Cristian Conyer to the portal

#51
#51
Conyer was a major piece they brought in. Is this a case of poor evaluation and/or development?
Nope, he's talented but not as talented as Carter, McCoy, McMurray or Thomas. He was probably looking at another year on special teams. Right home and he's likely a starter.

I see it as a smart move for him.
 
#52
#52
Conyer was a major piece they brought in. Is this a case of poor evaluation and/or development?
Moreso evaluation imo. You bring in as many athletic kids that fit your scheme as you can. Some don’t work out. You can fault the staff for misevaluating but they move on quick when someone isn’t going to work out. I think we simply have better players and need room. Kid was making comments on social media about VolClub one week then is in the portal the next.

Wish him the best.
 
#53
#53
Good luck to Conyer.

But, this leaves the Vols currently at 4 fewer scholarship DBs on the roster compared to last season. With currently 1 scholarship available (per my understanding), I hope the Vols are looking to add a DB. With usually 5 DBs on the field at a time, we’re susceptible to depth issues, especially if/when injuries occur.
As much as I like Conyer -- the former #1 prospect in KY -- he is looking for a place offering immediate playing time this year imo. As were our other (earlier) departures, about which some people also wrongly freaked out (Burrell, Luttrell, Turnage, D. Slaughter, Rucker). Upgrading the secondary has been an emphasis, and we're loaded with guys:

Jermod McCoy, Rickey Gibson, Jordan Matthews, Jalen McMurry, Christian Harrison, Jourdan Thomas, Will Brooks, Andre Turrentine, Jakobe Thomas, John Slaughter, Christian Charles. And some outstanding freshmen: Boo Carter, Kaleb Beasley, Marcus Goree, Jr., and Edrees Farooq. Plus three walk-ons.

I do agree with the good luck to Cristian.
 
#56
#56
Not very much
To me, the question is who is the 4th CB? McCoy, Gibson and McMurray are the first three and will play a ton. The fourth guy will also play plenty.
Was that going to be Conyer or Matthews (assuming it will not be Kaleb Beasley due to injury)? I guess Conyer thought it wasn't going to be him.
Neither Conyer or Matthews were likely to start, but seems like one of them would be in the two deep and would play a good bit.
 
#59
#59
We have 14 DBs currently on scholarship without Conyer- not 18 DBs on scholarship.

We need more than 14 guys to cover 5 positions, or 6 when playing dime coverage. Especially when about 7 of these 14 guys haven’t had meaningful snaps in college yet.
Yeah…
I have to agree.

We do need another guy that’s a starter material.
Maybe we can go after Cormani McClain?
 
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#60
#60
Talented players that aren't in line to play much as sophomores are going to leave. They can go other places and start or play a lot. This is normal and happening everywhere.

Also, nobody is stacking 7-8 starter level DB's now with proven meaningful college snaps. If they are experienced and/or starter material and aren't starting where they are at they go somewhere they will.

We signed either 5 or 6 four star DB's last class. The cream was going to rise to the top and the others will transfer once they realize guys in their same class are better than them. That's how it will work out.

Best of luck to conyer! Will always be a fan for him coming here over UK.
 
#62
#62
I really wonder how many players are leaving because they want to or because the staff has told them they don’t have much of a future here. Or does it really make any difference anymore?
Might be true for this particular individual to leave because he might doubt his playing time but sooo many players knowing they would be starting the next year leave for other reasons. You would have to believe it would be about money / nil. Tennessee has had several players leave like tylor baron to louiville and the ohio state center to Tennessee. You would have to believe more leave for some type of money option than play8ing time
 
#65
#65
Might be true for this particular individual to leave because he might doubt his playing time but sooo many players knowing they would be starting the next year leave for other reasons. You would have to believe it would be about money / nil. Tennessee has had several players leave like tylor baron to louiville and the ohio state center to Tennessee. You would have to believe more leave for some type of money option than play8ing time
If you think about it, playing time increases NIL value. The name and image has more value if the player is on the field or court. So it's a false dichotomy.

TB was a special case because of some things in his background and family. But in addition, you may have noticed he transferred from UT to Ole Miss, then from OM to Louisville, and now has entered the portal from Louisville -- that's three times this single off-season.

I don't recall that there are any other players at all like Tyler Baron -- much less "several" (as you claim) -- in football who left when they "would be starting the next year." Also, TB would have split reps with Tyre West and Dominic Bailey, don't you think? He wasn't promised a starting slot. That's not Heup's way.

If you mean Aidoo and Awaka, it looks like we are upgrading, so happy ending. No problem. No reason for drama.
 
#66
#66
Per my earlier post (#53), I'm not saying that it's impossible that we will add a DB from the portal. It's just not the crisis situation that some people are worrying and fretting about. It's May.
 
#67
#67
Per my earlier post (#53), I'm not saying that it's impossible that we will add a DB from the portal. It's just not the crisis situation that some people are worrying and fretting about. It's May.
We’re looking to do just that with targeting Cole in the portal.
 
#69
#69
Per my earlier post (#53), I'm not saying that it's impossible that we will add a DB from the portal. It's just not the crisis situation that some people are worrying and fretting about. It's May.

We don’t have a crisis situation at DB now. But, we may in Sep-Jan when it counts when guys go down with injuries, etc. and several of our inexperienced guys do not step up. Again, I’m just saying I hope we use the 1 currently available scholarship on a solid DB, where we have the thinnest group.

By the #s, we have 14 scholarship DBs, and about 7 of those (subjectively including Harrison, Matthews, and Slaughter) have yet to play meaningful snaps past high school ball. And we play 5, sometimes 6 DBs, on the field at the same time. We’re currently less than 3 deep at DB, even when including the unproven guys.

**Most of our other position groups are roughly 4 deep with scholarship players:
DL- 20 players @ usually 4 positions
LB- 7 players @ usually 2 positions
OL- 19 players @ 5 positions
WR- 10 players @ usually 3 positions
TE- 5 players @ usually 1 position
RB- 4 players @ 1 position
QB- 2 players @ 1 position

We could also use another RB if Seldon & Lewis don’t rehab quickly. And we could use a good backup QB. But, I think we’d be extremely lucky to find one.

**This personnel count is a bit oversimplified since DBs, DLs, and OL need different skills WITHIN their groups, depending on whether they line up inside or on the edges.
 

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