We signed TWO - 2026 Recruiting Classes

[casual-observer]

I keep reading this nonsense about how bad college football is now. We just witnessed Indiana win a national title. I guess it was better when only bubba and uga had a chance.

And don't forget, Tennessee would still be recovering from the dumpster fire of Dooley->Jones->Pruitt. NIL allowed the Volunteers to go from 3-7 (2020) to 11-2 (2022) in two short years.

Think of these close by four-year timeframes:

2017 - 2020 -> 20-27 (43% win rate)
2022 - 2025 -> 38-14 (73% win rate)

Paying above the table instead of in McDonald's bags saved the Tennessee football program.

 

[xpsyclonex2002]

I keep reading this nonsense about how bad college football is now. We just witnessed Indiana win a national title. I guess it was better when only bubba and uga had a chance.

Parity comes for everyone. We are about to enter a new era. An era where high school kids have trouble getting recruited unless they are willing to sign on with a school for much less money. Schools now realize how stupid it is to offer big money to kids who likely won't play a down of football at their school before transferring. You want $1.2M to sign with us? No thanks. We'll pull a proven superstar from the college level at a smaller school. That's going to make everything spread out as far as the money will allow. No one can afford all the best. Even if they can, who sits on the bench? No one who wants to go pro.

 

[ftsandersvol]

Fully understand the argument of buying the best team possible, but shouldn’t Indiana be a lesson to everyone what the value of roster management is?

It’s really a pretty simple game. You get the ball to your playmakers. If players get p*ssed because they aren’t getting the ball, you simply tell them don’t get mad, get better.

 

[trout-vol]

Yeah, its crazy

 

[Volteacher]

I know Tennessee isn’t alone in this.
I know we had a bunch of portal guys leave out.
24 HS kids. 21 College Kids.
Does anyone remember when Dooley signed 19 kids….period?

It’s so different now.
1) Not nearly as excited about HS recruiting. Still believe we absolutely need it, but I’m not nearly as drawn in.

2) I watch college games names now even more attentively because, maybe we can sign that guy on the offseason!??haha. That’s amazing? Frustrating. Absolutely.

Can anyone imagine if NIL existed in 1999 and Florida State put 200K on Michael Vick to play with Peter Warrick?
How about…
Fulmer gets Javon Kearse in 1997 to play with Leonard Little and Al Wilson?

If some kind of regulation gets onboarded I think College could be GREAT AGAIN.
Right now it’s…I don’t know. Not great.

Also remember when Dooley didn't sign a single OL one year!!!???