We haven't really talked much about the TN Vols recruiting

[Irondawg]

But their network has done their work the past few years for a program that hasn't won more than 7 games since 2007 and isn't in a state loaded with home grown talent. Their facility and stadium size advtange they had in the 90's is long gone as well.

http://tennessee.247sports.com/Season/2015-Football/Commits

They've gone into a lot of other states and taken some top talent.

[BulldogDX55]

But their network has done their work the past few years for a program that hasn't won more than 7 games since 2007 and isn't in a state loaded with home grown talent. Their facility and stadium size advtange they had in the 90's is long gone as well.

http://tennessee.247sports.com/Season/2015-Football/Commits

They've gone into a lot of other states and taken some top talent.

It is impressive how they have managed to step it up. I guess their network finally got tired of losing to Alabama.

That said, even with their lack of recent success, they are still one of the winningest programs of all time (9th overall), and those teams always bounce back eventually. I guess kids really like that gawdawful shade of orange.

[msstate7]

I think they're your east champs this season.

[jumbo]

they are going to be very good soon. Butch inherited shit but is doing an incredible job recruiting. If Dobbs progresses and can play consistently, then they could win the east this year

[Irondawg]

Long term this is going to be an interesting experiment for us. We are the only team that has had a lot of recent success that is not recruiting outside their immediate radius very much.

I don't disagree with it necessarily curious to see how it plays out.

But TN went into places like CA and pulled a couple of guys. When they were consistent top 5 i could see it, but not sure why a CA kid is juming at the opportunity to go to Knoxville these days when they have tons of other offers. Maybe they have ties back to TN I don't know about.

[Johnson85]

It is impressive how they have managed to step it up. I guess their network finally got tired of losing to Alabama.

That said, even with their lack of recent success, they are still one of the winningest programs of all time (9th overall), and those teams always bounce back eventually. I guess kids really like that gawdawful shade of orange.

I think they are in a dangerous spot. If it's been 2007 since they won more than 7 games, that means they've had 7 seasons of being mediocre or worse. So basically current recruits were in elementary school last time they were good. They are going to have a good network and SEC money, so they should always be ok, but with how SEC TV money has leveled the playing field, and with the lack of talent in the immediate area, Tennessee could pretty quickly find themselves to be no different than MSU or UM, where they have to make better decisions than everybody else in order to compete in the SEC.

[thf24]

But TN went into places like CA and pulled a couple of guys. When they were consistent top 5 i could see it, but not sure why a CA kid is juming at the opportunity to go to Knoxville these days when they have tons of other offers. Maybe they have ties back to TN I don't know about.

They've pulled several CA recruits every year for as long as I can remember, and I grew up a Vol. They've got to have some kind of permanent, long-standing connection out there.

[CowtownDawg]

But their network has done their work the past few years for a program that hasn't won more than 7 games since 2007 and isn't in a state loaded with home grown talent. Their facility and stadium size advtange they had in the 90's is long gone as well.

http://tennessee.247sports.com/Season/2015-Football/Commits

They've gone into a lot of other states and taken some top talent.

They really haven't done anything unusual for TN. Like another poster said, they always pull 1 to 3 guys out of CA. Anyone from NC, VA, GA, KY, FLA, SC, LA, MS, and Ark are traditional recruiting areas for TN. There are a couple of northern guys (IN & MI), but with Butch coming from Cincinnati, those are likely existing relationships with HS coaches. About the only ones that kind of stand out are the couple of guys from TX, but it isn't uncommon for TN to get a few guys out of TX either.

They are recruiting good talent, but they aren't doing anything unusual by their standards. They recruited most of these same areas with Dooley as well.

[Op4isabitch]

977

[EAVdog]

They have made a ton of player facility upgrades that are almost on the Oregon level of being just damn impressive. At least to an 18 yr old kid. Overall really brand new nice player areas.

[smootness]

Uh, Tennessee has always recruited really well. They just haven't done anything with it recently.

Butch Jones may be the guy that turns it around, but it's not going to be because they suddenly improved their recruiting a great deal.

[Alldawg]

Yea, but from back to back top 20 classes to back to back top 5 is a huge jump. Most new coaches experience the bump at first. After the first two years you have to show continued improvement

[Coach34]

Tenn is buying guys right and left just as they did back in the day. They have always had to because their state lacks the talent necessary to support them.

Tenn is a national brand so its not as obvious. Ole Missus doing it sends up more red flags

[SDDawg]

Tennessee was a national brand, not so sure anymore. It's been a while.

[West Houston Dog]

This is why I feel we really missed the boat not hiring Orgeron. Maybe we offered and he was just hell bent on lsu. But we need a big heavy hitting recruiter. Pay him the damned money and make a spot for him. To drastically up our recruiting is money well spent. even if you could only keep him a year or two... look what Brewster did for us in his very limited time at MSU.
We need a great recruiter for recruiting out of state guys...and you would have kept him away from lsu. But alas, for whatever the reason , we did not land him(maybe we didn't offer?maybe we didn't want to spend the $$$ , maybe Mullen had a reason to not hire him?)

And, now my view on this has changed, I say play the game. Set up the network. I hate that college sports (and the SEC has a bad rep on this matter) has dirty recruiting, but play the game. Pay Cam's dad the $180K.....it was worth every penny to Auburn...a Heisman winner and national championship. I know the NCAA would treat us differently than Auburn. But play the game...figure out how its done and do it. It is good Mullen has been able to turn some 2 and 3* guys into very good players. But we haven't won the SEC west yet. Lets compete for those big time out of state guys.......Just MY opinion for what its not worth.......

[Liverpooldawg]

This is why I feel we really missed the boat not hiring Orgeron. Maybe we offered and he was just hell bent on lsu. But we need a big heavy hitting recruiter. Pay him the damned money and make a spot for him. To drastically up our recruiting is money well spent. even if you could only keep him a year or two... look what Brewster did for us in his very limited time at MSU.
We need a great recruiter for recruiting out of state guys...and you would have kept him away from lsu. But alas, for whatever the reason , we did not land him(maybe we didn't offer?maybe we didn't want to spend the $$$ , maybe Mullen had a reason to not hire him?)

And, now my view on this has changed, I say play the game. Set up the network. I hate that college sports (and the SEC has a bad rep on this matter) has dirty recruiting, but play the game. Pay Cam's dad the $180K.....it was worth every penny to Auburn...a Heisman winner and national championship. I know the NCAA would treat us differently than Auburn. But play the game...figure out how its done and do it. It is good Mullen has been able to turn some 2 and 3* guys into very good players. But we haven't won the SEC west yet. Lets compete for those big time out of state guys.......Just MY opinion for what its not worth.......

Shaking my head. Have you ever noticed that the teams we all know have a "network" never talk about it openly?

[Ifyouonlyknew]

TN is absolutely still a national brand. These last 2 years are more closer to the norm than the previous 2 years. Looking back over the last 10 years they've recruited really well with a couple head scratching years.

2015 - 4
2014 - 7
2013 - 24
2012 - 20
2011 - 14
2010 - 9
2009 - 8
2008 - 34
2007 - 3
2006 - 26
2005 - 3

[FlabLoser]

Shaking my head. Have you ever noticed that the teams we all know have a "network" never talk about it openly?

http://www.sharegif.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/yes-gif-7.gif

[Johnson85]

And, now my view on this has changed, I say play the game. Set up the network. I hate that college sports (and the SEC has a bad rep on this matter) has dirty recruiting, but play the game.

??? We may have taken a brief hiatus, but do you really think anybody in the SEC is not playing the game? There may be parts of it we stay away from, but everybody with recruiting classes in the top 25 is competing hard in recruiting.

[Alldawg]

This is why I feel we really missed the boat not hiring Orgeron. Maybe we offered and he was just hell bent on lsu. But we need a big heavy hitting recruiter. Pay him the damned money and make a spot for him. To drastically up our recruiting is money well spent. even if you could only keep him a year or two... look what Brewster did for us in his very limited time at MSU.
We need a great recruiter for recruiting out of state guys...and you would have kept him away from lsu. But alas, for whatever the reason , we did not land him(maybe we didn't offer?maybe we didn't want to spend the $$$ , maybe Mullen had a reason to not hire him?)

And, now my view on this has changed, I say play the game. Set up the network. I hate that college sports (and the SEC has a bad rep on this matter) has dirty recruiting, but play the game. Pay Cam's dad the $180K.....it was worth every penny to Auburn...a Heisman winner and national championship. I know the NCAA would treat us differently than Auburn. But play the game...figure out how its done and do it. It is good Mullen has been able to turn some 2 and 3* guys into very good players. But we haven't won the SEC west yet. Lets compete for those big time out of state guys.......Just MY opinion for what its not worth.......


Every school in the SEC plays the game. Some play it better than others and some have more house money to play with.

[smootness]

TN is absolutely still a national brand. These last 2 years are more closer to the norm than the previous 2 years. Looking back over the last 10 years they've recruited really well with a couple head scratching years.

2015 - 4
2014 - 7
2013 - 24
2012 - 20
2011 - 14
2010 - 9
2009 - 8
2008 - 34
2007 - 3
2006 - 26
2005 - 3

This is what I'm talking about. 2012 and 2013 were the years to be surprised about, not the last two. Basically, Dooley wasn't a really good recruiter. Outside of him, they've been essentially elite.