We signed TWO - 2026 Recruiting Classes

#1
LittleVol

LittleVol

Of course I can help you, Coach Heupel.
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Oct 10, 2014
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#1
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.
 
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#2
#2
LittleVol said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
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#3
#3
Oldvoldad said:
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.
Click to expand...

This is a great point. While I HATE the transfer portal rules, the positive to all of this chaos is that it effectively retired Saban and knocked two of our rivals off of the pedestal.
 
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#4
#4
Oldvoldad said:
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.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t call it bad. It’s just not great.
This 2026 year coming up was supposed to be Nico year 3. With all of our WRs and Herring, Ross spearheading a very good defense. Title contention year.

None of those guys are here now:

Instead we have a super young QB room.
Former walkon that had 1,000 yards last season.
And a totally new defense VETERAN led by guys that weren’t even in Knoxville in 2025.

That’s absolutely insane when you consider how college football has been. We have college veterans at every level of defense….that wasn’t even in Knoxville last season. Not freshman that came in last week that we intend to start and take their lumps. 4 years college veterans ….plug and play all across the board on defense
 
#5
#5
Indiana is certainly an interesting exception to what we’ve been used to. I was pulling for them. But let’s see what it looks like after 3 or 4 more years of no rules, unbridled tampering, and the schools asking fans for more and more money to fund this mess. Or when it goes to player contracts, collective bargaining and no connection to the school. I want to see how excited folks are going to be then.
 
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#6
#6
Delmar said:
Indiana is certainly an interesting exception to what we’ve been used to. I was pulling for them. But let’s see what it looks like after 3 or 4 more years of no rules, unbridled tampering, and the schools asking fans for more and more money to fund this mess. Or when it goes to player contracts, collective bargaining and no connection to the school. I want to see how excited folks are going to be then.
Click to expand...
The no connection to the school will never, ever happen. That will be tied into the CBA. I will continue to love the Vols, watch the games, and stay excited.
 
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#7
#7
Delmar said:
Indiana is certainly an interesting exception to what we’ve been used to. I was pulling for them. But let’s see what it looks like after 3 or 4 more years of no rules, unbridled tampering, and the schools asking fans for more and more money to fund this mess. Or when it goes to player contracts, collective bargaining and no connection to the school. I want to see how excited folks are going to be then.
Click to expand...
Cignetti came at a strange time. With the 20 million $ that Michigan won their championship with. Then Ohio State the same thing. Everyone assumed that was the new name of the game. Whoever spends the most wins.

Indiana absolutely destroyed that model.
Now theirs a bigger emphasis on scouting and analytics in production. Coaching really matters more in this age. I still like Heupel. Despite what his offense ranks as, it’s still has holes, but it’s improving. He really needs a true OC.

Texas Tech and LSU were all the rage the past 2 months. LSU might be there in the end, but Texas Tech will not imo.

I like this Tennessee team.
 
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#8
#8
Oldvoldad said:
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.
Click to expand...
I don’t think anyone’s mad about talent being spread out. But some further regulation would be nice. It’s currently the Wild West.
 
#9
#9
Hairy Vols said:
The no connection to the school will never, ever happen. That will be tied into the CBA. I will continue to love the Vols, watch the games, and stay excited.
Click to expand...
Any negotiated CBA will have to give the players an out to pursue another destination if they so choose. Without that clause the players will not ratify the contract. The only connection to the school will be the contract, not the players.
 
#10
#10
LittleVol said:
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.
Click to expand...
Triggered a tad of PTSD. Remember when Dooley said "Woops, I forgot to sign any offensive linemen"?
 
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#13
#13
LittleVol said:
I wouldn’t call it bad. It’s just not great.
This 2026 year coming up was supposed to be Nico year 3. With all of our WRs and Herring, Ross spearheading a very good defense. Title contention year.

None of those guys are here now:

Instead we have a super young QB room.
Former walkon that had 1,000 yards last season.
And a totally new defense VETERAN led by guys that weren’t even in Knoxville in 2025.

That’s absolutely insane when you consider how college football has been. We have college veterans at every level of defense….that wasn’t even in Knoxville last season. Not freshman that came in last week that we intend to start and take their lumps. 4 years college veterans ….plug and play all across the board on defense
Click to expand...
So, it’s not college football is bad. Just that Tennessee hasn’t been really good in this system.
 
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#15
#15
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#17
#17
Cignetti gave everyone the blueprint. Just go out and get a bunch of 24-26 year old dudes to play for you and fill your roster with them. Who cares if you've been in college for 6 or 7 years. No big deal, right? At this point, why not let the guys riding the bench or on the practice squad in the NFL sue to get to come back to compete for another 3-4 years if they want. That's only fair, right? Why should Johnny get 7 years when Timmy only got 4? Folks are making the argument that these guys should get paid and be able to transfer anytime they feel like it because coaches get paid and get to leave a team to coach somewhere else, so why not the opposite? Coaches get to come back to the college game if it doesn't work for them at the NFL level, why are we not making the same argument for players? Do you see the pandora's box here? At some point, the insanity has to stop or you can no longer call it college football.
 
#18
#18
Delmar said:
Indiana is certainly an interesting exception to what we’ve been used to. I was pulling for them. But let’s see what it looks like after 3 or 4 more years of no rules, unbridled tampering, and the schools asking fans for more and more money to fund this mess. Or when it goes to player contracts, collective bargaining and no connection to the school. I want to see how excited folks are going to be then.
Click to expand...

Waiting for Kiffin to pay an opposing star to tank a game and then join LSU the following season.
 
#19
#19
Oldvoldad said:
So, it’s not college football is bad. Just that Tennessee hasn’t been really good in this system.
Click to expand...
Nope, all D1 is worse because the courts forced the pro model WITHOUT the accompanying constraints the big leagues have. They have free agency but only for those not under multi year contracts, not every player every year. They have salary caps, smaller roster sizes and more tampering constraints.

The NFL would be devastated if forced to follow the same practices.
 
#20
#20
GUNTERSVOL said:
Nope, all D1 is worse because the courts forced the pro model WITHOUT the accompanying constraints the big leagues have. They have free agency but only for those not under multi year contracts, not every player every year. They have salary caps, smaller roster sizes and more tampering constraints.

The NFL would be devastated if forced to follow the same practices.
Click to expand...
So once again. It was better when only uga and bubba had a chance
 
#23
#23
Oldvoldad said:
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.
Click to expand...


It was better in the off season under the old rules because you had a sense of who your running back was, your quarterback, your defensive backfield.... You could read articles about who was coming back, and what schemes would work best....

Now? Now you have no freaking clue who is even on your team, half of them haven't played a down together with anyone else on the team, and you might as well throw darts at a board (see e.g. Indiana) to actually guess who is going to be decent and who is going to disappoint.

And with the advent of the playoffs -- and the concomitant death of bowl games other than the playoffs -- everyone is excited at the start of the season, but if you lose two games in conference in the first two months? Well, that sucked. Wonder who will stay and who will leave and who we can get 10 months from now...

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#24
#24
Oldvoldad said:
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?
Click to expand...
Roster management requires more than deciding who you want where on your roster. It also takes money. Lots and lots and lots of money. Does anyone know how much NIL money was spent on Indiana's roster? I can't find anything posted anywhere that gives an amount that, for instance, Mark Cuban donated.
 
#25
#25
lawgator1 said:
It was better in the off season under the old rules because you had a sense of who your running back was, your quarterback, your defensive backfield.... You could read articles about who was coming back, and what schemes would work best....

Now? Now you have no freaking clue who is even on your team, half of them haven't played a down together with anyone else on the team, and you might as well throw darts at a board (see e.g. Indiana) to actually guess who is going to be decent and who is going to disappoint.

And with the advent of the playoffs -- and the concomitant death of bowl games other than the playoffs -- everyone is excited at the start of the season, but if you lose two games in conference in the first two months? Well, that sucked. Wonder who will stay and who will leave and who we can get 10 months from now...

View attachment 810995
Click to expand...
You hit the nail on the head. It’s not CFB is bad. It’s the offseason hopes and dreams fun that is getting squashed.
 
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