The House of Blue

I assume Tee was his recruiter because he recruited Ramsey for us, IIRC.

To be fair, Tennessee has always put more emphasis on national recruiting than in-state recruiting. Not to say they didn't want this kid but its harder to recruit your own state when you don't put much emphasis on recruiting it and building relationships with the local coaches.

My understanding of UT and the way it recruits Tennessee is that the Vols sacrifice building good relationships with in-state high schools by putting much more effort into national recruiting efforts. They think less of the local talent than is probably deserved (though Tennessee isn't exactly bursting at the seems with blue-chippers either).

As a result, the name UT does not mean more to local talent than, say, Georgia or Florida.
This is especially true in the talent rich Memphis area. Memphis is more a Ole Miss town than anything. While part of this has something to do with geography, it also has a lot to do with Tennessee prioritizing out of state talent over in-state talent.

Randall Cobb is a perfect example of this. Kentucky came a calling for Cobb when they saw his immense talent. And though Cobb grew up a Vol fan and lived in the shadow of Neyland Stadium, UT couldn't be bothered to recruit him until it was way too late because Cobb was just some local kid.

In the end, it might not have made a difference in whether Ramsay chose USC. He might have been more interested in academics than most recruits (hence his strong look to Vandy). But I will hazard to say the Vols would have been a lot better than top 7 if they actually spent the time developing relationships with local high schools.

EDIT: I do have to mention the fact Derek Dooley may actually care more about local talent than his predecessors, I couldn't tell you. But his predecessors certainly didn't help his current cause.

THIS is why Lane Kiffen wanted Tee Martin as bad as he did. I guess we'll soon see if he truly isn't capable of coaching up WRs or if UK's WRs were simply that bad last year.

Well, the WR corp of Cobb, Chris Matthews, and Larod King played AWEFULLY well in Tee's first year as WR coach. They ran sharp routes and caught the ball all season long. Not sure what Tee did different as a coach once those guys left?

The reason the whole thing stings is because it was Kiffin. Sort of like their Pitino to us but more. Kiffin left their cupboard and egos bare and broken. Then, Kiffin comes into their backyard with one of their own -Tee Martin and takes one of their prize possessions without even a fight. This stings for them on so many levels.

In that article the kid said that Kiffen was the reason he was going there, T was the primary recruiter but why wouldn't he be, it was his old backyard for awhile but if there wasn't a Kiffen and it wasn't Southern Cal, this kid was going to Vandy. And remember T said he didn't know anything about coaching wide receivers.

Not sure how to take this knowing:

Hunter Biven-Notre Dame
James Quick-not UK
Lamar Dawson-USC
Jordon Whitting-OSU
Brandon Newman-Notre Dame
Corey Zibrel-Michigan
Jon Davis-Illinois

Now: UK can add: Patrick Towles to the list of keeping kids home.

Just more of the same at USC. Right now they are one of only a few programs out of the SEC that can possibly really challenge teams like LSU and Bama in the years to come. Pete Carroll had the program rolling and it looks like Kiffen is picking up where he left off.