Vols Recruiting Efforts Filling Its Needs?

Lets look and see if we are filling needs.

Not many of the guys that the Vols are thought to be gettting are going to contribute right away. In fact, none of them are expected to contribute immediately. Thats a good thing, but in light of a 5-6 seaqson can be seen as a bad thing too. Are these guys we are bringing in not capable of upgrading the depth or in some cases the starting player at a position(that is really not fair to the incoming player).

QUARTERBACK
We have a 2 year starting QB returning and an inexperienced red-shirt freshman returning. Behind them are a group of non-factor QBs providing depth.

*Commitments: Nick Stephens. Stephens should provide depth in the case of an injury/transfer to either Ainge or Crompton. He could even move to the forefront if both QBs prove to be ineffective next season. Good job in filling a big need.

RUNNINGBACK
We return mostly players coming off of surgery/injuries. We do not have one premier runningback returning healthy. Foster will return from shoulder surgery. Coker also will be retunring from shoulder surgery. We should not count on Montario Hardesty to contribute at all. He had reconstructive surgery on his knee. That is a 1-2 year recovery period. Yancey is not in the mix.

*Commitments: Dustin Lindsey. Can't say that I am excited by this. Lindsey is said to be a good athlete but is not a prime time tailback that you would expect at UT. The Vols have failed miserably in filling this [b]huge[/b] need. Phil Fulmer laid an egg here.

WIDE RECEIVER
We return about everyone. We don't have immediate needs at WR. We need more help in coaching them than we do in filling talent voids. We will likely lose several members of this group after next season. Bret Smith and Jayson Swain will be seniors. Meachem will be a redshirt junior, but could leave. Something for him to think about is that the 2007 drafft will be LOADED with great talent at WR. If he is not one of the top 5 or so, he will cost himself millions of dollars by coming out for ther 2007 draft. The Vols will need a lot of help at WR after the 2006 season. There will not be any top WRs left after 2006 season(unlless meachem stays). This a depth and development need position.

*Committments: Brett Vinson, a speed merchant, Stephaun Raines, another speed guy, and Quenton Hancock. We get some youthful speed. Vinson is the most highly rated of this group. Still we don not land the best players in the land as we have in recent years. I wonder why? We fill depth needs adequately.

TIGHT END
We have three tight ends on the roster. Chris Brown and the Cottam brothers. The way we use our tight end, these gusy are a waste of talent. Brown does nothing but make big plays when he is thrown to. However, we might as well play offensive tackles at tight end. We are as apt and proficient at using the tight end in our offense as a lesbian is at using a penis.

*Commitments: Three...count them...one...two...three tight ends. Lee Smith, son of former Vol Darryl Smith may be a more along the lines of a Jason Witten in size, agility, and speed. Michael Goggans has been a UT commitment for a long time and may bail to Auburn. Luke Stoker is another long time commitment. These guys may be very good. However, to sign and keep them at tight end is flat out stupid as hell. Now, if these guys are being brought in with the idea of moving them to defensive end or in a fullback capacity, then fine. Otherwise...we over-filled a position with ZERO need.

OFFENSIVE LINE
Few offensive linemen contribute during their freshman season at UT. FNGs on the OL are expected to beef up and learn the roles of all positions on the OL. Fulmer has long believed in the ability for all linemen to be interchangable. I have to say, I agree wiith his philosophy there. While every player may not be suitable for each position, it is still good for them to know each others roles, steps, and responsibility.

*Commitments: Jacques McClendon, Ramone Johnson, Cody Pope, and Darius Meyers. McClendon is supposed to be a beast. The others are solid depth down the road. Outside of McClendon or Johnson, we did not bring in a man-child who can be dominant in line play. Still a solid filling of depth needs.

DEFENSIVE LINE
We will lose several defensive linemen next year, after losing several top players this year. There are some top signees from a year ago, waiting to contribute. Still you can never get enough top talent on the DL. We also get JT Mapu back. How effective will he be after a two year absence?

*Commitments: Victor Thomas, Walter Fisher, Jarrod Shaw, Chase Nelson, Blake Garretson. Fisher was a beast in high school. However, it remains to be seen how good of a group this is. They are reportedly solid players, but this is not a group that blow you away on paper. The Vols have been good at developing defensive linemen in recent years. Is this quantity over quality? It remains to be seen.

LINEBACKER
We lose a lot at linebacker this year.We will count on several inexperienced young ment to step up and take over at linebacker. Last years class was filled with good talent. We have to hope they live up to their billings.

*Commitments:LaMar Thompson and Dorian Davis. None inspire fans to beat their chests and get excited over. We still may bring in a couple of more good guys. I'm not so sure we adequately filled our needs here. Part of that pictures reamins cloudy until the young underclassmen show what they are capable of doing.

DEFENSIVE BACK
This is the most experienced and best part of the team IMHO. Not a lot of voids or depth issues. We are deep, experienced at DB.

*Commitments: Justin Garrett. Depth not an issue. Its always good to have more athletes onboard.

KICKERS
We return both Wilhoit and Colquitt. I am not sold on Colquitt. He is very inconsistant. If a better punter is available, bring him onboard. Wilhoit has one year remaining, so bringing in a kicker to mature and develop is important.

*Commitments: Chad Cunningham and Daniel Lincoln. I don't know anything about these two guys. If one can firstly, push Colquitt, and secondly kick under pressure, then great. You never know what you get with kickers sometimes. Can't say thumbs up or down here.

OVERALL
We are not bringing in many if any true impact players. As mentioned earlier, that is both good and bad. You would hope you would bring in a couple of guys who can contribute some play-making abilities immediately or at sometime in their freshman season. The closest we probably have in that reagrds will be Brett Vinson. Phil Fulmer is now reaping in recruiting from what he has sown on the coaching and managin end of the UT football program. The top players blew Fulmer off very early on this season. The top prospects did not view UT as a good place to showcase their talents and develop their skills.

The Vols will sign mostly a class of solid players who will be regarded as depth for the future. We were able to fill some numbers in regards to dpeth, but we did not fill the quality needs of our depth to the level we have grown accustomed to. We have not kept pace with the jobs that Florida, Georgia, LSU, and Auburn have done in recruiting and playing on the field. Those programs are taking two steps forward while we have taken two steps backwards. We will see the results of these trends and movements in the coming years. I hope that I can be proven wrong in time, but using the past 7 seasons as a barometer, I have little faith in that becoming a reality.