Maybe we can appreciate what sensibly bodes well this early while assessing these newbies for team 122, and in determining how impressive a haul the Vols will finally display on NSD. For starters, our guys haven't had a roster quite this impressive, filling up with in-state youngsters, and an accumulative ranking this high...so early in the year. IE #s 14 in Scout, 10 in ESPN, 9 in Rivals and 8 in 247, and #2 in the SEC, just behind LSU. Now, before some of you start your "It's too early to get excited" rhetorical caveats, let's look at the half-full-glass perspective by understanding all those still-not-yet-decided fellas (and their HS coaches, et al) are checking out who'll be their future team mates. 122's got two already budding big armed qbs to throw to those young catchers, and their own class has a third big armed stud to grow into the system with them, AND there's plenty room for a 5* ball catcher or two or three to feel comfortable about playing early without worrying about languishing on the bench. Should the OL appear as impressive as all the current talent and experience should dictate, early on in the season, then some other big uglies will want to be similarly coached up. RBs, also, will notice the thin roster for those ball carrying spots; recognizing, also, the prospect of running through some pretty big holes behind that early-on-touted bull-dozing OL. On the other side of the LOS, Shoop's defenses are pretty well known for utilizing a lot of sets. Forget last year's debacle. It's explained and understood that nobody can play defense without 1st and 2nd team guys on the field. Also, Shoop's multi-formations allow for different players for different scenarios depending on game situations, more than a majority of systems so, once again, there's an evident prospect of early playing time for a larger number of players...including freshmen (if they're good enough). Think about all the nickle and dime back sets he utilizes and, with his penchant to blitz a lot, how interchangable, and how fresh, his CBs have to be to pull off lots of man coverages, and how often he has to substitute DEs and DTs and LBs. This new staff is just starting to impress all those Sunday player wannabes, and their overall recruiting acumen is factual, as is their easily perceived excellent coaching aspects. So...I'm projecting Butch Jones is going to wind up with at least as impressive a group of players for the 2018 season as compared to the previous ones (and that's a very conservative assessment). The only caveat from VN: Despite the smallish number of pathalogically noisy antagonists, VNs relentless negas have been trolling their/our team by maintaining a silly rumor that Butch is just a twitch or sniffle away from being fired, causing this brick castle to tumble into a Kiffin pile of burnt mattresses and charred bricks. Wouldn't one figure most all of those guys read the site of their teams of interest? Sure they do. Trust me. Keener football minds are still appreciative of what Coach Jones is assembling in Knoxville. Keep pumpin' that sunshine, VFLs! GBO!