National Signing Day has ended and Derek Dooley is now rejoicing that a Titanic-sized disaster has been averted. In fact, signing day was far from a disaster at all for the Vols. At the end of the day 21 players had faxed their intention to be a Tennessee Volunteer. Dooley’s 2012 class is a consensus top-25 effort.
Unfortunately, even a solid national ranking lands the Vols in the middle of the pack in the SEC.
Nevertheless, today was a clear victory for Dooley, whose staff appeared to be on the verge of collapse as assistant coach after assistant coach made mostly lateral moves to other programs. But Dooley made some key hires and managed to hold this class together when it very easily could have fallen apart.
The star of the 2012 class is highly regarded 5-star junior college transfer WR Cordarelle Patterson. In his two seasons at Hutchinson JC (Kansas), Patterson set 13 school records and was a two-time juco All-American. He will join three other 4-star WR signees in Jason Croom, Alton Howard, and Drae Bowles. With the return of Justin Hunter and Da’ Rick Rogers, UT may finally reestablish itself as Wide Receiver U.
Curiously, the Vols signed no offensive linemen in this class and thus failed to address one of last year’s obvious shortcomings. This, in a year that was considered to be a banner year for OL’s according to many recruiting analysts.
Most of the recruiting experts are calling this 2012 recruiting class a good haul – considering the circumstances. It is true that the fractured state of Dooley’s not-so-upwardly mobile staff has created some turbulence within the high school ranks. LB Otha Peters confirmed as much when he de-committed from the Vols in favor of Arkansas.
But will anyone take these circumstances into consideration next season, and the season after that, if or when Tennessee continues to struggle against top-tier SEC opponents? Obviously not.
Today may appear to have been another moral victory for UT's ailing coach, but the onus has been and will continue to be on Coach Dooley and his staff to get this sub-par recruiting class (by current SEC standards ) ready to play at a high level. A little luck might also be useful.
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