Twitter Tuesday: Vols, Ryan Hilinski, Josh Rosen, pizza
#TwitterTuesday is back again this week, as Southeast recruiting analyst Woody Wommack is answering your questions.
TAKE TWO: Is Penn State QB Trace McSorley a future first-rounder?
THREE-POINT STANCE: Farrell ranks recent commits
Our former intern is a serious Vol For Life and like the rest of the fan base is ready for some good news this offseason. Well, Will, as it turns out, I think it’s already been a big month for Tennessee. When the Vols nabbed a commitment from top 25 prospect Wanya Morris it signaled the true start of the Jeremy Pruitt recruiting era in Knoxville. Morris is the type of player that can anchor the offensive line for years to come so even if he was the only commit this month I would consider it a major success.
However, the Vols are in line to get at least one more major commitment in the coming weeks, with four-star wide receiver Ramel Keyton the most likely to join the fold later this month. The real flood of good news could come next month, when Tennessee will have several prospects on campus for camp events. This will give the staff a real chance to sort out which players it will push for commitments and lead to more clarity on the recruiting board.
This is an interesting question because Ryan Hilinski is one of my favorite quarterbacks in the class even though he currently sits lower in the rankings than most might think. That of course will change once this evaluation window has closed as he has opened eyes across the country this spring.
As far as the answer to the question, it really depends on your definition of “program changing.” Hilinski is headed to South Carolina, where if all goes according to plan, he will succeed Jake Bentley, one of the SEC’s top returning quarterbacks. Considering all that Bentley brings to the table and the expectations Gamecocks fans have for him in 2018, I’m not sure how much better Hilinksi can be than Bentley and if that’s the case, how does he change the program?
For me, the bottom line is that Hilinski is a quality quarterback in a year when most schools are scrambling to find their guy in a less-than-stellar overall class at the positon. South Carolina fans should be thrilled they were able to reach across the country to nab his commitment and look forward to seeing him in Columbia.
This is a bit of a tricky question but what Ralph is alluding to is the recent assertions made by several “anonymous” NFL personnel people in regard to Josh Rosen and how his upbringing could impact his ability as football player. Without getting into a whole socioeconomic debate, I can say that I feel like the comments run by several media outlets are out of bounds and the media has a responsibility to use a little more discretion when running these types of statements without on the record attribution.
If an NFL scout or personnel person actually feels that way and wants to put his name to said statement, I can’t begrudge him his opinion. But to hear and read several people covering the NFL Draft vaguely referring to “character issues” or other “off-field concerns” that aren’t publicly known is a major pet peeve. The same goes for the Rosen slander campaign that seems to be ongoing even after the draft is over.
The bottom line is what makes football, and several other popular team sports, is that when people step on the field it doesn’t matter where you come from or how much money your family has. Talent wins out. Sports is the ultimate meritocracy and maybe I’m naïve but I would prefer players be judged by their talent and potential not by the size of their garages or driveways.
As the grandson of two Italian immigrants, I consider myself well qualified to answer this question. We will break it down one by one.
1. Fold or no fold?
This obviously depends on the type of pizza you are eating and when I say type, I really mean the “style.” The most prevalent style of pizza most suited for folding is “New York style,” also commonly referred to as pizza for those the know. The larger, thinner slices can often be easier to eat folded so in this case I consider it acceptable. However, I am not a folder when it comes to any type of pizza.
2. Fork or no fork?
It’s sad that this is even a question. It is in no way acceptable to eat pizza with a fork, and this even applies to “Chicago style” pizza, or as Rob Cassidy calls it, casserole.
3. Eat the crust, throw away the crust?
Eat the crust. I never really understood the trend of throwing it away, even when I was a child. Children aren’t exempt from this policy. Eat the crust or no more pizza for you, mister.
4. Eat the crust first or the pizza first?
As you can tell from my previous answers, I’m a traditionalist when it comes to pizza. So this one is going to be obvious, you always eat the pizza first. However, there was one argument presented by my longtime friend and Commitment Issues podcast music provider M-Deuce, who used to always eat his pizza crust first. His contention was that the pizza was better than the crust, so why save the least desirable part of the slice last? He chose to eat the crust first, therefore assuring that his last bite would be better than his first. In reporting for this story, I reached out to him and he informed me that his crust-first policy continued for years but changed awhile back for reasons unknown.