I thought this read in the Charlotte Observer was rather interesting and insightful: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/05/15/4912677/cleveland-hs-footbal.... Sterling Johnson, rated a 4-star prospect by the 247Sports Composite, tried to commit to Tennessee before committing to Clemson.
After deciding he wanted to play college football at Tennessee, the Clayton Cleveland High junior called the Volunteers on Tuesday to share the news that he was excited to be joining the program. But during the ensuing discussion, Johnson learned that Tennessee coach Butch Jones would evaluate him again if he went to the Tennessee football camp during the summer and might make an official offer then. Johnson promptly decided to attend Clemson instead.
"They (Tennessee) dropped it on me out of the blue," Johnson said. "Never a hint of this. I told them a month ago that they were my leader, and they seemed excited about me coming then."
Tennessee is on a recruiting upswing right now and it's apparent they're using some aggressive tactics (those not uncommon to other programs).
Comments
Similar to the QB battle we were in last year with Cornwell, Parks and Ford. Cornwell and Parks had commitable offers from VT but not Bama and UGA. Ford didn't have a commitable offer from VT until Parks and Cornwell had their other offers upgraded to commitable and left VT with their third option.
But the difference here it sounds was that the athlete didn't even know his offer wasn't committable. That's pretty bad. The guy is a 4 star too. Whats going on over at Tennessee?
Brick By Brick....We ruin young men's dreams!!!
It's starting to get ridiculous. According to their 247 pages, for the 2015 cycle the number of offers Alabama has given out is 183, Clemson 182, FSU 169, and Auburn 155. While I would understand the thrill of potentially playing for one of those schools, it would seem like unless you were the #1 rated prospect at your position you're a backup plan, why not look at other schools who give out half that?
I have a feeling a lot of these kids have adults whispering in their ears that they're the best thing since sliced bread, a sure lock to be a day 1 starter, and a future NFL draft pick. And I think these kids believe it, whether it's true or not.
No doubt that's the case a lot of the time, but it still isn't that difficult to look up their offer list and see 'X' college has offered 14 people at my position this year, while 'Y' college in the same conference has only offered 6. It just seems that at some point a coach at 'Y' or someone else would point this out as common sense that they may not get the playing time or exposure they envisioned.
I suspect part of the reason Tennessee was holding off on a committable offer was so they could do more evaluation. I know the guy is a 4-star DT recruit, but his athleticism screams OL to me. Watching him play, he's got great strength and does a great job at making plays that are coming straight at him. However, lateral quickness is a big weakness.