During the first three years of Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones' tenure, freshmen have been forced into action early and often.
So, to discuss the topic of former top recruiting prospects who will finally excel in 2016, you have to understand the definition of "finally." In the midst of a decade-long program malaise, Volunteers fans were hard-wired to think that if a prospect couldn't come in and play immediately, he must not be that great.
After all, the on-field product was so mediocre (or worse) that each year's incoming crop of recruits needed to be spectacular to change the tenor on Rocky Top.