The CheckerBoard

Not even the top 100. That definitely will have to change (and maybe it will before NSD).

Nice jump for Jason Carr up to 117. Hope we can hang on to him.

Lawson dropped a bit didn't he? Also looks like Tony Conner dropped a few spots which is a bad move IMO. He belongs in the top 5.

I read the VIP room this morning, and I hoped to see more on Carr's reaction. Has anyone heard anything more than what was reported. I really think Carr is important for this class.

JC has said that they aren't going to be afraid of making a big move on a player if they didn't think they had it right the first time. They want to be right in the end. So you're always going to see players move around a bit with the 247 rankings.....

My fear for this class is that the new staff is making some great impressions in a short period of time, but that they just got in the game too late and we will finish second fiddle with a lot of kids. My expectations are tempered for this finish.

I think Dooley was a very good recruiter from December-NSD, but very average the rest of the months. We always seemed to be "catching up" with elite players. +1 for the guys mentioned above. Man do some of them bring back bad memories, particularly Lamar Dawson, what a whirlwind that was... If you remember Dawson took his OV to USC early in January, loved it and stayed quiet, so it was kind of a surprise to see him pick USC on NSD.

he needs to change it THIS year..there are no excuses for not landing at least a couple of elite guys with 2 months left before signing day. Dooley did it with less time when he was first hired. If the buzz and energy created by CBJ's hire is so low that we cant get the attention of at least a couple of elite guys, that's a failure. this class is too critical to our success for us to say, "well, we will do better next year.."

Dawson was a bit of surprise but when you look back at it he didnt give UT high praise (but he was not that type of personality....a lot like Lawson......uhg......those rhyme).

A lot of Dooleys misses were flat out due to our image as a program and 2008+ records of 5-7,7-6,6-7, & 5-7 vs the teams we lost a recruit to. He also had been at UT 2.5 weeks or 1 year for 2 of those classes........vs 3-10+ years for the HCs of those other programs. IMO he went after most every elite recruit that would listen and show any interest.......probably what hurt his focus instate.

I think it's fair to say that he has already gained the attention of plenty of elite guys. I'm not suggesting that we should lower our expectations for the types of recruits we bring in but regarding this particular class, CBJ is getting quite a few OV's from elite players that were not OVing here until he showed up. That in and of itself is quite a victory for this staff.

Bottom line is the man is clearly working his butt off on this class, along with the rest of the staff, but we probably have too much ground to make up on a lot of the elite targets. Not to say he can't or won't land a couple, but I'm not expecting miracles for this class. I am holding out hope though.

If he comes up short on a few guys, well then, he just comes up short. But it sure as hell won't be for lack of effort from him or his staff.

Yea, but you gotta keep in mind that there's more to it than just CBJ doing his thing. It comes down to a ton of factors with the players. I think what jcoope said is spot on. Just getting some of the OV's we're getting is progress; some of these cats weren't thinking about us at all 3 months ago, and it seems like everyone we get in him and the staff make a great impression on. Will I be happy if we don't land one of the big guys? Not at all, but I dont think that it's an indication of something wrong with UT or CBJ if we can't. Recruiting is relationships, and unfortunately we haven't had the time with a lot of these kids that other big, successful schools have