Tennessee Vols Recruiting
So Tennessee has been tearing up the recruiting trail for the past two weeks. Two 5-stars and four 4-stars were signed in the past two weeks. All this for a team that has been sub-.500 in half of their seasons for the past ten years.
If they can do this after being "down" for so long, why does it still seem like Michigan is lagging behind? What does Jeremy Pruitt bring to the table that Jim Harbaugh (or staff) does not? Going from 4-8 to 8-5 in two years is a plus, but to start like this seems more in the realm of Ole Miss and their Treadwell class. I'm leaning towards the obvious "more probable than not" checks that are being signed down in Knoxville now.
Picture for reference.
They're selling cash and hookers. Thats a top seller, by the way.
So every young man wants hookers? WTF ruined you. I don’t think most football players have to worry about sex.
But why settle for three-star sex like ordinary recruits do, when you can pay for five-star sex?
It's almost as if Michigan knows exactly how everyone else is playing the game but refusing to play it the same way.
Yeah, that's it, lmao. We got 5 star players DPJ and Rashan Gary just a few years ago by magic.
This is where maybe my fandom becomes willfully ignorant. I truly believe that we don’t pay players. Not sure if I’m just drowning in childlike nativity or if I’m accurate. What do you all think? Do we have bagmen and play the same crooked game, or are we competing with the big boys while also attempting to stay clean? I choose the latter, but I’m willing to hear compelling evidence to the contrary.
I don't think we pay players, that’s the problem. Harbaugh has a very Beileinian approach to recruiting. He looks for ‘high character’ kids/families that are more interested in a ‘family environment’ and academics than a pay day.
They do a good job with this approach, but it’s not nearly enough to compete with the OSU’s and Clemson’s of the world. Get in the dirt and do what it takes to get the best football players or leave the Big Ten and end this ridiculous “rivalry” with Ohio State. Online classes, bagmen, whatever it takes.
DPJ and Gary were about as risk-free as they come in terms of elite talents.
I'm not saying we aren't playing the game to an extent. I'm saying Michigan has drawn a line in the sand well before the current powers at large. Harbaugh won't so much as call a recruit if he knows they're in a bidding war, and that's how the majority of surefire superstars go about their recruitment.
You know why. The real question is: Can you find satisfaction rooting for a team/organization that plays by the rules?
Not without beating OSU on a regular basis.
If I ever win the Powerball or come into a large fortune, I'm going to become a one man Michigan football recruiting machine.
It's a shame that one of our billionaires hasn't done it already.
Dropping bags.
Michigan would rather pay the coaches
Ha! Ha! Ha! You are seriously asking why Tennessee is “somehow” landing top recruits after flailing for the last 20 years?
Funny enough - the exact same thing happened when Michigan hired Yost in 1901. They suddenly landed some top players in the country. It has been a tried and tested formula Over the last 120 years
Exactly this. Our best coach, Yost, did whatever it took to win. We need some of that again. I totally believe in this staff from a teaching and game plan perspective. I don’t believe the staff, or athletic department is actively doing whatever it takes to land top talent. It’s so frustrating. I really feel like we have the right coaches, but they can’t or won’t set up what needs to happen to get 5 stars and high 4 stars here in a regular basis.
Is this serious question?
Their boosters are paying players instead of paying for players to travel to Paris.
The $EC is gonna $EC...look at their hoops recruiting and that should answer this for ya!
Just for a little perspective after looking closer, they've landed 21 players, 12 three stars. It's their class size right now that has them so far up there, not their average ranking. They are barely above Michigan on the ranking average.
Still... 5 star from Florida and a 5 star from Alabama. Not normal.
All the dudes who were trained on $aban’s system recruit like a motherfucker.
Alabama is currently #46
And I'm sure they will be ranked #46 at the end of the cycle - right? Otherwise, your comment would be pretty stupid.
UGA's and Tennessee's recruiting went into orbit the second one of the $ystem guys got there.
When it comes to recruiting Michigan is the 79 year old woman driving 52 miles an hour in the left lane of the freeway.
And us fans are the passengers yelling at everybody passing us to slow down.
Depressingly accurate.
A more accurate analogy is driving 70 mph. Willing to push to the “speed limit” but certainly not over. Then getting upset when someone is going by at 80 and not ever getting pulled over.
I wa going to post something like that but you beat me to it.
Well said Gucci
I was JUST looking at this and it’s definitely extremely fishy. Thought the same thing when OL’ Miss had that one crazy class. These instincts are usually correct.
They stole a 5-star from Alabama. How?! The one from Florida makes some sense but a stud DL from AL?! ?
I think this is my first actual topic post on the board.
Of course I know the real reason behind it. Just wanted to bring their shady business to discussion on a boring Sunday afternoon.
Man I’m glad I read this post because I really thought you were seriously asking, how.
The majority of these commits are from the south, where there's a ton of 4*/5* talent. Considering their tradition (they won a national title more recently than Michigan) and location, this should not come as a major surprise.
HAHAHAHA!... "(they won a national title more recently than Michigan)" Yeah, their latest MNT was a full one year after Michigan's, I'm sure ALL the 18-year-old recruits make a huge distinction between 1997 and 1998.
These kids didn’t take their first breath in this world until 5 years after the last Vol championship. The Vols have had 8 losing seasons in the last 15, and these kids were only 4 yrs old the last time the team won 10 games. Their lack of success and, now, sudden boon in recruiting is the surprise. Former Saban assistants cause big spikes in recruiting at their new schools, and paying recruits is a huge reason why. It’s no big secret. I honestly just assume the best recruiters each year are the ones who break the rules the most without getting caught.
All the evidence points in that direction. But...there will be no negative consequence for UT.
4 of those top 5 are on defense. But yeah, let's keep trusting the coaches and shitting on people who expect more than an msu level class.
MSU last had the #8 class in the country when?
Coaches have a better grasp on recruits than recruiting services. Sorry
This actually seems to be a trend for the Vols - Butch Jones had some top-5 recruiting class in his 2nd/3rd year but never really capitalized. Lane Kiffin pulled in a top-10 class (that summarily fell apart if memory serves me right) before he left for that one year. Pruitt seems like a decent coach but a school that has a competition for how many laws your players break named after your former HC, and which semi-recently employed both Lane Kiffin and Bruce Pearl (both of whom left in large part because of the specter of NCAA sanctions) might be playing fast-and-loose with some NCAA rules. Honestly, the big issue I have is that UM seems to not be willing to play at that level, or is trying and is bad at it, but that's about it.
Pretty much this. I've suspected that bagmen have cycles in low-capitalized places like Knoxville and Oxford. In other words, they'll buy a high-star class every few years, reload and buy another a few years later.
I'm sure some of it is wanting to play in the SEC and a lot of local talent, but by comparison OSU had the 5th-best recruiting class in the country last year...and it would have been 4th in the SEC. And the difference between them and the #3 class (LSU) was greater than the difference between them and the #6 class (Florida). Like, I'm sure Auburn and UF are nice places to play football but...there's something going on there that isn't completely above-board.
So did Butch Jones. Remind me how his tenure at Tennessee turned out. Pruitt can recruit like gangbusters all he wants. It’s going to take some serious doing on the field for them to unseat Georgia, Florida, Alabama and LSU.
They also have the added advantage of playing in the best conference.
Speaking of Alabama, I know its early still, but their recruiting this year isnt up to their normal standards so far. They are leaders currently for only 4 players in the top 200. Looks as if LSU, Georgia and TX A&M have stolen some thunder from them this year. Add in Ohio St, Clemson, TX and Oklahoma and their recruiting is subpar so far by their standards.
Bama's reign as the "best of the best" is over. It used to be Bama, and then everyone else... they've fallen back into normal "elite" status. Saban is an all time great, but not known for being a player's coach. Dabo, Day, and Lincoln Riley have all embraced the "family" approach to coaching, so kids have more options when it comes to getting elite coaching, and a good team atmosphere.
FWIW.. Urban was absolutely in the mold of Saban, definitely not a players' coach. It was all about W's, nothing else.
Many players, at the end of the day, can live with not playing for a "player's coach." At least if it means that the guy they're playing for is going to win championships. Saban has been an asshole for years but top recruits were lining up around the block to come and play for him regardless, because he was going to win national championships and get you to the NFL. And you only had to deal with him for 3-4 years before moving on.
If a guy does all of that in a family atmosphere, sure, that's great. But Saban still has a lot of pull in recruiting. Saying that Bama's reign is over is extremely premature. Obviously you have a vested interest in saying that, but one down year (by Bama's standards) that was largely brought on by their star QB getting injured hardly constitutes saying their reign is over. Had Tua not been injured, they likely would've beaten Auburn, been 11-1, and had a case for making the playoff again as a 4 seed. If nothing else, they're in an NY6 game and probably whallop whoever they play.
You also seem to forget that some players thrive and want to be under Saban's kind of setting. Some recruits don't want a family atmosphere. They want a no BS, all business type of setting where the sole focus is winning and preparing for the next level.
I didn't mean to imply I think Bama's streak of success is over.. I just don't think they're clearly the number 1 program in the nation anymore. I fully expect Saban to sign a great class and compete for the SEC and CFP every year. But if championships are all a kid is looking for now, I don't believe Alabama is the clear cut Number 1 program a kid has to look at. Clemson, OSU, and Oklahoma are all in that discussion too. We'll see if LSU can stay at the top, or if that was a one hit wonder.
For a long time it was Alabama, then everyone else. I don't see that as being the case anymore.
Yep, Bama on the slide down after struggling with UM in the Citrus Bowl.
Ttwo of the players are from St Frances, where Biff Poggi coaches. Got Corum to AA but getting the two defensive players would have been better
and btw OP, Tennessee has not signed any of these kids as you say.
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Are you serious??? Take your time and see if you could spell this if,”I give you the vowel first!!! $ E C. For the last time they’re allowed to pay their players without penalty. What planet are you on??? Aubrey left our school to go there when he would’ve started at Michigan. Hell there is no secret. The South is always going to win the recruits down south if the North schools won’t then guess who will!!!