Official Recruiting Thread II

[RockRaines]

Brown headed to UGA. Crap, I knew it was a smokescreen, he would have looked pretty good next to Posey and Carter

[RockRaines]

Updated rankings per rivals:

 

1. Bama

2. LSU

3. USC

4. OSU

5. Texas

[zenryan]

Bama is going to be running the SEC West for a long time. Tuberville should be glad he's no longer at Auburn.

 

 

A decent class by Miami this year. Filled some needs on the OL but got to wait to see if they pan out. Missed out on a number of cornerbacks this year so it will be a priority next season. After starting 8 freshman during the past season, we got to add depth and this class helps. The south Florida area will be loaded next year so I'm looking forward to bigger and better things next season on the recruiting trail to fill the needs we missed out on this year.

[chimpy2121]

It's a joke that ESPN still thinks Florida has the best class in the country, let alone the SEC. But then again, ESPN's recruiting coverage is a joke.

[SleepyWhiteSox]

I can't stand the holier than thou people who say we're stupid for finding today interesting because recruiting is inexact and these are 17 and 18 year old kids. They are idiots, today is the college football version of the NFL draft, except the teams get a lot more players today than they do that day in April. Anybody who says today isn't important but follows the NFL Draft (and the latter group includes almost everybody who says today isn't important) is a hypocrite. Michael Wilbon, who I normally like, is one of those people and he should be ashamed. I think some people talk today and it's importance over the top, but most people (like everybody posting in this thread today) take the events of this day for what they are and just have fun with them. And sorry for that rant, but I wanted to throw this topic out there.

 

Personally, I think it's silly because, for the most part, most people are just commenting more on hearsay and what they've read (and maybe a few highlights).

[RockRaines]

It's a joke that ESPN still thinks Florida has the best class in the country, let alone the SEC. But then again, ESPN's recruiting coverage is a joke.

I think by now everyone who pays attention to recruiting knows that ESPN's coverage is a joke. They are very ill-informed.

[longshot7]

I'm excited to see this QB that USC landed.

[zenryan]

It's a joke that ESPN still thinks Florida has the best class in the country, let alone the SEC. But then again, ESPN's recruiting coverage is a joke.

 

 

 

I agree but I also think Rivals is a joke too. Rivals tends to cater toward the schools who have higher subscription buys than to those who dont have as many buys.

[dasox24]

I'll be shocked if Massie ends up anywhere but Alabama.

Ole Miss has been quietly optimistic about Massie for awhile now. I didn't think he'd go there, but I'm not surprised. He can go there and take over for Oher immediately.

 

Btw, I love signing day! I know UT missed out on some big time guys we were in the running for, but this day is just awesome regardless. Word on the street is a surprise signee (Janzen Jackson or Bryce Brown) to UT tomorrow, but we'll see... For those that follow recruiting, this is like Christmas. I hate how some people just don't understand that.

 

Oh, and Marlon Brown pisses me the f*** off. He grew up a f'n Tennessee fan! But, I guess the QB issue ended up being tops in his recruitment seeing as Georgia brought in 2 of the top 10 freshman and UT told their 2 QB commits that they wouldn't fit in the pro-style offense, leaving us with none for this class.

Edited February 5, 2009 by dasox24

[dasox24]

Dre Kirkpatrick just had the most overblown hat selection I've seen. I'm sure there are worse, but damn I hate that. He grabbed the Texas hat, then had some duffel bag with a plastic bag that had a box and then another bag where he pulled out the Alabama hat. He grabbed the Texas hat that was sitting in front of him first too. Annoying

"This hat doesn't have enough swagger for me..."

 

The whole hat thing has gotten ridiculous with some of these kids. I was laughing at Kirkpatrick. Not with him, at him.

[dasox24]

Thigpen stolen from the Vols and signs with UCLA

Not really. Last weekend Lane Kiffin informed Thigpen that he wouldn't fit in on offense for us, which is where the previous staff said he'd play. When told that, Thigpen started looking elsewhere. At least Kiffin was being honest.

[RockRaines]

Not really. Last weekend Lane Kiffin informed Thigpen that he wouldn't fit in on offense for us, which is where the previous staff said he'd play. When told that, Thigpen started looking elsewhere. At least Kiffin was being honest.

I wasnt aware of that.

 

Did you hear on the radio about Brown wearing an OSU shirt to school only to pick UGA? What a little f***er, although he's scary good.

[dasox24]

I wasnt aware of that.

 

Did you hear on the radio about Brown wearing an OSU shirt to school only to pick UGA? What a little f***er, although he's scary good.

Oh yeah, I heard about it. I was in my 8am class when I hoped on one of the Tennessee message boards and read about it.

 

Plus, I heard officially about his choice of UGA about an hour before he announced when my buddy (who works in the main offices of the College of Business building) called me and said he had just overheard our Athletic Director talking to the Dean of the Business School about Marlon Brown "screwing us" over. That was what sucked out any hope I still had left that the OSU gear was a ploy. Not trying to act like I have inside sources or anything, but I just thought it was funny that my buddy was just outside the Dean's door and stopped to listen to the conversation b/c he heard Brown mentioned.

Edited February 5, 2009 by dasox24

[Capn12]

Can't complain about our class this year. Top 15, with lots of skill players, but we really needed to secure Quinton Washington, and not let him slip away to Michigan. But stealing Alshon Jeffrey back from USC makes up for that I guess.

[RockRaines]

Oh yeah, I heard about it. I was in my 8am class when I hoped on one of the Tennessee message boards and read about it.

 

Plus, I heard officially about his choice of UGA about an hour before he announced when my buddy (who works in the main offices of the College of Business building) called me and said he had just overheard our Athletic Director talking to the Dean of the Business School about Marlon Brown "screwing us" over. That was what sucked out any hope I still had left that the OSU gear was a ploy. Not trying to act like I have inside sources or anything, but I just thought it was funny that my buddy was just outside the Dean's door and stopped to listen to the conversation b/c he heard Brown mentioned.

You insider!!!!

 

Thats a funny story.

[Rex Hudler]

I think by now everyone who pays attention to recruiting knows that ESPN's coverage is a joke. They are very ill-informed.

 

ESPN has Will Campbell rated as the #21 OT in the country and not in the ESPN 150.

 

Scout has him listed as the #6 DT and #48 overall as a 5-star.

Rivals has him listed as the #5 DT and #26 overal as a 5-star.

 

On ESPN's coverage they stated he "also plays on the defensive line, but will play on the offensive line at Michigan".

 

Where is the disconnect here? Will Campbell, while he could be a stellar OT, is slated to play DT and DT only at Michigan. He played in the US Army All-American game on both sides, but only on offense because they lacked depth. He started at DT.

 

ESPN also doesn't have Justin Turner in the ESPN 150. By most accounts, he is either the top player from Ohio or one of the top 2-3. Scout has him as a 5-star and Rivals a high 4-star. Yet ESPN rates Isaiah Bell ahead of him?

 

I can't make any sense of it.

Edited February 5, 2009 by Rex Hudler

[Jordan4life_2007]

I can't stand the holier than thou people who say we're stupid for finding today interesting because recruiting is inexact and these are 17 and 18 year old kids. They are idiots, today is the college football version of the NFL draft, except the teams get a lot more players today than they do that day in April. Anybody who says today isn't important but follows the NFL Draft (and the latter group includes almost everybody who says today isn't important) is a hypocrite. Michael Wilbon, who I normally like, is one of those people and he should be ashamed. I think some people talk today and it's importance over the top, but most people (like everybody posting in this thread today) take the events of this day for what they are and just have fun with them. And sorry for that rant, but I wanted to throw this topic out there.

 

I agree with most of this. However, I know a lot of people that think football recruiting is a joke (I actually love recruiting) due to the fact the same schools get the top players every year. Which is kinda true. So you can't truly compare it to the NFL draft.

 

Anyway, I feel much better about our haul after landing Buchanan, Hawthorne and Green. It wasn't looking too good before that.

[daa84]

I can't stand the holier than thou people who say we're stupid for finding today interesting because recruiting is inexact and these are 17 and 18 year old kids. They are idiots, today is the college football version of the NFL draft, except the teams get a lot more players today than they do that day in April. Anybody who says today isn't important but follows the NFL Draft (and the latter group includes almost everybody who says today isn't important) is a hypocrite. Michael Wilbon, who I normally like, is one of those people and he should be ashamed. I think some people talk today and it's importance over the top, but most people (like everybody posting in this thread today) take the events of this day for what they are and just have fun with them. And sorry for that rant, but I wanted to throw this topic out there.

theres a huge difference, and if you can't see that i'm sorry. nobody knows a damn thing about 98% of these high school players, other than what we read on scouts, rivals etc. We read scouting reports, but never see most of em play (short of a few highlight clips) so we don't know a damn thing about em. I can read a scouting report on Hawthorne and see he's fast and has good size, but the report says same thing for Appleton. You can't debate which one youd rather have, except for maybe saying that espn has one graded an 81 and the other an 82. You can intelligently debate with the NFL draft. In the NFL draft you can say...oh I want stafford over sanchez, or sticking with receivers harvin over nicks. You have a feel for the player having seen them play in college. You can also get a feel for their competition and how well they did against top competition.

 

This isn't to denigrate signing day, but rather break your comparison to the NFL draft. Recruiting determines a gigantic amount of the success a program has, so the culmination of all that on signing day is obviously important, and I would never say it is unimportant. Signing day is a sort of scoreboard for college football. You look to see how many recruits you get, how those recruits are graded by experts, but can formulate no actual personal opinion on most of these players having never seen them. For instance, I have no idea whether Green (can't recall the first name) will make a better RB or DB. I mean I understand why signing day is exciting for alot of college football die hards, it is very important. It tells you what kind of talent will be coming into your program in future years, and in that regard it is similar to the NFL draft, but its also alot different in so many respects, as stated above. Thats why the fans and media will always treat the NFL draft as a much bigger deal than Signing day...because of familiarity with players, not level of importance

Edited February 5, 2009 by daa84

[RockRaines]

ESPN has Will Campbell rated as the #21 OT in the country and not in the ESPN 150.

 

Scout has him listed as the #6 DT and #48 overall as a 5-star.

Rivals has him listed as the #5 DT and #26 overal as a 5-star.

 

On ESPN's coverage they stated he "also plays on the defensive line, but will play on the offensive line at Michigan".

 

Where is the disconnect here? Will Campbell, while he could be a stellar OT, is slated to play DT and DT only at Michigan. He played in the US Army All-American game on both sides, but only on offense because they lacked depth. He started at DT.

 

ESPN also doesn't have Justin Turner in the ESPN 150. By most accounts, he is either the top player from Ohio or one of the top 2-3. Scout has him as a 5-star and Rivals a high 4-star. Yet ESPN rates Isaiah Bell ahead of him?

 

I can't make any sense of it.

 

Turner not in the ESPN 150 is a classic case, he is easily the #1 or #2 player out of Ohio (him and Fellows could swap). ESPN is f***ing dumb.

 

[RockRaines]

theres a huge difference, and if you can't see that i'm sorry. nobody knows a damn thing about 98% of these high school players, other than what we read on scouts, rivals etc. We read scouting reports, but never see most of em play (short of a few highlight clips) so we don't know a damn thing about em. I can read a scouting report on Hawthorne and see he's fast and has good size, but the report says same thing for Appleton. You can't debate which one youd rather have, except for maybe saying that espn has one graded an 81 and the other an 82. You can intelligently debate with the NFL draft. In the NFL draft you can say...oh I want stafford over sanchez, or sticking with receivers harvin over nicks. You have a feel for the player having seen them play in college. You can also get a feel for their competition and how well they did against top competition.

They are both a huge crapshoot, and the only reason its a ton easier to know players in the draft is because the sample size is so small. In both cases there are players that nobody has seen that turn into a success out of nowhere.

[dasox24]

Janzen Jackson, 5-star CB, signed with Tennessee this morning! Getting the former LSU-commit was huge. Furthermore, the defense at UT will continue to not be the problem. The offense might struggle to put up 10 pts/game though, lol...

[RockRaines]

Kiffin says Meyer violated recruiting rules

By BETH RUCKER, Associated Press Writer

16 minutes ago

 

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP)—Tennessee’s new coach Lane Kiffin accused Florida coach Urban Meyer of recruiting violations in pursuing wide receiver prospect Nu’Keese Richardson, though NCAA and SEC officials say no rules were broken.

 

WVLT-TV reported that Tennessee’s new coach told fans at a signing day breakfast Thursday that Meyer phoned Richardson while the recruit was making his official visit to Tennessee recently.

 

“I love the fact that Urban had to cheat and still didn’t get him,” Kiffin said.

 

NCAA and Southeastern Conference officials said it is not against recruiting rules to contact a prospect while they are on an official visit to another school.

 

Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley called for Kiffin to apologize for the comments, which he said were slanderous and violated SEC rules against publicly criticizing another coach and school.

 

“It is obvious that coach Kiffin doesn’t know that there is not a rule precluding phone contact with a prospect during an official visit on another campus during a contact period,” Foley said in a statement.

 

“His allegations are inappropriate, out of line and, most importantly, totally false. It is completely unfair to Urban Meyer, our coaching staff, our football program and our institution,” he said.

 

Richardson, a Pahokee, Fla., native, signed with the Volunteers on Tuesday, despite having indicated he would sign with the Gators.

 

Tennessee spokeswoman Tiffany Carpenter told The Associated Press the school would not file an official complaint to the NCAA.

[dasox24]

No harm, no foul... Tennessee had already said we weren't going to report it, but just that it was a sleazy thing to do.

 

I do love Kiffin's confidence though. Even if he was wrong about the rule, he was essentially saying "you did everything you could to keep this kid and we pulled him from you with one weekend visit." Imagine what we'll do now that the staff will have an entire year to build relationships with these kids, their parents/coaches, etc. Top 5 class next year. Book it.

[RockRaines]

No harm, no foul... Tennessee had already said we weren't going to report it, but just that it was a sleazy thing to do.

 

I do love Kiffin's confidence though. Even if he was wrong about the rule, he was essentially saying "you did everything you could to keep this kid and we pulled him from you with one weekend visit." Imagine what we'll do now that the staff will have an entire year to build relationships with these kids, their parents/coaches, etc. Top 5 class next year. Book it.

Meyer is a crooked SOB anyway, f*** him.

 

I'd love to see the Vols take it to him this upcoming season.

Edited February 5, 2009 by RockRaines

[chimpy2121]

Kyle Long to UVA on a football scholly starting in the fall. I guess he's already improved his grades that much and got the DUI cleared up.

 

Edit:

Oh, and I'm loving Kiffin right now. There is finally someone who has the balls to try to rattle Urban.

Edited February 5, 2009 by chimpy2121