Date: Thursday, February 4 2010

Vols salvage another recruiting season

By JIM STEELE, Editor pressbox1.com

Tennessee fans, think about this for a second. On Tuesday, Jan. 12, Tennessee's football program was set on its ear when "Dennis the Menace," a.k.a. former UT head football coach Lane Kiffin jilted the Volunteers for wildfires and earthquakes of Southern California. Just when you thought Kiffin was going to build an elite football program in the south, he bailed out like a Libyan pilot and, for a moment, havoc ensued at the Neyland-Thompson Center. How could Kiffin eject just a few weeks from National Signing Day? Tennessee fans were in a near panic state. Surely the recruiting season was lost. Who in the world could the Vols select as a coach? And how could he save the recruiting season? For a while, Vol fans were on pins and needles. It took a bit to find a coach. Option one, two and three rejected UT offers. Suddenly Derek Dooley of Louisiana Tech emerged as the front runner and eventually the 22nd Tennessee football coach. His hire was met with tepid response. Sure, maybe his speeches helped allay some fears, but the jury was still out. There were prodigies de-committing here and there. There were legitimate concerns as signing day approached. Well, here it is, National Signing Day and two recruiting services rank the Vols ninth nationally. Wow. Oh, there is bad news: One service has the Vols 15th. Pardon the tongue-in-cheek, but let's be honest, with all the uncertainty about the direction of the program, not to mention that Tennessee didn't even have a defensive coordinator in place, a top-20 rating would have been a bonus. What does this tell us? Maybe Dooley and his crew can recruit a little. The reviews were fairly glowing about Dooley's demeanor with the recruits and he sold a lot of them. Why didn't he experience the same success at Louisiana Tech? Tech has selective admission standards and most of the blue-chip talent in Lousiana is sifted away by big dog LSU and then other powerhouse programs nearby (Florida, Alabama and Texas come to mind). This was a chance for Dooley to see if he had the chops to recruit among the SEC big dogs. Yeah, there were defections and fallout from Kiffin's departure. A few bailed on Tennessee because of Kiffin's exodus. Some went to Southern Cal, others went to other schools. But some came to Tennessee because of Kiffin's departure. There were benefits and detriments to the coaching change. The Vols acquired Georgia product Da'Rick Rogers, who was one of the most sought-after receivers in the country. Tennessee also inked his teammate, who is a quarterback. In all, one might say that Tennessee's house was burning, but Dooley pulled the valuables out of the fire. Tennessee has a lot of work to do. It did well on the fringe, but has to fill spots in the middle, which could be a place for a walk-on to shine. Given the departures on Tennessee's defense and its lack of depth up front, what kind of defense will Tennessee employ? Some even suggest a Lacewell-era 3-4 scheme might be unveiled this spring. Dooley's efforts may not bear fruit for a couple of years and some of them may germinate immediately. With the returnees, the '09 class and some of the guys remaining from the Fulmer reign, there is reason to be optimistic. Dooley can bring people in. I liken Dooley, however, to the Coyote on Bugs Bunny: Now that he's caught the Roadrunner, what's he going to do with it? The challenge rests before the new coach and his staff, including new defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox. He pulled in some pretty good football players. The question remains: Can he coach them? Curious fans want to know. And they'll find out in April when the Vols play the spring game. Given all Tennessee has been through, that will be something else to think about.