"Staying the course" isn't just a Phillip Fulmer catch phrase; it's his state of mind.
Through the good times and the bad, Tennessee's head football coach is predictably unflappable.
Ever the persuasive optimist, Fulmer, it seems, could convince economic forecasters that a pending recession is just a figment of their imagination or Republicans that the 2008 presidential election isn't a lost cause.
Fulmer doesn't admit to seeing problems; he professes to welcoming challenges.
So I wasn't surprised by some of Fulmer's answers when I interviewed him about UT's 2008 signing class.
Optimistic? That may be an understatement.
"I think we've got a good base right now and I am pleased with where we are," Fulmer said. "Got several things going on at the end. I think we have a chance to go from a good class to a great class."
That would be quite a leap. At week's end, Scout.com ranked UT's 2008 class as 53rd best in the nation and 11th best in the SEC. Rivals.com ranked UT 39th and eighth, respectively. That ranking hasn't changed much over the past two months but should improve slightly thanks to two commitments the Vols landed over the weekend.
Before UT landed Olive Branch (Miss.) High School linebacker Marlon Walls and Siegel High School defensive lineman Montori Hughes, it had been almost two months since the Vols had received a commitment from a high school prospect.
Fans can't solely blame Fulmer for the mid-winter sluggishness. When David Cutcliffe left his offensive coordinator post at UT for the head coaching job at Duke, he took two coaches with him, including recruiting coordinator Matt Luke. And no one can blame Trooper Taylor for leaving UT for a promotion at Oklahoma State.
It took almost a month to hire four replacements. In that time, the Vols didn't land a single commitment. That's no coincidence.
"It couldn't help but affect us a little bit," Fulmer said.
In that half-staffed time period, Fulmer relied on some ol' recruiting friends, including offensive line coach Greg Adkins and defensive tackles coach Dan Brooks, who have served as recruiting coordinators during their times at UT.
Defensive coordinator John Chavis, defensive ends coach Steve Caldwell and secondary coach Larry Slade all pitched in to keep from losing ground.
There's no question that UT lost out on some prospects worried about the coaching transition, but at least Fulmer didn't lose a commitment in the month where he was recruiting coaches as much as prospects.
"The guys that were here - the defensive staff and Greg Adkins and myself - we held on pretty good," Fulmer said.
Have no doubt, Fulmer wants a great recruiting class in 2008, but that's not all he was looking for when he hired four coaches: offensive coordinator Dave Clawson, receivers coach Latrell Scott, running backs coach Stan Drayton and tight ends coach Jason Michael.
"I think we've hired a really outstanding group of coaches that will certainly pay great dividends for us down the road," Fulmer said. "Short term, they've done a really fantastic job. Not only are they trying to help us finish this class, but helping us get a good start on next year's class."
Fulmer can't talk specifically about prospects, as per NCAA rules, but he's used to losing recruits. It comes with the job.
That was certainly the case last week when UT lost out on offensive lineman Kenneth Page from A.C. Flora High School in Columbia, S.C., and defensive tackle Brandon Thompson from Thomasville (Ga.) High School.
Both committed to Clemson. Fans fretted. Fulmer seemed unfazed.
"A lot of times when you start going out of state, recruiting the best players in other states, you don't get everybody that you go after," Fulmer said. "But we've always been able to get our share."
Fulmer's players are making it more challenging to get UT's fair share. The Vols have had five players involved in three incidents with law enforcement in a little more than two weeks. Fulmer, however, didn't seem concerned that the timing of the incidents could undermine UT's 2008 class.
"It doesn't matter whether that's during recruiting time or any other time," Fulmer said. "That's something (good behavior) we expect from our guys. We haven't had very many issues.
"We had a couple of things that happened there at the beginning of the semester by some guys making some poor decisions, but that happens all over the country when you're dealing with young people.
"That's just part of it. It's not something that you like. We don't accept that and we go from there."
Cool, calm and collected, even in the face of one of his toughest recruiting challenges.
Predictable? Perhaps. But that may be exactly what the 2008 signing class needs.
Dave Hooker covers recruiting. He may be reached at hookerd@knews.com.
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Comments » 94
redneckerson writes:
vol 1994's inside sources say Phil is surprised at the number of rejections. sphsvol, a major financial contributor, says his sources tell him to just wait .. we'll be shocked at the commitments who will defect and fall to the Vols on signing day. Even the inside sources can't get the story straight.
ATLVOL1 writes:
"good class to a great class"
Fulmer has something up his sleeve......other than a glazed from Krispy Kreme.
ATLVOL1 writes:
"good class to a great class"
Fulmer has something up his sleeve......other than a glazed from Krispy Kreme.
CoastGuardVol writes:
I promise you this, I have been at sea and been through storms that would make anyone sick. When the captain is on the bridge and looking optimistic then you know deep in your gut the storm would pass and the next port call would be cool like Sunday morning. Coach Fulmer knows what he's doing. I dont need sources to see that. I just listen to what the coach says. GO VOLS!!!
BigVolinCarolina writes:
Without trying to be disrespectful, I sure hope Coach Fulmer is "looking for a big finish" because we're going to need it. I'm always somewhat skeptical at the # of stars given to a recruit by a recruiting service since so many don't pan out.
Nonetheless, we lost a lot of momentum in December that can never be recaptured. In no way do I believe the ship is sinking, but if we don't have good class then it'll hurt us deeply in two or three years.
Assuming that you aren't bothered by 3-4 loss seasons, we don't need to have a great class this year, but an average class will kill us down the road.
If you want to see UT return to be a legit contender, then we need to close hard and get some guys on defense who can tackle AND get someone on offense who's a deep-ball threat.
vol4good#206163 writes:
Never Been on a ship, but I do know BS when I see--err read it. This article seems to have been written from the desk of Phil Fulmer. I do hope he has some rabbits up his sleave, but I also know that it's in the fourth quarter with 2 min left to play and TN is down by 21. Sombody better score and soon!
ATLVOL1 writes:
BigVol..we are final 2 for AJ ALexander....hes one of the fastest guys recruited for this year....maybe that will work out.
nicksjuzunk#646117 writes:
Nice one Hook. Opening the story with the Anti-Fulmerites all time most hated phrase. Way to set the mood.
volunteer_cowboy writes:
did we lose fowlkes to arkansas????????
rbatten9#231828 writes:
I am expecting some kind of not so 'great' class by the rivals and the scouts of the world. Due to the coaches leaving it tends to rock the boat a little.
Nice to know that NSD is almost here and I couldn't care less.
GerryOP writes:
Ahh, what?
dburgVol writes:
Great post CoastGuardVol, and thanks for your service in protecting our freedoms. Fulmer is no slouch when it comes to recruiting and he knows what he is doing, so you pessimists are gonna have your day until we sign all of the no.1 ranked recruits at their position and win the NC every year. You guys just gripe and moan about everything. Can't you wait until Feb. 6 to say all of the negative stuff instead of posting junk 24/7 before the class is assembled?
volunteer_cowboy writes:
the kid banneker the team mate of fowlkes commited to arkansas and arkansas is reporting they are in contention for fowlkes
PaulTheVol writes:
I never get to caught up in class rankings. Take a look at how many 4 star recruits end up being 1 star college players. Spurrier's classes at Florida were almost always outranked by Tennessee and Georgia and he did pretty well. Jim Grobe's classes at Wake Forrest are usually ranked 80 or below and he wins because he recruits the right players for his system and then develops them. The days when Tennessee can dominate the SEC in recruiting are gone. Just like Wake, the key is to recruit the right people and then coach them up.
Volunteerfan writes:
What's up Davo!!!
TommyJack writes:
Talk is cheap. Next thing CPF will say is "pull this finger".
newtonrail writes:
I'm not your biggest Phil Fulmer Fan. That said, these snide remarks on Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Fhat Fool, etc. are really out of line. He's lost over 50 lbs. over a year a go and has kept it off. As a former offensive lineman, I think he's in fair shape now. Look at everyone's' favorite Congressman, Mr. Shuler. He looks like he eaten every " rubber chicken out there."
volgrog#210164 writes:
Recruiting doesn't look great this year; however, my take is that with 29-30 on campus from last year and 2 coming back from suspensions, etc., we don't need a great class this year. We could get by on 15 and look for a big 2009 class. However, we do need to fill needs.
First, we need D-linemen and O-linemen in the worst way. It would be nice to have a quarterback that can compete in the SEC as well. It doesn't look like that will happen. It looks like we'll have a linebacker or two which is good and there may be a couple of quality D-backs as well. The kid from Toccoa (?) sounds like he's a good running back so that will help long-term.
movol77 writes:
"Tebow just scored."
With his roommate?
FWBVol writes:
I don't care how much video these so-called recruiting gurus watch or how much material they read, there's no way they can see all of the players so there's no real way for them to properly rank the players.
I saw Emmitt Smith play high school ball at Escambia in Pensacola. And despite all the records he set a lot of people questioned his size and speed. If I remember correctly, although he rused for more than 8,000 yards during his high school career, he was on the bottom of the top 100 list.
Athlon ran a story in this year's edition about the Top 40 recruits in 2002 and while Vince Young lived up to his No. 1 ranking, about half of them never lived up to the hype.
Phillip Fulmer has been in the football business long enough to recognize talent when he sees it. I put much more stock in the judgement of a coach that is also a former player who has been around the college game for 40 years than some football egghead that probably has never coached football and might not have ever played.
utmdm writes:
I am patiently (well trying) to ride this out and see if CPF and the crew pull out some of their last minute magic that we have seen before.
One item I cannot figure. Tennessee (state) is not known for it's recuit base and must depend on good recruters for its life blood. Recuits commit to coaches they connect with. Defense wins championships so we are told. How can we get to the glory land with a defensive coach that according to reports does not like to recruit or according to reports does not have the personality for recruiting? It would seem to me we are darn lucky to get the defensive recruits we do.
txsvol#372416 writes:
utmdm, what is there about Chief that you don't like? SAVol
SmokeDog72 writes:
I don't care what Fulmer has done in the past or what is up his sleeve. This class will not break the top 25. Bank on it.
oldorange writes:
In my opinion, Fulmer is at his best when he doesn't have a top 25 rcruiting class. It is always fun to see who comes to Tennessee on signing day.
99gator writes:
uhhhh.... come on guys....
schools with consistently high recruiting rankings win....they may not win the national title, but they win.
i saw another post that compared tenn to wake forest. are you serious? has that what it's come to?
look, in this article, i don't blame fulmer. what's he supposed to say....he doesn't like his commitments. but, they obviously missed on some people they wanted and are going for plan b and plan c guys. maybe they will contribute, maybe they won't.
you negative folks have no faith in the staff that they will. and you positive folks have no doubt they will succeed because they want to wear orange and have heart. well, how do you know they have heart. how do you know they wanted to wear orange? did they have other options.
another poster had it right. don't look at rankings of players. look at who's recruiting them. if usc, florida, georgia, lsu, oklahoma, ohio state, etc, are after the player....there is a good chance he is the real deal. if memphis, nc state, central florida, bowling green, and byu are the competition for the recruit's services....the kid is probably less of a safe bet.
lkilgore#237303 writes:
you know the fat jokes and comments are getting old. Look in the mirror. Which of you slander monkeys even gets off your a**. Get a new gig.
jimr07 writes:
Fulmers problem is that he did not consult touchdowntn. He should add him to the staff as coach know-it-all. I have never seen anyone that thinks he knows as much as this idiot.
paulvol writes:
I am OK with one or two unknown players in the star rankings as long as coaches are in a majority agreement that these players have real potential to be great down the road but not too early as we have just done. We also have to worry about such players wasting scholarship money being unqualified by their acedemic status even if they do turn out to be quality football players. Come on Fulmer, let's don't take any more unnecasary risks. Go after all the qualified players in grades and rankings all the way up to signing day. Then if you still need to find a few players to fill in the gaps it might be time to take a few chances.
AllVol writes:
Really. Phil is a good man and a good coach (if not a brilliant tactician). Shut the hell up.
Displaced_Vol_Fan writes:
As much as I hate to give credit to a Florida fan, 99gator may just be the most reasonable and level headed poster on here today. Sometimes, it's good to get the opinion of someone not so emotionally involved.
Oh great big orange vol above, please forgive me for giving any credit to a gator.
Just kidding 99gator, I really do appreciate your opinions and respect the way you conduct yourself on here. It's obvious that you enjoy discussing college football. You're always welcome here in my opinion (like you couldn't be here if I didn't welcome you). ;)
AllVol writes:
Not you, TouchDown. I meant about the fat joke phooey.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
All are welcome. Some diss star ratings,some embrace them. As 99gator said, you can't ignore that the teams that consistently get them consistently are top 10 teams 70% of the time.
Some (Fla,Ga, USC-at La) are in fertile ground. Others like the Vols are not. But what you shouldn't ignore is results. One top 10 in nine years. I don't like it anymore than anyone else. But its true. It can't be spun away. I'm not surprised that posters compare us to Wake Forrest. Look around, see where we are.
Remember, many looked on the Trojan Horse as a gift and not at who sent it. Clawson has a huge responsibility but Chavis has a near-unattainable goal. Shore this defense up with what you have. Good DTs are rare. Vols can take no days off this fall. Wish them the best. We must compete.
agentorange writes:
would like the interview without the beginning commentary. i can comprehend what Fulmer says without some mouthpiece like hooker telling me his impression of it.
cgbtn writes:
Dave, You need to stay out of the realm of politics. You know little about football, and I would imagine you know even less about economics and elections. However, you did make a couple of Hillary's talking points.
waterskier3#226480 writes:
average=average.... UT average losses over the last three years??? 4 I think that means we're average getting average talent......
if fulmer turns this into a great class than kudo's to him because that means he did all the work to regroup... if that happens i will not say anything about the past 3 seasons until the fla or ucla game next year...
the proof will be signing day... until then we can only speculate.
shopsports#273141 writes:
What is Chavis's problem? Who does he recruit? Why isn't he going out and getting the defense we need? What does he get paid for anyway? He has seemed jealous of the salary level rising on the offensive coordinator side of the line, but if he only "coaches", then he isn't worth more. Actually, he may be losing his worth at all.
shopsports#273141 writes:
BTW...Urbain is conveniently forgetting the rules in his zeal in recruiting. We could do that. After all, until Spurrier gets pissed off with others cheating, nothing will be done about it.
asleep#212036 writes:
Actually, a great class isn't even necessary for success. Out of the 20-plus kids you sign every year, only 5-8 of them will be true impact players down the road. Look at this senior class: only Ainge, Mitchell, Reynolds, Brown, Karl, Mapu, Young, and Hefney got considerable playing time. And you could certainly argue that Karl and Hefney are easily replaceable, so that's 6 impact players out of that signing class. Really about average for most schools if the rotation works out. Rivals rates the entire class, of which 2/3 will never really make a difference for whatever reason. As long as they sign 5 or 6 good players that meet their needs, the class ranking is worth nothing down the road. Go Vols!!!
jimr07 writes:
Kingpost--if you find this to be so boring, why do you log with that silly statemen, if you call it that, yawn. contribute or stuff it.
auttat writes:
KINGPOST, formerly jwraymond1, also VolCR, formerly CRVol...
Always a loser!!!
hueypilot writes:
Still remember when Johnny recruited that number one class early on in his UT tenure, that had nation's #1 recruit Lee Otis Burton, only four of those guys were still playing their senior year, and that was before the day of underclass NFL defections. It is not an exact science. Look at Josh Booty, Xavier Lee, the Sugarland Express, Marcus Dupree. The list could be a mile long. But we're still jawing about it. I guess recruiting season keeps our football juices flowing in the winter. And TD, aren't you even getting a little tired of the Foolmer quip? Very old.
RoyaltyVol#280778 writes:
I don't think coach Fulmer will pull a rabbit out of the ol' recruiting hat this year, maybe instead of 53rd in recruiting, we might finish 50th, but I'm believing this will be a bad recruiting year for the Vols, but with a solid season next year we will be right back in the top 10 in recruiting next season.
TommyJack writes:
newtonrail: Sooooo, it's ok to rag Heath, but not CPF. That what you're saying?
RoyaltyVol#280778 writes:
Some of Tennessee's best players have not always been 4 or 5 star recruits. The Vols will be fine!
icecream writes:
This is the one area of Fulmers job that doesnt worry me. I've seen him pull some big ones out at the last min more than once.
ATLVOL1 writes:
Lets all remember our boy John Crompton was the #3 Qb 5* recruit out of HS
Our Boy EA was 3* #26
Jakouri WIlliams #7 RB 4*
Arian Foster #69 3*
PureOrange writes:
I am as nervous as everyone else, but one thing which seems to be consistent in the recruits who comment (ones in the past and present) is that they appreciate people shooting straight with them. Tennessee has always been known for (from the words of the recruits) shooting straight with them. That may not work for some of the hotshots who want to be told how great they are and that they will play every down at whatever position they want to play, but it works over the long haul.
I think the new coaches will have a tremendous effect because of their enthusiasm and new ideas. May not be for this recruiting class, but the future with them is bright. They will make us proud this year with the players we have coming back, and they will load up next year.
Go Vols!
FatherVol writes:
It's the Internet's fault! What did we all do before we could join discussions such as this and spend our two cents worth on any topic we choose as if we are all experts. I know, I know, I'm as guilty as the rest, but I do believe the Internet has robbed us of some of the joy of facing each day with great possibility rather than being abushed by negative vibes almost as soon as we log on.
And, Mr. Hooker, you should leave political comparisons out of your articles.
bullfrog07 writes:
I'm sure glad we were able to beat out Tennessee State for the Seigel kid. May be a sleeper (hope so) but more than likely will never even start for us (wasted scholarship).
I sure hope we finish strong, this day an age you can't have bad recruiting years (like '06) or you'll get left far behind. That is the big reason so many Frosh played this year (don't get me wrong there talented) but the older players in front of them were not talented. Florida, Georgia, LSU (they don't have off years). Well but on the field they've accomplished much more than us over the past few years. So maybe we shouldn't expect Phil to compete with them since there at another level (there top 10 programs, we are a top 25 program this day in age).
Maybe one day Philly will get us back in the top ten but highly unlikely.
jsm67vol writes:
It doesn't seem this will be one of the best classes signed by far in the Fulmer era. sphs_vol I hope you are right in your predictions. I'm just glad that Fulmer is able to have a positive outlook on the challenges he faces. I think Fulmer has gone out of the family and hired the best possible coaches. That's what soooo many people on here wanted him to do. If they were able to sign 10 5* players in the next two weeks, some of you would complain about the one they didn't sign. Or you would complain about the all world athlete that turned out to be a bust. UT will stay in the mix every year for the SEC east because its the best damn conference in the country. I don't think GA,FL,USC or any other team can beat all their SEC opponents year in and out. As long as it stays this competitive you can expect to see a different team in the SEC game most every year. No one is good enough to dominate the SEC. Our chances will be as good as anybody elses.
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