Posted by smashmouth98 on April 9, 2008 at 10:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)

come up to knoxville we need you and you have the opportunity to play early!! Go VOLS

Posted by vtvol on April 9, 2008 at 10:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Come to UT. Fulmer will shoot you straight. That's something the liar in Tuscaloosa will never be able to do.

Posted by nicksjuzunk on April 9, 2008 at 11:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Ca-ching! Keep on workin' coaches!!

Posted by Indianavol on April 10, 2008 at 12:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Hopefully this kid will choose the Big Orange rather than the Cheating Tide!

Posted by bamacheats on April 10, 2008 at 1:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Hey Ming: Bama cheats!

Posted by Go_Joe_Bruin on April 10, 2008 at 1:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)

See ya' at the Rosebowl. Don't be fooled, we have a great non-conference home record, so our Bruins will show up.

Posted by nicksjuzunk on April 10, 2008 at 7:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Go_Joe_Bruin,

Welcome to the party. Pretty random place for you to post but oh well. What's the mood around UCLA about now? Are they feeling pretty good about next year or do they think they are two or three years away from making noise?

Posted by utfpmd on April 10, 2008 at 7:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Come to Tennessee and begin the Ming dynasty!
Emphasis on nasty, let's get some Al Wilson like attitude back on defense.

Posted by GreerVol22 on April 10, 2008 at 7:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)

bamacheats, clever dude.

Posted by jawbreaker on April 10, 2008 at 8:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)

"Ming the Merciless", Flash Gordon's archenemy, could enjoy rebirth in orange.

Posted by HotlantaVol on April 10, 2008 at 8:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Ming, don't be a Tuscaloser. Come to K'ville. Ming it on, baby!!

Posted by pdhuff on April 10, 2008 at 8:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Fulmer vs Satan. For Ming. Stay tuned.

Posted by DadwasaVol on April 10, 2008 at 9:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Bring it to Knoxville, dude. The situation here isn't as bad as these posters portray it to be.

Posted by AllVol on April 10, 2008 at 9:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)

What's your SEC home record? Add one resounding loss to it.

Posted by VenomousVol on April 10, 2008 at 10:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)

It will be near impossible to pry this kid out of Saban's clutches if he truly wants him. The pressure in Alabamastan is immense to stay home and play for the Tide, memory of the Bahr and $$$$.

Posted by pdhuff on April 10, 2008 at 11:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)

VenomousVol 10:54 - Dead on, people can say what they want to about Saban, but he is proving to be a tireless and effective recruiter. He is closing off Alabama much as R. Garner closed off Georgia. Once fertile fields are now barren, nearly.

The ante on recruiting has doubled in the last 5-6 years.

Posted by Brama on April 10, 2008 at 11:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I have talked to someone who knows his family & they say TN is a long shot. So don't expect to pull him from Alabama.

Posted by KingsportVol on April 10, 2008 at 11:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Ming come to Knoxville.Chinese food is better here than Bama.Go Big Orange!

Posted by abnermc on April 10, 2008 at 11:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Is this like bear times when he would pile up All Americans on the bench? How many so-called top picks can play @ one time?Surely they realize they can't all play.LOL

Posted by sjt18 on April 10, 2008 at 12:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)

pdhuff, I thought the same thing then used Rivals archives to look back over the past 5 or 6 years. UT hasn't had maybe 4 or 5 players from AL in that time. AL wasn't fertile recruiting ground for UT even before Saban.

Some of the names are pretty big ones over the course of time: Tee Martin, Swain, Sears, etc. But UT hasn't been dependent on AL at all.

The bigger problem with Saban is that he's been able to raid Tn even though the pickin's are already pretty slim.

FWIW, Brama is more than likely right. I'd read several weeks ago that Ming was more than likely just enjoying the process.

Posted by easton3 on April 10, 2008 at 12:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)

1st: This Saban is a liar thing is getting old. Many, many coaches have done the same thing(almost every year). The media took off with it because it was a NC winning coach(Saban) and ALabama. Petrino did way worse this year to the Falcons.

2nd: Alabama cheated. They have paid for it for 15 years and trust me, UT was one of the teams that got the biggest gain from it. We paid our price and those days are about to be over....better get used to it.

3rd: Forget about William Ming...ain't gonna happen. UT should worry about some of the very few awesome prospects that you have in-state like CB Eric Gordon and OT Austin Long. From what I hear from Andrew Bone, scout for Scout.com, Gordon and Long are very HIGH on Alabama.

ROLL TIDE !!!!

Posted by thesavageorange on April 10, 2008 at 12:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)

sjt18 ,I agree w/ Brama too.I've heard the same thing he heard.It would be like pulling an OSU family's son to Michigan.We are going to have the same problem w/ Davenport out of LA.

I think our best shots at DT are Darrington Sentimore out of LA,Dallas Lee out of GA,and Daniel Hood K'Ville.

Posted by thesavageorange on April 10, 2008 at 12:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)

easton3 ,A-lot of what you say is true.The reason I think most people bring it up, over and over, is b/c Bama fans come on here and blame UT for them breaking the rules.On Long and Gordon, I thing both are like Ming, just enjoying the process.I've said it before and I'll say it again, if I were getting the red carpet treatment,and hitting all of the different cities having a blast, I would take all of my visits tooEven though I knew all along I was a Vol.

Posted by straightshooter on April 10, 2008 at 1 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Yep, this fellow is likely a Saban recruit, just enjoying the limelight, praise and catering to he gets as he takes visits. Not much great talent leaves bama these days. With a smooth double talker like Saban at the state's home university with all its past history to pull off of, Fulmer being an informant to the NCAA of bama's illegal recruiting pratices still huge on their minds, bama is pretty much gone for UT to recruit in. What UT needs to do is work harder at keeping what few good blue chip recruits it has in state at home. And to work harder in North Carolina and South Carolina where they lost some solid prospects this past year which in previous years they had scooped up early on. And Florida with more talent than any state except possibly California, should also be a high priority.

Posted by General_Fritter on April 10, 2008 at 1:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Kingsport - you're killing me.

Posted by GreerVol22 on April 10, 2008 at 1:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Kingsport, Ainge likes Chinease food. His favorite dish is ....tho-wong-man.

Posted by sjt18 on April 10, 2008 at 1:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I think you are dead on with those three names savage. I saw some panic when UGA offered Lee but it seems that one is still no worse than even for UT in part because they offer earlier playing time at the position he wants to play- DT. UGA wants him primarily as an OL.

Any two of those three would be great coupled with the return of Cory Hall and Rae Sykes.

Posted by marc_ash on April 10, 2008 at 1:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I'm sorry guys...but Ming is not coming to UT. I hate to be a funsucker, but he ain't comin.

Posted by Bigger_Al on April 10, 2008 at 1:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I guess I'm just gonna have to say it.

I'm not going to be the Alabama coach.

Posted by sjt18 on April 10, 2008 at 1:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Long and Gordon-

I kind of disagree on that one savage. I think Long will be a Vol but I'm not sure how hard UT is pushing for Gordon. I know they've been in it with him since early on but UT is pretty well stocked at CB for the next 2-3 years.

easton3/savage- fwiw, if I were a recruit already settled on UT or Bama... may other trips would be to Texas, Miami, USC, Hawaii, Tulane,... places like that.

Even though these kids might be leaning to varying degrees, there's always a possibility when they're visiting so close to home.

Posted by sjt18 on April 10, 2008 at 1:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Recruiting played a role in hiring the O staff too. All of the southern states are becoming tighter due to coaching upgrades. The new guys have history and connections into the Carolinas, Ga, and Fl but their connections to Va, Pa, DC, Md, Oh, NY, and NJ might be more valuable over the next several years.

You have to figure that alot of the better talent from that area would like to play against the best in the SEC.

Posted by marc_ash on April 10, 2008 at 1:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)

You want to do what is best for your goals (and those are all different based on the individual). I think you can take a lot out of what someone says. Generally, they tend to say the things they really mean last. For example, "Yea, I am glad you have been taking out the trash for the past 3 days BUT...I wish you would take it out every day."

Ming is no different...he will base his decision (as will everyone) on whether or not each place meets his needs for the future. My guess, he'll be a Bulldog.

Posted by orangebloodgmc on April 10, 2008 at 1:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Hell, Saban won't be at Bama by then, any way. The only other liar as bad as him would be Tuberville, when at Ole Miss, "I am not talking to anybody about going any where else," and a week later he was at Auburn. But, if your world is only UA and AU, I could see how you would say, "Everybody does it." Ming, you better get everything in writing and notarized!

Posted by easton3 on April 10, 2008 at 1:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Bigger_Al....What would you expect him to say while he is coaching another team? Yeah, I'm leaving the losers behind to take the Bama job.

By the way, Saban turned down the Bama job and Bama offered it to Rich Rodriguez and he came real close to accepting it. They went back to Saban after the NFL season and he had changed his mind. What's the big deal? He sure didn't leave his team high and dry in the middle of the season like Petrino did. Saban had about a month and a half to recruit for Bama that year....he showed his loyalty to Miami, not Alabama. You have seen what he can do with a whole year to recruit. Petrino showed his loyalty to Arkansas, not the team that was paying his salary.

As far as Long and Gordon go, Andrew Bone has talked to them both and he said Alabama is in the lead for both of them. Long is a fan of Alabama and I think I read that in an article on this site.

ROLL TIDE !!!!

Posted by sjt18 on April 10, 2008 at 2 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Really marc? I don't think Ming will get out of Alabama but if he does I think he'll follow Brown to UT. Where did UGA get into the conversation?

Posted by KingsportVol on April 10, 2008 at 2:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Good Stuff General and Greer.Tho-wong-man is classic.He must be kin to the chinese guy my sister married.
One-hung-lo.

Posted by thesavageorange on April 10, 2008 at 2:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)

sjt18 ,The ony team offering Gordon outside of the south at this point is Oklahoma.For long it's Michigan.Official visits are paid for ,but unofficials aren't.If they wanted to go to USC,Hawaii etc...it would be at their expense.

2 days ago Long said on rivals.com that he didn't have an early favorite.He is friends w/ Barrett jones and I think Bama has as good of a shot as anyone.

Posted by sjt18 on April 10, 2008 at 3:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)

FWIW, there are several guys I've seen that I'd rather see UT get. Harris for one.

Of those two, I still think UT will make the hardest push for Long.

Posted by mcbrim1998 on April 10, 2008 at 3:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)

As winter will descend upon Knoxville again this weekend, here is something you can tune in to and really enjoy.

http://www.gatorzone.com/story.php?id...

Posted by thesavageorange on April 10, 2008 at 3:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)

sjt18 ,You talking about Andre Harris, the 6'4 342lb G out of Hamton GA?I like him a-lot too.The guy I would probably like to get the most is Morgan Moses the 6'7 332lbs tackle from VA.He has known Scott and Clawson for a few yr's, so hopefully that will help.

Posted by GreerVol22 on April 10, 2008 at 4:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)

mcbrim,
looks like a lot of fun. Unfortunately, with ESPN and UT, its bad news or no news. Heck, they even dressed up a former lady vol basketball player in Cardinal red and had her pick Stanford to beat UT in the National Champ game Tuesday.

Anyway, have fun with Corso and the lovefest. Maybe I'll tune in to see Kirk and Tebow play "pitch" and "catch".

Posted by easton3 on April 10, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)

No kidding GreerVol22.

ESPN made fun of the 92,000 Alabama fans that showed up for the A-day game last year. Now they are covering the Florida spring game....what gives?

ESPN, the most biased sports journalists there are.

ROLL TIDE !!!!

Posted by pdhuff on April 10, 2008 at 7:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)

sjt18- thks for the memory. One of my top 3 all-time Vols, Tee Martin. I believe he was from the projects in Mobile. What a gamer!

Kills Big Fletch who is a Peyton man when I ask him who wears the ring. For those of you who have forgoten nearly 10 years ago, Tee took us to the promised land. What a strider.

Speaking of recruiting bases, we're getting hemmed in all across the South. We need inroads into Pa, Va and Maryland. Texas would be huge.

Posted by Go_Joe_Bruin on April 11, 2008 at 1:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)

nicksjuzunk,
The Bruin fans are pretty excited that we have pretty good coaches now, and our best recruiting class in several years. However, we still do not have a proven QB, and most of our starters are gone.

There will be about 8 of us going to your home turf in 2009.

Posted by JWilly on April 11, 2008 at 10:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Personally, I am worried more about Auburn and Florida as early season games (I'm not very worried about UCLA)than I am about early recruiting maybe's. The Vols lose those two SEC games and the season is in the crapper before October. Then what happens to recruiting (see 2007 recruiting)?

Posted by skinalive on April 11, 2008 at 1:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Saban's gonna leave a bunch of recruits high and dry in a year or two when another of his "dream" jobs comes open.

How can anyone take his commitment to being a long-term coach at Obama seriously?

Posted by abnermc on April 11, 2008 at 3:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Mcbrim,ESPN wanted to be w/ Gaytors in Atl. but couldn't find meyer there in Dec. Next best thing is spring game I guess.

Posted by easton3 on April 11, 2008 at 4:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Saban has had 4 Head coaching jobs including the NFL job. Lots of college coaches try the NFL and then decide they would rather be in college coaching.
There was just a big article in one of the Alabama newspapers where he was interviewed, and he said his wife and family were happy and he wanted to end his career at the University of Alabama.

I understand how this might scare you....it should, but don't be a schmuck and believe all the biased media hype. Do some research. Wayne H., owner of the Miami Dolphins said he begged Saban to leave LSU and coach the Dolphins. Wayne H. said that Saban told him if he wanted him to stay with the Dolphins, he would. Saban's wife and family were not happy in Miami. Why would Wayne H. take up for him if that wasn't true? Arthur Blank(Atlanta Falcons owner) sure is heck didn't say any type of stuff like that when Petrino left.

He's not the liar you goofs keep saying he is, and frankly, it makes you look stupid. Do your homework.

You got another tuff coach to deal with....deal with it.

ROLL TIDE !!!!

Posted by skinalive on April 11, 2008 at 9:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)

easton3,

This is a Vol board. We friggin' hate 'Bama. It makes you look stupid to post on here and cry about a team we hate and try to make us see some good in them or their coach.

Saban is an opportunist. Period.

Of course we know that most people would prefer living in Tuscaloosa, AL over Miami, FL. Who's the idiot? Sounds like Saban's wife is the idiot.

Posted by easton3 on April 11, 2008 at 10:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I live in Tn. This article is about an Alabama kid.
By the way, An Alabama kid you will not get.
You are the one that sounds like an idiot. He is a great coach, that is the only evidence anybody has.
You don't know if he is an opportunist or any other thing. All I said was look at the facts, something of which I guess you refuse to do.

You saw all you needed to see on the box with the colors where the people talk to ya.

ROLL TIDE !!!!

Posted by SmokeDog72 on April 12, 2008 at 1:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I have a favorite Chinese joke......

How do you say constipation in Chinese?

"Hung Chow"