The CheckerBoard

I'm sure Coach Jones knows what he's doing and that's why he has been successful . He's not in panic mode and trusts his assistants to recruit guys that fit his qualifications for success no matter how many stupid stars they got by their name.

Maybe instead of downvoting me, which seems to be the common practice now when anyone expresses even the most modest critique, how about articulating what is incorrect in my post?

No down vote from me, you make a good point I guess we will have to wait and see if this staff can coach and evaluate these kids.

He's referring to being from Carver, traditionally loaded with talented kids who are just as likely to get kicked off team as to ever start a game, obviously he knows this reputation and has worked to be better than what's expected of him. Even if he never sees the field that attitude is invaluable, maybe he rubs off on our next D-Mo or Janzen Jackson and they don't get get kicked off team and BOOM our next Eric Berry (although both those guys arguably had MORE potential than EB, scary huh?) Any production we get with this young man will be an added bonus, and lets not act like we aren't desperate for answers at CB...

What struggling program (that’s undergone multiple coaching changes) suddenly starts bringing in 4-5 star talent? If that’s the level of your expectations, you might want to take a trip back down to reality. We need to start winning games before we can start recruiting that level of talent. If Jones is able to take the talent we have and put a product on the field that’s competitive and capable of pulling off some big wins/upsets, we may start heading in that direction. But changing the attitudes of prospective players overnight without Jones having coached a single game in the SEC is certainly not realistic… especially when its this late in the recruiting season. And who knows... he may pull off a few key 4/5* recruits before signing day. Don't forget that he didn't have much time to hit the recruiting trail before the dead period came into play.

The point of my post was that IF this is the quality of recruit that we sign this year, we are going to stay at the bottom of the SEC. Such a statement seems axiomatic to me. I completely agree that there are elite recruits out there, and that there is time to bolster this class and get into the top 15. Indeed, i posted as much.

Where you and I disagree, however, is that we should accept the "reality" of not being able to get elite talent now because of our circumstance. Look at Ohio St. Urby gets hired and signs a top 5 class. Half of them he landed AFTER the date in which CBJ was hired. I refuse to accept the fact that a good coach and elite recruiters cant get a top class in two months time. Heck, Dooley did it after he was hired. He went out and got Da'Rick and James Stone among others and landed a top class.

If you are waiting for us to start winning to get the elite recruits, then you might be waiting for a good while. Good recruiters and coaches can sell our program to the elite recruits no matter what our previous record. CBJ said so himself - that all we need to do is get them to visit. So, again, there are no free passes here. IF CBJ doesnt generate enough buzz to flip recruits and get the elite talent to notice us, then he might not have been the right hire for us. We arent going to start beating the top teams without the top athletes. There's still time, but when i see people celebrating a 2 star 18th best juco CB, i have to wonder if we have already resigned oursleves to being mediocre. And I'm not hating on the Jones kid, but this is not about making friends. It's about building an elite football program and it's not going to happen without commitments from the top recruits. This is the University of Tennessee. We have tremendous facilities, a great campus and location, and good recruiters should be able to sell this place even if we went 0 and 12 last year.

Not playing chicken little. Indeed, i indicated (see above posts of mine) that there is time to put together a decent class, and there are available athletes out there who are difference makers. The point was simply that commits like this arent likely to put us back on the road to competing for SEC championships. And you need only look at the recruiting classes of the teams above us to realize that.

Valid point, Well there's no doubt we need elite players to compete with our rivals, but given the extreme need at CB and the fact that we have only 15 current commits this seems to make sense to me from a conservative standpoint....now if our class ranks in the high 30's without elite talent as it currently stands (which I highly doubt it will) after NSD then ill be thinking uh oh as well. CBJ at least says the right things in regards to installing confidence that he can recruit at an SEC level (we know Martinez and Thigpen can), but I'll be the first to say any coach worth his recruiting salt should be able to say 'Have you seen our facilities? You see how HUGE that stadium is? You know about the tradition and passionate fan base? Have you seen the girls that walk around this campus...' And sign a top 25 recruiting class at least. (Maybe I exaggerate just a little..)

No one is ripping Jones for commiting to play for the Vols. But let me ask you this, how many high school players do you think there are that want to play at Tennessee..? Thousands, at least. Problem is, 99% of them, through no fault of their own, dont have D1 talent, much less SEC talent, much less SEC elite talent. Does that mean I am "ripping on them" because i understand why we wont offer them scholly's? Would you be satisfied if our entire class was stacked with 1 star players who were all fired up to play for the Vols? Hopefully not. Does that mean i shouldnt respect you because you dont think that every kid has SEC talent?

I understand and accept the fact that lots of kids want to play for Tennesse. Just like lots of kids want to play at Alabama, and Florida and Georgia etc.. Do you think they offer scholly's based on that..? No..they offer scholarships based on talent. Because talent is what separates the Alabamas from the Kentuckys. And i dont know about you, but i dont want to be with the Kentuckys anymore. I want to be back competing with Florida for championships. But until and unless we start getting the caliber of recruit that Florida is getting, wishing and hoping wont do it.

I don’t disagree with you… entirely.

Yes, it will take elite recruits to compete and win championships. And yes, there is still a possibility CBJ will pull off a top 15 class. HOWEVER, I don’t think accepting reality is settling for mediocrity. You referenced Ohio State. Ok… yes, Urban Meyer comes in and signs a top 5 class at Ohio State. BUT – Urban Meyer won 2 national titles at Florida (i.e. proven at the highest level). Plus, Ohio State wasn’t coming off 2 average seasons (resulting in low tier bowl games) followed up by 2 losing seasons (no bowl games), NCOA violations and 3 coaching changes. Our recent history has been catastrophic. And even though I bleed orange and it pains me to say this, these 18 year old kids are saying ‘Tennessee who?’. The fact is we have been irrelevant for the past few years. As much as we want to believe that we’re awesome, these kids aren’t going to see it the same way.

I think where our difference exists is simply expectations. I don’t expect us to immediately pull out top 10 recruiting classes. Am I hopeful for it? Of course! But too much damage has been done to our program that won’t get fixed overnight to have that expectation. Not to mention, the rest of the SEC has gotten significantly better. My immediate expectation is that CBJ pull off a top 20 class and put a good product out on the field with a couple of upset wins. We do that and recruiting gets a little easier next year. Yes, Dooley and Kiffin were both able to pull off some highly ranked classes. Kiffin’s only recruiting class turned out to be a disaster and I don’t need to tell you about Da’Rick.

I’m not accepting mediocrity, rather the fact that it will take time to get back to where we want to be. I’m accepting our current reality. If you choose not to accept reality, you may be forced to accept disappointment.