VTTW Board Index

I don't follow recruiting, but who do we need in this class for it to be a success? I'm assuming interior DL are the must have. Otherwise I think Pruitt has done a nice job building a well-rounded roster.

 meh, till we get a coaching staff that can coach them up :dunno: :inughout: :nono:

We need help all over the field. I still say recruit another QB. None on our roster or that have played strike me as that guy at QB. It is a QB driven sport. We have had the worst QB play in the SECe. Okay maybe Vandy was worse. Until we find a viable QB, we will be behind UGa and UF. I am sick of that being our ceiling.

Pirate is correct.  This is a "meh" class.  

And for this staff to pull an offer to a local kid (Elijah Howard, from Knoxville, started high school at Knoxville Webb then transferred to Chattanooga Baylor) at 4 PM on the day before LOIs were to be sent in is just shameful and complete horseshizzle.  And Elijah was a kid whom the UT coaches had asked to make calls to other prospects.  He also stayed loyal to UT and made no visits to other schools after he committed about 18 months ago.  

This head coach is clueless.  He's a damned Gump who needs to be gone.  

I was never big on recruiting, but sometime around the Kevin Simon signing I realized it didn't matter who we got as they wouldn't be developed.

The Griffin-Parker kid from Nashville has offers from some good programs.  OSU, Bama, UGA, UF

Probably a good get.

Got the QB: Kaidon Salter

I hope so. It's always a crapshoot. Even more so when your staff is terrible at player development.

Just looking at the recruiting rankings, our top rivals are ahead of us again.  Bama and UGa #1 and #3. UF is #6. How in the wide world of sports do we get back to competing with them in the SEC standings with such talent discrepancies and obvious coaching deficiencies?

Got to get coaches who can develop and coach them up. 

What Herb said........

We don't know how to do that.

We have got to not go after these one year wonders and assistants that have been assistants for years. Look at Fuente and Herman. Both were supposed to be the real deal. Neither one has been close to it. Also being an good assistant coach does not mean you will be a good head coach. See Pruitt. So who do you go after? Even Malzahn or Sumlin would be better than what we have.  Or go for it all and try to get Meyer or Stoops. We've gotten nothing for our money the last 12 years anyway. But, what do I know? We need a damn sight better to compete with Bama. UGa and UF.

Few months back we were happy with this 21 class ranked in the top 5.....Thing was we had way more committed than most every one....Then in the past 3 weeks we've had some de-commit and then yesterday our highest rated recruit came out and said he wasn't signing today when he could have....Just not much to get excited about.

From ESPN:

We made the "missed out" list

The Vols had a tough lead in to the early signing period by losing commitments from five-star linebacker Terrence Lewis, four-star tight end Hudson Wolfe, ESPN 300 cornerback Damarius McGhee and defensive end Darrell Jackson, among a few others.
The staff didn't land any significant additions on signing day and finished the day ranked outside the top 10 despite previously finding itself as high as No. 3 in the rankings during the 2021 cycle. This wasn't how the staff wanted to finish.

Shocking. 

Actually not too bad considering our record....Getting crap kicked 6 weeks in a row and not much in a way of a staff other than 2-3. Might get another 1-2 the next 2 days and the Feb signing date.

But we aren't closing the gap with a class outside the top 10 and mid pack of the SEC.

UT is never going to recruit with the Bama, UF, UGA, Clemson, OSU type programs until you can compete with them.  You can't compete with them without the players.  Its a catch-22.

Add to that, most of those teams are in really fertile recruiting grounds - another obvious advantage for their programs.

At some point, UT coaches have to try land a few top recruits (especially at skill positions), really coach-up all players, scheme exceptionally to capitalize on strengths and diminish weaknesses, and win some of the games against the top tier teams.

Its the only way back for any program not currently in the current "playoff group", imo.

I'm more worried about beating Arkansas, UK, Georgia State and BYU right now. Once that happens we can take the next step.

Murf, I don't disagree at all.

My post above, though, was really intended to be more a statement of college football in general.  I did a poor job of expressing that.

I'm not sure that it is much different than in year's past, but it definitely seems that way to me.  The recruiting gap between the top schools and the others just seems to widen.

I feel that there is a possibility that the transfer portal (and no-sit transfers) will only serve to widen that gap even further.  I hope that I'm wrong.

Yet most of you think Hugh Freeze is a great coach. In year 5 at Ole Miss he won 5 games and had two SEC victories. Vandy beat him by 17 and who cares if 3 of his wins were to non power 5? He only lost to Mullen and Miss St by 35. Yet some of you think he can turn it around when no one else can. Who cares if he cheated, he at least beat Georgia in 16 after being caught. I know Butch did too, but this is different. He is winning at Liberty. Lets give him 10M a season and we are set. I might have put this in the wrong thread..lol.

Personally, I don’t know why UT doesn’t just hire someone who has all the answers as our new AD. Wouldn’t that solve everything? Any of you know someone who seems to have all the answers?  :naughty:

Depends on what the question is. 

If it's about winning, then the answer is certainly not status quo.  And as the saying goes, the best definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. 

 :dielaughing: