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National Signing Day Open Thread

Go Vols!

Hope the Otha Peters thing isn't over, and here's to landing another couple of studs today. Start whenever you like posting below.

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Those signed so far

Jason Croom
Justin King
Deion Bonner
Q. Watson
G. Bullock
LaTroy Lewis
Daniel McCullers

Also, strong news this morning that five-star WR Cordarrelle Patterson will wear orange. Stay tuned.

Looks like it's official

Per the WWL, though with the way things have gone the last few days, perhaps we should wait for confirmation that the name is, in fact, on the paper.

And possibly enrolled in class.

And maybe on the field for the first few games.

Got to get ready and head to work. You guys hold down the fort while I'm out.
Lookalike Kirven chose 'bama
apparently he told our coaches several days ago that he had eliminated Bama

which makes this one extra disappointing

Rivals reporting we held onto Gray
Actually it's a retweet of Paul Fortenberry

“Tennessee survives scare from West Virginia and keeps Daniel Gray.”

Cody Blanc tweeted that last night

I would’ve mentioned it if I’d known anyone was worried

I wasn't until Brad's post in another thread
I guess I'd gone to sleep by the time he posted it
Danny O'Brien's LOI is in

possibly the most important HS recruit in this class

literally, our first 4* HS DT recruit since Rolando Melancon and Donald Langley

I am not making this up

Oh Lord, I hope O'Brien turns out better than those two busts
yep

we have literally just not signed HS defensive tackles in the last half decade. I don’t remember the last one before them either, and they were in ’07. We just had a parade of JuCos and converted DEs. Maybe Mapu was the last one before them

Pig Howard LOI is in
Let's just hope he isn't a redux of the last smallish, speedster we got out of Florida

With a funny nickname

haha

I actually follow him on twitter. he’s not.

he can actually be pretty clever and insightful for a 17 year old

McCullers in now
biggest recruit in this class

no pun intended

hmmmm

I think pun was intended. :-)

I know the loss of all the LBs sucks

But we are getting a lot stronger at DL and in the secondary today. With young studs in maggett and Johnson, and smith moving into a stand up roll, maybe we will be ok

gotta think this might signal staying at 4-3 longer

but I guess it’ll depend on who moves positions

You can trim down DEs into OLBs and shift guys inside, too.

That’s on the S&C guy, but just because DEs are coming in doesn’t mean they can’t be OLBs.

yep

I actually think we’re pretty good on OLBs when we have DEs moving back, because we have several smallish DEs. it’s guys switching to ILB that I’m not as sure about

I'm more concerned about learning the position than the physical bulk.

ILBs make the D go.

I think AJ will be a star.

We just need to find a second…

yep

Christian Harris, please be all we hoped and dreamed.

(also, depth would be nice too)

Depth?

What’s that, again?

LADARRELL MCNEIL IS IN!!!!!!!

he was our biggest worry, along with Bourque, of being nabbed on NSD

He's a DE, right?
safety

smart and hard-hitting. Rivals has him as our best player in the class

Oh yea

What was I thinking

as Rucker said

the first clip on his highlight reel remains a must see

dude is a missile!
absolutely

I think he ended up our only Texas recruit, but we sure made one count

And not just a missile

A sticky one that doesn’t just fly by the target. He nabs him.

okay, that's 19 in. who's left?

is it Bowles and Bourque and the undecideds (Davis, Leggett)?

Davante Bourque is important for us

If he can’t cut it at RB, boom…we have ourselves a 4 star LB

only two faxes we're still waiting for (of current commits)

are Bourque and Patterson. Apparently Bourque is holding off until 7 PM for some reason?

C'mon Patterson

WWL did a story on you…send it in!

oh hey, Bama grabbed Dalvin Thomlinson too

how do they get ALL the good DTs

I don't know if I've mentioned this before

but I am just not very fond of that school in that state down south

I'll just leave this here

I don't want to get on memegenerator now, but if someone could give me a "THROW ALL THE VERTS", I'd be much obliged.
I like Holly's tweet on this subject:

Right here…

Assuming we keep bourque, and Patterson

How many spots do we still have? And who else are we waiting on? I can think of that DB we had in this weekend and the receiver who was down to us and wake…anyone else

assuming those two, we have four spots left

there’s Davis, who is now rumored to sign with Wake Forest but had looked like a Vol for a couple weeks, there’s Leggett, who is Vol or Marshall depending on grades.

some are still holding out hope for Otha Peters. That situation is weird. Rumors are that he liked the parties at Arkansas and committed without his parents’ approval, but that his parents also don’t want to just make the decision for him. Beniquez Brown is a long shot (presumed Mississippi State silent) but is announcing today. That other linebacker from Jacksonville (Cincy commit) will visit us over the weekend and make a final decision next week

Is the guy fro
Is the guy froM Jacksonville OLB or ILB?
rivals lists him at OLB

not sure if he projects elsewhere, but he’s smallish (6’1, 210) right now

I'm impressed with what the official site has done

That’s as classy as a fax cam is ever going to be. Dooley speaks at 4:30 ET

will be in class

hate Wednesday being my long day

They have a camera on the fax?
Indeed they do
That's so awesome

Is there any commentary, or just a live shot?

Linky

Here. Live shot with list of signees.

Just embedded in post up top
Leggett to Marshall
Ugh
it means we didn't want him

guess we just figured we couldn’t get him qualified

Yep

His grades must have sucked

he went to four high schools

mess

Patterson's "announcement" is apparently at 11:30 ET

so don’t freak out if there’s nothing official before then

247 has us 7th in the SEC, 15th in the country
15th in the country barely cracks the top half of the SEC....

Ridiculous.

Vols are 13th in Rivals, 5th in the SEC

but only the Gators are ahead of us in the East. Carolina 16, Georgia 19, Vandy 24

How are we ahead of Georgia?

They’ve landed some studs

not sure

on 247, UGA is #5, Florida #7, Carolina #13, all ahead of us. But we’re ahead of Arkansas and Auburn

The non-Otha segment of this class

is actually pretty good

non-LB segment

(with apologies to Justin King)

Does king play ILB?
he's an athlete

who projects at LB, but I’m not sure which type. option QB in HS

There's Patterson, officially
Cordy's fax is in
btw, on 247

5*, #1 JuCo prospect in the country

Where would Bourque play, if he signs with us?
RB

probably WR or LB if he doesn’t work out there

We could definitely use a good RB or LB in this class

Where have all the OL gone?

And now I have Paula Cole stuck in my head.
we really were only after DJ Humphries (who went Florida) and Andrew Jelks (who took the early playing time at Vandy)
I'm very interested to see how Vandy plans on playing 150 players at one time.
This
also, on this storyline

Jelks asked if he could come to the UT/Vandy game for his official UT visit. The week after committing to Vandy. We said no. He came on his own dime. I hope he had fun. Hahahahahahaha. Hahaha. Haha. Ha

They can try with Dooley next year!~!!!!1!!!

CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY
/trollgaze
//hatersgonnahate
///picturemetrollin

I thought they were very good with the maths.

They will figure out something. Perhaps involving clown cars.

They're lawyers and doctors

which are two groups of people I never trust to handle numbers.

Hmm… the lawyers could sue, I suppose. The doctors could go all Human Centipede. Would that count as only one “player”?

MOAR RECEIVERS!!!!!1
Otha is officially a Hog
also, he chose to attend school at Arkansas
Welp

Arkansas seems like a terrible place to me…hopefully Peters likes it

I read part of his decision

To go to Arkansas had to do with him hearing that Dooley would be gone after next year. The local media sure helped with this one. I like how Croom’s mom said she had heard that from a lot of places and just decided to call Hart herself to hear his thoughts. Of course what would you expect Hart to tell the parents of recruits. Either way we’ll be fine at LB as long as we can get some good ones next year. Anyone hear how Lathers recovery is coming along?

alright, I'm going to take advantage of a brief lull and hop in the shower

got classes all afternoon and evening.

I’m sure the world will fall apart in the next 10 minutes, so if it does, let me know

Shift-A

Are we doing well, or is Brad on watch?

Patterson is a huge get

everything else is what we thought it would be so far today, I think

There are 90 posts here, tops.

Use page down.

The vague white noise of the faxcam feed

is starting to lull me to sleep.

Missouri just signed the number one WR in ESPNU's rankings
God the SEC is just Getting better
Oh...right

I’m supposed to be paying attention to them now.

Yea, I was happy he wasnt coming to the SEC

Then I remembered

at this point....

it’s not that hard to believe that TAMU is in the SEC.

Missouri on the other hand…

Green-Beckham?

At least he didn’t go to Arky.
NEVER FORGET SLIGHT FROM 12 HOURS AGO

Khalid Henderson officially commits to Kentucky

I guess people weren’t exactly beating his door down once we pulled our offer

UK dead last in the SEC in Rivals' rankings

one four star, 20 three stars

A dead-last class averaging three stars?

Ladies and gents, the SEC.

15 3 stars

4 4-stars
1 5-star

And UT is somewhere between 5th and 7th in the conference rankings…

We have 10 four stars on rivals
I like the Scout rankings

makes a 5-star look better

Scout has consistently had us the lowest of all services

for the last several years

We have any RB besides Jill, Watson, and bourque?
nope

we asked Cross to look around

OH SNAP

SOMEBODY JUST PULLED SOMETHING OUT OF THE FAX MACHINE

Tennessee Football @Vol_Football

Anybody looking for a good deal on a cruise or maybe a magazine subscription? We can help you out!
Oh, my.

Fax spamming on NSD. It’s a wonder that hasn’t been thought of before.

/forgesLOIsforBama
//WhoisJohnGalt?
///SIXstars?

I should fax a LOI in for that mystery Sabres guy they "drafted" back in '89 or so.

Anyone else know what I’m talking about?

I remember that.

Not all the details, but yes.

Found it.

LNIKY

Apparently it was 1974, though.

By the way, the GM had an awesome hockey name.

Punch Imlach.

Rec'd for Ayn Rand reference.
Ah, FaxCam

there are now two faxes into the office that we don’t know who they are yet

THAT'S ... THAT'S OSWALD MACGYVERSON'S MUSIC!
What's their fax number?

…oh, no reason.

OH NO, FAX CAM IS DOWN!!!
WHY ARE WE HEARING PHIL FULMER'S VOICE?

IS THERE A COUP?

Damn you all for introducing me to fax cam

I NOW WAIT WITH BAITED BREATH

FaxCam is not equipped to handle this level of insanity
WE NEED SCREENSHOTS OF FAXCAM
WERE not going to able to COMPEETE in THE SEC

UNLESS we can CAM THE FAX
FAXES WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS, NOT PASSING LIKE A PAC-12 TEAM
CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

DOOLEY'S LOST THE FAX MACHINES, CLAAAAAAAY

Ima hang up an lisson.

so did two LOIs come in...or was that part of the technical difficulties?
Schroedinger's Fax.
Hooper's killing it today.
I know. I'm mad he's beating me to the jokes.
It's abstract submission day.

Always makes me a bit loopy.

Really? That sounds a bit

::puts on sunglasses::

recursive.

You. Me. Lady Vols game.

It must happen.

one was an LOI that has to be verified by compliance before they can announce it

one was spam, I think

Back to the previous point on Kentucky's recruiting

When we say they’re last in the SEC, it’s not one of those “14th in the SEC, 25th overall!” things. The Top 10 SEC schools are all in the Top 30 nationally in Rivals. From there though, MSU 35, Ole Miss 45, Mizzou and UK not ranked in the Top 50. Mizzou will rise with that WR signing though.

on 247

there’s eight in the top 26 (MSU is #26), and Vandy, Mizzou, Ole Miss, and Kentucky are all in the 40s

sorry, 10 in the top 26

forgot we had 14 schools

I'm enjoying 247s rankings

because Vanderbilt is dead last in them

Still, for a 14 team conference,

that means that you average one SEC team every four slots until you run out of SEC teams. That’s a really good mark when you have 6* BCS conferences and a few really good midmajors.

* 6 = 5, but still.

Vandy took a hit,

I’m crying my eyes out for them.

so that's pretty much the one commit they've been bragging about all year

well, that and good-luck-qualifying-Kimbrow

OH NO

Will Mr. Excitement cancel the limo celebration?

Surely. It's not like they won the super bowl or something
all they did was finished ahead of Kentucky and Ole Miss, a pair of teams with a combined SEC record of 1-15

oh. oh they didn’t finish ahead of either one? never mind then

I think Bourque is the only one that's committed but not yet signed for us
FAXCAM LIVES
Can someone get me hypnotoad eyes on this fax machine, please?
How about BattleToad?
Great game, Battletoads
This

is relevant

/click

//immediately close

/seesYouTubeinaddress

//fearsforjobsecurity
///waitsuntilhome

totally SFW
totally flags my cubicle for wasteful internet usage

I can keep up with this because I’m back to compiling and debugging, so I have a lot of wait-and-see moments, but YouTube is one of the sites that sets off alarms, even if it’s relevant to my research. I have to pick and choose my battles.

Hypnotoad will probably be up for the remainder of this signing day
There are definite advantages

to being underemployed.

And definite advantages to flexplace working.

VPN is modern day proof that God still wants us to be happy.

And definite advantages to college.
Yais.

That’s partly why I enjoyed staying in grad school for so long.

Grad school.

Sure you can say it’s for an advanced degree and education, but we all know why everyone really goes there.

Dangit, I told myself I wouldn't do this.

I have stuff to do today. And here I am watching a webcam feed of a friggin fax machine. #ifyourenotpartofthesolutionyourepartoftheproblem

AND IS PRODUCING PIECES OF PAPER THAT MAY BE FIVE STAR BEASTUDS

OR FREE PASSES TO DOLLYWOOD

WHY MUST YOU BE SO AFFORDABLE WITH YOUR DISCOUNT OUTLETS AND MASSIVE SALES, PIGEON FORGE
There's Bourque on the board
/traded to Colorado

//gets parade in Boston

Clearly we need more athletes with this name

can he bring Oates and Neely with him?

Herschy-derschy-doo isht der ver

Bourque Bourque Bourque!

woo!!!

everybody’s in!

Gribble says all UT commitments are now accounted for

Does that mean this is over?

Ha!

Quinshad Davis, at least

Davis choosing at noon

apparently, Vols, Deacs, and Heels all feel like they have a good shot.

and there’s that Bynum kid visiting this weekend

And now, the end is near...
What is the total count, btw?

For those of use playing the ‘minimal internet footprint’ edition at work.

21
remember when we were worried about having to grayshirt players?
that was BS

(before Santos)

even if we got both santos and peters

we’d still only be a 23

Thought we had a real shot at Kirven

with Davis that would be 25

not that long ago

we were leading for Davis and Kirven and everybody thought that Bullard had to count as part of this class

Davis is apparently announcing at 11:30

but most think he’s a wake lean

I will be on a bus to UNC at the time

hopefully Davis is not also on his way to UNC

i'd trade his committment for a ILB
official sight listing Bourque at 6-1

trying to making him look more like a running back

Fun fact: Who's the last 5 star QB we signed?
I've gotta say Jonathan Crompton
Crompton
Crompton was a four star on Rivals, I think
Tajh Boyd?

/trollgaze.gif

Jesse Scroggins?

/trollgaze.gif

Matt Barkley?

/youknowtherest

Jim Bob Cooter?

Not really, but I just wanted to type “Jim Bob Cooter.” And while he may not have been a five-star prospect, he had a five-star name.

I can't remember if Boyd was 5* either

but that never stood between me and a good barb.

Pretty sure he was
I think he was a 4*
Well, 5 on scout

anyhow

no one listens to scout about anything
I don't think Scroggins was a five star either

But like you said nothing should stand in the way of a good barb

How in the heck did that guy not play in '05?
Terrelle Pryor?

/gettingthehangofit

Could be

never happened – Rivals rankings only go back to 2002

Its in there
Chris Simms

/hatersgonnahate

Oh wait, is it James Banks?
Ding. Correct
Good ole James Banks

caught the hail mary in the Swamp and was the decoy that allowed CJ Fayton to catch the 4th & 19 at Alabama

thats the one when he fell down.right?
Alright just got out of class

Which fax are we anticipating from fax cam

FAX CAM FELL DOWN!

GET UP, FAX CAM!

GET THE TRAINER OUT THERE STAT!
WHY ARE WE RECRUITING THREE STAR FAX CAMS WITH NO HEART

WE NEED FIVE START FAX CAMS WHO BLEED ORANGE AND WANT TO BE HERE.

#TeamHangUpandListen

FAX CAM CAN'T GIVE UP ON THIS TEAM LIKE THIS!!!

WHAT IS THIS KENTUCKY?

I'm sorry that was much too soon.

I apologize.

The problem is we don't coach 'em up enough
Auburn has the best fax Cam in the counrty

But it cost them $200,000.

How did anyone miss this

RECD

Dude, you *don't* want to hang up and listen to a fax.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEFUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

In retrospect, I think dubstep originated from someone calling a fax machine.
Also, Joanna Newsom
That's the mating call of college football.
Ed Orgeron just got a funny feeling and he doesn't know why.
To Catch an Orgeron?
...wait, five *start* fax cams?

NuKeese transferred already, man.

If that had happened earlier in the day when things were more uncertain

it would’ve been much more dramatic

STOP FUTZING WITH FAXCAM
FAXCAM IS A FICKLE, EASILY BREAKABLE GOD
Josh Ward tweets

we’re going to get a walk-on spot from TE/LB Charles Folger from GA

Good to the last drop?
What is "Georgia's WR corps", Alex?
Way to earn that rec'.
alright, y'all

off to catch my bus to campus. should be able to check in for a half hour or so before classes actually start. fingers crossed for Quinshad

(also, one of the few moments I wish I had a smartphone)
It's totally worth it.

But it also means I don’t pay attention in class, like at all today.

As opposed to when?
Okay, okay so you got me there.

But usually I take some notes, there’s not even a slight chance of that happening today.

Okay so about 11 minutes in on continuos Hypnotoad.

I think that sound is telling me to kill everyone.

ALL HAIL HYPNOTOAD
Anybody got a video link for the Davis announcement?

/alreadynotworking

I'll take a video link to fax cam
http://www.utsports.com/signingday/
Kiffin with a recruiting violation live on ESPNU

or really, Shelley Smith with an assist – apparently Kiffin texted her this morning and said “We need to get Nelson”, which she just said on ESPNU

But now that he is at USC, he's just that lovable little scamp.

Not the epitome of all that is wrong with college football that he was in Knoxville. I have never seen ESPN do such a quick 180 on their attitude towards a guy.

Aw look at that lovable little scamp

With his cute little violations……..

Oh god it’s gotten to me. ESPN must have a Hypnotoad of there own.

ALL HAIL HYPNOFAVRE
ALL HAIL HYPNOTEBOW
I'll never forget when he headed to USC

The blithering toadies at ESPN actually used the phrase “He’s getting the band back together!” while breathlessly – and erroneously – reporting that Norm Chow would join them at USC. That jack wagon doesn’t deserve a “Blues Brothers” comparison. Unless it’s a comparison to the Illinois Nazis.

Yet more evidence proving that ESPN hates us.
Out of curiosity does anybody even go on 247Sports?
Well, I did when I had a free trial
Yeah

I use them like VolQuest – get on there and see what the mods are saying, that’s it

The UT site for signing day really needs to get a different symbol for who enrolled early.

When I see a red cross, I immediately think injury.

Umm I just clicked on our Rivals page to look at the recruits.

And it said “the selected team does not have a football program, please switch to basketball” I mean I know we’ve been down these past couple of years, but ouch Rivals.

Davis livestream, apparently:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/NCPreps

I mean, I can see people and hear noises...

but he could’ve announced for or against the Vols ten minutes ago and none of us would know it

Yeah, totally unwatchable lol
It's also really zoomed out and blurry.

I can’t even tell which table Davis is sitting at.

Blue hat
Heels it is
Yeah that's disappointing

Is that our first miss of the day though?

Well, Kirven, etc.

But really a pretty good day

We avoided the total meltdown

could’ve lost Bourque, McNeil, couple others…plus we got Patterson, who becomes the highest rated player in this class. Yesterday was a little sideways, but today is a good day.

Haha

I was about to write pretty much the exact same thing. We held onto everybody today. I’ll admit I was a little scared after yesterday.

he went UNC

I sit cursing across the street from UNC’s stadium

I'm really glad fax cam's available in HD.

It really makes that serial number pop.

When is next one?

Anybody know next player that has vols on the radar

Honestly, I think we're pretty much done today

Davis to UNC, so.

Good WR

Hard to get Davis to come when we already got WR’s on friend and good one’s in class. Wouldn’t expect him to come to knoxville. I like the class so far tho. I think our offense will be tough and hoping those new DB’s can do something

Yeah, I kinda thought the same thing

With this class we’ve already got the best WR corp in the league, pretty easily.

Dooley speaks at 430

We’ll have our podcast at 930

I'll be in class at 430

and on my way back from bible study at 930. I miss all the fun. I guess I can always listen later

Dooley's speech:
  • Really pleased
  • Class is awesomesauce
  • Couldn’t be happier
  • Excited to get ready for next year
  • Lots of work to do
  • SEC is stacked

In other words, it’s the same speech we’ve heard since these things have begun.

other teams [Arkansas] use hot sauce

we use character

Yeah I don't know how they could shake those speeches up though.
They could stump for unsigned players.

Anybody who is signed is here for good. Go after the procrastinators and make your case why you need them.

Also

Dave Hart and I have a great relationship

Workin like heck
behind the times
Yeah, I know.

I had just gotten so used to it.

#TeamNostalgia
I'd love to see Dooley throw it out there.

Maybe that can be the coach version of throwback jerseys. Throwback speeches

Hey, are we having a live thread for the Dooley presser?

If so, it HAS to be written up as the NSD presser drinking game. I think we have all the conditions in the comments.

(I’d do it if I were at home.)

I'm in class from 1:15 to 6:30 with a couple 10 minute breaks

so I’m out. but it does sound fun

so I think this confirms Baggett not being a big deal on the trail

#TeamHinshaw

Yeah, 4 top-50 WRs in one class

is pretty alright

Greetings from Tunica

Just popped on here to see if there was any good news, and got some when I heard about Patterson. Maybe we’ll finally be able to run decently, now that we’ll actually have some threats for Bray to heave it to downfield if opposing D’s put 9 in the box….

Anyhoo…off to get some food, then blackjack and poker. I’ll pop back in later to see what our final tally is…

GBO!

Morning All (West Coast Time)

I’m gonna start at the top, hopefully catch up with you all soon.

we've pretty well slowed down

all of our targets either have their LOI in, have gone elsewhere, or have said they’re waiting until after NSD

Looks that Way

I’m all caught up now tho.
Bummer on Davis, but great we held everyone and got Cordy

My name is Inego Montoya

rec'd, naturally

Who knew Who was worth 150?

Damn

Florida State got 3 of the tip 10 DTs in the country, including the top 2

Bet we're not half as upset as Florida.

/Somuchforrecruitingquarterbacks.

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