Obviously these are just my opinions....
- Crowd was noticeably down from last few years. Some tables completely empty and less tables overall than prior years. It looked.... small
- Energy was lacking. What is usually thunderous applause, standing ovations, oohh's and aahh's during the recruits videos, etc. just wasn't there. At times it was just awkward when Butch would say something like "we don't care about stars, the only 5 stars we care about are 5 star hearts"... to crickets
- A lot of the same comments as from the Knoxville recap, so no need to post again, but they obviously the WR's in this class, and the videos were impressive on that bunch.
- I thought Larry Scott was impressive. Easy to see why he's seen as a future D1 head coach. I wasn't in love with his promotion to OC, but I feel better about it after listening to him today. He's excited about the weapons he has at QB, RB, and WR for next year....
- Shoop is always solid on the mic, so no surprises there. He was quick to point out that even with all the injuries, they found ways to win 9 games that included wins over Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, and Va Tech. But to his credit, he was also quick to point out that they know the expectations for the power T exceed even that.
- Butch took an interesting shot at the fans, again, in his closing comments. While talking about the character of last year's team and all they overcame, he said "You don't go into the locker room down 3 touchdowns being boo'd by your own fans on your home field then come out in the second half and beat a team like Florida without a ton of character". It came across pretty awkward.
- Butch was asked by a fan about the QB's and how both are very different. He stated that the offense fits any type of QB so no issue there. When speaking about the 2 QB's battling for the job I felt he went out of his way to throw more praise towards JG, one of the comments that really jumped out was that he could run like Dobbs and he can make "all the throws". Make of that what you will.... He did say and, not but.
- Next question from a fan was about coaches who's contracts were expiring in the next few days. I thought Butch handled this one pretty well. Pointed out that you have to remember these are real people and real families. Tough decisions will continue to be made to continue pushing Tennessee to the top, but there's a right way of doing things and tough decisions take time. Pointed out that his son's two roommates right now are Jancek and Martinez's kids. That's not easy, but winning isn't easy and you have to make these tough decisions. Definitely alluded to the fact that yes more changes are coming in the next few days.
- Acknowledged that the 2018 in-state class is like never seen before and the theme for 2018 recruiting is dominate the state. Definitely theme to the 2018 class will be challenging the in-state kids to take that pride in presenting the home state power T.
- Last but not least, for the 2nd year in a row as soon as it was over the coaches sprinted out of the room to go to a very small private meet and greet for the "elite" donors. They obviously don't reference this, but it's awkward. For years they would stick around even if just for a few minutes to take pictures, sign autographs, etc. with the common fans in attendance. Butch did this and all of his predecessors. Last few years now it's switched to get out of the room as fast as you can thing. It's a bad look imo... I'm not a picture of autograph guy myself, in fact I find it creepy, but there are kids there and sometimes even just a handshake goes a long way. The ONLY person that stuck around even for a minute to shake hands was Larry Scott, so credit to him, but he was then quickly found and ushered out by a Tennessee Fund person. It just comes across as a very elitism mentality in my humble opinion, especially given some of the reason recruiting suggestions, be they valid or not.
That's all I got.
- Crowd was noticeably down from last few years. Some tables completely empty and less tables overall than prior years. It looked.... small
- Energy was lacking. What is usually thunderous applause, standing ovations, oohh's and aahh's during the recruits videos, etc. just wasn't there. At times it was just awkward when Butch would say something like "we don't care about stars, the only 5 stars we care about are 5 star hearts"... to crickets
- A lot of the same comments as from the Knoxville recap, so no need to post again, but they obviously the WR's in this class, and the videos were impressive on that bunch.
- I thought Larry Scott was impressive. Easy to see why he's seen as a future D1 head coach. I wasn't in love with his promotion to OC, but I feel better about it after listening to him today. He's excited about the weapons he has at QB, RB, and WR for next year....
- Shoop is always solid on the mic, so no surprises there. He was quick to point out that even with all the injuries, they found ways to win 9 games that included wins over Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, and Va Tech. But to his credit, he was also quick to point out that they know the expectations for the power T exceed even that.
- Butch took an interesting shot at the fans, again, in his closing comments. While talking about the character of last year's team and all they overcame, he said "You don't go into the locker room down 3 touchdowns being boo'd by your own fans on your home field then come out in the second half and beat a team like Florida without a ton of character". It came across pretty awkward.
- Butch was asked by a fan about the QB's and how both are very different. He stated that the offense fits any type of QB so no issue there. When speaking about the 2 QB's battling for the job I felt he went out of his way to throw more praise towards JG, one of the comments that really jumped out was that he could run like Dobbs and he can make "all the throws". Make of that what you will.... He did say and, not but.
- Next question from a fan was about coaches who's contracts were expiring in the next few days. I thought Butch handled this one pretty well. Pointed out that you have to remember these are real people and real families. Tough decisions will continue to be made to continue pushing Tennessee to the top, but there's a right way of doing things and tough decisions take time. Pointed out that his son's two roommates right now are Jancek and Martinez's kids. That's not easy, but winning isn't easy and you have to make these tough decisions. Definitely alluded to the fact that yes more changes are coming in the next few days.
- Acknowledged that the 2018 in-state class is like never seen before and the theme for 2018 recruiting is dominate the state. Definitely theme to the 2018 class will be challenging the in-state kids to take that pride in presenting the home state power T.
- Last but not least, for the 2nd year in a row as soon as it was over the coaches sprinted out of the room to go to a very small private meet and greet for the "elite" donors. They obviously don't reference this, but it's awkward. For years they would stick around even if just for a few minutes to take pictures, sign autographs, etc. with the common fans in attendance. Butch did this and all of his predecessors. Last few years now it's switched to get out of the room as fast as you can thing. It's a bad look imo... I'm not a picture of autograph guy myself, in fact I find it creepy, but there are kids there and sometimes even just a handshake goes a long way. The ONLY person that stuck around even for a minute to shake hands was Larry Scott, so credit to him, but he was then quickly found and ushered out by a Tennessee Fund person. It just comes across as a very elitism mentality in my humble opinion, especially given some of the reason recruiting suggestions, be they valid or not.
That's all I got.
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