be. Heupel needs and deserves next year to get us there, but lopsided penalty amounts and turnovers against our rivals have to end.

No one disputes that in a perfect world. Do you have any realistic view of what Heupel walked into?

 

[stillavol]

Our FPI is 25th and our SOS is 15th

I just wanted to post this as we our halfway through our murderers row to keep things in perspective.

We weren't projected to make a bowl this year, and had one of the thinnest rosters (by bodies) in the NCAA.

Our Schedule turned out to be even harder than we thought...

Pitt is the favorite to win the ACC Championship with a Heisman QB
Ole Miss is a top 10 team with a Heisman QB
UK was projected to be middling, yet are a top 20 team

Yet through all this we took two top 20 teams down to the wire and pushed Bama to the 4th Quarter.

I know it is hard for some of us to be excited at 4-4 especially with the NCAA looming, but with the above stats, it is also hard not to!

GBO!

Every projection I saw before the season had us winning at least 6 games which makes us bowl eligible.

 

[stillavol]

No one disputes that in a perfect world. Do you have any realistic view of what Heupel walked into?

We have much more talent than the teams we have beaten. This team has lots of 4 and 5 stars. With that being said I think Coach Heupel has us headed in the right direction. It is frustrating to read about "only 71 scholarship players" etc. We have 7 super seniors playing that many keep forgetting. And most teams rarely play over 45 players a game which leaves us with about 25-30 who rarely see the field. It's not a matter of depth as much as the talent level behind the first teamers. Hopefully we land a good recruiting class and pickup some transfers in the portal. I'm not into moral victories and anything less than 4-4 in the SEC should never be considered a successful season. Here's hoping we destroy KY and GBO!!!!

 

[Milehigh_Vol]

For the record, we were projected to have 6.6 wins coming into the season by FPI.

I'm happy with our team, but there were plenty of us who said in the off season that Pitt, Ole Miss and UK were going to be tougher than some of the others thought. I'm not surprised or disappointed. I'm seeing what I realistically hoped to see, a team with an improved culture and fighting spirit, and a more exciting offense, that still has a long way to go but is headed in the right direction.

ESPN FPI predicts every game on Tennessee's 2021 schedule

They have Pitt and Kentucky very underrated by FPI.

 

[peaygolf]

That’s not how it works at all. Results on the field matter some but more than anything it’s relationships and with coaches etc. I doubt whether we finished 6-6 or 7-5 had any impact whatsoever in who we get. And most of us are worried about heupels ability to recruit. He’s just not a charismatic guy at all.

Thanks for teaching me how it works.
Losing influences recruiting, but winning doesn’t. Makes perfect sense.

When it comes to CJH and recruiting, the relationships that he and the coaches have with the kids they are recruiting, seems to be what the players talk about the most.

Beat UK or UGA, then we’ll talk.

 

[Volsfannn]

The sad part is, people actually think that a 4-4 record with blowout losses to Florida and Bama, and a loss to pitt, is great progress. I could understand the logic if the final scores were actually close. But football is a 60 minute game. Can have a great 3 quarter game, but the first 3 quarters don't really matter. Giving up 28 points in final 12 minutes is unacceptable. I know the defense was tired , but come on. Go ahead and preach depth to me. Been blaming depth for 10-15 years now. We need another excuse.

 

[J C Higgins]

The sad part is, people actually think that a 4-4 record with blowout losses to Florida and Bama, and a loss to pitt, is great progress. I could understand the logic if the final scores were actually close. But football is a 60 minute game. Can have a great 3 quarter game, but the first 3 quarters don't really matter. Giving up 28 points in final 12 minutes is unacceptable. I know the defense was tired , but come on. Go ahead and preach depth to me. Been blaming depth for 10-15 years now. We need another excuse.

"but the first 3 quarters don't really matter."

Every minute counts. And yes we were worn down. Playing with a depleted roster and going against a team with 4-5 star talent 3 deep at every position. We've never experienced a discrepancy in quality and quantity so great.

 

[CR-vol]

That’s not how it works at all. Results on the field matter some but more than anything it’s relationships and with coaches etc. I doubt whether we finished 6-6 or 7-5 had any impact whatsoever in who we get. And most of us are worried about heupels ability to recruit. He’s just not a charismatic guy at all.

How are you judging that? How does he get a team to fight like this team does for the entire game if he is not a charismatic coach? Besides that Tennessee practically recruits itself. This offense is a draw. They will come.

 

[Volsfannn]

"but the first 3 quarters don't really matter."

Every minute counts. And yes we were worn down. Playing with a depleted roster and going against a team with 4-5 star talent 3 deep at every position. We've never experienced a discrepancy in quality and quantity so great.

So all the previous administrations have wasted scholarships? Just saying for a kid to even be considered for an sec school he evidently has to have talent. So in your logic we have a bunch of scrubs on the vols? Legitimate question, so a Legitimate answer would be appreciated. I know we had some hit the portal, mainly gray and traitor too'too but small in my opinion is doing great so losing gray is no big deal.

 

[J C Higgins]

I said nothing like that.

I just said we were very much out manned in both quality and quantity.

We have some good players and as far as I can tell they'll all playing their hearts out this year.

 

[Behr]

I'm not buying nor selling the moral victories hype or BS. That path leads to forever mediocrity and happiness with 8 or 9 win seasons. That to me is NOT Tennessee football. We ought be in the SEC East title hunt every year at the minimum. I'm throwing no parties for 4-4 at this point in the season. I have seen improvement, yes. But I also have seen blowout wins by Florida, Bama, and a coming one from UGA. Let me help some of you, that Bama win was done where they covered a sprtead of 26.5 mpoints, which is dreadful for a UT team. Find all the talent and outmanned and injury excuses you want, but everybody on the field had two arms and two legs and their's out played ours by a long shot. Our coaching staff is supposed to be there to close that gap, I ain't seeing it so far, we're playing better, but we are no where close to where we have to be. Heupel needs and deserves next year to get us there, but lopsided penalty amounts and turnovers against our rivals have to end.