Zach Cunnigham OLB AL

Zach Cunningham - Yahoo! Sports

We have made his final 4. He was recruited by Thigpen. Alabama is his school of choice but only offering a grey shirt. Visit date not announced. Visited Vandy on his own dime.

 

Auburn, Oregon, Vandy and UT are the four.

 

What an eclectic offer list

 

he had a great senior year but he doesnt play great competition. He's in 5A which is the 2nd highest classification but plays in a weak district. He's a 4 star on scout

 

He'd be a great pickup for Tennessee considering the absolute desperate need they have at Linebacker.

 

Yes he plays in a weak district but the 5A class in Alabama was great this year overall. They just had a tough draw in the second round of the playoffs against Muscle Shoals with 5* DE, Dee Liner, and a couple other prospects. He saw good competition this year.

 

Did you get to see him play this year? I've heard good things about him but I was bit worried because of his district. I think he'd be a good pickup

 

I saw him against Muscle Shoals and the kid is a hell of an athlete. He's thin but he is so fast to the ball that it's unreal. One play in particular, he hurdled the lead blocker and made the tackle at the LOS. He needs a good S&C program ... 30 pounds would do him good. But he lacks nothing as far athleticism and instincts go.

BTW, he had *edit* 154 tackles this year. Yeah ... I just said 154! 41 are TFL and he has four blocked punts. He's a baller.

He has a teammate, Earnest Robinson, who can jump into the freaking lights at WR! It was an awesome game. Robinson is a 4* committed to AU.

 

Just some banter from Zach and his coach, Matt Glover. He sounds like a solid young man as well as a tremendous football player.

When asked what stands out about Cunningham, Glover said, "The first was his lack of a waistline. The 3-year starter has been trying to put on weight, but that’s hard as one of seven siblings."

"I tell the SEC schools they are all crazy to not offer him," Glover said. "The only thing holding the big schools back is his weight. It’s not the way he plays. If he’s 220 or 230 pounds, then everybody in the country who needs a linebacker would’ve already offered him by now."

The second compliment is Cunningham’s sixth sense at the position. That trait is even harder-to-find than a hungry teenager at linebacker who cannot put on pounds.

"I’ve been coaching Zach all through high school so I know how he’s supposed to think and how he’s trained to read his keys," Glover said. "Where the guys go will tell him where the football will wind up. But sometimes I’ll be watching film and see Zach’s keys and he’ll ignore them to go make the tackle. There’ll be times where there’s no way he’s even supposed to be near a play, but he’s there. Zach just has great football instincts you cannot teach. Sometimes it looks like he knows what is going to happen on every play."

Cunningham had 10 tackles in the first half against 6A Hewitt-Trussville last Friday.

"My team helps me out," said Cunningham, who’s always the first player to finish the team’s 110-yard conditioning runs. "My role is the tackler. The line’s role is to take on blocks to free me up. I’ve been playing defense and offense since little league football. You’re used to it. I guess I just feel it out there. I just finally know how to figure what it is the offense is trying to do. I just read it right."

 

Aw hell, I'm starting to get hopeful.

 

Sucker

 

Coming here the last Monday before signing day says the Internet.

 

If only Jones would have another SEC staff fall apart each year, hire their big recruiter, then try to raid that class. We might begin competing with Vandy again...or even better!

 

Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

It's unfortunately true. It seems like most recruiting momentum we have is derived from Thigpen poaching kids who just lost the entire staff they had planned on committing to.

 

Be nice. He is a speed demon at 200lbs running a 4.82 forty. Alabama offered. oops I mean Alabama sectional schools offered. UAB,Troy,Samford, and South Alabama.

 

Ouch.

Thank goodness for our splash hire.

 

I know you guys wanted Gruden, but we didn't get him. It's time to stop whining about it and move on. At least give CBJ a chance before writing him off.

 

I'm not against going after the guy - as a matter of fact we probably need him. I'm just lamenting the fact that almost every kid on our radar was committed to or was wanting to commit to Auburn.

 

There were plenty of others I would have put above him.

I'm just not looking forward to celebrating 8 and 9 win seasons as good years for Tennessee - and that is what I am prepared for with this hire. I haven't mentioned alternative hires. It is extremely difficult to look down the road and not see what is coming. It's not whining. It's regretting the seemingly inevitable.

I also don't see how a statement of what appears to be truth to me - our momentum is coming from one guy who was a good recruiter from a staff that was fired - is whining. We were in no situation to have to make a hire that puts in this situation...."let's go raid Auburn's class because I don't know what else to do."