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class. Just looking at the numbers, most of our conference rivals are bringing in classes about as good or better than this Vols class. Most of these teams are already way more talented than us. It is really hard to make up a lot ground in just one class. Right now top three classes are Bama, LSU and aTm. It's a tough row to hoe.

Aren't you a ray of sunshine.  Geez...give me a freaking break. 

Look at it like this.  While one class will not cure everything that ails you, you have to build a foundation and then raise the crawl space walls and then the first floor subfloor.  Butch has done all of that and actually got some walls on the first floor subfloor up with this class.  Overall I would say we are doing pretty good after the past four years with the Lame Kiffin and Derek Fooley aborted Coaching stints.  Frankly I am very impressed with Butch's recruiting so far.  I think he will be killing it for a long time at UT.  

PS We only lag three teams in the SEC West and each and every SEC East team is below us in this year's rankings......

Plus we increased our speed and athleticism across the board.  We are still very, very thin but the quality of the team we will put on the fiend next year should improve significantly :powert:

Plus you did close the gap and proved UT can once again recruit on a high level. And, yes, those ranked ahead are all in the west. Big difference if those teams were all in the east, but they aren't, and you have to win the east first before getting to Atlanta.

BG

I agree. We are getting better in a hurry. The others aren't getting a lot worse though either.

Don't you on occasion post on the Rivals national college football board. If so, don't mention to Della I had favorable things to say about UT's recruiting class. :laugh:


BG

I'm telling. LOL jk

 :wtf:  ....this thread.

I saw that UT was #3 in the SEC. Granted diff between 3 & 4 is razor thin. Double check your rankings.

know I did, realized when Butch began getting a list of good player committments that it was going to take at least 2 and probably 3 yrs of good recruiting to be where we want to be. :patriot:

Improving your football team via recruiting is about talent differential. What's the talent difference between the players Alabama has recruited and the players whose spots they will be filling on the field? Virtually zero. What's the same differential for Tennessee? Substantial. That is how you make up ground. You replace guys that were not SEC caliber with guys who are. Alabama has nowhere to go, but Tennessee has a need to improve nearly every roster spot.

And with 35 guys coming in we did a whole lot to push our talent level closer to that of the other SEC schools.

Eeeeeeexactly!

Add to that the fact that you gotta crawl before you walk.

My ONLY reservation about the success of this year's class is that it was an almost perfect storm for Butch and his staff with so many legacy recruits and in-state blue-chippers that ordinarily aren't out there to take. So I don't want to get too excited about this staff's recruiting ability until they pull in a good haul for 2015. However, this is certainly an excellent start towards putting this program where we all want to see it.

I think Tennessee is improving dramatically in producing HS football talent.  The good thing for UT is that all the population growth in the state seems to be in the Eastern 2/3 and away from Memphis, where most of the talent has come from in the past.  We've never recruited well there.  I don't know that every year will be as strong instate as this one has been, but I think this year is much closer to the new normal than say, a decade ago.  We'll never be Florida or Georgia- we just don't have that kind of population to draw from.  But there's no reason this state can't produce talent at the same level as Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, etc.  I think we're rapidly moving in that direction.

11.2368%

That's why I'm so excited about D. Scott.  He was Spurriers main RB target and Butch (and Coach G) snagged him even with Hurd onboard.  That was impressive.

I recently read an article on either 247 or Rivals that mentioned your state was indeed gaining ground in quality of recruits instate. They attributed much of this due to the growth of Nashville, and supported their analysis with numbers produced by that area in the past few years. The article mentioned the same states as you, but did point point out particularly Louisiana and Alabama both have far more players playing on BCS teams (Division 1) than Tennessee, and that is not likely to change in the near future as the gap is very wide. However, South Carolina may be a different story, plus your recruiting in that state will improve as UT once recruited that state very well, and sooner rather than later SOS will step down.


BG

It's not going to happen overnight, but I think it will eventually.  AL and LA have traditionally produced more talent than TN because of racial and geographical demographics that date back to colonial times.  Long story short, when the slaves were freed, most didn't stray far from their former plantations, and their descendants remained in those regions for the next 100+ years.  And only in the Western third of our state was the plantation culture very prominent, so naturally Memphis became the only real hotbed for football talent in TN.  But we have a larger total population to draw from than either AL or LA, and it's growing at a faster rate, too.  And as the AA population continues to migrate, you're going to see things start to even out.  It may take 15-20 years, but it's going to happen.

Yep, I'm an absolute history nut and familiar with those facts. Also, have lived in both states, so very familiar with the demographic differences first hand. In fact, recently read a large portion of a book on Mobile's colonial days, and the first arrival of slaves in the state (sad and sick) Yes, it would at least take that long to out produce those two states, but your state is heading in the right direction.

BG

I should have added since we're on a history subject, yes, Memphis is much more inline demographically with two other states, but a good portion of that is attributed to the close proximity of the Mississippi Delta and the migration to the city for jobs.

Recently read a good bit about Tennessee's days in the 18th century, and Sevier, the Watauga Association etc. Really love history, and particularly the Colonial period. Also, visited the Vonore area of your state last spring, and went to Fort Loudon, and the Cherokee Chief Oconostota grave and what had been once one the Cherokee's largest sites (the overhill cherokee villages) at what was once Chota.  Loved the Vonore area!


BG

Great! Just in time to be old geezers :biggrin:

As I post elsewhere, the ESPN talking heads this morning pointed out that we have eight defensive players in the ESPN Top 300, and in the last 6 YEARS we had....SIX!

That's right...we have gone from one top 300 defensive stud a year to EIGHT IN ONE YEAR.

Given how pitiful our D has been for two straight years, will it make a difference?  Do you think it will?  Sit down, take some time, and ponder on it.  No need to be in a hurry.  Think some deep thoughts, and when you figure it out, get back to me, okay?

 :naughty:

And while I am at it, no we didn't catch our rivals today.  But we took a HUGE STEP in that direction.

Like CO says, a couple more classes like this and we will catch them.

And volsboy....you sound like such bammer.   Check the shirts in your closet and make sure you're a Vol, okay?   :naughty:

I would think that the sheer volume of players we signed this year helps in that we have a better chance of more of them panning out into SEC caliber players.  Looking back at the last two recruiting cycles, it's clear to me that Butch had and has a plan that is working.  Let's just keep it going.

so what...I look at it as we have the number #1 class in the east and that helps the Vols alot. There is a lite at the end of this tunnel. I like the attitudes of this bunch and it can only lead to better days ahead. GO Team 118!!!!!

As Coach Jones and Jancek said last night at the recruiting overview/party.....UT lacked several things in relationship to defense especially and that was SIZE and SPEED.  The Vols went overall in a big way for those two elements in this class especially SPEED.  One telling statistic is that even the biggest NEW Vol (Aka @BigCharless) is not only a big man but also very good feet and speed for a man of his SIZE. 

Overall I will up my prediction from a max of 7 wins to a max of 8 wins after last night.  Butch and staff done good!!!