re: which "former glory" SEC team is least likely to ever be relevant again?

Yes. You used to get those athletes from wherever you wanted. You don’t any more because you don’t offer kids anything else that they can’t get at any other place in the SEC. Tennessee used to very seldomly lose out on recruits to state, Ole Miss, South Carolina, etc.....Nowadays when that happens no one bats an eye. The SEC explosion of money and tv for everyone has made the “have nots” catch up to “the haves” as much as possible in our conference. Yes, the bigger schools still have a lot more money, but there is only so much you can spend that money on until you get diminished returns. For Tennessee to get dominant again they would have to make the next Nick Saban type hire and they don’t have any better of a chance at doing that than 20 other schools in the country. Georgia is in a hugely populated area and can sign a top ten class without leaving their back yard almost. Texas A&M has a shite ton of talent in their state. Same with Florida. Tennessee just does not have that national allure to pull kids away from their footprint like they used to and it would take that for them to be dominant again.