Here’s a perfect example of why I don’t waste my time indulging in recruiting talk.
Tennessee is on a nice little run of late, pulling in ten commitments, several from highly ranked recruits, for their 2021 class. Good for UT, but that’s all they are — verbal commitments. Nobody’s signed NLIs. Nobody’s enrolled yet. Nobody’s begun working out with the program. Nobody’s made a two-deep chart yet. But here’s Barrett Sallee with an over the top prediction.
That’s an absurd take.
Oh, and by the way, if you go by the Sports247 Composite’s average recruit rankings, at 89.26, the Vols currently stand sixth seventh in the SEC. Not exactly the stuff of legends.
Get The Picture 
Reality has hit the Vowels. They exist in a relatively small state without good HS football and relied upon out of state recruits (primarily from Georgia but also Florida, AL and NC) to be successful. Those out of state kids went to UT because it was a championship caliber program back then. Now…not so much. UT hasn’t won an SEC championship since 1998 and hasn’t won the SEC East since 2007. They are fighting with UK, Mizzou and USCe for third place in the East—and losing a lot of the time. Their fan base is irrational and entitled. The Vowels are in that mode where they change HCs every 4-5 years or so. Sgt Carter actually did a pretty good job in that toxic environment (he beat UGA twice) and look what happened to him.Tennessee is the epitome of that old saying “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” I say: FTMF!!
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I saw his prediction on Twitter last night. I don’t usually respond to Twitter, but I asked him if wanted to put some money on his confidence in UT.. I’ve yet to hear back from him.
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Agree on future recruiting “commitments.”
I read a Twitter note about UGA offering a 2022 recruit. How can we know anything about what a high-school sophomore is going to do, on or off the field, two years from now? Bad enough that we project how a kid will perform on SEC football fields based on how he did, his senior year in high school.
It’s great that we’re following the most talented kids, and I guess we have to show them some love now just to keep them interested in us in 2022, but this is just reaching way too far out into the future.
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Dabo figured out Deshaun Watson was going to be pretty good … as a high school freshman. You have to offer these guys as sophomores now if you really want them. Very few blue chip players develop into a blue chip later in their high school career (with the recruiting sites and all of the camps, a Thomas Davis type of player isn’t going to toil away waiting for a coach to show up at a basketball game and offer the kid on the spot). Kirby knows whether a guy can play and is going to fit when he comes to a camp in Athens.
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I just wonder how many players who might seem like blue-chippers in the 10th grade fall off by the time they get to be high-school seniors, let alone by the time they get to their first season in college.
I’m not necessarily saying we shouldn’t offer these kids, just saying we shouldn’t base too many college football projections for three seasons down the road on what 15-year-olds are doing in high school.
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I totally agree with that. Sallee got way over his skis to make that comment about an SEC championship game appearance.
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If you’re aghast that we offered a 2022 recruit, you’ll be apoplectic when you learn we already have a 2023 COMMIT.
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I clicked the link. I counted 7 SEC teams with a higher average commitment score than UT.
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You’re right. I counted six and my brain clicked off.
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Let’s just consider this an extension of the “mullet theory” where coaching prowess overcomes talent shortfall. Sallee gets a mulligan from me after his incredible call of the 2017 season, and aftermath. He nailed everything perfectly the spring/summer before…he just didn’t get the Big? officials not understanding that “Tyler Simmons was on-sides” by more than a damned yard (even though everyone else on the planet could see that. So if he is looking for another call no one else sees, this is legit. I might put Kentucky first as my long shot pick to dethrone UGA, but that might be because, like most of America, I just don’t care much for fu or the Viles. Sallee is in a profession where you have to go against conventional, logical thinking to get noticed.
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Recruiting articles are filler for offseason. Comparing average rating is also a waste. For example, a team may have a kicker/punter/long snapper on their list that fills the average. And lets not pretend that an 89.25 is that far off from a 91.25.
There is no need to pay attention until the recruits put ink to paper.
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“kills”, not “fills”
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This year, UT finished with a higher average than it has right now. I didn’t see Sallee making bold predictions in February.
Your takeaway is correct.
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Sallee = clickbait = $$$ = how he gets his money
Do I think it’s necessary to reach out to 9th-10th grade athletes. Given the technology of recruiting during this time. YES. Does it mean much right now NO. It’s better to be early than late to these coming out parties. At least extend lines of communication. Who knows how in 2021 the model the NLI will look like in recruiting #marketing campaign
As for UTk, Pruitt is a hard read. He could blow up or he could blow up the East. As long as PhatPhil owned us in the 90’s I am gonna hold my chest beating to a minimum until the Dawgs play this season. I am reminded of how blogs here were blasting the Boomer’s before the turnovers and missed field goals was the worst Saturday until the SEC Championship game.
As history has shown both UTk and USCjr taken the wind out of UGA’s sails on the most unlikely of days. I hate to see Georgia kids line up and play there asses off against the Dawgs. As of today out of the top 250 2021’ UGA is contending on 20 and 11 are Georgia born.
So Coach Kirby is on the mother. I just hate to see any ground given to Junior’s and Lulu’s or the Portal Master because as we all know turnovers do happen.
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Current restrictions play heavily in UT’s favor.
Recruits don’t actually have to see Knoxville.
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I heard Barrett Sallee on the radio one time describing his name, “that’s two R’s, two T’s, two L’s, two E’s” and now I can’t see or hear his name without thinking of the wrestler Jeff Jarrett. “That’s Double-J, Jeff Jarret. J-E-double-F, J-A-double-R, E-double-T!”
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“B-double-E-double-R-U-N” “Beer Run”
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“[I]f you go by the Sports247 Composite’s average recruit rankings, at 89.26”. The Vols are on track to finish 15th in the country in recruiting right now. For the 2020 class, #15 Penn State signed 27 with an average rating of 89.55 and in 2019, #15 Washington signed 25 with an average of 89.53. And as you mentioned, Tennessee’s average rating is less than the 89.92 they had last year. Maybe Pruitt’s talent evaluation is better than Kirby’s, but if it’s not we definitely should have superior talent. Now, just coach ’em up and develop that decided schematic advantage!
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BTW, I don’t care for 10RC either way but I saw an article last week where Mauer, their QB said he was planning to kill himself until his mom called to talk. He took that as a sign to not do it. He was going public about his depression to let people know to get help. Good for him, and I hope he gets the help he needs. I wish him the best of luck except when he plays us.
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(In three seasons if Tennessee wins the East):
Sallee: “I told you so!”
(In three seasons if they don’t):
Sallee: “Had it not been for injuries…”
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