2009 UT Recruiting Celebration

So earlier today a group of us from work went up to the Wild Horse Saloon in downtown Nashville for a 2009 UT Recruiting Celebration. For those of you who don't really follow college football that much, yesterday was the day that potential recruits across the country commit to the universities that they want to go play for starting this next season. This last season for the UT Vols wasn't too hot and because of that they got a new coach a couple of months back named Lane Kiffin.

Because of these big coaching changes and the fact that the entire coaching staff wasn't put together until three weeks ago, very few Vol Fans had much hope about this years recruiting class. It's been interesting to see the ups and downs that has taken place over the past couple of weeks with new potential recruits coming to visit who hadn't otherwise planned on coming, coupled with some others who decided to leave that had previously committed before Phillip Fulmer (the old coach) was let go. So needless to say, coming into today this year's recruiting class was looking a little bleak and our national ranking for recruiting was barely in the top 25.

So there we were, having just arrived at the Wild Horse and I'm starting to take this all in. There are tons of men and some women there. Some dressed in suits, others in their full out UT apparel. We got in line and got some bar-b-q and took our seats as everything got started. This was my first time at something like this so I wasn't really sure what to expect. Lane Kiffin got up and spoke for a little bit and then one by one each of the main coordinators for the offense and defense came up spoke about the top recruits that were recruited for their parts of the team. We saw pictures and high school football films and after a while you could feel the excitement starting to build in the room. The list of recruits didn't seem like that big of a deal at first but as the coaches went down the line and explained why they picked some guys who hadn't really been ranked that high nationally and why they turned down some players who were ranked pretty high, I began to get even more excited.

On their way to Nashville this morning they also got a fax from one 5-star player out of Louisiana who said he was committing to come to Tennessee. This was a big deal because this guy was one of the top recruits in the whole country and before the coaching change, this guy was almost 100% going to LSU. That, along with the two other top players that they coaches "stole" from Florida made things even more exciting. It was also good to hear that the coaches had chosen some other players that they thought would be big game changes but that other universities had just overlooked.

Each of the coaches had some very dynamic personalities and it seems as though they want to build a program with guys who are hard workers as well as great athletes. It will be interesting to see how this next season goes and I wouldn't be surprised if we only win two or three more games than we did last year. However, I left that recruiting celebration with a little bit more positive outlook on the status of the UT Football program and I really do think that these coaches are capable of creating a really great football program. I feel as though the recruiting classes in the upcoming years will be even better than we can imagine. I guess only time will tell.

Well, I'm in the Club

I have officially crossed over to the dark side. The side where no matter how much you love your favorite college football team, you have come face to face with the reality that nothing is ever perfect. They can lose, even when you're there. Knowing what it's like to sit in a crowd of 100,000 or more people and feel the pulse of disappointment in the air is slightly defeating. I guess with our record this year, it was bound to happen. But to Wyoming? Oh dear.

None the less, there are always bright sides to these sorts of things. As much as Fulmer has given to this team and to his university over the year, it is possible that new leadership might bring some change we Vols fans can believe in. (Feels like I've heard that slogan somewhere...)

And our non-actual game related festivities yesterday were great, so all-in-all, it wasn't a bad day at all! There's nothing like a drive east on I-40 in the fall or the company of really great people. We had lunch on the Strip in Knoxville at Buffalo Wild Wings, which made Cliff very happy because in his words the wings "were perfect!" and me because they had Cherry Coke on "tap". Then the game itself commenced and despite losing, a few rounds of "Rocky Top" and at least one touchdown were energizing in their own ways. Oh! And there was a National Anthem fly-over by two Navy jets from the Naval Air Base in my hometown - Oceana! After the game we took our time browsing in the bookstore, nabbed a few good buys, and then made our way to the car that would take us to Oak Ridge our final destination before heading home: Big Ed's Pizza.

So here's the disclaimer: Big Ed's isn't the best pizza I've ever had. It's good. No, it's really good. But it's not the best. In some respects, for me, it rivals the "Pizza Oven" in Rockville, MD. There's just something about this hole in the wall in Oak Ridge that keeps people coming from up to 30 minutes away just to eat pizza. Nothing else on the menu, food-wise at least. They make their own dough, offer the standard toppings, and do their dough-throwing and pizza making behind a plex-glass wall so you can see it all happen. A pitcher of soda is $3 and a one-topping medium-sized pizza is a whopping $10 and that means for cheap eats, good pizza, and fun ambiance. The place was packed, lots of big parties, and not an unhappy face in the crowd. It's a good ways, maybe 15-20 minutes, off I-40 but definitely worth making a pit-stop for if you're ever in the area. I know we'll be building it into our route whenever we can!

I went into a bit of a food-coma on the way home, but I'm still not complaining. We talked and laughed and shared most of the way home, so much so that I can barely remember the dark passing scenery all the way back.

And those are moments when I'm glad I don't get hung up on something like a lost game... or a losing season, at that.