I disagree that a kid from LSU, Ga, Fl, is as easy to pull into UT as it is the home school. Disagree 100%. If it’s not a factor, where are all the Louisiana kids going? We get 1 every few years.
Where did all of Tennessee’s stars come from in the 80’s and 90’s? They weren’t all from Tennessee. Louisiana or Florida is a different ballgame. I’m really talking about the area inside if you drew a line from Memphis to Clarksdale to Birmingham to Atlanta to Greeneville SC to Greensboro to Nashville.
can’t compare recruiting back then to now. Just saying it obviously plays a role or we wouldn’t have so few coming from Tx, La, Fl, Ohio, etc every year.
Winning, track record of developing for selection by NFL, money and to some extent, the perception of coach are at the top of the Pro/Con list that drives the selection process for the high star student and parent. Yes, geographic or "comfort; fit; legacy; facilities and other emotional factors are on the Pro/Con list. But those are not at the top for most 5* players who see NFL as their career. Every kid/parent have weighting factors that are different. The good recruiter figures out what that is and hopefully the school checks that box.
What is interesting is that 5 star recruits have about a 60% chance of being drafted into the NFL. 4 star recruits have about a 5% chance. Odds are, they ought to be preparing for something other than playing professionally.
The media types definitely overstate how hard it is. That being said there’s just some powerhouses in the SEC
It’s also not the same as it was 20 years ago, we don’t have dipshits in charge now but there’s a lot of ground to make up.
I’m perfectly willing to believe that Heupel is more focused on genuine relationship building and getting high character guys that will stay 3 to 5 years. And if everyone in this class stays maybe it’s looked back on as a top 5 class. That being said, the programs Tennessee needs to match or out recruit are Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Ohio State, Miami, Oklahoma, Auburn, Notre Dame, Oregon, FSU, Clemson, Michigan, LSU, USC, Penn State, Florida and Texas A&M. If I look at rivals right now Tennessee is 13th out of 17 on that list. And if not for instability at Florida and A&M they’d likely be lower than that. I understand things were bad for 15 years and it’s a rebuild. And I appreciate that Heupel being a great QB developer flattens the curve to some extent. But I don’t think it’s terribly unfair to say that it’s not what you’d hope for after the magical season last year. And none of this is to say I doubt Heupel. Maybe Nico is the stud we think he might be and they feel in top 5 classes the next couple of years. I just know the SEC is brutal and if you have a roster made up of 4 classes just like this one that probably isn’t going to get Tennessee to the place everyone wants them to be.
And Tennessee has always snagged one or two from there. They've never recruited Louisiana hard, they've consistently recruited Georgia, Virginia, the Carolinas and Florida. They might grab one or two from Ohio. That's how Tennessee has always recruited
Some odd drama with Jordan Seaton, the 5-star OT recruit we thought we had a couple of weeks ago who ended up committing to Colorado. It looks like he's not going to sign with Colorado after all (or maybe he is) and is possibly down to Maryland and...............Tennessee.
