Maryville QB Patton Robinette To Enroll At Vanderbilt Tomorrow

[BIGANTUT74]

If Every athlete were a straight a student and near perfect score on the sat then Vanderbilt would be one of the schools competing for a national title every year. They have a good basketball team because they just need to recruit 6 or 7 kids who can handle the coursework. There may be a handful of schools in America who compete for the same type of athletes. There are alot of smart athletes but there are also alot of good schools who have good football teams. I dont know how many of alabama's football team would qualify for vanderbilt but i would imagine not so many. I dont think anyone here in Nashville has grand illusions that Vanderbilt will win a national championship, but to put a competitive team on the field is possible for sure. Vanderbilt is also one of the original members of the sec dating back to 1932. It's like Alabama trying to become a vanderbilt in education... Not going to happen but I am sure alabama works hard at academics and looks to improve there just like Vanderbilt looks to Improve its football program.

Edited January 12, 2012 by BIGANTUT74

[pking34]

Actually, probably 80% of Alabama's team would be academically recruitable by Vanderbilt (whose criteria for athletes is simply that they be guys who would have a reasonable chance to earn a Vanderbilt degree). An important thing to remember is that the SEC's public universities are LAND-GRANT universities intended for the state's best students. While there aren't a lot of Patton Robinette's out there (who are All-Americans in the classroom too), the proportion of SEC athletes who could earn a degree from an academically elite university like Vanderbilt is actually very high.

 

Vanderbilt's past problems in football haven't been because of their academic excellence---- their problems have been because of an unwillingness to fund football at the level other SEC universities do, leading to decades of bad teams. That's the part of the equation that has changed at Vanderbilt---- they are now willing to pay what it costs to get and keep top-notch coaches, build better facilities, and fund recruiting budgets at a high level.

 

If you take Tennessee's 20 best players in this Senior class, I'll bet Vanderbilt has at least recruited 80% of them.

[HTV]

Actually, probably 80% of Alabama's team would be academically recruitable by Vanderbilt (whose criteria for athletes is simply that they be guys who would have a reasonable chance to earn a Vanderbilt degree). An important thing to remember is that the SEC's public universities are LAND-GRANT universities intended for the state's best students. While there aren't a lot of Patton Robinette's out there (who are All-Americans in the classroom too), the proportion of SEC athletes who could earn a degree from an academically elite university like Vanderbilt is actually very high.

 

Vanderbilt's past problems in football haven't been because of their academic excellence---- their problems have been because of an unwillingness to fund football at the level other SEC universities do, leading to decades of bad teams. That's the part of the equation that has changed at Vanderbilt---- they are now willing to pay what it costs to get and keep top-notch coaches, build better facilities, and fund recruiting budgets at a high level.

 

If you take Tennessee's 20 best players in this Senior class, I'll bet Vanderbilt has at least recruited 80% of them.

 

Vanderbilt has some options for admitting potential student athletes who aren't 4.0 GPA/30 ACT types. Some will try to tell you that they don't do that, but Vanderbilt does make academic exceptions for potential student/athletes. One of the reasons James Franklin took the job at Vandy was because he was assured that he would be allowed more of those academic exceptions to be admitted. It has expanded their pool of recruitable prospects tremendously.

 

That said, obviously Robinnette could have gone anywhere in America from an academic standpoint. He is an outstanding young man and is a great get for Vandy.

[pking34]

Academically, as i understand it, the VU criteria for athletes is "a reasonable expectation that they can attend VU and earn a degree"------- which is A LOT DIFFERENT than what it takes for a non-athlete to get in VU. The reason VU is hard to gain admission to if you are a non-athlete is SUPPLY AND DEMAND----- in a typical year, VU has room to admit say, 1500-1800 freshmen, but there are 10000+ applicants for those spots. So if you're a non-athlete, you'd probably better have a 30+ ACT and rank in the top 5% of your class.

 

The scholarship athletes, though, are in effect a separate "pool"------ and actually, you've got a few athletes on campus whose ACTs were even less than 20. And that part of it didn't start with James Franklin----- that's been the case for about 20 years now.

 

I'm not a VU graduate, so I hope I explained this properly.

[HTV]

Academically, as i understand it, the VU criteria for athletes is "a reasonable expectation that they can attend VU and earn a degree"------- which is A LOT DIFFERENT than what it takes for a non-athlete to get in VU. The reason VU is hard to gain admission to if you are a non-athlete is SUPPLY AND DEMAND----- in a typical year, VU has room to admit say, 1500-1800 freshmen, but there are 10000+ applicants for those spots. So if you're a non-athlete, you'd probably better have a 30+ ACT and rank in the top 5% of your class.

 

The scholarship athletes, though, are in effect a separate "pool"------ and actually, you've got a few athletes on campus whose ACTs were even less than 20. And that part of it didn't start with James Franklin----- that's been the case for about 20 years now.

 

I'm not a VU graduate, so I hope I explained this properly.

 

Yep. When Peabody Teacher's College became a part of VU, it opened a lot of doors for recruiting student-athletes.

 

Since that time, VU football has been able to recruit and sign some student-athletes who wouldn't have been able to gain admittance prior to that, but generally the "exceptions" were limited to just a few a year for football. Franklin negotiated more of those slots as part of his agreeing to take the Vandy job. He has more latitude in recruiting than any of his predecessors enjoyed.

 

Again, this has nothing to do with Patton Robinette. Academically he could go anywhere that he wanted to go.

[pking34]

Agreed------ Patton Robinette could be the HARVARD or YALE Quarterback, but he has SEC talent-------

[Bishop Don A. Shizzle]

MLREB...you need not worry! The Prez will continue his posting and he will keep pointing out those who speak things that are accurate such as Riverdale100, Kevin38, hdcastle, and the Bishop! These posters aren't blinded by orange paints or the glistening of a trophy case full of championships rings.....they can plainly see the truth! Vandy is here to stay, Franklin is here to stay, and once the month of February is behind us, Vandy will have as good of a recruiting class as the school on the hill! MLREB, if you indeed believe I am so entertaining...by all means...join me at any game next year in Nashville! I'd love to visit with you!

 

I must confess, I am a huggee Vandy fan. However, I am a realistic Vandy fan. Right now, our program is in much better shape than that of UT. That is fact. UT still recruits better than us but we are rising. CJF knows there are some good player in this state and he doesn't want to see them go off to some other state and play. I am sure UT would have loved to have had Barret Jones on their team just like Vandy would have...but he went to bama. There is another stud OL leaving the Memphis area and going to Stanford this year. And to the UT fans sippin on the Dool-aide...you can recruit nationally all you want to but push come to shove, you'll NEVER see success with Dooley at the helm. Fact is, he was a sub .500 coach when he took the job and he is a sub.500 coach now. Just because your last name is "Dooley" doesn't mean you can coach. Just ask Bama fans about the Mike Shula experiment...and which Bowden has ever seen real, significant success??

[Bishop Don A. Shizzle]

I'm sure that Vandy thought they found the answer many times over their 122 seasons of football. A new coach comes in, emphasis is placed on football and they win a few more games. Soon, reality returns and Vandy is right back where they were. Their lifetime SEC record is 124-380-17, and the last time they had consecutive .500 or above SEC seasons was 1948 and 1949. That is the definition of futility.

 

Vanderbilt is a team of student/athletes playing in a league full of NFL farm teams. A few seasons around .500 each decade will be all they can ever expect.

 

One thing you fail to realize is that the prior 122 seasons, we didn't have a Chancellor or a Vice Chancellor who placed an emphasis on football. Nick Zeppos and David Williams realize how it can make the university better. We didn't have them when we had the likes of Gerry DiNardo or Steve Sloan. heck, or even Bobby Johnson. To quote Vice Chancellor David Williams verbatim, "I don't care how much it costs. We're gonna build the darn thing" I can guarantee you that you've never heard that come from any administrator at Vanderbilt. Even during the great days of Dan McGugin, who by the way put southern football on the map around the time Bear Bryant was being born.

[Bishop Don A. Shizzle]

Vanderbilt has some options for admitting potential student athletes who aren't 4.0 GPA/30 ACT types. Some will try to tell you that they don't do that, but Vanderbilt does make academic exceptions for potential student/athletes. One of the reasons James Franklin took the job at Vandy was because he was assured that he would be allowed more of those academic exceptions to be admitted. It has expanded their pool of recruitable prospects tremendously.

 

That said, obviously Robinnette could have gone anywhere in America from an academic standpoint. He is an outstanding young man and is a great get for Vandy.

 

While this is true...I can assure you Vanderbilt will not admit a student who they don't think can do the course work. One that has a 2.0 GPA or 13 on their ACT.

[HTV]

While this is true...I can assure you Vanderbilt will not admit a student who they don't think can do the course work. One that has a 2.0 GPA or 13 on their ACT.

 

No, but nobody else can sign and admit those student-athletes, either. It takes in the neighborhood of a 2.4 in the core and an 18 on the ACT to pass through the Clearinghouse and be eligible according to NCAA regulations.

 

On James Franklin, I am impressed with what he has been able to do at Vandy in his one year there thus far. That said, previous Vandy coaches have been able to come in and build excitement over the short term, too. Franklin still has to prove that he can do it over the long haul. If he can put together 3 or 4 good recruiting classes, and then translate those in to wins then I will be very impressed. Building a college football program is not a one, or even two, year deal.

 

And on your claim that Vandy is in better shape than is UT right now, I guess head to head meetings don't mean anything any longer?

[QBClubPrez]

No, but nobody else can sign and admit those student-athletes, either. It takes in the neighborhood of a 2.4 in the core and an 18 on the ACT to pass through the Clearinghouse and be eligible according to NCAA regulations.

 

On James Franklin, I am impressed with what he has been able to do at Vandy in his one year there thus far. That said, previous Vandy coaches have been able to come in and build excitement over the short term, too. Franklin still has to prove that he can do it over the long haul. If he can put together 3 or 4 good recruiting classes, and then translate those in to wins then I will be very impressed. Building a college football program is not a one, or even two, year deal.

 

And on your claim that Vandy is in better shape than is UT right now, I guess head to head meetings don't mean anything any longer?

 

I certainly agree with much of your post...and I even highlighted an area in which I believe is noteworthy. I would add to that...neither is "rebuilding" a college football program a one, or even two, year deal. Thus..this question....why are so many UT fans "anxious" to "trash" the Dooley staff and once again begin this same process over?? Fair question??

[HTV]

I certainly agree with much of your post...and I even highlighted an area in which I believe is noteworthy. I would add to that...neither is "rebuilding" a college football program a one, or even two, year deal. Thus..this question....why are so many UT fans "anxious" to "trash" the Dooley staff and once again begin this same process over?? Fair question??

 

 

Absolutely fair question.

 

Like I said, I don't know if Dooley will get it done or not. Time will tell on that, but after just two years, and especially with the mess that he inherited left by the combination of Fulmer's last 3 or 4 recruiting classes and the debacle that was a year of Lane Kiffin.

 

Why do so many fans question it? Perhaps because they don't really see the big picture. In this day and time of instant gratification, people expect instant results, which as anyone with the ability to think reasonable and rationally understand, is just not possible in big time college football. Even the best programs needed time to build or rebuild. For example, how many people remember that Nick Saban lost to Loiusiana-Monroe his first year at Alabama? Quality D1-A football programs don't just spring up out of nothing. They have to be constructed.