(07-22-2013 02:14 PM)bigblueblindness Wrote:  Tennessee has two major problems in terms of in-state recruiting... location and Vanderbilt actually having a pulse in football. The state of Tennessee produces a good amount of SEC talent, but a good percentage of it is in or near Memphis. The shape of Tennessee makes it so that Memphis is closer to about half of the other SEC schools, especially the Mississippi schools. If UT was located in Nashville and Vanderbilt stayed at their Duke/Wake Forest level of football, UT would be in a great position to keep the vast majority of their in-state talent, which alleviates many of the recruiting problems that have been brought up recently. Aside from the occasional 4 or 5 star kid to come out of east Tennessee, they do not have a fool proof recruiting ground. They are pretty much splitting recruits with Vandy in Nashville now, which is a tremendous success for Vandy and a punch to the gut for UT.

That is part of the problem, but that also signifies an even greater problem. I dont think with in state recruiting alone could Tennessee level the playing field. So Vanderbilt is not causing the problem, they are just making it worse. If Tennessee had it's own division and a much stronger chance to get into SEC post season then it could do much better in out of state recruiting.

Look at the current rankings for their recruiting. I just saw today that in one of the rankings Tennessee is ranked 4th in recruiting with having 24 recruits committed already. That would be impressive except...the number one ranked program is Michigan with only 14 recruits. That means Tennessee is just not getting the same quality of recruits as top programs. It is getting quick signings and lots of them which likely means guys that didnt get a whole lot of other top program scholarship options. Talking heads are trying to make the situation look good for Tennessee but once other programs start getting their commit numbers up, Tennessee is gonna drop like a rock.

They need Something big to happen for them.