JRtheYoung
michaeljr3
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2017
- Messages
- 8
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- 21
* This is all personal opinion* If you disagree, comment your thoughts and where I was wrong. I'm looking for healthy dialogue, not debate. I've done a lot of research, but I make mistakes. Now here we go:
There's ONE huge reason I'm excited about this season more than those in the past years. WE DON'T HAVE JARRET GUARANTANO! Now I'm not blaming all our flaws on him, but we all knew he was an issue and we continued to let him play when we knew he wasn't our solution instead of letting Bailey or Mauer receive reps.
QB: Milton, Bailey, Hooker, and Mauer seem to be the realistic options with Bailey and Milton leading the way. No more irritation at QB, I feel we have a fresh slate of talent to finally have stability at QB this year. NOT saying we will be great there, but it won't be a problem to hold us back. I give the edge to Bailey personally but we will have to see with camp. Grade: 3.5/5
RB: We are hurt with Chandler and Gray leaving, but we added Tiyon Evans, Small returns, Dee Beckwith returns, and maybe Tee Hodge gets touches. We are sneaky talented but lack experience so they better learn fast or we will be one-dimensional. We have the chance to be a solid group/deep backfield, or we have a chance for no one to be a shining light and be below average. Look for Small to be that hidden gem though. Grade: 3/5
WRs: WR's aren't scrubs...... but we arent deep. Velus Jones, Jalin Hyatt, Ramal Keyton, Cedric Tillman, Jimmy Holiday, Jimmy Calloway, and Anderson Coby look to be the known names. Granted most of these names don't spark too much buzz because we haven't seen them step up as WR's 1 or do much on the field period. Will we even have a #1? Who will it be? Those are questions awaiting camp, we have talent but will that translate on the field. Look for Hyatt and Jones to be the primaries though. Grade: 3.5/5
OL: 2 starters return, Darnell Wright and Cade Mays, but underperformed last year. Can we be TVA? Doubtful, highly doubtful, but I believe we will be better than last year statically with an easier schedule and if mobile QB is behind them or we get the ball out fast, it will hide a lot of issues. BUT, I still think we will be average to above average in the SEC, we have talent: Mays brothers, Wright, Spraggins, Calbert, Carvin, and Davis could all put out an above-average OL. Will it translate to the field though? I say it does.... but not so much to be a top-line in the SEC. Look for Mays to have a bounce-back year as his draft stock is in jeopardy and his brother joining him adding chemistry to that line. Grade: 4/5
DL: Simmons, Butler, Solomon, Thomas, Baron, Bumphus, Tremplay... Now are these scrubs? No, but are they world beaters, Absolutely not. They are a solid group who is honestly the strength of our defense and take that how you may. Personally, I am not a believer in this line as I don't see it being anything but average at best. Look for a decent run stop, but a below-average pass rush. Grade: 3/5 a low 3.
LB: We all know who we lost, let's not name them. With all of their departures, we added Juwan Mitchell from UT jr and Willam Muhan from Michigan. Other than that we have Jeremy Banks as the only notable name. Look for the transfers to help but this group to be the liability of this defense. Grade: 2/5
DB: We lost Bryce Thompson so who fills his void? We return a lot fortunately with starting experience, but that starting experience doesn't mean it was great playing starting experience. I believe this secondary can be really good if everyone lives up to their potential, but Flowers need to step up his ball skills and McCollough needs to add speed or play with great instincts. CB we have Taylor and Burrell, Turnage, and George who will battle for starts. Lock Taylor but the rest is on camp. Look for this secondary to be sneaky good. I believe we will surprise a lot of people, and be positive on this side of the ball. Grade: 4/5
S/T: Brooks will be solid averaging 43.6 per punt last year. Transfer kicker McGrath is hard to tell. You can never tell with kickers. He has hit 32-of-42 field goals, with a long of 52 yards, and 118-of-119 PATs in his career so take that how you will. PR'ing was an issue last year ranking 64th nationally, so hopefully, we can only improve?? Grade: 3/5
Overall: 5-7 record with a 3.25/5 rating. I'll go game by game:
Bowling Green: W --- Pitt: L --- TN Tech: W --- Florida: L --- Missouri: W --- SC: L ---- Ole Miss: L --- Bama: L --- Kentucky: L --- Georgia: L --- South Bama: W --- Vandy: W
I say we win 5 games, with a coin flip for the South Carolina game so maybe 6. Call me pessimistic but I don't see us beating Ole miss's high-powered offense, Florida Georgia Bama is just too far ahead of us right now. Kentucky is a really solid team this year and well-coached, and I know it's a rivalry but let's not be biased and naive to say they don't have the better team right now. If you want to argue Pitt by all means, but they're on the same level Kentucky if not better in my opinion.
There's ONE huge reason I'm excited about this season more than those in the past years. WE DON'T HAVE JARRET GUARANTANO! Now I'm not blaming all our flaws on him, but we all knew he was an issue and we continued to let him play when we knew he wasn't our solution instead of letting Bailey or Mauer receive reps.
QB: Milton, Bailey, Hooker, and Mauer seem to be the realistic options with Bailey and Milton leading the way. No more irritation at QB, I feel we have a fresh slate of talent to finally have stability at QB this year. NOT saying we will be great there, but it won't be a problem to hold us back. I give the edge to Bailey personally but we will have to see with camp. Grade: 3.5/5
RB: We are hurt with Chandler and Gray leaving, but we added Tiyon Evans, Small returns, Dee Beckwith returns, and maybe Tee Hodge gets touches. We are sneaky talented but lack experience so they better learn fast or we will be one-dimensional. We have the chance to be a solid group/deep backfield, or we have a chance for no one to be a shining light and be below average. Look for Small to be that hidden gem though. Grade: 3/5
WRs: WR's aren't scrubs...... but we arent deep. Velus Jones, Jalin Hyatt, Ramal Keyton, Cedric Tillman, Jimmy Holiday, Jimmy Calloway, and Anderson Coby look to be the known names. Granted most of these names don't spark too much buzz because we haven't seen them step up as WR's 1 or do much on the field period. Will we even have a #1? Who will it be? Those are questions awaiting camp, we have talent but will that translate on the field. Look for Hyatt and Jones to be the primaries though. Grade: 3.5/5
OL: 2 starters return, Darnell Wright and Cade Mays, but underperformed last year. Can we be TVA? Doubtful, highly doubtful, but I believe we will be better than last year statically with an easier schedule and if mobile QB is behind them or we get the ball out fast, it will hide a lot of issues. BUT, I still think we will be average to above average in the SEC, we have talent: Mays brothers, Wright, Spraggins, Calbert, Carvin, and Davis could all put out an above-average OL. Will it translate to the field though? I say it does.... but not so much to be a top-line in the SEC. Look for Mays to have a bounce-back year as his draft stock is in jeopardy and his brother joining him adding chemistry to that line. Grade: 4/5
DL: Simmons, Butler, Solomon, Thomas, Baron, Bumphus, Tremplay... Now are these scrubs? No, but are they world beaters, Absolutely not. They are a solid group who is honestly the strength of our defense and take that how you may. Personally, I am not a believer in this line as I don't see it being anything but average at best. Look for a decent run stop, but a below-average pass rush. Grade: 3/5 a low 3.
LB: We all know who we lost, let's not name them. With all of their departures, we added Juwan Mitchell from UT jr and Willam Muhan from Michigan. Other than that we have Jeremy Banks as the only notable name. Look for the transfers to help but this group to be the liability of this defense. Grade: 2/5
DB: We lost Bryce Thompson so who fills his void? We return a lot fortunately with starting experience, but that starting experience doesn't mean it was great playing starting experience. I believe this secondary can be really good if everyone lives up to their potential, but Flowers need to step up his ball skills and McCollough needs to add speed or play with great instincts. CB we have Taylor and Burrell, Turnage, and George who will battle for starts. Lock Taylor but the rest is on camp. Look for this secondary to be sneaky good. I believe we will surprise a lot of people, and be positive on this side of the ball. Grade: 4/5
S/T: Brooks will be solid averaging 43.6 per punt last year. Transfer kicker McGrath is hard to tell. You can never tell with kickers. He has hit 32-of-42 field goals, with a long of 52 yards, and 118-of-119 PATs in his career so take that how you will. PR'ing was an issue last year ranking 64th nationally, so hopefully, we can only improve?? Grade: 3/5
Overall: 5-7 record with a 3.25/5 rating. I'll go game by game:
Bowling Green: W --- Pitt: L --- TN Tech: W --- Florida: L --- Missouri: W --- SC: L ---- Ole Miss: L --- Bama: L --- Kentucky: L --- Georgia: L --- South Bama: W --- Vandy: W
I say we win 5 games, with a coin flip for the South Carolina game so maybe 6. Call me pessimistic but I don't see us beating Ole miss's high-powered offense, Florida Georgia Bama is just too far ahead of us right now. Kentucky is a really solid team this year and well-coached, and I know it's a rivalry but let's not be biased and naive to say they don't have the better team right now. If you want to argue Pitt by all means, but they're on the same level Kentucky if not better in my opinion.
