Vols Add A Commitment
It won’t become official until a Friday joint press conference with Bristol (Tennessee High) teammate Mack Crowder, but tight end Brendan Downs will switch his commitment from Duke to Tennessee.
The Vols were late in offering the 6-foot-6, 230-pound three-star player, but he grew up cheering for UT and, in the end, his allegiance was just too much to pass. Expect more good news tomorrow when Georgia defensive back Justin Coleman holds his announcement at 3 p.m. and some more on Friday with Crowder and Downs’ official announcement.
When you watch Downs’ film, he screams Luke Stocker clone, and much like Stocker did coming out of high school, he’ll have to add 30-40 pounds before he’s ready to play on Saturdays. Still, he is a very good prospect who as soon as new head coach Derek Dooley evaluated, he offered. As much as Dooley loves to use tight ends — and with the message board rumors that top TE target Cameron Clear may be favoring Florida right now — Downs probably sees ample opportunity to get on the field soon for UT.
Downs is the 26th-rated TE in the country and No. 7 overall player in the state of Tennessee, according to Rivals.com. He has committable offers from Duke, Maryland, Virginia, Va Tech, Memphis, Mississippi State and Marshall. Not great offers, but he appears to be a pretty solid player.
Downs becomes yet another kid who bled orange growing up to commit to the Vols. He also fits the Dooley mold of being a smart kid with mid-range offers and a three-star ranking. For all you star-gazers out there, turn away when I say that Downs is the eighth UT commitment — and all of them are three-star players except JUCO TE Andrew Power who has yet to be rated. The other two probable commitments this week are three-star prospects as well.
This isn’t a knock on Downs, and I hope that we start contending for more top-notch prospects, but I think there are some really solid players on our commitment list, and we’ll add three more this week. There are only two question marks that I see that were reaches so far. The rest look like good foundation kids for a class. But Dooley needs to snag some top-notch prospects with great offer sheets in order for this class to get program on track. Downs is a player who could grow into a stellar player for us down the road, and this was a take for the Vols regardless.
Welcome home, Mr. Downs!
I can’t figure out why he didn’t go to Va Tech. No offence but there is not any comparison to tennessee and Va Tech.
Hey alabamafan, good to have a smack-talking Bammer on board on this site again. That’s something we’ve been lacking lately. Glad to see you stoop to the level to bash on little ol’ us.
You’re right, though — in more ways than you know.
There is no comparison between Tennessee and Virginia Tech. The Vols are ninth all-time with 773 wins and a .694 winning percentage. By comparison, Virginia Tech has just 668 wins and a .585 winning percentage. We’ve also played in 48 bowl games to the Hokies’ 23.
Sure, in the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world of college football, they ripped us last year, and Frank Beamer has Va Tech in a better place than UT, which is in the worst place in its history, needing at least a couple of years to get out of the doldrums.
So, don’t worry, I don’t take offense. Tennessee is a much, much better program than VT even though VT has its program in a better position currently. Considering Bristol is basically equidistant from Blacksburg and Knoxville, this was a toss-up, but Downs grew up a Vols fan. He wants to help turn this thing around.
And it’s players who WANT to come to UT and who grew up watching us when we were rolling who will help build this thing back up.
Thanks for commenting and enjoy being on top as an Alabama fan. College football — like everything else — is cyclical. It doesn’t take long for the roles to reverse.
I’m sure Army hopes you’re right about that cyclical thing. After all, they have more championships than UT does.
The best part about UT’s current situation is that you guys sound exactly like the fans you mocked and reviled for so many years while other programs struggled. A Vols fan on this site should be the last one to hold up historical numbers.
Football isn’t cyclical. Va Tech’s success isn’t an aberration. Successful programs are the result of people doing the right things to produce wins, not because it’s their turn. If Dooley shows he can recruit guys like Rogers consistently and do a better job of coaching than he did at La Tech plus receive adequate support from a capable administration (as yet to be named), UT will return again to the level of a Va Tech. But not because they are owed it.
I feel like pointing out that Army has three national championships to Tennessee’s six. Its also worth pointing out that their most recent national championship was won in 1946. That was 64 years ago to Tennessee’s 12 years.
So you’re saying these things aren’t cyclical?
Regarding the six, apologies. I was of the misconception that Tennessee only recognized two of them.
I am just debunking the thought process that Army has more National Championships then Tennessee. I guess you probably lured me into that one but I couldn’t help myself.
Apparently you didn’t bother to check the validity of those 3 titles did you? Double standards aren’t a pretty thing. I for one like to play on a level playing field. Of course if we were to hold you to your comments stated here and elsewhere then you shouldn’t have a great deal of an issue with Tennessee’s six national titles.
I don’t have a problem with UT’s six championships. What I don’t understand is why you would question the “validity of those 3 titles” and yet assert six for Tennessee when a vocal group of your fanbase only claims two. Nevertheless, the point of mentioning Army wasn’t because they had more, but because they have any and still participate in FBS football.
Point Taken. Just because Ghost thinks that College football cyclical doesn’t mean I agree with him. I am still and independant thinker.
In my opinion there are three tiers of FBS programs. The teams that are consistently ranked in the top 30, the teams that consistently rank in the bottom sixty and the teams that flit in between. (think Ole Miss) Lets hope and pray that these next few Volunteer squads don’t disprove my brilliant little theory.
Where do teams like Utah and Boise State fit into your theory? BSU has been in the FCS for only 14 seasons. In that time they’ve only lost 17 games, but the vast majority of those wins came against programs in your bottom sixty. So are they in your top tier as a program consistently ranked in the top 30 (which they have been of late) or are they a faker based on how they did it?
I think your “traditional” view is slightly skewed toward his idea of football being cyclical. The teams that tend to be on top are the ones that invest in their programs and make wise hiring decisions. Case in point: Coaches Bryant and Saban are great coaches who built great teams at Alabama. They made those teams great. They are not great because they are at Alabama. (My own counterpoint: no coach at Alabama since 1958 who lasted an entire season has failed to have at least one ten-win year).
But in that time Boise State has consistently won football games regardless of the oppositions talent. My opinion regarding Boise would definitely be different if they were consistently beating WAC teams by narrow margins. Instead the consistently annihilate WAC teams. Also you must look at where these programs are going. It is clear based on each teams actions in the scheduling department that they want to play upper tier teams (ex. Boise vs Oregon, Boise vs VT). Also each teams recent conference moves prove this point as well. Boise State starting in 2011 will have to play teams like BYU and TCU every single year. This will seriously add to their resume. Of course we will soon find out if Utah can play ball.
My viewpoint is certainly cyclical but not on the grand scale that Ghost suggests. For instance, Western Kentucky may make it to a few bowl games, but they will never go from 120 to 1. But then again, MTSU has had some good seasons of late, maybe they could make it from that lower tier to that in-between status.
What does Boise State have that WKU can’t?
That comment was meant for the recent years. I mean Va Tech was in like the C-USA or one of those other small conferences for a long time.
Big East
I really like Derek Dooley as a head ooach and hopes he does well. I would not say that about Fulmer or boy blunder. The vols will be back but give Dooleu some time and he will get the program back to fighting the
gators for the chance to get to Atlanta!! RTR
Hey Ghost, besides Power, who do you consider a reach?
Christian Harris, linebacker from Etowah who was our first commitment of this class and really hasn’t received anymore offers.
Both of these fellas were on the radio here in the Tri-Cities today. They both sound pumped to be heading to UT. It was interesting to hear Downs talk about switching his commitment. He said that he always wanted to go to Duke (because of their academics) but once he met Dooley, he knew where he had to go.
UT now going head to head with DUKE and winning. A step in the right direction I guess??
Good kids who can develop into good players for four years are better than four- and five-star kids who come a year and leave, IMO.
So, yeah, a step in the right direction.
Razzing aside, Dooley is doing what needs to be done right now. He’s establishing a baseline for this class where he can feel more comfortable when it gets down to closing time for the bigger named kids. That’s not to say he doesn’t need to get a few 4 and 5 star talents, only that he’s filling need positions rather than just looking at rankings — something you cannot say about his predecessor.
I fully believe that at least four of these kids will be four stars.
Crowder, Carson, Coleman, Worley, Smith, Randolph and Kerbyson.
Of course, Kerbyson isn’t a UT commit yet but I believe he will be.
We’ve got some four-star talents in this class. But what would a class full of three-stars be ranked? Like 15-18? That’s about what we should expect this year, anyway.
This year is about meeting needs, which is at OL, DT, LB and DB. Hopefully, we’ll do that. We need 5-6 OL, 3 DTs, 2 LBs and probably 4-5 DBs. We have our QB and RB, so we’re done there.
This year (and probably the next two at least), that will be more necessary for the Vols than for most teams just based on how well Kiffin ignored it.
I am not to sure Crowder will be. Is he good enough to be? Yes. But he is pretty much alone on the line this year (according to even him on the radio) so I could see the line under performing and hurting his ranking.
what can i say, it’s been a slow day at work and i had some time to agitate a few UT fans. that’s always a good day. i’m glad this blog exists. nothing ever out of line just good fun.
Please keep coming back. We enjoy the banter.