Four Reasons Why the Tennessee Vols Should Not Fire Butch Jones

2. Butch Jones has recruited extremely well for the Vols. 

Say what you want about him mismanaging his talent, but at least he’s getting the talent. And with some exceptions like Jalen Hurd and Preston Williams, most of the guys are high-character players who want to play at Tennessee.

Before Jones arrived in Knoxville, the Vols had not scored a Top Five recruiting class for seven years. But he nailed back to back Top Five recruiting classes in 2014 and 2015. Then, with an overstocked roster in 2016, he recruited meticulously and found the perfect guys with a limited amount of scholarships.

So you can’t talk about Jones under-achieving with the talent he has all you want. But Dooley wasn’t getting the talent, Lane Kiffin was getting a bunch of low-character guys who would get kicked out of the program within two years, and Phillip Fulmer began to miss on too many guys towards the end of his career.

And speaking of missing on guys, Jones has been doing the opposite. Not only is he getting highly rated stars,  but he’s closing off the state of Tennessee, and he is finding overlooked players that nobody else wanted.

Most of the Vols’ offensive line is made up of three-stars that Jones found. Look at Baylen Buchanan on defense this year, who was a lowly-rated three-star cornerback.

Simply put, Jones has done a great job of scouting on the recruiting trail on top of luring in superstars. That counts for something.

Criticizing his in-game coaching is fair, but Nick Saban himself has made idiotic decisions in the game. Remember his decision to start Cooper Bateman against the Ole Miss Rebels last year? It was the dumbest decision of the season.

The difference is that Saban gets the players. Jones is getting the players. And with that fact, he’ll always have a chance to win.