Every recruiting class has a few disappointments and a couple surprises.

The sheer size of the number of recruits signed gives the Vols a better chance of finding 20-25 front line players. Tenn got ranked at #5 only because they didn't get a QB but otherwise I'd take their class over all others.

If I were I Vols fan, I'd be looking forward to 2016.

(02-07-2014 01:38 PM)QuestionSocratic Wrote:  Every recruiting class has a few disappointments and a couple surprises.

The sheer size of the number of recruits signed gives the Vols a better chance of finding 20-25 front line players. Tenn got ranked at #5 only because they didn't get a QB but otherwise I'd take their class over all others.

If I were I Vols fan, I'd be looking forward to 2016.

Before you get too excited about this class, consider this. Every player has five years, counting a redshirt year, to finish his eligibility. Every FBS school can have 85 players on scholarship at a time. Over the last five recruiting classes, UT has signed 133 players to fill those 85 slots. If you only count a third of the first class out of those five, since not everyone will redshirt, that's still 113 players.

Looked at another way, if they had room for 32 players this year, they only had 53 returning scholarship players. That's out of the 101 players they signed in the previous four years.

So a lot of the kids they're signing aren't making the grade. Maybe that's why, even though every one of those Vols classes were ranked in the top 25, and three of them in the top 15, they still stunk the joint up on the field.

The Volunteers have constantly had to play the game in a much more complicated way just to attempt to try and keep up with their more Southern rivals. It is not a sign of strength that they do what they do, it is a sign of weakness.

They will be better off when they are able to headline their own division within the SEC.

All I want to know is. How Tennessee was able to sign so many? The SEC has a rule that a program cannot sign anymore than 28 with 3 counting backward.

(02-07-2014 07:33 PM)hawghiggs Wrote:  All I want to know is. How Tennessee was able to sign so many? The SEC has a rule that a program cannot sign anymore than 28 with 3 counting backward.

I can't find anything to suggest that the SEC has any such rule. Last year, Georgia signed 33 recruits, counting 10 of them as early enrollees.

(02-07-2014 07:53 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(02-07-2014 07:33 PM)hawghiggs Wrote:  All I want to know is. How Tennessee was able to sign so many? The SEC has a rule that a program cannot sign anymore than 28 with 3 counting backward.

I can't find anything to suggest that the SEC has any such rule. Last year, Georgia signed 33 recruits, counting 10 of them as early enrollees.

I wasn't aware of Georgia. But the SEC does have a 28 limit rule. They put the rule in place back in 08.

(02-07-2014 07:33 PM)hawghiggs Wrote:  All I want to know is. How Tennessee was able to sign so many? The SEC has a rule that a program cannot sign anymore than 28 with 3 counting backward.

greyshirting. they do the early signing thing. I don't know all the specifics but the skirt the edge of the rules.

It has to do with early spring enrollment.

(02-07-2014 08:03 PM)hawghiggs Wrote:  

(02-07-2014 07:53 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(02-07-2014 07:33 PM)hawghiggs Wrote:  All I want to know is. How Tennessee was able to sign so many? The SEC has a rule that a program cannot sign anymore than 28 with 3 counting backward.

I can't find anything to suggest that the SEC has any such rule. Last year, Georgia signed 33 recruits, counting 10 of them as early enrollees.

I wasn't aware of Georgia. But the SEC does have a 28 limit rule. They put the rule in place back in 08.

They did adopt a 28 limit rule, which was later adopted by the NCAA for all FBS schools. But that rule permits counting early enrollees against the previous year's count if the school had actually enrolled fewer than 25 players in that class. It also permits grayshirting, or delaying enrollment to count a player against the following year's class.

By permitting a school to sign 28 players, even though they can only award 25 scholarships, the NCAA is recognizing that some of those 28 players might not qualify for enrollment. So some schools, if they can't find any way to count a recruit in last year's class or next year's class, instead stash them at a prep school or junior college.

Some conferences are stricter than others in requiring members to adhere to both the letter and spirit of the rules about scholarship limits. I don't believe any conference is more lax about them than the SEC.

They are counting walk-ons in that 30 something class.

(02-07-2014 02:01 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(06-10-1970 09:11 PM)QuestionSocratic Wrote:  Every recruiting class has a few disappointments and a couple surprises.

The sheer size of the number of recruits signed gives the Vols a better chance of finding 20-25 front line players. Tenn got ranked at #5 only because they didn't get a QB but otherwise I'd take their class over all others.

If I were I Vols fan, I'd be looking forward to 2016.

Before you get too excited about this class, consider this. Every player has five years, counting a redshirt year, to finish his eligibility. Every FBS school can have 85 players on scholarship at a time. Over the last five recruiting classes, UT has signed 133 players to fill those 85 slots.

The last 5 years include Phil Fulmer's last recruiting class, which was mostly run off by Lane Kiffin, Lane Kiffin's recruiting class, all of whom bailed on UT, many before Kiffin fled Knoxville, and Derek Dooley's recruits, few worthy of being put on the field against SEC competition.

Of those 133 players, many never saw Neyland Stadium outside of their recruiting visits.

(02-09-2014 01:42 PM)bitcruncher Wrote:  

(02-07-2014 02:01 PM)ken d Wrote:  

(06-10-1970 09:11 PM)QuestionSocratic Wrote:  Every recruiting class has a few disappointments and a couple surprises.

The sheer size of the number of recruits signed gives the Vols a better chance of finding 20-25 front line players. Tenn got ranked at #5 only because they didn't get a QB but otherwise I'd take their class over all others.

If I were I Vols fan, I'd be looking forward to 2016.

Before you get too excited about this class, consider this. Every player has five years, counting a redshirt year, to finish his eligibility. Every FBS school can have 85 players on scholarship at a time. Over the last five recruiting classes, UT has signed 133 players to fill those 85 slots.

The last 5 years include Phil Fulmer's last recruiting class, which was mostly run off by Lane Kiffin, Lane Kiffin's recruiting class, all of whom bailed on UT, many before Kiffin fled Knoxville, and Derek Dooley's recruits, few worthy of being put on the field against SEC competition.

Of those 133 players, many never saw Neyland Stadium outside of their recruiting visits.

Bit your knowledge and perspective of college football in regions that I'm not intimately familiar with is truly appreciated. I knew there had been a great deal of upheaval at Tennessee over the last 10 years but you spelling it out really opened my eyes. Huskies played them on the road in 08 (Fullmer era) and nearly came out of Knoxville with the win (9-13) in a very average Huskie season (6-6). If UT had a hard time handling a very average Huskies team at home, Fullmer's days should have been numbered.

Yes. Fulmer wasn't getting the job done. But forcing him out for Lane Kiffin set the Vols back a decade. Thankfully, former UT AD Mike Hamilton isn't around to screw things up any longer. Forcing out Fulmer for Kiffin, and then replacing Kiffin with Derek Dooley were his decisions. Neither decision could be labeled as intelligent, which is why Hamilton got fired.