I was there when they were good, wife is from Knoxville. Fulmer took his eye off the ball when he was on top and it has been a mess since then.
NCAA College Football 2018/2019
- Thread starter adexkola
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I was there when they were good, wife is from Knoxville. Fulmer took his eye off the ball when he was on top and it has been a mess since then.
My wife is from Alabama so the Vols situation is doubly bad.
It’s been a mess since they fired him and lost the best recruiter Tennessee ever had.
At least Pruitt can recruit lets see if he can make it as a HC.
He’s got to stop the talent drain from Tennessee high schools to colleges in other states.
If he can do that, then supplement it with some kids who fall though the Bama/Auburn cracks back in his home state of Alabama, then he can right the ship, recruiting wise.
That would be a start but Fulmer at his peak was recruiting top talent from all over the country not just the south. Baby steps I suppose.
Tbf Jones got most of Tenns top talent he just couldnt coach them. My father in law is a lower level booster and says Pruitt has won the program over behind the scenes but theres always going to be issues.
At the time, Tennessee high school football wasn’t that great at producing top talent. It’s gotten much better at that in the last 5 years or so.
Yeah Butch Jones’ staff was a train wreck once he got the talent in there.
Pruitt though has learned from the top program in the country, so if anybody could get it fixed coaching wise, it should be him.
I've got to admit sometimes I thought Fulmer spread the net too wide. In Knoxville alone we missed out on Chad Pennington, Harrison Smith, and Randall Cobb.
Pennington: You got Peyton Manning and Tee Martin for those same years and a National Title instead.
Smith: Yeah, you guys missed out on a stud there, but the kid played at Knoxville Catholic and was offered by Notre Dame, so there was something bigger at play there than just home team pride.
Cobb: Fulmer completely dropped the ball on him.
Pennington was an odd one. His Dad was a local high school football coach so he was well known in the area but the Vols seemed to have no interest at all. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and fortunately Peyton came along. Chad was a much better QB then Tee Martin though.
Harrison Smith as you point out went to Knox Catholic and also Sacred Heart Elementary/Middle so as a good Catholic lad Notre Dame was always going to be the favorite. The Vols however really didn't make a strong effort to change his mind. My son was also at Knox Catholic at the time and he said when Charlie Weis came to the school to visit it was almost like the second coming. Fulmer just didn't seem to want to go head to head under such circumstances. I don't know Harrison personally but I know a number of people who do and I've got to say it probably was a losing battle. On the other side of the coin you can't win if you don't take part and UT just didn't seem to want to take part on this one.
The Randall Cobb situation was also an odd one. Alcoa had been a 2A power in the state for a number of years and Cobb had been named Mr. Football by the TSSAA so he also was well known around town. The only excuse I can give here is that Fulmer was almost out the door at the time so I'm wondering if to some extent he'd already thrown in the towel by that point.
That's a definite possibility. There's an interview somewhere where they ask Cobb why he chose UK over UT and he basically says that UK got to him early and were able to make promises to him that UT couldn't. I'm wondering if he's referring to Fulmer not being able to guarantee his future there. The last thing a recruit wants is to be "the former guy's player".
Frost is in for a long season at Nebraska. Much easier to recruit kids from/to Florida and win games against lesser opposition weekly.
Speaking of recruiting and Tennessee as mentioned by @Carolina Red and @charlton66 - who was the #1 nationally ranked QB in Big Forehead Manning's HS class?
Hint: He might make the Pro HOF albeit not at QB.
Hines Ward
Speaking of recruiting and Tennessee as mentioned by @Carolina Red and @charlton66 - who was the #1 nationally ranked QB in Big Forehead Manning's HS class?
Hint: He might make the Pro HOF albeit not at QB.
Hines Ward
You got me. It’s about impossible to find pre-internet HSFB recruit rankings.
Ryan Clement turned out to be a decent QB for us during the dark years when we were on probation. Haven't heard of a vast majority of the others on the list beyond Manning, Beasley, and Pace.
I doubt anyone wants Hurts. He's a mediocre passer and would probably get converted into a RB elsewhere.
Lawrence looked good against Georgia Southern (at home) and Georgia Tech (in a Bobby Dodd that was 2/3 orange)... but his couple of drives in the 2nd half at A&M leave me thinking a big time away atmosphere is going to rattle him.
I think the kid is physically ready, but mentally I have concerns, which is why I wouldn’t make a switch yet.
On the flip side, this is a chance for Bryant to step up and prove the coaches wrong, but having coached against him when he was in high school, I don’t know that he’s got the mindset to do that. He transferred away to a new school in high school as well when his position was challenged.
I remember Booty also being the top/near top HS baseball talent that class. But a ranking I recall had Hines Ward as the top QB/overall talent, via SuperPrep. https://thebiglead.com/2011/01/27/ranking-the-number-one-college-football-recruits-since-1986/
Booty was legendary among recruiting circles.
The family name, I mean. His younger brother was nailed on to be the next big thing. At USC, I think.
I was there for all that. Smiths dad was an ND alum he was a hard get. Cobb wanted to play QB and UT recruited him at WR. Of course he ended up at receiver eventually. The big one UT lost recently was Tee Higgins to you lot.
We got Tee Martin’s son, too.
The same person
I’m talking about Amari Rogers.
oh yeah I got him and Tee Higgins mixed up. Yep Jones messed up on both of them,
You might enjoy this read...
https://www.knoxnews.com/story/spor...iggins-amari-rodgers-picked-clemson/97215006/
This is probably apocryphal but from Butch Jones' years at Tennessee you never know. The story goes that Butch didn't land too many four and five star recruits because he preferred two and three star guys because they tried harder. Maybe Tee and Amari were just too good for Butch to work with.
I mean, that’s one way to go about itThis is probably apocryphal but from Butch Jones' years at Tennessee you never know. The story goes that Butch didn't land too many four and five star recruits because he preferred two and three star guys because they tried harder. Maybe Tee and Amari were just too good for Butch to work with.
OSU-PSU
STAN-ND
WVU-TTU
ORE-CAL
STAN-ND
WVU-TTU
ORE-CAL
Why is Syracuse up at Clemson?
Why is Syracuse up at Clemson?
Dungey is a pretty good QB. Gave us all kinds of problems last year.
Ugh. It's the hope that kills you.
1. Trevor Lawrence got hurt early, just like I was afraid would happen, so the offense took time to recover.Why is Syracuse up at Clemson?
2. Syracuse offense gave us fits in the first half because of how hurry up it is.
I see Texas jumped back into the rankings, therefore I fully anticipate them losing at K-State.
Looks like this might be a good year for the horns.
I can see UCF breaking top 10 depending on how a couple more of these high profile games go.
Frost is gonna be wishing he was still there.