Will this Freshman class turn out to be our best ever?

[ITSGR82BATNVOL]

It's way to early to say whether they will be the best Freshman class ever but one thing is obvious if you have been watching video clips. Several of these guys are leaders as Freshman and that is very rare.

 

[MDBJJC]

No QB in the class hurts its chance too

 

[compound]

i think this class will make a splash as early as any we have had but i'm not sold that it necessarily be one of the best ever. that's a stretch without ever seeing them on the field yet. only time will tell.

 

[punkin nutz]

Apparently MH has found the cure for senioritis, its a new blood transfusion of CLK. And IMO, yes, this freshman class will end up being the best class we have had here....up to this point. I fully expect this staff will bring in even better and more complete classes when they have some time to show these recruits what UT's new system will look like. It's amazing the talent they have already brought in with salesmanship alone!:rock:

 

[Through_The_T]

It will take more than one season to find that out. So get back with us in about two years.

+1 but I'm highly optimistic by what I've seen and heard about in regards to the talent the current group of freshmen have.

 

[hndog609]

This is a well known fact that Fulmer would play a less talented upper classman over a more talented under classman. That has been discussed even back to the early 90's when I was in school at UT. I don't know where you are getting the idea over the years that this was not his philosophy. I think most people who follow the Vols would agree with me over you, so I think I played my hand just right.

Interesting. I actually cite the names of players, still on the team mind you, that directly contradict that premise and you give me a generalized impression.

Look, it's very similar to the old "the back up QB is always better" mentality. The Fulmer era had PLENTY of underclassman seeing the field. It's a demonstrable fact and a matter of record. If you were good enough you played, just like the players I cited in my post. If you took just a couple minutes and actually thought back about most any of the better players in the Fulmer era and then looked up when they first started seeing playing time you're not going to see a long list of guys that were riding the pine 'til their Sr season. Somebody (Justin maybe?) compiled a list of notable underclassman that played under Fulmer and posted it. It was not a short list.

Perception is simply not reality. At best I might concede that Fulmer was overly cautious about what he perceived as liabilities of true Fr but if they were good enough in a position of need they played. For instance, people like to browbeat Fulmer for not playing Lewis against FL his Fr year. Fine, maybe it would have made a difference and maybe it wouldn't. (anybody claiming to know for a fact either way is simply lying) What we DO know is that same guy "Fulmer wouldn't play" had 232 rushing attempts as a Fr, the 6th highest by any UT back ever regardless of class.