wagee12
June 5th, 2009, 06:42 PM
Big Orange Report--- Midwest Edition
A laughing sun peeks through the haze and over the crest of the Great Smokey Mountains. It's Sunday morning and the Big Orange Nation is up and at 'em. The bacon is crackling in the frying pan, the pan cakes have been flipped and the TV is tuned to Outside the Lines on ESPN. Another national venue for dynamic new Tennessee head football coach Lane Kiffin to spread the word and splash some more bright orange from sea to shining sea. Thus far in his short tenure, Kiffin has been a salesman, part P.T. Barnum, part Don Rickles, part George Patton and 100 percent Volunteer. There has always been a method to his madness, so those who snicker, smirk and giggle do so at their own peril. A parked freight train does not generate a great deal of fear and panic, but when it gets up a full head of steam and is rattling furiously down the tracks, standing amongst the rails, wood ties and cinders could be a very unhealthy proposition.
While unsuspecting fans and boosters of other teams entertain each other by attempting to one up their friends with Lane Kiffin jokes, the star-studded Tennessee staff is up at the crack of dawn and burning enough midnight oil to put a smile on the face of the Chairman of the Board of Exxon. In a span of only 15 short months, recruiting at Tennessee has gone from the yard and garage sale circuit to every nook and cranney from Long Island, NY to San Diego, California. In Feburary of 2008, Tennessee had plenty of pen and paper, but no takers. The former staff signed exactly 16 players in a group that was ranked ninth in the SEC and 38th nationally. The problem was then compounded when the only quarterback in the class never set foot on campus after inking a professional baseball contract and three more recruits did not qualify academically.
Enter Lane Kiffin, Ed Orgeron and the football recruiting equilvalent of Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid's Wild Bunch. In what many long time recruiting gurus and experts would call a minor miracle, Kiffin and company whittled away at the commitments they didn't want and then assembled a class that climbed the charts quickly, getting all the way to No. 8 on at least one national service.
Now no western gun slinger ever made a reputation by shooting stray cats in dark allies. Kiffin started talking or maybe taking pot shots from almost the moment he arrived in scenic East Tennessee. Some media types, including even a writer or two down in Florida, are suggesting that Kiffin has gotten inside the head of the high strung Urban Meyer. No question that Kiffin is not on Meyer's Christmas card list and Meyer has even chomped some in the Florida family. A verbal salvo peppered towards former Gator quarterback Shane Matthews by Meyer left little doubt that the UF head man did not very much appreciate a few comments offered by Matthews following the Ole Miss game last season.
On a staff featuring four former recruiting coordinators and two ex-Rivals Recruiters of the Year, Orgeron is still the not so secret weapon. A stickler for details with recruiting skills and know how honed on national championship staffs at Miami and Southern Cal, the Ragin Cajun has make Red Bull and coffee a must have beverage in Knoxville. He has met custodians at the door when they unlocked schools at 5:30 a.m., he equipped all his recruiters with sophisticated cam corders so that he could personally work into the night reviewing the players that Tennessee might want to offer a snug fitting orange shirt and he employs every electronic devise known to man while keeping in touch with blue chip studs across North America.
With eight hand picked Orgeron commitments already set for signing day 2010, the Big Orange staff still has the pedal to the metal. Afterall, Lane Kiffin has promised the Volunteer Nation a top five talent round up on a winter day next February and the smart money certainly won't be betting against him now. And to those who expect him to trip and fall come September, always remember that he who laughs last, laughs loudest. Two former record setting offensive coordinators at the D1 level, Jim Chaney at Purdue and Mitch Browning at Minnesota, are preparing the offense. And Lane Kiffin need not spend much time on the other end of the practice field because that is where the living legend, defensive guru extraordinaire, Monte Kiffin will be running the show.
For those folks in the East, MidWest, Far West and even in Florida and Alabama, the suggestion would be to wear those comedy routines out now, you won't be able to use the material for very much longer. What you may think is a floating accident looking for a place to happen is actually a forged steel aircraft carrier that Lane Kiffin is about to turn into the wind and launch everything he has at the Southeastern Conference.
A laughing sun peeks through the haze and over the crest of the Great Smokey Mountains. It's Sunday morning and the Big Orange Nation is up and at 'em. The bacon is crackling in the frying pan, the pan cakes have been flipped and the TV is tuned to Outside the Lines on ESPN. Another national venue for dynamic new Tennessee head football coach Lane Kiffin to spread the word and splash some more bright orange from sea to shining sea. Thus far in his short tenure, Kiffin has been a salesman, part P.T. Barnum, part Don Rickles, part George Patton and 100 percent Volunteer. There has always been a method to his madness, so those who snicker, smirk and giggle do so at their own peril. A parked freight train does not generate a great deal of fear and panic, but when it gets up a full head of steam and is rattling furiously down the tracks, standing amongst the rails, wood ties and cinders could be a very unhealthy proposition.
While unsuspecting fans and boosters of other teams entertain each other by attempting to one up their friends with Lane Kiffin jokes, the star-studded Tennessee staff is up at the crack of dawn and burning enough midnight oil to put a smile on the face of the Chairman of the Board of Exxon. In a span of only 15 short months, recruiting at Tennessee has gone from the yard and garage sale circuit to every nook and cranney from Long Island, NY to San Diego, California. In Feburary of 2008, Tennessee had plenty of pen and paper, but no takers. The former staff signed exactly 16 players in a group that was ranked ninth in the SEC and 38th nationally. The problem was then compounded when the only quarterback in the class never set foot on campus after inking a professional baseball contract and three more recruits did not qualify academically.
Enter Lane Kiffin, Ed Orgeron and the football recruiting equilvalent of Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid's Wild Bunch. In what many long time recruiting gurus and experts would call a minor miracle, Kiffin and company whittled away at the commitments they didn't want and then assembled a class that climbed the charts quickly, getting all the way to No. 8 on at least one national service.
Now no western gun slinger ever made a reputation by shooting stray cats in dark allies. Kiffin started talking or maybe taking pot shots from almost the moment he arrived in scenic East Tennessee. Some media types, including even a writer or two down in Florida, are suggesting that Kiffin has gotten inside the head of the high strung Urban Meyer. No question that Kiffin is not on Meyer's Christmas card list and Meyer has even chomped some in the Florida family. A verbal salvo peppered towards former Gator quarterback Shane Matthews by Meyer left little doubt that the UF head man did not very much appreciate a few comments offered by Matthews following the Ole Miss game last season.
On a staff featuring four former recruiting coordinators and two ex-Rivals Recruiters of the Year, Orgeron is still the not so secret weapon. A stickler for details with recruiting skills and know how honed on national championship staffs at Miami and Southern Cal, the Ragin Cajun has make Red Bull and coffee a must have beverage in Knoxville. He has met custodians at the door when they unlocked schools at 5:30 a.m., he equipped all his recruiters with sophisticated cam corders so that he could personally work into the night reviewing the players that Tennessee might want to offer a snug fitting orange shirt and he employs every electronic devise known to man while keeping in touch with blue chip studs across North America.
With eight hand picked Orgeron commitments already set for signing day 2010, the Big Orange staff still has the pedal to the metal. Afterall, Lane Kiffin has promised the Volunteer Nation a top five talent round up on a winter day next February and the smart money certainly won't be betting against him now. And to those who expect him to trip and fall come September, always remember that he who laughs last, laughs loudest. Two former record setting offensive coordinators at the D1 level, Jim Chaney at Purdue and Mitch Browning at Minnesota, are preparing the offense. And Lane Kiffin need not spend much time on the other end of the practice field because that is where the living legend, defensive guru extraordinaire, Monte Kiffin will be running the show.
For those folks in the East, MidWest, Far West and even in Florida and Alabama, the suggestion would be to wear those comedy routines out now, you won't be able to use the material for very much longer. What you may think is a floating accident looking for a place to happen is actually a forged steel aircraft carrier that Lane Kiffin is about to turn into the wind and launch everything he has at the Southeastern Conference.