You heard it here first...

[Ironlung]

Assume what you want, if not for the coaching staff turnover Thomas would have went to UT more than likely. I'm not saying it was a 100% certainty, but I think it was more than 50/50. It's not a bad thing, VT got a good one. I'd rather lose the coaches than gain a great player. Believe what you want, I'm just going on stuff that he and his family said.

[imported_fatboy]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: vthokie22</div><div class="ubbcode-body">the popular opinion of VA's top 5 has been

1. Morgan Moses - uncommitted but will never qualify
2. Logan Thomas - VT commit
3. Kevin Newsome - 2-way battle between VT and PSU
4. David Wilson - VT commit
5. Tahj Boyd - UT commit

and i'll go ahead and stop you with Thomas too...UT wasn't ever a serious player for Thomas...all through the summer (when there were no coaching staff problems at UT) it was a 2-way battle between VT and UVa...UVa fell off at the end and FSU and UNC both climbed into the race

as a matter of fact UT wasn't in Thomas' final 5 teams which he had scheduled trips to on Oct. 13, when Fulmer was still coach at UT

so you have Askew and Boyd, i'm not sure who the third prospect you're counting is, maybe DeAntwan Williams I'm not really sure...either way we can break down possible prospects that UT is recruiting or could land in VA

Morgan Moses - as i stated earlier, he will never qualify and VT stopped recruiting him a long time ago

Tahj Boyd - VT recruited sparingly before deciding to throw all their eggs into the Kevin Newsome basket at the end of this past spring before Boyd committed to WVU, Boyd opened it back up and VT didn't recruit him

DeAntwan Williams - VT wanted one RB with this class and did not like the height issues with Williams, and chose David Wilson, have not recruited Williams seriously since last winter

Jerod Askew - VT did not even offer til late summer/early fall in order to keep good relations with coaching staff at his high school...not saying VT wouldn't take the kid if he had wanted to come to VT, but VT had players they liked just as much who reciprocated the interest

Damien Thigpen - VT led early on in his Soph. and Jr. years, but when Ryan Williams committed to VT last year he said he didnt want to sit behind him anymore and wanted to go somewhere else since he sat behind Williams for 3 years

Logan Heastie?? - VT was not taking any WR's with this class b/c we signed 9 last year


bottom line, VT signed twice as many prospects last year from Eastern VA as UT will have on their roster next year, assuming you land everyone you think you might </div></div>

You don't even want to pretend to get in a knife fight with vthokie22; he will unleash a pair of machetes on you!...this hokie knows his stuff!

[plantsman]

The way the Hokesters have played this year, they can have all the VA rejects. They can sign with VT and become part of the perennial Beamer flubber! lol

[gcdevil22]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Ironlung</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Assume what you want, if not for the coaching staff turnover Thomas would have went to UT more than likely. I'm not saying it was a 100% certainty, but I think it was more than 50/50. It's not a bad thing, VT got a good one. I'd rather lose the coaches than gain a great player. Believe what you want, I'm just going on stuff that he and his family said. </div></div>

it's not an assumption...he is a VT commit, and was a VT lean from day 1...it would only be an assumption for a school who was never in the running to make up "what-if" scenarios and say they would have landed him...*ahem*

[UTVols2]

To add just a little bit more fuel to the fire and also you have to consider the source but one can dream. This is what wikipedia now says about Lane Kiffin on his page.

"On November 26, 2008, sources close to the University of Tennessee program revealed that Kiffin had accepted the head coach position at that school and would be announced as such at a press conference on Monday, December 1. Additionaly with the development of Kiffin to Tennessee, USC QB commitment Matt Barkley will visit Tennessee the first weekend of December sources close to Kiffin have said."

[greencrest1272]

As a long time Vol hater, Kiffin coming to Knoxville is quite worrisome.

[Biggin]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: vthokie22</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Ironlung</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Assume what you want, if not for the coaching staff turnover Thomas would have went to UT more than likely. I'm not saying it was a 100% certainty, but I think it was more than 50/50. It's not a bad thing, VT got a good one. I'd rather lose the coaches than gain a great player. Believe what you want, I'm just going on stuff that he and his family said. </div></div>

it's not an assumption...he is a VT commit, and was a VT lean from day 1...it would only be an assumption for a school who was never in the running to make up "what-if" scenarios and say they would have landed him...*ahem* </div></div>


god you're pretentious

you're the only one assuming that the situation would have not been different if the UT staff hadnt been in turmoil

the situation will never happen, so how can you possibly assume if it did happen nothing would change?

and the part about barkley talking to kiffin, i would bet cold hard cash that barkley doesnt change his commit, or even think about going to UT.

[gcdevil22]

i guess we can assume then that if Tyrone Willingham had not done so bad at Washington that Thomas would've been headed there...not 100%, of course, but at least 50/50

bottom line, all summer WHEN THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO STAFF CHANGE IN SIGHT, Thomas did not have the Vols anywhere near the top of his list, so how in the world he saw into the future that UT would fire Fulmer is beyond me...maybe we're getting not only a great player but a psychic

[Biggin]

we can assume that if ty didnt do such a shitty job, thomas MAY have went there.

MAY, COULD HAVE, POSSIBLY

i dont know about the kid, didnt keep up with his recruitment, so i cant say either way, but if lung says the kid had some interest in UT, i believe it.

[Ironlung]

I'm just going by what the kid said back in the summer and what I was told by a member of his family. Drew has his finger firmly up Beamer's ass with a watch clearly on the pulse of VT football, so I bow out to him. VT only gives out 18-28 scholarship offers a year any how and all of them commit to VT.

I'm sure a huge part in his decision of eliminating UT wasn't just the coaching change. One look at the offense against UCLA is enough to send anyone looking in another direction.