How excited should Vols fans be after National Signing Day?
Tennessee fans have been conditioned to expect the worst … and you can’t blame them. From 2008-2017, the Vols had only a handful of moments to celebrate. Their one-time dominant program had become mostly an afterthought in the SEC.
But the times … they might be changing. On National Signing Day, a good Class of 2020 became a great Class of 2020.
“We have done a nice job closing in the early signing period,” Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt said Wednesday. “And the spots that we had to fill today (National Signing Day), I couldn’t be happier about the guys that we added to this group. I feel like the momentum we did create on the field, it had an effect on recruiting.”
The momentum Pruitt is talking about is the 6-game win streak to finish the 2019 season, capped by a stirring Gator Bowl victory over Indiana. As for what the Vols did on National Singing Day itself, those 2 closing pieces to the Class of 2020 could prove to be crucial to Tennessee’s chances for success.
First, they added 4-star athlete Dee Beckwith from Florence, Alabama. Beckwith, who chose Tennessee over rival Florida, is versatile and could play several positions on offense. Then, Tennessee signed 4-star wide receiver Malachi Wideman from Sarasota, Florida. Wideman, who flipped to the Vols from Florida State, will get every opportunity to earn significant playing time right away at a major position of need for UT.
Vols fans rejoiced throughout the day with the additions of Beckwith and Wideman. Not only are they exciting playmakers in football, but their talents in basketball were also on display in videos shared throughout the day on social media. Pruitt says that they’ll each get a chance to also play basketball for Tennessee.
In all, this is a class of 23 players, and at last look they are ranked 10th nationally, 7th in the SEC. They’ve made major strides over the past 3 months to get to that level. Yes, they are still looking up at several conference rivals, but the distance isn’t as far as it used to be.
So, how excited should Vols fans be excited about the future of the program after National Signing Day? In a word: very.
Tennessee was able to keep the momentum going from a strong second half of the 2019 season. They were able to keep more area players at home, with 10 signees in this class playing their high school football in the Volunteer State. They got their quarterback of the future (Harrison Bailey), their future leader in the secondary (4-star safety Keshawn Lawrence), as well as some much needed help at linebacker with a trio from Whitehaven High School in Memphis (Bryson Eason, Martavius French, Tamarion McDonald). They picked up valuable speed with players than run sub 4.4 40s in Jimmy Holiday and Jalin Hyatt, while securing size on both lines with guys like Cooper Mays (center), Omari Thomas (defensive tackle) and Tyler Baron (defensive end).
Pruitt arrived in Knoxville less than 2 weeks before the Early Signing Period in 2017, so the Class of 2020 is his second full class. He and his staff have put Tennessee in good position to take a step forward in the SEC. For years, the knock on the previous coaching staff wasn’t in recruiting (at least as far as rankings were concerned), but with a lack of player development. Under Pruitt, we’ve seen players improve. If he can continue to get the most out of his players, the future is indeed bright.
As for Pruitt, he’s already thinking about the Class of 2021, and beyond.
“We are always watching tape to try to re-rank our players,” said Pruitt. “We are getting ready to start the next couple of classes here. We have most of these guys on our board and you want to follow up. You are always trying to gather as much information as possible. We will recruit anybody anywhere that wants to come to Tennessee.”
The way the Vols are trending, the guys who are saying yes are helping to close the gap on the rest of the SEC East.
If TN is 7th in conference, how excited should they be? In 2019 they were 7th in SEC/13th nationally, in 2018 – 8th in SEC/21st nationally, 2017 – 7th in SEC/17th nationally, 2016 – 7th in SEC/14 nationally. Where is all this progress you keep hearing about?
In recruiting they shouldn’t be, but transfers they should be excited.
They had a pretty good class and won some big head-to-head battles.
Recruiting rankings are not infallible, clairvoyant predictions of the future. They’ll go ahead and tee it up and play the games anyway.
Rent free, even in the worst decade in program history….
Who is living rent free? I responded to an article about Tennessee recruiting with comments about Tennessee recruiting.
Keep reinforcing my argument…
Yes, I get we are middle of the pack in the SEC, but the difference is narrowing. The biggest thing to be excited about the class is a couple of starters, and initially quality backups. Our depth after the Botch Jones dumpster fire has been our Achilles heel. Recruiting quality depth doesn’t happen in one or even two years.
Sorry, the reply was to GougaDawgs. Somehow it got slipped here. Since I have worked with me before, I’ll assume it is operator error. :-/
You are right about the recruiting we have almost always recruited good. But the progress, as the writer stated, is in the develop of the players. Doofus Dooley and Sargent carter couldn’t develop players much. Pruitt and staff have shown they can. Thus excitement.
How has Pruitt proven development of players? He hasn’t really been there long enough to show that and UT’s season was very up and down so I wouldn’t be too confident about him as a talent developer just yet.
Of his recruits-at least two have made freshman all sec and the team he his first year improved with 2 conf wins over zero the prior year. If the argument is being made, then you’re stuck with the sample size you’ve got.
id like to ask uga the same question? with all these high ranking classes uga pulls, where are the results? Pruitt has made obvious strides across the board over the last 2 seasons while UGA is the only school with multiple number 1 recruiting classes without a championship over the last 15 years
Meh… I didn’t take the bait last year, and I am not going taking it this year…
Wondering how when Beckwith was projected to UF he was a 3 star and now, in this article, since he signed with UT he’s a 4 star.
One rating is composite while the other isn’t.
No he’s not rated a 4 star anywhere I can find. 247 composite is 3 stars.
Well ranking agencies are all a little different but here’s 247’s description if you need to know
97 – 90 = Four-star prospect. One of the top 300 players in the nation. This prospect will be an impact-player for his college team. He is an All-American candidate who is projected to play professionally.
89 – 80 = Three-star prospect. One of the top 10% players in the nation. This player will develop into a reliable starter for his college team and is among the best players in his region of the country. Many three-stars have significant pro potential.
Rivals is a little different but regardless of ranking agency it’s still basically splitting hairs between 3 and 4 stars.
He’s a 4 star with 247, not their composite score, but just their 247 ranking. His composite ranking is a high 3.
The only ones more excited are the dawg fans on EVERY single Vols article.
LOL imagine that!
Here we go again. Media hypes up Tennessee. They tell everyone to get pumped for how we are going to surprise the conference. Season starts. Get thumped by Florida, Alabama, Georgia. Lose to a team or teams we should not lose to. Media declares us the laughing stock of the league. Media wonders how UT fans could have been excited at all for the season. And most UT fans are standing there knowing we were cautiously optimistic, if optimistic at all, about the season while getting ripped by a media who created false expectations in the first place. Rinse, wash, repeat.
This!!
They should be so excited they just can’t hide it! Just refrain from saying silly stuff like “we’re BACK!” (looking at you Texas). But it’s perfectly reasonable for them to be excited, heck why should they not be? Of course it doesn’t guarantee a Natty or anything, just ask GA, but that’s not the point. Being excited for a good recruiting haul is just fine.
Look, I get SEC rivals who have won a national championship since 1980 giving UGA grief. But I feel like your program should have won at least one ever to even call out another program.
So the least important part of the comment which even included “but that’s not the point.” meaning don’t focus on this part, is the part you focus on? Hmm, interesting. My apologies boxster, I seriously didn’t leave that entire comment just to throw GA under the bus, act like that part isn’t there, it’s not important to the point which I tried mentioning but I should have probably just left it out completely.
LOL, no reason to apologize. And I focused on the entire comment, just didn’t feel the need to reply to any of the rest. It was a harmless jab and I threw a harmless jab back. It’s all good. Feel free to take as many shots as you like. It’s what makes CFB fun.
Understood, and right on!
Tennessee won a national championship in 1998.
Is it ok if I say “WE’RE BACK!” if follow that statement with “MAYBE”?
I would be more excited if I knew that JG was a decent QB.
You can only win so much with poor QB play.
I’d feel a lot better if you changed your name lol
I don’t know if CJP can get UT back playing for championships but he will get them back to respectable football. That should be their goal for next year.
Typical SDS article. Clickbait headline and a scattering of somewhat pertinent information. Don’t get me wrong: We’ll still read it, but it’s basically designed for us to get upset about and comment online. (And a win over Indiana in a meaningless bowl game is hardly the stuff of legends.) I love SEC football as much as anyone, and I know it’s hard for SDS to create content 365 days a year, but this is what you get when you overreach.
(And yes, even an Orange Bowl victory over Virginia isn’t something to crow about either.)
Here’s the way I approach these. I basically assume this entire site is just a conglomerate of articles each fan base may see in their own local paper. Only we all get to see them thanks to the electronic wonder of internet. I mean, if you picked up a Knoxville paper this might be what you see just like Florida articles may be something you would see in a Gainsville paper and other fans are like “oh man this is so homer” because they get upset reading it. Idk, I think the site does a pretty good job of covering most everyone, and that approach helps enjoy the site as a whole I think.
I thought the focus of the article was about how excited should Tennessee Volunteer fans be about NSD? I am not one, but I take it they should be plenty excited, and the author listed some reasons why, including their Gator Bowl win. Agreed it’s not the stuff of legends, but IT IS a reason (along with some others) that THEIR fans might be excited. And for sure, it’s better than losing. Why bug them or SDS about it? Any fan base has the right (maybe even the obligation) to be excited about their own team prospects. Why would a Gator fan (or any other fan) care either way about what Tennessee fans about their recruiting class?
Or why he would feel the need to create a strawman argument by mentioning a level of hype around NSD and events not mentioned in the article.
If I was a Tenn fan I would be feeling really good. No one is saying its time to party like its 1998, but there is a good buzz there that nobody saw coming after week 2. Pruitt showed me something by the way he weathered the storm.
I believe you could make the argument that only 3 teams on Tenn schedule are better than they are. To me 9-3 is doable.
But *WE* didn’t see 1998 coming! C’mon, we *just* lost Peyton Manning, so I can honestly say I did not have big expectations of an undefeated season and national title over FSU. It happened, with some serious good luck (thank you Stoerner.)
I think you guys should be excited..Good class and you have a good coach. Believe me, I know what its like to buy into the hype for your teams (UGA and the Falcons), but hey that’s why we are fans right?
It’s refreshing to see some non trolling posts. Most fans are cautiously optimistic and excited. After what we endured since fulmer was fired, save a couple of seasons of false hope with some great athletes that outplayed their horrific coaches, it’s perfectly fine to be excited.
Thanks for all the kind words guys. This is my 2nd recruiting class, and things are looking up here at UT, thats hard to deny or darn near impossible to debate.
Its a marathon guys, not a sprint. Im here trying to make UT football great again much like President Trump is making America great again. IT takes time and there are obviously many haters and folks in denial.
We’re coming, no doubt about it.
GO Big Orange
And just like Trump you’ll be impeached by the end of the season.
Acquitted by the SEC championship game. Haters gonna hate
Another 85 iq person who thinks being impeached and convicted and removed are the same. Thank God most of you are too stupid to fill out a voter registration. Product of AL education. Now go rip up a piece of paper and cry about it.
LOL thanks for the laugh
TN fans have legit reasons to be excited. Gotta a good coach who can recruit. I’m just thankful as UGA fan that we have not yet experienced what you guys or Florida has. Thankful for the consistency in our program even through coaching changes.
Scroll through the commitments. It’s a good class. Not a whole lot separating us from the top 5. Another 8 win maybe 9 win season w/out a GA State …. up and Pruitt will deliver a top 5 Guaranteed.
I worry more now about having my arse handed to me by Coach Pruitt and the Vols than I ever have worried about the Coots and the Leg Humppers.
Guys lets not forget that even our coach said we need to raise our expectations. Even he isnt too excited over 8-5 record. But we are for sure getting better and thats cause for excitement.