With the Kongbo talk and the recent departures here my 2 cents worth. The departures are an issue IMO and have been throughout Butch's tenure. He has to do a better job in that area if we are to be highly successful and I think the # he has had is higher than it should be. That being said unwanted departures have become much more common and in particular at programs that are recruiting a lot of high end players. We have been the beneficiary of a couple of GREAT players and VFL that transferred from Bama and Southern Cal.
There could be and probably will be some more. But I think there is a good chance we can retain both Kongbo and Richmond and they can become excellent players. Kongbo in particular really has VERY few options. His eligibility is getting on the short side and we are already his third stop. He is getting invaluable experience both inside and out and there really can't be any doubt in his mind that he won't be a starter next year somewhere and most likely at DE. If he leaves he hurts hisself in multiple ways. Richmond will be a third year player next year and from a practical standpoint would hurt himself considerably by transferring and sitting out next year. He also has to know that he has been given ample opportunities to be he Annan s VERY close to being the man at LT. Rationally if both players are thinking at all their VERY best option is to sit tight and come out of spring practice the man and looking at a very bright future at Tennessee and likely the NFL as well.
There could be and probably will be some more. But I think there is a good chance we can retain both Kongbo and Richmond and they can become excellent players. Kongbo in particular really has VERY few options. His eligibility is getting on the short side and we are already his third stop. He is getting invaluable experience both inside and out and there really can't be any doubt in his mind that he won't be a starter next year somewhere and most likely at DE. If he leaves he hurts hisself in multiple ways. Richmond will be a third year player next year and from a practical standpoint would hurt himself considerably by transferring and sitting out next year. He also has to know that he has been given ample opportunities to be he Annan s VERY close to being the man at LT. Rationally if both players are thinking at all their VERY best option is to sit tight and come out of spring practice the man and looking at a very bright future at Tennessee and likely the NFL as well.
