Tennesse Great Players?

[redthunder6]

Does anyone know who holds the most career yards rushing in the state of Tennessee. That person is Troy Fleming. Anyone know where he went to play football. Tennessee. So next time you dont think Tennessee doesnt recruit the best instate players remember Troy Fleming.

[Sequatchie]

He must have had something in high school Marshall took him, and they don`t run anything close to the wing-t. Scouts are suppose to be able to see talent, they are suppose to be able to tell if someone can develope into a good passing QB (strong arm, accurate, field vision) Since we all know Marshall is a passing team, what did they see in Pennington that UT didn`t ?

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I think Marshall was still 1AA at the time when Pennington signed with them?

Edited September 20, 2004 by Sequatchie

[Sequatchie]

  I don't like the Clausen brothers either, but Casey was the best we could get at the time.

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What do you mean he was the best they could get?

 

He was a Parade All-American, was rated the 3rd best QB prospect & 15th prosepct overall by ESPN"s Top 100.. Was named to the Prepstar All-America. He also took part in the Elite 11 camp in San Diego.

[CHHS72]

It is odd that some of you get on here and berate Tennessee for not recruiting Chad Pennington when Chad says that Tennessee should not have recruited him. Also, remember that Marshall was a D-1AA school when they recruited Pennington. That means that we did not lose him to a major school. That further means that every D-1A school in the country made the same mistake.

 

Some of the others that yopu have named were recruited by Tennessee but they chose to go elsewhere. Thompson is a prime example. Tennessee recruited him hard.

 

Please do not bring up kicker that we let go. We have the best kickers in the country on the team at present and both are in state players. Don't even go there. You just show your stupidity.

 

For those of you who were for Florida last night, you got what you deserved. Go Big Orange.

[hs sports fan]

I dont know becuase they need to be recruiting Dave Thomas and Rahmel Oliver outta Riverdale.

[muffin]

Ever hear of Academic Eligibility?

[p9morbid]

another reason to consider is this:

 

One of the big problems is keeping the players out of trouble once they get to campus. They are 18 year old kids who are chasing girls and drinking beers. It's a lot easier to keep a kid out of trouble when his friends are 500 miles away, as opposed to a "Reggie Cobb" who hangs out with his high school buddies on the weekends. The athletes aren't any good if can't play because of off the field problems. This is a huge decision making factor in football and basketball, not as much so for less publisized sports (such as golf, track, etc). As fans of the game, we always want the "best" players but often times the "best" players for the TEAM are the ones who the athletic department can have a little mroe control over.

[smalltown]

I am Tennessee born and bred and I love the Vols, but every other state in the South produces more good high school players than Tennessee - Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, the Carolinas, even Arkansas. Most other SEC schools can recruit almost exclusively in-state and be successful. Tennessee can't do that.

 

I think they've done a great job with the in-state kids - only a few have gotten away that were legitimate SEC-type players, and it's hard to argue for Chad Pennington because he was a late bloomer and he wasn't better than Peyton Manning.

 

How can you aruge with their recruiting when they have become a national power? The last two years have been a little rough, but even so the Vols are a top 20 program - in bad years, so they are obviously recruiting the right players.

 

Also, if Phil Fulmer had 20 legitimate SEC players in-state every year, I'm sure he would sign 15-17 of them. If UT recruited exclusively in-state, they would not be a top-20 program.

[ClemsonDad]

I've heard this line for years and you simply cannot ignore the fact that Tennessee does not recruit in-state very well. The best linebacker prospect I've seen in years was Knox Central's Cory Robinson. He went to Ole Miss. He may not have succeeded there but what most of the pale orange faithful want to ignore when disrespecting local players that go elsewhere is that INJURIES dictate a great deal of college success. The best high school running back I've seen since Albert Davis, Sr. is Carl Stewart who UT ignored. The best receiver in years: a kid out of Chattanooga Notre Dame who went to UNC.

 

I remember meeting a kid being recruited at Clemson who was from Louisiana and ended up going to Michigan. He was supposed to be the #1 DB recruit in the country at the time (according to someone's opinion). He was about 5'7". At about the same time, there was a 5'11" kid at Alcoa who all the recruiters said was too short. Stand beside Jabari Greer and tell me how tall he really is. My point is that why is the 5'11" Tennessee kid too short.

 

And why would Tennessee sign an academically suspect kid with an arrest record that stood 5'7" and 175 pounds soaking wet instead of Carl Stewart?

 

Someone else said it but it bears repeating: A kid who has grown up in the shadows of Neyland Stadium will play harder than the kid from California who chooses UT because he thinks it is his best route to the NFL. Every time. And when the game is on the line, you want the kid to bleed orange (see Wilhoit from Saturday night-a Tennessee kid).

 

Sure, recruit nationally, but sign 5-6 local kids every year. Until then, I'll pull for that nice rich color of orange that you find in upstate South Carolina (although I obviously didn't pull hard enough Saturday).

[HEATHHELTON]

Bracking Brothers weren`t that good? They both only started for Michigan, and if I remember correctly one of them lead the team in tackles one year.

 

UT just slept on Pennington, how you let someone from your own backyard slip by you I don`t know. Doesn`t that say something about UT's scouts?

 

Rickey Upton started for Penn St last year, no one heard about him because Penn St stunk so bad. Last I heard of him, he was trying to make it on an NFL team.

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I played high school football with Ricky his sophomore year. He wasnt recruited too heavily by TN, but he shrugged them off early b/c they were talking about using him on defense. PSU said they'd give him a chance at tailback, but that never really worked out, he played behind some good backs at Penn State...Eric McCoo and Larry Johnson.

He never was a starter for the Nittany Lions either, only started 2 games at the in the middle of his senior year, and finished the year with 19 yrds on 5 carries.

In high school he was definately a force. Never forget the game i came back to watch him play his senior year vs. William Blount, well over 300 yrs rushing and 5 tds.

[Rebel Nation]

The big thing here guys is that there aren't many blue chippers in our state. We probably average 20 to 24 a year. Given that Alabama, Ole Miss, Vandy and Memphis (just to name a few) are all vying heavily for those meager 2 dozen, it gets even tougher.

 

I hate that that's a fact as much as anyone, but there just aren't many blue chippers around. this is partially UT fault, as they do not try very hard to cultivate a feeder system here.

 

There have been significant misses that cannot be overlooked though, as mentioned. Carl Stewart, evey Oak Ridge RB for the last 4 years, some good Alcoa WR's.

 

I don't think it's as bad as it may look from a fans perspective guys. We gotta go where the talent is. That is in NO way meant to be an afront to current or previous TN high school players. I'm a big fan!!

[californiastars]

I sit here and read all this and realize that UT has recruited many kids from our state, Gerald Riggs, Colquitts, Wilhoit, Jason Hall, Steven Jones, Cottam, just to name a few. But the fact is, there aren't that many great players in Tennessee, and when you are a program as big as UT, you do something called "recruiting nationally". The reason why is because every high school football player in this country knows about the University of Tennessee, watches them on TV, and sees their style of play and their fans every college football season. Why restrict yourself to your own state when you can get that big lineman in Texas (Cody Douglas) or that fast linebacker out of California (see Kevin Simon)? Why restrict yourself to marginal players with "potential" at Maryville and other schools? The answer is simple: by recruiting nationally, UT competes for mythical national recruiting titles. If you look at the numbers, high-ranked recruiting classes translate into high-ranked teams. JUst take a look at how similar recruiting class ranks and top 25 ranks are in the last ten years. It's incredible. Obviously, UT's coaches are in their positions because they know and understand the game of football and the players that play them. I wouldn't question their motives on signing that receiver out of Alabama (Jayson Swain a.k.a Mr. Touchdown this Saturday) than the one out of Chattanooga (Adarius Bowman, who has done barely anything for the horrible Carolina program). So, UT and Tennessee high school football fans, the bottom line is this: You can't have your cake (Tennessee winning football games) and eat it too (Tennessee recruiting in-state players).

Edited September 20, 2004 by californiastars