Weekend visits worth watching

Looks like it's going to go down to the wire with a lot of these prospects.

What a tough schedule it is this coming season, too. But that's the lay of it: Tennessee has to show that it can play big-boy ball again. And we won't have the luxury of pointing to our high-scoring offense to interest recruits. The core of that distraction has gone to the NFL. On paper, this season looks ugly, really ugly.

But...that's the great thing about college football. Every year there are surprise players and surprise teams. I thought Texas A&M would be a good addition to the SEC, but I never dreamed they would beat Bama in Bama's house and have the Heisman. And in their first year in the conference! Wow.

So, I am going to just hope for the very best. I really do like this staff and look forward to seeing what they can do with more time recruiting and having their systems in place. I would love to see Coach Butch Jones and his "best staff in the country" shock the world. And that is what it will be for me if UT's record is better than 2012...a shocker. That's simple on-paper reality.

Vols!!

I think you're wrong about TN shocking the world with a better record.... TN will have the best O-Line in the country, and a deep talented D-Line. No last year the D-Line did not play to its potential, but that doesn't mean they are not talented..... I think it was a combination of being out of position too often and inability to trust that coaching staff. I would not be shocked if this team won 8 games next year. And would be a Lil disappointed if they won less than 7

I completely agree, and with this new attitude from our staff, hope has become faith in them getting the job done.

I am simply saying that "hope" or "feeling we have a chance" is not the same as probability. The reason people give their money to casinos is that they cannot see the difference. If you gamble with fan's eyes, you will lose your money. Plain and simple. That is why I said that I am hoping for the very best, because I am a fan who knows that everybody has a chance. Upsets happen. Underdogs surprise. But I am not so blinded that I expect Tennessee to have an improved record next year. If you do, great. I truly HOPE you are right, but I will be surprised, indeed shocked.

I am really bummed that we may not sign a good RB this year.
Ryan looking ahead, do you know of anything about where UT stands in regards to Jalen Hurd? That is an in-state RB who is truly elite.

We had a story and multiple threads about it earlier today.

I agree with this. You go from having 270lb defensive tackles (which are converted DEs and OL) to having a 6'6", 360lb+ NT and two roughly 300 DEs (one of which played quite a bit at AL), to having two SEC All-Freshman LB's get a year older and bigger, having some of the better DB recruits in a while, and your defense goes from #28 to Last? That is squarely on the coaches and their idiotic plan to switch to 3-4 when they did not have the personnel and apparently weren't that good at teaching the scheme in the first place. Are the UT DBs the fastest in the country - No. But, seriously, could they have been that much slower than the year prior?

I am a little optimistic that this D might not be as bad as last season. I don't know how much better, but I think will be better. The truth is, Dooley, and even Kiffin, Never had the kind of track record as head coach that CBJ has. You can argue that it was the Big East and MAC, but Dooley never had anywhere approaching that success at LA Tech (whose conference is not as good as BE or MAC) and Kiffin was fired form his NFL gig for losing (and lying - Maybe Al Davis wasn't all That Crazy after all).

UT screwed itself by firing a HOF coach, firing him with NO plan, and then making two bad hires. A good coach can make a difference. Syracuse beat Mizzou 2-weeks after they beat UT. L'ville beat UF on national TV. I think CBJ is a better coach than Dooley and Kiffin. Particularly, if UT can pull off a top 15 recruiting class, I will be very pleased with this hire. Recruiting was supposed to be the rap on CBJ. IF he overcomes that with a good class, I think we are in business long-term.