If you had been told 18 months ago, after reading this: UT fires Pruitt; reports violations ...and then watched as so many "star" players departed through the portal, would you have predicted that we would have closed out the '22 class with these players AFTER going 7-5?
That close from Thanksgiving - signing day gave UT the #13 class in the nation, yet there was endless bitching on the Feb signing day because we didn't flip anyone. CJH played a season with a roster that was decimated from the mass exodus through the portal post Pruitt. Every excuse in the world for UT to be as bad, or worse, last Fall than the Pruitt team that went 3-7 in 2020.
Yet CJH found his QB in the portal, and with a roster that was at 70 players before injuries, the new staff, and plenty of unknowns at every position, found a way to win 7 games, with several close losses that could just as easily have been wins. A few plays from 9 wins, but we competed well all season long, and for the first time in years, UT played a very entertaining brand of football, and it was great to see Neyland rocking again less than a year after we had our entire FB program blown up.
Here we are on July 4, 2022, and CJH has our QB of the future - the one that this staff (and just about every coach in football) wanted and targeted from the beginning. We are competing against the big boys and just got the #1 player from KY to give us our future in the area we HAD to address, the back half of our future defense. Conyers commitment has the 2023 UT recruiting class at #11 in the country. 3 commits already since the "big recruiting weekend" and more to come soon enough.
We can't get everyone, despite the most positive war room I've ever read over the past 20+ years. We'll get our share, though, and CJH & Staff have killed it using the portal. Recruits see that, and so do the "Velus Jones" of the CFB world who will want to get on this train sooner than later. We missed out on a good OL today. Not the first time, nor the last. Relax Navy folks; We will be find.
| Jayson Jenkins | DE | Lawrenceville, NJ | 6'6" | 257 | 5.6 | 1/29/22 SIGNED | |
Justin Williams | RB | Dallas, GA | 6'0" | 206 | 5.9 | 12/15/21 SIGNED | |
James Pearce | DE | Charlotte, NC | 6'5" | 220 | 5.9 | 12/15/21 SIGNED | |
Tyre West | DT | Tifton, GA | 6'4" | 280 | 5.9 | 12/15/21 SIGNED | |
Kaleb Webb | WR | Powder Springs, GA | 6'4" | 195 | 5.8 | 12/10/21 SIGNED | |
Desmond Williams | DB | Decatur, MS | 5'11" | 190 | 5.7 | 12/6/21 SIGNED | |
Jourdan Thomas | DB | Montgomery, AL | 6'0" | 188 | 5.6 | 12/4/21 SIGNED | |
Christian Harrison | DB | College Park, GA | 6'1" | 180 | 5.6 | 11/29/21 SIGNED | |
Joshua Josephs | DE | Kennesaw, GA | 6'3" | 205 | 5.7 | 11/22/21 |
That close from Thanksgiving - signing day gave UT the #13 class in the nation, yet there was endless bitching on the Feb signing day because we didn't flip anyone. CJH played a season with a roster that was decimated from the mass exodus through the portal post Pruitt. Every excuse in the world for UT to be as bad, or worse, last Fall than the Pruitt team that went 3-7 in 2020.
Yet CJH found his QB in the portal, and with a roster that was at 70 players before injuries, the new staff, and plenty of unknowns at every position, found a way to win 7 games, with several close losses that could just as easily have been wins. A few plays from 9 wins, but we competed well all season long, and for the first time in years, UT played a very entertaining brand of football, and it was great to see Neyland rocking again less than a year after we had our entire FB program blown up.
Here we are on July 4, 2022, and CJH has our QB of the future - the one that this staff (and just about every coach in football) wanted and targeted from the beginning. We are competing against the big boys and just got the #1 player from KY to give us our future in the area we HAD to address, the back half of our future defense. Conyers commitment has the 2023 UT recruiting class at #11 in the country. 3 commits already since the "big recruiting weekend" and more to come soon enough.
We can't get everyone, despite the most positive war room I've ever read over the past 20+ years. We'll get our share, though, and CJH & Staff have killed it using the portal. Recruits see that, and so do the "Velus Jones" of the CFB world who will want to get on this train sooner than later. We missed out on a good OL today. Not the first time, nor the last. Relax Navy folks; We will be find.
