Top RB's In TN

[Tom142]

just look at memphis's record and ranking compared to tennessee's. im glad tennessee only recruites the best. you cannot down philip fulmer for not recruiting in tennessee because the truth is that the tallent pool in tennessee is not nearly as deep as in texas or california. i think recruiting from other states is very good advertising for tennesse football. i also think that philip fulmer has a better eye for tallant than most people on this board. also all ya gotta do is look at tennessee's recruiting classes for the last 10 years. now can you honestly say that phil is recruiting wrong. i did not think so.

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That's a good post. I mean people act like Tennessee never gets any good in- state RBs. Just recently we've gotten LaMarcus Coker (#1 RB in the state in 2004), David Holbert (to many the best FB in the nation in 2003), Cory Anderson (best FB in the SEC), Gerald Riggs (best RB in the SEC, and #1 RB in the nation in 2001), Troy Fleming (nation's all-time leading rusher in high school), Travis Stephens (one of the state's best in HS), and I think James Stewart was from TN as well, Reggie Cobb, plus many more. So Tennessee does recruit backs in state they just get the best that can usually lead them to national prominence. What's Cassen Jackson and Jeff Jennings doing? They're playing on one of the SEC's worst teams. What's Carl Stewart doing? Playing for a team who just lost all their stars after an undefeateed season, and when he does get the chance to start it'll be after most of the talent is gone, and Auburn will be behind LSU and Alabama in the West.

 

Most of the in state RB's that go to UT have a much better shot at helping UT win, and then going on to the NFL, more than any other in state RB that goes anywhere else, which is usually a much weaker school.

 

Jimmy Cash, nine in state recruits in last years recruiting class seems like a pretty good number to me. I would much rather have 1/3 of the recruits from in state, rather than have all the leftover in state recruits, and get my butt- whipped every year like Memphis does. All Memphis has is D' Angelo Williams and he's not even from Tennessee, I don't think, and Memphis would be really sunk without him.

[Guest catfish-hunter]

In fact I've seen him play.  Shiverdecker, is good don't get me wrong, and I understand that I-form teams run a lot.  Here are 20 backs that are better than him though.

 

Dustin Lindsey- Alcoa

Craig Cooper- Melrose

Preston Brown- Antioch

Boo Weathers- Huntingdon

Chris Donald- huntingdon

Jocques Crawford- Cordova

Gaston Miller- Riverdale

Cassisus Vaughn- Memphis East

Spencer Gulmire- Oak Ridge

Dwayne Caldwell- Ooltewah

Tyree Ford- <a href='http://www.coacht.com/inside/team.cfm?SchoolID=37&SportID=1' target='_blank'>Brentwood Academy</a>

Ricky Ladd- White House

Markei Guy- Westview

Tyrone Cobb- Fulton

Jamie Wilkerson- David Lipscomb

Ryan Tallent- Maryville

David Gaston- Central

Brandon Gash- Greeneville

Ok, maybe I can only name 18 that are better, but my point is....If you put any of those RB's in Jeff Co.'s offense they'd have better numbers than Shiverdecker.

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Solid list Tom but I'd also like to add Josh McMurray (Page) and Landon Jones (Cheatham Co.) to your list.

[Tom142]

Those are just the one's I've seen play, I'm sure those two are fine RB's as well.

[extremefury]

Everybody keeps quoting stats. Well stats are just part of the equation. A lot of that has to do with the level of competition each back faces. I'd like to see the game by game states of each of the players that was listed before saying whose the best.

 

A lot of times when a back is averaging 7+ yards a carry, they tend to have some very inflated stats against week opponents on there schedule. If you looked at the stats against quality oppenents that average usually decreases.

 

Ex. two years ago Jeff Jennings and Scooter Houston were running up big stats against everyone. In the playoffs against Oak Ridge they were shut down and Spencer Gulmire and Cory Booker were the stars. Does that mean there weren't good running backs, no, the level of competition was better.

 

As far as UT recruiting local backs I think that if there is a kid out there who has the right combination of speed and size they have no problem recuiting them, but for the most part there aren't many kids in TN with that combination. When there are you can bet UT is not the only ones recruiting them.

 

Let's be real, UT may be in Tennesse, but the program is bigger then TN. They compete on a national level. If all they recruited was local players then they would not be on a nation level for long. A good example would be the Divion 1AA schools. A lot of them have rosters full of state kids, but how many of those teams in TN contend for a national title each year. None. MTSU was the most recent one until they went to Division IA. Even Carson Newman has

[bhsOL]

Very good posts Tom142 and free4only1.

 

People are mad at UT for not recruiting in-state guys, but they signed more in-state guys this year than MTSU did.

[JC4life]

What's Cassen Jackson and Jeff Jennings doing?  They're playing on one of the SEC's worst teams.  What's Carl Stewart doing? Playing for a team who just lost all their stars after an undefeateed season, and when he does get the chance to start it'll be after most of the talent is gone, and Auburn will be behind LSU and Alabama in the West.

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What does last season have to do with Stewart playing this year? How are you faulting Stewart and Jennings for the players around them. Jennings made a decision to get a great education and a chance to play early after UT snubbed him. Riggs was buried on the depth chart and is just now getting to start. In the meantime Stewart, Jennings, and Jackson all get to see the field before their senior year. Its not like these playing are going to junior college, why is it that other D1 schools are able to find a place for these kids and UT does not. Tennessee does has D1 prospect every year, its a shame they have sign with other schools. The #1 rule for recruiting is "lock up your home state", if you don`t have the best athletes to begin with, you MUST get the few you do have. Its not just at RB, there are a good number of players on D1 rosters from the state of Tennessee. Tennessee is not void of talent when it comes to D1 prospects as some would have you believe. Check out the rivals and scout sites to see for yourself.

[bhsOL]

What does last season have to do with Stewart playing this year? How are you faulting Stewart and Jennings for the players around them. Jennings made a decision to get a great education and a chance to play early after UT snubbed him. Riggs was buried on the depth chart and is just now getting to start. In the meantime Stewart, Jennings, and Jackson all get to see the field before their senior year. Its not like these playing are going to junior college, why is it that other D1 schools are able to find a place for these kids and UT does not. Tennessee does has D1 prospect every year, its a shame they have sign with other schools. The #1 rule for recruiting is "lock up your home state", if you don`t have the best athletes to begin with, you MUST get the few you do have. Its not just at RB, there are a good number of players on D1 rosters from the state of Tennessee. Tennessee is not void of talent when it comes to D1 prospects as some would have you believe. Check out the rivals and scout sites to see for yourself.

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Could you be any more stupid? Why do you say a team MUST recruit from within it's state. UT gets the most talented players in the nation, and unfortunately most of them are in other states. You're right about one thing, there are some D-1 prospects in Tennessee, but look at the records of the schools they go play for. So they must not be good enough for UT.

[free4only1]

lets just leave it at this. phillip fulmer is one of the best college football coaches in the country whether you like it or not, and so is his team. to make your team one of the best then you have to recruite the best because heart will only go so far. and from tennessee's record i think that they have been recruiting the best. i love volunteer football and i really dont care who or where they recruit just as long as it is the best and they keep winning. fulmer is not paid millions a year to recruit the best in state guys, he gets paid to recruit the best he can in the nation. i think fulmer is a better recruiter than a coach but as long as he wins then he stays coach. not many people can bring in top 5 recruiting classes almost every year. so if you guys want to dog tennesse for how their recruiting then i guess your just jelous that your teams are not the dynasty tennessee is. when you all become college coaches then you can have a say on how recruiting should be done, but then i guess your own fans will be judgmental of you because you keep bringing in just mediocre talent from around the state. so there for you probably will not win that very elusive national title that every one seems to crave, because you cant seem to recruite national. key word in there NATIONAL title. if you need help it means the entire USA, not just tennessee.

Edited June 18, 2005 by free4only1

[Tom142]

What does last season have to do with Stewart playing this year? How are you faulting Stewart and Jennings for the players around them. Jennings made a decision to get a great education and a chance to play early after UT snubbed him. Riggs was buried on the depth chart and is just now getting to start. In the meantime Stewart, Jennings, and Jackson all get to see the field before their senior year. Its not like these playing are going to junior college, why is it that other D1 schools are able to find a place for these kids and UT does not. Tennessee does has D1 prospect every year, its a shame they have sign with other schools. The #1 rule for recruiting is "lock up your home state", if you don`t have the best athletes to begin with, you MUST get the few you do have. Its not just at RB, there are a good number of players on D1 rosters from the state of Tennessee. Tennessee is not void of talent when it comes to D1 prospects as some would have you believe. Check out the rivals and scout sites to see for yourself.

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How can you say Tennessee doesn't lock up the talent in their home state. Last year 1/3 of their recruits were from the Volunteer State, and they were the TOP players not just players who will be average players on other teams, these players will more than likely help contribute to UT's annual success.

 

Tell me how many players the state has really lost that has afftected the UT program and made you say, "Wow, I wish UT could've gotten him, he's a big time contributor at his school". The only one's I can really think of are the Bullocks twins from Hixon that went to Nebraska and maybe Gerald Sensabough from DB and North Carolina. Their are more in- state players that attend UT that have a significant impact, more than there are that don't attend the university that have impacts at other schools.

 

And it's Riggs' fault he's been buried on the depth chart, not his talent. If he came in with his head straight and not a lazy attitude he would've gotten immediate PT. But having a 1,000 yard season, and headed in the dirction of another will definitely work with me.

 

Oh, and by the way, Tennessee has already gotten verbal commitments from 3 of the top 5 in- state players this year, they also have a fairly legit shot at getting the state's best in Brandon Warren.

Edited June 18, 2005 by Tom142

[JC4life]

Could you be any more stupid?  Why do you say a team MUST recruit from within it's state.  UT gets the most talented players in the nation, and unfortunately most of them are in other states.  You're right about one thing, there are some D-1 prospects in Tennessee, but look at the records of the schools they go play for.  So they must not be good enough for UT.

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You have to understand something about recruiting for it to make sense. Because UT does not have Tennessee recruits locked down they have to fight like crazy to pull athletes from other states. Kids naturally have an interest in the in-state schools and they are always easier to get. UT makes a habit out of fight tooth and claw for a 3 star athlete from another state, but will neglect the instate 3 star player who is sitting in their back yard. UT will spend countless resources trying to woo a player from South Carolina who has mild interest in them, all the while they have a player rated the same in their own state. We all know that Tennessee is not a hotbed of recruiting when it comes to the national scene, but on average they put out 5-6 prospects a year that are highly recruited. The state of Tennessee usually puts out 8-12 three star or higher athletes, those who know recruiting know that it is very rare for a 3 star athlete to go recruited by a D1 school. Out of the 5-6 highly recruited players, UT lands 2-3 each year, out of the 8-12 3 star or higher athletes, UT lands anywhere from 6-8. Now in the grand scheme of things, 12 players who are actually considered good prospects, is a low number. It is very important that teams land the few players they have, because there are so few highly rated players in most states to begin with. For UT not to land most, if not all of the 5-6 highly recruited in-state players is a travesty.

 

Take last year for an example, there were 7 top level players from Tennessee whose rating ranged from the #1 prospect at his position to #34. Out of the 7 players, UT signed 3. There were also 5 other prospects who were rated at 3 stars or higher, UT signed 4. The year before there were only 2 top level prospects, UT signed 1 of the 2. There were 10 other players who were rated at 3 stars or higher, UT signed 3. The year before that there were 5 top level prospects, UT signed 2. That year there were 9 other 3 star prospects, UT signed 2. So in 3 years UT had 22 in-state players sign with other schools. (If you want to check all this out for yourself, head over to scout.com)

 

Now don`t take this as an attack on UT recruiting as a whole, it is only about how they deal with in-state players. UT does a great job of overall recruiting, but they snub a lot of very good players from their own state, forcing them to sign with other schools. There ARE good prospects to be had in-state whether you want to believe it or not. Why UT decides to let good players go to other teams is beyond me, but the teams that do sign them send big thank you cards to UT every year.

 

BTW, while we`re on the subject of recruiting I`ll add that UT has had as many out of state players come in and turn out to be busts, as the ones who have left Tennessee to play elsewhere and became busts.

[BigDogDaddy]

Having seen Riverdales line perform in a Spring scrimmage there is little doubt that Gaston Miller will have as many yards as Coach Rankin wants him to have. I'm not sure how Preston Brown will do with out Coker and a very large line to suport him. I look for Titus Hardeman RB from Franklin to have a big year as well as QB Michael Mikrut with numerous QB Draws, similar to Brentwood and Riverdale offensive schemes.

[OR nole]

A few things to consider: running backs on the powerhouse teams might not get the yards they could. Backs like Gulmire and G. Miller may hardly ever be in the game in the 4th quarter. Let's imagine their lines beating down the opponent for 3 quarters and then turning these guys loose. It just doesn't happen. Stats aren't given in yards per quarter, but if they were, you'd see a trend with some backs gaining virtually all their yards earlier in the games. Look at the yards per carry to gain some perspective.

 

Oak Ridge is loaded. They have many excellent backs to share the carries and Stevens wants to throw the ball more. Gulmire's total numbers may even go down.

This is not just an OR thing, Riverdale and others understand. Those who truly understand football know just gaining 1,700 yards, although a great accomplishment, doesn't tell the whole story.

 

There may be some others with more D1 and Sunday "potential", but I'd take Gulmire and Miller over just about anyone (I haven't seen Lindsey play).