Offensive tackle Marques Pair, 6-foot-6, 255 pounds, from Sumter (S.C.) High School has committed to play football for Tennessee.
He was the second prospect to commit on Monday, joining offensive guard Zach Fulton from Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Flossmoor, Ill.
More coming on GVX and Wednesday's News Sentinel.
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Comments » 86
Huttdawg100 writes:
sweet!
JBVols1698 writes:
looks like zach fulton was right when he said there would be some more verbals after his? nice.... right where we need the commits to be too.
1stPoliceJustSayNoToPosting1st writes:
Bulk up bro!
VolFanNC writes:
I am starting to feel better about OL next year. If we can land James Stone and one or two more we will be set on OL for next years class. Just need to bring in Scroggins, Rettig, or Lamaison and start getting some WR's.
TD_4_UT writes:
If this guy puts on about 25 pounds and hits the weight room, look out! At 6'6 he will be a force on the OL! Keep'um comin!! GO VOLS!!!
gbeejr#1354500 writes:
How did this kid not play de? Looking at him and using just the eye-ball test he reminds me more of a de than a ot. Whatever, he'll grow to 300lbs anyway so no problem. Sure like how we're addressing these positions of need. Hopefully we'll get that qb before long.
Bloodrunzorange writes:
CLK and crew raking in the talent! Go Vols!
givehim6 writes:
Ok JS were getting your offensive line beefed up for you, come on.
JBVols1698 writes:
there are 2 more OL who will commit on back to back days followed by Scroggins committing on Friday... wouldn't that be great!
Volunatic writes:
I noticed they listed Fulmer's record as 153-51. They must be counting the vacated loss to Bama as a win, I guess.
His actual record should be 152-51 since '05 was just a "vacated" win by bama and not a "forfeit" (it should be a "forfeit" though, IMO). That's still really good, but not quite 75%.
Volunatic writes:
I like the way you think.
That would be a great coup for Kiffin and Co if Scroggins turns his nose up at offers from SoCal and uf and chooses Tennessee.
GO VOLS!
StroVol writes:
Jesse stop screwing around!
Munsterlander writes:
Welcome Marques! Go Vols!
99gator writes:
i asked yesterday how the class is shaping up compared to a typical phil fulmer recruiting class.
the reason i asked is because (based on ratings), most of these recruits are in line with the kind of talent that fulmer had been bringing in (unless i am mistaken)
what that tells me is either (a) you already trust these coaches ability to evaluate talent better (b) you already trust these coaches to develop talent better, or (c) both.
the reason i say this is because i think some of you would have been howling about a 3 star recruit being accepted so quickly if fulmer were still the head coach. or a 3 star recruit being accepted as a commitment without other big time schools pursuing the same player.
is anyone disappointed with the catch so far, about what you expected, or exceeds your expectations?
just curious
rdgshackelford writes:
about time we nabbed a tackle. next to qb it is by far our weakest position as far a depth is concerned. i am impressed that CLK has added 3 olinemen to this young class even as UT's qb future hangs in the balance
JBVols1698 writes:
Kiffin out recruited Florida for the 09 class and only had 3 months to do it.
kiffownsfla writes:
Lets start with work ethic and disipline one article stated that the strength and conditioning was being held by upper classmen now umder fvlmer i would say some but this would normally be rest time. so I think I just ansxered your question and 2 or 3 star throw in good once again work ethic and teach them disipline and with some decent coaching you can make a good team 99 so to answer youq question that would be C! plain enough lol! GO VOLS!
TD_4_UT writes:
99 I think it meets expectations because Kiffin has already said that his recruit's would not all be household names or 4 or 5 star player's. He is recruiting to his system. If the coaches evaluate and think they fit, I'm happy. I also think they will be coached better, how many times have we seen non-existence of player development under Fulmer. JMO
olozbal#646632 writes:
Good points 99gator, the obvious fact is most of us have decided to have faith in this coaching staff until proven otherwise. The reason why I don't care about stars on the recruiting boards is because of Coach O, who seems to be unanimously declared an excellent judge of talent. If he picks these folks then I see these as gems.
The fact is, all objective signs point towards this program being on the way up (top 10 recruiting class, grades going up, no arrests this year, renewed work ethic out there etc.).
And if history holds true, UF peaked last year.
CheckerboardPhilosopher writes:
http://www.3sib.com/2009/06/29/more-b...
tums writes:
These stars you speak of are just preliminary. These players haven't even played their senior seasons yet. There are always a lot of changes and stars added after their seasons are over and during the big recruiting period next winter. Players dont normally go down in ranking. Getting good lineman and players now just means they should be moving up. But after the 2008 recruiting class, anything looks good.
DC_Vol writes:
Come on 99,
I usually enjoy reading your posts, but sometimes you like to passive/aggressively imply the Vols are exactly the same with Kiffen as they were with Fulmer. Quite honestly a pushover for Florida every third week in September. With the wealth of NFL coaching talent we have in our arsenal,(probably the best assitant coaching staff in the country top to bottom), you will see us recruit top ten classes year in and year out. We will begin to compete with Florida in the near future, which we had not in past with Fulmer.
First of all, Lane Kiffin accepted the UT job (I believe mid December) late. With his incredible coaches recruting for us, we were able to turn the class into a top ten class with two five star recruits and nine four star recruits. In addition, we signed the number one player in the country Bryce Brown and we stole Nukeese Richardson from Florida. I guarantee this doesn't happen with Fulmer. Fulmer's last recruiting class for the University of Tennessee was four four star recruits and several two star recruits. The class I believe was ranked 37th in the country. These stats clearly show the change and current emphasis on recruiting.
99, we are just trying to enjoy the good news coming from our great Knoxville journalists. Let us enjoy the good news without always surreptitiously implying nothing has changed in Knoxville or that we are not better off with our new coaching staff. The fact of the matter is our new coaches are more aggressively pursuing recruits than our previous coaches. I know this just by reading the articles on recruiting for the past five years.
CLEMSONVOL716WASBANNED writes:
99,
You make a good point, if CPF was still here, I would be extremely worried about our recruiting. I think CPF tried to find players who were highly rated and then we had to hope they could play SEC football.
I believe our current staff is looking for potential in their recruits instead of how many stars they have or what other schools have offered the kids.
If a player has potential, then he can be coached up. I, for one, believe this staff will recruit potential and not rating *'s.... then they will coach up the talent and make them into what the VOLS need to become a succesful team.
99gator writes:
i am not implying anything.
i don't know at this point if the problem was the groceries or the chefs there at tennessee.
i thought the problem was mainly the players.....but, then you read things about players working hard in the offseason or other things and it's like it's a new concept.
florida has players who have ratings that aren't stellar too. i've gotten to the point where i believe if meyer wanted to sign grandma moses to a scholarship, then grandma moses is probably one hell of a football player.
i don't know much of anything about most of the guys who are committed to tennessee. for all i know, kiffin is assembling the greatest football talent in the history of college football. so, i am not trying to imply that he isn't being successful. how would i know?
GerryOP writes:
99, you pose an interesting question!
Short answer: c
Long answer:
Only two things are really important.
1) The product they put on the field. Wins against WKy and UCLA and a good showing against Florida and Alabama are mandatory. If this happens, there is no question about how fast kids will line up to commit. Interestingly, I believe that Crompton holds the key. If he excels, it will speak well for the program and Kiffin & Co's ability to develop talent. If Crompton fails....
2) "Rock-solid-verbal-commits" 7 months before NSD are worth the paper they are not printed on. This time of year a lot of kids are experiencing the exhilaration of being "wanted" and fall in love quite easily. As time goes by, they wake up one morning and see what they have done, and, well ... we've all been there!
This recruiting stuff is interesting in that we get to learn about Class of '10 talent and it gives some idea of what is coming. Plus, as someone pointed out above, in the next 4 months some 3*s will become 4 and 5*s and some 5*s will become 2 and 3*s. "Rock-solid-verbal commits" get press. Real press coverage comes Feb 3, 2010 and the days thereafter.
67 -- Fear The Kiffin...
VOLinDAWGland writes:
The problem I was seeing with Fulmer versus Kiffin's staff is that Fulmer seemed to just be winging it in recruiting. He pulled in some high ranked classes, but there didn't seem to be a system strategy other then Chavis' on defense for the type of athlete they wanted for a given position.
Kiffin's team seems to have a very clear idea of what system they're going to run and the type of players they want for that system and the players they are targeting and rejected last year appears to support the strategy.
As an example, the new interim tackles, Hood and Douglas, and these new recruits all fit the faster, more athletic linemen that Kiffin wants. These are long, athletic prospects with frames that can easily hold 300 lbs with a year or so of D1 weight training and still be quick and athletic.
Also coaches like Gran and Orgeron have very specific physical and character traights they look for and these guys are proven talent evaluators and developers.
We'll see but I don't think looking at stars and rankings tells the whole story. Do the athletes match the system? Are they the type of character that the coaches beleive will respond to their coaching.
Over a few years it will be interesting to compare the whiffs and washouts of this staff versus Fulmer's. The 'highly ranked' 2005 class have not produced many productive players which is a direct contributor to our recent struggles.
That all being said, it is waaaaaayyyyy too early to compare Kiffin's staff to Fulmer's as this staff has not had the luxury of at least one full recruiting cycle yet and we aren't yet able to judge what they do with the talent that they recruit.
Let's have this discussion again in 2011.
montanavolfan writes:
Nicely said.....
kwlightmin#206976 writes:
My problem with Fulmer had nothing to do with recruiting. I do place some stock in what Rivals and Scout think and Fulmer seemed to always have a great class (generally top 5). My problem was that over the last few years, he and his staff were having difficulty developing the nation's top talent. There is no excuse not to win SEC titles and compete for national titles with the talent level that he was able to recruit. Not only was he having difficulty developing talent, but the game plans had become too predictable and vanilla.
OrangeMandM writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
vols615 writes:
Keep them rollin in kiffin, we we will be back to the ship as soon as we know it! Go vols!!!! Can't wait til season
UrbanCryer writes:
99,
i think most UT fans are willing to put thier trust in the new staff.(what choice does a diehard vol fan have?) they are all proven at the college level. however, commits right now mean NOTHING. they still have to sign on the line. then come in and develop into college players. not all 5 stars work out in college and not all 2-3 stars are "scrubs" at the college level. kiffin has put his trust in coach O. say what you want about coach O but the man knows talent. hes not quite head coaching material but he can judge talent. See ole miss last year and probably this year(his players with a better h.c)
CharlotteVol writes:
Where you describe Florida is exactly where I am in rating Kiffin's recruiting thus far. I don't care if every player is a 4* or if we have to beat a top-tier school to get him. I've said before on here, anyone who judges the quality of a recruit by the other schools recruiting him just does not understand football.
While it is waaay too soon to know if we have improved in our recruiting over the days of Fulmer, from my perspective it seems like Kiffin is recruiting within a framework that I am comfortable with, and that is a combination of size and speed on the lines, and an emphasis on speed at the skill positions. To me, the most important intangible to have in the SEC is speed. Just look at your Gators and LSU, arguably the top two programs in the SEC over the last 5 seasons.
GerryOP writes:
kwlight, to add to the equation, in the later years Fulmer had his best recruiting successes when he convinced "mom and dad" that he was going to take "good care" of their boy. This could have resulted in Fulmer recruiting the good but possibly "parentally protected" kid. The "big ol' nasty" kid went elsewhere. This approach to recruiting created problems once the kid arrived on campus. The "good kids" started experiencing a new sense of personal freedoms and sometimes became undisciplined and got into trouble ... both in the classroom and off campus. Dare I suggest that maybe Fulmer knew he could not control the "big ol' nasty" kids and therefor shied away from recruiting them? The few who slipped through did not last long at UT!
This discussion in no way forgives Fulmer's seeming inability to develop talent. You might recall that for several kids their best year was the 1st year that they really played much. I think we saw this with Crompton and Franklin in particular. A couple of the recent RBs also.
67 -- Fear The Kiffin...
NoChildLeftaDime writes:
Interesting comments and nice pick of topic 99Gator. Good to see all the adults on the board today.
flyTNguy writes:
In addition to all the other responses to your post, I believe it's important to mention that most of Fulmer's recruiting classes didn't come after a 5-7 season...
CharlotteVol writes:
Very subjective...
Has anyone ever studied how players coming out of high school with 4* and 5* ratings actually play in college? And vice-versa, how many college all-conference and all-americans come out of high school rated 3* or below? Would be an interesting read...
n2thecheckerboards2 writes:
Bring him in!!!
brmvol#231732 writes:
Guess he wanted to do something other than pump gas after college.
TommyJack writes:
The days dwindle down to a precious few for you, mope. Bring on the IGNORE button.
hotrodvol writes:
Bob, that's a good point. With the talented D-Linemen UT had at their camp, the coaches got to see which O-Linemen made the cut. I read on another site where O.C. Brown didn't perform as well, and that the coaches cooled on him a bit.
Brentwoodvol writes:
You have a really good post. The biggest difference I see is the camp. CLK and crew have seen these kids play not just film or HS game. So I would guess these guys know what they are doing. I also think we need to trust them cause we don't have a track record to go on.
NobodyCares (Inactive) writes:
What means:
BWA...HAA...HAA.....
Is that a gay gator mating call?
NobodyCares (Inactive) writes:
Please, take your juvenile insignifcant drivel elsewhere. You rapidly become boring.
With posts like this, no wonder these punks are not allowed on other more tightly controlled boards.
I wonder if KNS is considering implementing a poster moderator function like they have on VQ?
notoriousBIGorange writes:
Fulmer was a good man and a great coach (who did beat FLA), but the caliber of play in the SEC has risen dramatically since CPF was first hired. After Cutcliff left, I knew CPF's future depended on his hiring the right OC...of course he didn't and paid the price for that mistake. If he had hired a moderately successful OC, CPF would probably still be the HC.
As for CLK, unlike Fulmer he has guaranteed his success by hiring an all-star staff with the best recruiting in the country. All of the name calling and sarcasm about the Raiders will not change the fact that you know CLK will be successful and that TN is once again a power in the SEC! GO VOLS!!
hotrodvol writes:
That's a good point also, but you would have to do the %'s because there will be more 1*,2*,and 3*s than 4*,5*s. There is more 1*s than 5*s, but you would want to take your chances with 5*s, right?
GerryOP writes:
67 -- Fear The Kiffin...
hotrodvol writes:
BigMan, I hope you're right,from what I've read it's his dad that needs recruited to the VOLS, because he wants Scroggins to play at home. USC can recruit very well also, so this has to be a fight for our coaching staff.
kiffownsfla writes:
Yovr a stupid son of a gun ill give u that ! GO VOLS!
volsmith writes:
I'm wondering the same thing. So far, the class is looking no better or worse than what Fulmer brought in, going by the rivals and scout star system.
the10sevol writes:
m and m, what class is grayson, '10? 11?
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