Tennessee Recruiting

[MeHaveRash]

I have been on here and seen many people takl about how Tennessee should recruit more from Tennessee and then others defend why they don't. But has anyone actually looked at Tennessee's roster and seen how many players are actually from Tn? Probly not because if so you would realize there are a lot of Tennessee Highschool Players going to UT.

[MeHaveRash]

And for those that are to lazy to look I do believe if I counted right on yahoo sprts roster somewhere near 57 now tell me is that almost half a team?

[GLee]

And???????

[SergeantOwl22]

And for those that are to lazy to look I do believe if I counted right on yahoo sprts roster somewhere near 57 now tell me is that almost half a team?

 

Without looking I believe they carry around 95 on the roster so yes it would be more than half but how many of those play? How many are on scholarship? I would be willing to bet most are walk-on's. They need to look at the Oak Ridge RB he could be a leader at UT and probably bring life back into the program because the way he leads by example.

[hvwarrior58]

no, u are absolutely wrong owl. the players arent the problem. its the coaches and lack of discipline. guilmire is good, but foster is 10 xs the rb that guilmire is. what other team besides ut in the sec is recruiting guilmire? maybe one or two of the lower rated teams, even though ut is one of them this year. they do recruit tennessee, but they cant help it if the kids turn them down, ala oher and turner last year and warren this year and most likely tate next year. this isnt high school, u have to recruit for ur needs. ut doesnt need rbs for next year. they already have hardesty, foster, williams, coker, and yancey. 2 will be so's, 2 will be rs fr, and yancey is a sr. some states can recruit mainly instate, but we arent in florida, california, georgia, ohio, or texas. we are tennessee and the sad fact is, most of tennessee isnt exactly a powerhouse of pre college football players.

[ChadrickW]

"some states can recruit mainly instate, but we arent in florida, california, georgia, ohio, or texas. we are tennessee and the sad fact is, most of tennessee isnt exactly a powerhouse of pre college football players." hvwarrior58

 

hvwarrior58, are you going to run down Tennessee High School Football on a Tennessee High School Athletics Site. I would not think someone would stoop that low.

 

You make mention that we are not Florida, Georgia, California, Ohio, or Texas. I completely understand that. What I don't understand is teams like Alabama and South Carolina that recruit their non-hotbed states and beat UT. Last year, Tennessee produced more D-1 prospect than either of those states. Look at their rosters. Mostly from their home state. These aren't walk-ons to make the roster look nice and pretty for fans to look at. These are scholarship players. These players from those non-hotbed states like Tennessee beat UT this year.

 

The problem with UT's recruiting is they get players that play for themselves and are only there to use UT as stepping stone to the NFL. They don't play for that T on the side of the helmet. They are not laying it on the line for that young boy from Oak Ridge that dreams of playing for UT. Thats not the case. All these kids from California, Oregon, and Florida at UT want is to go to the NFL. It is all about the individual not the team.

 

Ask yourself another question? Why would a kid from California or Florida leave there to go to Knoxville. Why? I'm not putting down Knoxville but it aint paradise. They are there to go to the NFL or they couldn't go anywhere else. Arian Foster came to UT because he had two other D-1 offers. Only 2 offers. He isn't highly recruited. Not at all. Ainge and Clausen didn't grow dreaming of wearing the orange. None of those out-of-state kids do. It's all about me, myself, and I.

 

Another thing is Vandy has worst and next to worst recruiting classes in the SEC the past five years. They went to Knoxville and won 28-24.

 

Recruiting is not an exact science. Just because some so-called recruiting expert says this player is a five-star recruit does not make hime the next Emmitt Smith. So they don't know and it looks like Phillip Fulmer doesn't know.

 

5-6. That is what you get for not representing the state.

[gridiron13]

"some states can recruit mainly instate, but we arent in florida, california, georgia, ohio, or texas. we are tennessee and the sad fact is, most of tennessee isnt exactly a powerhouse of pre college football players." hvwarrior58

 

hvwarrior58, are you going to run down Tennessee High School Football on a Tennessee High School Athletics Site. I would not think someone would stoop that low.

 

You make mention that we are not Florida, Georgia, California, Ohio, or Texas. I completely understand that. What I don't understand is teams like Alabama and South Carolina that recruit their non-hotbed states and beat UT. Last year, Tennessee produced more D-1 prospect than either of those states. Look at their rosters. Mostly from their home state. These aren't walk-ons to make the roster look nice and pretty for fans to look at. These are scholarship players. These players from those non-hotbed states like Tennessee beat UT this year.

 

The problem with UT's recruiting is they get players that play for themselves and are only there to use UT as stepping stone to the NFL. They don't play for that T on the side of the helmet. They are not laying it on the line for that young boy from Oak Ridge that dreams of playing for UT. Thats not the case. All these kids from California, Oregon, and Florida at UT want is to go to the NFL. It is all about the individual not the team.

 

Ask yourself another question? Why would a kid from California or Florida leave there to go to Knoxville. Why? I'm not putting down Knoxville but it aint paradise. They are there to go to the NFL or they couldn't go anywhere else. Arian Foster came to UT because he had two other D-1 offers. Only 2 offers. He isn't highly recruited. Not at all. Ainge and Clausen didn't grow dreaming of wearing the orange. None of those out-of-state kids do. It's all about me, myself, and I.

 

Another thing is Vandy has worst and next to worst recruiting classes in the SEC the past five years. They went to Knoxville and won 28-24.

 

Recruiting is not an exact science. Just because some so-called recruiting expert says this player is a five-star recruit does not make hime the next Emmitt Smith. So they don't know and it looks like Phillip Fulmer doesn't know.

 

5-6. That is what you get for not representing the state.

 

I hate to dissagree with you but I'm going to have to on this one. First of all, who is not to say Tennessee isn't recruiting these kids. Kids are kids and let's face it, not every kid that plays HS football in the state of TN wants to be a volunteer just like every kid that plays HS football in the state of GA doesn't want to be a DAWG. You ask why would a kid from California or Florida want to come and play football at UT rather than stay at home. First of all, kids want to play in front of 100,000 plus. Tennessee has a tradition that can't be matched by many around the country. Let's don't forget Tennessee did play for a National Championship not long ago. Not to mention if you grew up in Los Angelos or Tampa, Fl, or any other crime infested city in America you might want the change of environment as well. Let's don't bash the staff in Knoxville because they had one bad year. I also think Fulmer and his staff do recruit Tennessee and recruit it well. You say recruiting is not a science, well I disagree, it is a science as well as one big mathematical equation. Those who have never been involved in the recruiting process don't always understand, but it is a very detailed and complicated process. I am not saying TN doesn't put out good HS football players because I could rattle off many great ones that come from this great state, however, when you only have around 14-20 scholarships per year the percentages should tell you that maybe 2-3 per year will come from TN. Let's don't forget there are 49 other states out there that play HS football.

Edited December 1, 2005 by gridiron13

[extremefury]

Well said gridiron13, I said the same thing in another topic. Tennessee recruits more TN kids then a lot of people think. But for some reason people around here can't stomach the fact that not everyone around here want's to be a Vol.

 

Look what happened to Branden Warren, when he decided to comitt to FSU. Some on here blasted him for it.

 

Patrick Turner last year decided to go to USC, who wouldn't their going for their 3rd National title.

 

This topic seems to come up everytime somebody thinks that they have a particular player at their school or area who UT should offer a scholarship.

 

As far as those 4 and 5 star athletes everybody seems to want to put down, I'm sure that at one time, someone in their local area was saying the same thing as we do, that kid has talent, that kid has heart, that kid has etc. Some do have dreams of going to the NFL, but why not. College football has become a business whether we like it on not. Tradition is a thing of the past, win today or you are out tomorrow.

[ChadrickW]

You are both wrong once again. Do not give me that National Recruiting talk that I have heard from one UT fan after another. The fact is that UT does not recruit the state of Tennessee. Signing 5 players from the state in one recruiting class is horrible.

 

You made the point that UT missed out on some of the big fish like Patrick Turner, Micheal Oher, and Brandon Warren. Do you people not think Alabama, South Carolina, and Mississippi miss the big fish. They do miss the big fish. Do you know what a lot of these schools do when they miss that big fish? They usually go get the next big thing in the state. I remember a few years back when Alabama lost out on Chad Jackson to Florida. Alabama didn't say well we lost the top prospect in the state, let's not get anyone else from the state. That is crazy. UT just thinks if you are not a big fish in TN then you are not good enough to compete at Tennessee.

 

Why would a kid from Florida or California want to go to UT? Let's think about this one. For example, I am from Florida and being recruited by all the big schools. Why would I go to UT? To play in front of that 100,000 seat stadium. That's understandable. But isn't the swamp a great place to play at Florida or at Doak at Florida State and not to mention Miami. Plus You have LSU's great stadium to think about. It's not like everyone else's stadium seats 20,000 people. So that is not much of a positive. Getting away from crime in my crime infested city. Florida is in a smaller town. Not much crime. Talahassee isn't filled with criminals. I highly doubt Drew Weatherford or Chris Leak walk around campus with fear of losing their life. What about tradition? Well, hasn't Florida, Florida State, and Miami all got winning programs. Haven't they all won National Titles. I believe so. UT's tradition is rivaled by many. Their tradition does not hold a candle to Alabama's tradition.

 

So why would that kid go to UT? Maybe because no one else has offered him like Arian Foster's case and so many others that recruiting websites hype up. Maybe because UT promises he will go to the NFL to make big bucks. Maybe they use the idea that a kid can come to Knoxville and get a great education. That is what colleges are for, right? Education. They are not Football factories. Some people don't understand that.

 

Recruiting is not an exact science. Are you crazy? If it was an exact science, no one would fall through the cracks. People like Chad Pennington, Randy Moss, Bryan Westbrook, Terrell Owens, Jerry Rice, and Steve McNair. Recruiting is far from an exact science.

 

I'm not down on UT because of one bad season. I've always been down on UT because they don't recruit the state. 5-6 but still too good to recruit Tennessee.

Edited December 2, 2005 by ChadrickW

[gridiron13]

You sound like a former player who wasn't recruited by Tenneessee had a close friend who was. First of all I think you are confusing recruiting with evaluating. For example, Chad Penninigton is a great player no doubt, however when coaches around the country evaluated him they decided not to recruit him as a priority. You point out that Tennessee didn't recruit or offer him, well what about the other 119 Division IA schools in America that didn't recruit or offer him as well. I think if you ask Chad to this day he would tell you that his arm strength did not fully develop until he was a junior in college. I'm not going into some big debate, heck I'm not even a TN fan, but for you to say 5-6 instate signees isn't enough, makes me wonder what your thinking, HUM.

 

 

You are both wrong once again. Do not give me that National Recruiting talk that I have heard from one UT fan after another. The fact is that UT does not recruit the state of Tennessee. Signing 5 players from the state in one recruiting class is horrible.

 

You made the point that UT missed out on some of the big fish like Patrick Turner, Micheal Oher, and Brandon Warren. Do you people not think Alabama, South Carolina, and Mississippi miss the big fish. They do miss the big fish. Do you know what a lot of these schools do when they miss that big fish? They usually go get the next big thing in the state. I remember a few years back when Alabama lost out on Chad Jackson to Florida. Alabama didn't say well we lost the top prospect in the state, let's not get anyone else from the state. That is crazy. UT just thinks if you are not a big fish in TN then you are not good enough to compete at Tennessee.

 

Why would a kid from Florida or California want to go to UT? Let's think about this one. For example, I am from Florida and being recruited by all the big schools. Why would I go to UT? To play in front of that 100,000 seat stadium. That's understandable. But isn't the swamp a great place to play at Florida or at Doak at Florida State and not to mention Miami. Plus You have LSU's great stadium to think about. It's not like everyone else's stadium seats 20,000 people. So that is not much of a positive. Getting away from crime in my crime infested city. Florida is in a smaller town. Not much crime. Talahassee isn't filled with criminals. I highly doubt Drew Weatherford or Chris Leak walk around campus with fear of losing their life. What about tradition? Well, hasn't Florida, Florida State, and Miami all got winning programs. Haven't they all won National Titles. I believe so. UT's tradition is rivaled by many. Their tradition does not hold a candle to Alabama's tradition.

 

So why would that kid go to UT? Maybe because no one else has offered him like Arian Foster's case and so many others that recruiting websites hype up. Maybe because UT promises he will go to the NFL to make big bucks. Maybe they use the idea that a kid can come to Knoxville and get a great education. That is what colleges are for, right? Education. They are not Football factories. Some people don't understand that.

 

Recruiting is not an exact science. Are you crazy? If it was an exact science, no one would fall through the cracks. People like Chad Pennington, Randy Moss, Bryan Westbrook, Terrell Owens, Jerry Rice, and Steve McNair. Recruiting is far from an exact science.

 

I'm not down on UT because of one bad season. I've always been down on UT because they don't recruit the state. 5-6 but still too good to recruit Tennessee.

[ChadrickW]

First of all, there are not 120 D-1A football programs. There are 117. Shows your knowledge about college football.

 

Next, evaluating is a part of recruiting. Evaluating talent to see if the high school kid can develop nad become a key contributor to the program. This is why recruiting is not an exact science. Kids fall through the cracks for certain reason. Maybe it's because you come from a small country 1A school or got hurt your Senoir year. Evaluating is part of recruiting. Looks as if though UT's evaluating is not too good. If recruiting was an exact science, there would be no small college players in the NFL.

 

5-6 in-state signees is not enough. What other state school in the SEC does that? None that I know of. What an embaressment to this state to think that a State University thinks that less of the talent in its own state.

 

5-6 serves them right.

[ooooo]

People always make this arguement but what people fail to realize is that being a good high school player does not make you a good college player. College coaches look at way more than stats and size. They look at technique. Also, the level of football played in TN is not as high as some surrounding states. There are plenty of teams in Florida that could easily come to TN and dominate.