The CheckerBoard

Can anyone tell us what the deadline is for him to sign if he is to be an EE? Is he still looking to be an EE? If it's too close after the end of the dead period, that's an awefully tight window for us to get back out and convince him to sign.

Fans from every school seem to forget a key factor in the recruiting process for a lot of these kids, this isn't 40 or 50 years ago when a guy in say South Pittsburgh, Tenn., grew up wanting to play for Tennessee and knew everything about the school and choose Tennessee because it was his dream school. Yes, there are kids out there that still dream the Tennessee dream or the Florida, Florida State, Alabama....dream. Those kids that dream of playing for whatever school are easy sells.

But a lot of these kids never dreamed of going to State U and wearing the school's colors. The kids find out about a school during the recruiting process, and more often than not they commit to a coach and coaching stafff, not the university.

Yes, Tennessee has facilities and athletic support that is second to none, but a lot of schools, while perhaps not having a sparkling new football center, have similar facilities and a prettier campus than the concrete jungle that is Tennessee. I love UT and am proud to have a University of Tennessee diploma hanging on my wall, but the campus doesn't have a lot of green spaces and is shoehorned into an area between the Tennessee River and downtown Knoxville. The limited landspace on the main campus basically prohibits a lot of grassy areas with trees and such that would give the campus and earthy and more open appeal than one building squeezed next to another.

I wish every prospect grew up dreaming of being a Vol, but that isn't the case and I can live with a kid changing his mind after a change in coaches. I'd rather the kid take his time to make sure he's making his best choice than to arrive on campus and be miserable and not live up to his potential.