By late Wednesday night, Tennessee's football signing class ranked 20th overall, eighth in the SEC and fourth in the SEC East, according to 247Sports.
Rivals also had Tennessee's class ranked 20th while ESPN had it ranked 22nd.
So there you have it. The Vols will probably add a few more players, but the three major services agree that it's a top 25, mid-tier SEC class assembled by Jeremy Pruitt in the two months since he took the Tennessee job.
Why, then, did it feel like folks were a little disappointed or underwhelmed with Tennessee's class? More on that in a minute.
First, let's look at another metric for judging UT's 2018 class. How the class stacks up against the classes assembled by other new coaches in the the SEC:
(According to the 247 rankings)
1. Florida (Dan Mullen), 14th overall
2. Texas A&M (Jimbo Fisher), 17th overall
3. Tennessee (Jeremy Pruitt), 20th overall
4. Mississippi State (Joe Moorhead), 27th overall
5. Ole Miss (Matt Luke), 31st overall*
6. Arkansas (Chad Morris), 55th overall
*was the interim coach in 2017
So Pruitt's class is in the top half of those assembled by new SEC coaches, but it feels like some excitement is missing (Pruitt even acknowledged that in a roundabout way on Wednesday night).
Well, the tame reception to this class could be due to the fact that Tennessee did not really land any big name surprises or flip any prized recruits from rival schools on signing day. Those things can alter the perception of a signing class.
Tennessee shot high with its pursuit of big-time cornerbacks, which raised expectations, and then when it failed to land any of those big-name cornerbacks, it probably felt like a let-down to many who were following along.
By comparison, Butch Jones flipped Josh Dobbs to Tennessee from Arizona State on his first signing day as Tennessee's coach. Jones' first class ranked third out of the four classes assembled by new coaches in the SEC that year and 25th overall.
But the Vols were coming off the lackluster recruiting of the Dooley era, and flipping Dobbs to cement a top 25 class seemed like a monumental feat.
An article on the class in the Times Free Press the morning after signing day in 2013 had the headline:"Vols pick up some recruiting gems late."
Yet, by all the recruiting rankings, Jeremy Pruitt's first class is actually better than Butch Jones' first class, which ended up having at least three NFL draft picks in it. Memphis quarterback Riley Ferguson will probably become the fourth draft pick from that class in a few months.
How new SEC coaches recruited in 2013:
1. Auburn (Gus Malzahn), 10th overall
2. Arkansas (Bret Bielema), 23rd overall
3. Tennessee (Butch Jones), 25th overall
4. Kentucky (Mark Stoops), 34th overall
Vols top opponents all fall:
Signing day helped push the Tennessee basketball sweep of Kentucky out of the news cycle. In case you forgot, the Vols won 61-59 at Rupp Arena on Tuesday night for their first season sweep over UK since 1999.
Interestingly, the top three teams Tennessee has played this year - No. 1 Villanova, No. 3 Purdue and No. 8 Auburn - all lost on Wednesday night. Villanova lost to a St. John's team that is below .500 but has somehow knocked off Duke and Villanova in its last two games.
Tariq Owens. Remember that name? The lanky big man for St. John's was on UT's roster in the 2014-15 season when Donnie Tyndall was coach. He transferred when Tyndall was fired. Owens had nine points and nine rebounds in the St. John's win over Villanova.
Lady Vols
Also overshadowed in the midst of a busy week in Tennessee athletics is that Jaime Named was named SEC Player of the Week and Anastasia Hayes was SEC Freshman of the Week for their performances last week. The Lady Vols play at Arkansas tonight.
Here is the preview box from this morning's paper:
LADY VOLS HOOPS
' NO. 11 TENNESSEE at ARKANSAS
' TONIGHT AT 8
' BUD WALTON ARENA, FAYETTEVILLE, ARK.
' ONLINE/RADIO: SEC NETWORK +/102.3 FM
TENNESSEE (19-4, 7-3 SEC)
Projected starters: Ht. Pts.
G Evina Westbrook 6-0 9.2
G Meme Jackson 5-11 7.7
G Jaime Nared 6-2 17.5
F Rennia Davis 6-2 10.9
C Mercedes Russell 6-6 16.8
Key reserves:
G Anastasia Hayes 5-7 9.9
F Cheridene Green 6-3 4.8
Projected starters: Ht. Pts.
G Malicia Monk 5-5 16.0
G Jailyn Mason 5-9 10.3
G Devin Cosper 5-10 15.0
F Bailey Zimmerman 6-0 3.7
F Kiara Williams 6-1 7.8
Key reserves:
G/F Keiryn Swenson 6-1 4.8
G Raven Northcross-Baker 5-7 6.2
Lady Vols report
Big first quarters had been Tennessee's forte until the past two games, when the Lady Volunteers used fourth-quarter barrages to notch double-digit victories over Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. The Lady Vols, who had the Southeastern Conference's player of the week in Nared and the league's freshman of the week in Hayes, would prefer not to need a big fourth quarter against the Razorbacks.
Razorbacks report
Arkansas had lost seven of eight games before edging Alabama on the road Sunday. The Razorbacks were the only team in the league that did not return a player who averaged double figures in points last season. With that, there have been some growing pains in SEC play under first-year coach Mike Neighbors.
Key matchup
The Razorbacks rank third in the SEC with an average of just 12.5 turnovers per game. Tennessee is at its best when its pressure defense forces opponents to turn the ball over, so if Arkansas can keep its cool in those situations, this could be a close game.
Other things
Tennessee softball opens the season today in the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz. against Boise State and Arizona State. Be on the lookout for an article previewing the team's season in the next few days. Now that the road trip to Lexington + signing day marathon is over, there is hopefully time to work on such things.
David Cobb is the Tennessee athletics beat writer for the Times Free Press. He is stationed in Knoxville. Follow him @DavidWCobb on Twitter, or direct your emails to dcobb@timesfreepress.comOh, and go download the Times Free Press mobile app. It's free.