Focused on Rocky Top? SEC social media battles continue as Florida becomes the latest team to call attention to Tennessee
The Gators are so unconcerned with Tennessee’s recent success on the recruiting trail, the program’s official football Twitter account decided to tweet about the Vols an impressive 16 times on Thursday.
Let us repeat that, Florida tweeted 16 times about Tennessee in less than an hour on Thursday.
For a program that has dominated Tennessee on the field, the Gators have won 14 of the previous 15 matchups in the annual series, Florida clearly has taken notice of the current movement on Rocky Top under Jeremy Pruitt.
Keep in mind, this activity doesn’t appear to have anything to do with an ongoing offseason series recapping games against any other program the Gators face on the gridiron. Instead, it’s pretty clear Florida issued these posts in direct response to all the success Tennessee is having on the recruiting trail — which includes three commits from Florida and a fourth set to finish his high school playing career in the Sunshine State.
Following the barrage of tweets, Tennessee assistant coach Brian Niedermeyer issued his thoughts on Florida’s interesting social media behavior.
Fellas if all these schools verified accounts keep posting about us continuously what’s the one school they’re all focused on……..yet we’re just over here focused on our team. #PruittEra #GBO #NewVolsWhoThis
— Brian Niedermeyer (@NiedermeyerB) May 7, 2020
As you would expect, Vol Twitter had a lot to say about Florida’s use of Twitter on Thursday:
The official Florida Gators football account has tweeted sixteen (16) times today about the Tennessee Vols pic.twitter.com/NJLuiO222d
— gmannVOLS (@gmannVOLS) May 8, 2020
— Jerome Pruitt (@PruittLeft) May 8, 2020
— Jason Miracle (@vol1977) May 8, 2020
The truth is coming and they can’t handle it pic.twitter.com/SOGzm1Acq3
— Michael Lewellyn (@UTturkey) May 8, 2020
— Volpap Dave (@VolpapDave) May 8, 2020
A lot of attention. Opposing fans can claim this means nothing as much as they want but clearly it means a lot. Come on recruits, join the fun and commit. Vols moving on up. Be a part!
GBO!
The reason they are concerned is you don’t jump that big that fast with recruits unless you are playing the Hugh Freeze card. They went from bottom of the pack SEC in recruiting to top 5 in 1 year. We all know what happened with that.
If you’re insinuating there is some funny business going on…well you’re probably right, with Tenn and every other program that consistently lands a lot of 4 and 5 star recruits, but it’s an exaggeration to say Tenn went from bottom of the pack to top 5 in one year. The caliber of recruits in the current class line up well to what they have done the last few years. The only reason you see them so high right now is because of timing. By the time early signing day rolls around, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tenn is still in the top 10, but they’ll probably be behind 5 or 6 other SEC schools.
False. Last year UT signed the #7 class in the country. Recruiting with UT’s credentials and Jeremy Pruitt as your head coach is very different from Hugh Freeze and Ole Miss.
Your other brother Darrell said you are an idiot.
I can’t stand UT and I more than see your point. I will also say that it isn’t a coincidence that UT has hired some of the most respected recruiters in the game today. It should also be noted that none is actually signed and there is plenty of time for other teams to poach them.
Rivals talk smack. What’s the big deal. 16 times is excessive but hey, it’s not like there’s anything else to do.
16 tweeters to say we don’t care? Yep, sounds like GatorbaitorU gap closing logic to me…
FOCUS lizards…I hate Leghumpers I hate Kirby…stay the course
Completely agree. If all someone does is talk about a rival, they are clearly obsessed. :)
It goes both ways. You can’t go 3 posts in any topic without a UT fan mentioning “the time they beat Florida” , which comes off as little brother syndrome, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that UT is gaining ground in their development and UF is clearly concerned. You don’t see UT sports guys making post after post about Kentucky. UGA and UF both seem to have UT on their minds a LOT. They’re starting to worry whether they’ll admit it or not.
Funny, I’ve been reading posts on this site for over a year. I have never seen that syndrome before. I have noticed that the Mizzu fans are always crying about how they deserve to be in the SEC and they never get respect.
Nice one darthA.
Really Mizzou bill I I can’t even find one where we talk about the onecyime we beat Florida recently. Florida has owned us for a long time. Longer than even bama. That is the win I want the most right now.
Ok it was a gross exaggeration and not based on fact . There was an underlying point , but you are right. My little brother comment might have been a little off base . My apologies .
Gaining ground? 34-3 and the gators were without 4 of their top players. 43-14 and Georgia couldn’t move the ball against anyone else. I personally roll my eyes when I hear about a 16 yr old “committing” 8 or more months from the official signing day. We don’t even know if there will be football this fall.
Clearly, everyone is bored. Rivalries take shots at each other. 16 times is pretty ridiculous, but, there isn’t much else to do or talk about right now.
Congrats to the Vols on the recruits. If it turns into anything, fantastic! It would be nice to have more than a 2 team race in the East. But some of you Vol fans are acting like you have a title guaranteed here shortly. Need to simmer down a bit. UT hasn’t been relevant in quite a while. Gonna need more than a few 4 star 17 year-olds to get there.
Haven’t seen a vol fan say anything about guaranteed championships or anything close to that. Stop exaggerating. We are happy with all the recruits committing early and with our trajectory. dont look now but there are 2-3 more coming this weekend.
“But some of you Vol fans are acting like you have a title guaranteed here shortly.”
Name some names. I’ll wait.
You must be new here. No one has to really say it. Apparently it’s just assumed.
What the fudge does that mean?
You are literally just making things up.
“No one has to say it”-aka I have nothing to back up my claim
I don’t recall saying it. Just answering your question.
They’re so beaten down and tired of the previous few coaches that it’s probably hard to not be optimistic. You can’t really fault their excitement. Yes, they have a ways to go to be in the same league as UGA in any aspect of recruiting , but they’re definitely coming. I think the writing is on the wall and that’s why you see the top teams suddenly making sure everyone knows the score vs UT. It’s a similar feeling to Oklahoma at the end of the 90s . They crept up from being terrible , to being somewhat competitive , to all the sudden in the 2000 season they laid waste to #11 Texas ,#2 K-State , and #1 Nebraska in a 3 week span, very loudly announcing their arrival. I feel like that’s going to be UT within the next 2-3 years.
Lol first GA now FLA gettin sweaty.
The good news is we all know that Tennessee is pretty close to hitting their ceiling.
Smart tweet from Nieds. Man knows social media recruiting.
I agree with my other brother
Da mm right, your other brother Darrell got the checkbook, you better…