Heupel's Offseason Beard
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I want to start by saying that I am not saying that Banks is free from ridicule or judgment. The defense has left a lot to be desired. We give up too many points and too many yards. I just want to take this opportunity to point out a few things that might explain the drop off in performance from the elite defense of last year (top 10 in PPG, YPG, rush defense, etc) to this year. These are not "excuses". These are just observable catalysts that can and do affect a defense's performance. I hope that you all will take all of this into consideration when the thought "FIRE BANKS" comes into your mind.
1. Our biggest strength from last year is replaced by 2 newcomers with McCoy and Gibson out. These guys were invaluable and while the new guys have played good-elite, there's still an obvious drop off.
2. We lost a first and second rounder on the d-line to the NFL, and our biggest space eater to graduation. We've still got dawgs on the DLine, but way too many run plays are getting through the line.
3. We don't have a true coverage safety who can break on the ball. This is one that is fully on Banks since he coaches and recruits safeties. Fortunately we have 2 borderline 5 star safeties/ athletes committed for next season
4. Our EXPERIENCED linebackers are not the most athletic guys. They regularly get beat to the sideline, but they are the guys that know the defense, know their role and can read the play better than young guys
5. We are playing a TON of young players. It's what happens when you have a covid year where everyone gets another year of eligibility, and then everyone runs out of eligibility at the same time. We've had 11 true freshmen play snaps on the defense this year.
6. Our offense is running up tempo again which leaves our defense with little time to catch their breath. They've played close to 40 minutes pretty much every game.
7. The offense struggles on third down at times and rarely goes for it on 4th. Which puts the defense back on the field
8. A lot more teams are running no-huddle offense now. Watching the Mississippi state game was the first time I've been on the other side of a "Heupel" offense and it was a nightmare. More and more teams are adopting this mindset and it keeps us from substituting/ getting properly aligned
9. Mediocre teams are just generally more talented than they used to be. Teams like Mississippi state and Kentucky used to literally be 98% 3 stars with maybe a handful of 4 stars. They had no chance against good teams. Now these teams are getting much more talented guys from the portal/ high school because of NIL.
10. Tennessee is coming out of one of the strictest recruiting probations of the modern era. We haven't been afforded the same amount of scholarships, official visits, or unofficial visits as other teams for the past 5 years. Hell we couldn't even call or text recruits for 28 weeks out of a 5 year period. That's SEVEN MONTHS where we couldn't even send a "good morning" text to recruits. That's a disconnect that has greatly affected our recruiting. I mean, look at the jump in this years class. The amount of elite talent we've able to snatch once the shackles are off should show you how much probation affected recruiting.
Again, these are not excuses. These are just observations of things that might explain the drop off in defensive performance. Games could be called differently, sure. But I don't know how you expect another top 10 defense (which banks and Heupel had in basically every defensive statistic last year) with all of this going on. You fire banks, you probably lose 10-20 guys in the portal. But you probably lose the entire defense's morale as well.
We're six games in and are on pace to be 10-2 again. Remember when everyone was predicting 7-5/ 8-4 this offseason? Remember when we were picked to finish 9th in the SEC? There are still 6 games this year. Six more weeks of film and game prep to tighten things up.
Lastly, I just want to point out that the defense HAS shown flashes of hope. We are:
#1 in the country in sacks
#2 in defensive touchdowns
#7th in tackles for loss
top 5 in fumbles recovered
Let's not give up on them yet. There's still a lot of football to be played. Take a breath and realize that this is an absolutely ridiculous season across the board and that this sport has changed in a lot of ways. Look at how much Florida scored on Texas's $40 million roster. Look at who Ole Miss almost lost to today. Look at who Penn State DID lose to today. Hell, this might be the most exciting overall season in college football history. All we can do is survive and advance. And this team has survived a lot of games that I've seen other Tennessee teams lose.
Go Big Orange.
-Beard
1. Our biggest strength from last year is replaced by 2 newcomers with McCoy and Gibson out. These guys were invaluable and while the new guys have played good-elite, there's still an obvious drop off.
2. We lost a first and second rounder on the d-line to the NFL, and our biggest space eater to graduation. We've still got dawgs on the DLine, but way too many run plays are getting through the line.
3. We don't have a true coverage safety who can break on the ball. This is one that is fully on Banks since he coaches and recruits safeties. Fortunately we have 2 borderline 5 star safeties/ athletes committed for next season
4. Our EXPERIENCED linebackers are not the most athletic guys. They regularly get beat to the sideline, but they are the guys that know the defense, know their role and can read the play better than young guys
5. We are playing a TON of young players. It's what happens when you have a covid year where everyone gets another year of eligibility, and then everyone runs out of eligibility at the same time. We've had 11 true freshmen play snaps on the defense this year.
6. Our offense is running up tempo again which leaves our defense with little time to catch their breath. They've played close to 40 minutes pretty much every game.
7. The offense struggles on third down at times and rarely goes for it on 4th. Which puts the defense back on the field
8. A lot more teams are running no-huddle offense now. Watching the Mississippi state game was the first time I've been on the other side of a "Heupel" offense and it was a nightmare. More and more teams are adopting this mindset and it keeps us from substituting/ getting properly aligned
9. Mediocre teams are just generally more talented than they used to be. Teams like Mississippi state and Kentucky used to literally be 98% 3 stars with maybe a handful of 4 stars. They had no chance against good teams. Now these teams are getting much more talented guys from the portal/ high school because of NIL.
10. Tennessee is coming out of one of the strictest recruiting probations of the modern era. We haven't been afforded the same amount of scholarships, official visits, or unofficial visits as other teams for the past 5 years. Hell we couldn't even call or text recruits for 28 weeks out of a 5 year period. That's SEVEN MONTHS where we couldn't even send a "good morning" text to recruits. That's a disconnect that has greatly affected our recruiting. I mean, look at the jump in this years class. The amount of elite talent we've able to snatch once the shackles are off should show you how much probation affected recruiting.
Again, these are not excuses. These are just observations of things that might explain the drop off in defensive performance. Games could be called differently, sure. But I don't know how you expect another top 10 defense (which banks and Heupel had in basically every defensive statistic last year) with all of this going on. You fire banks, you probably lose 10-20 guys in the portal. But you probably lose the entire defense's morale as well.
We're six games in and are on pace to be 10-2 again. Remember when everyone was predicting 7-5/ 8-4 this offseason? Remember when we were picked to finish 9th in the SEC? There are still 6 games this year. Six more weeks of film and game prep to tighten things up.
Lastly, I just want to point out that the defense HAS shown flashes of hope. We are:
#1 in the country in sacks
#2 in defensive touchdowns
#7th in tackles for loss
top 5 in fumbles recovered
Let's not give up on them yet. There's still a lot of football to be played. Take a breath and realize that this is an absolutely ridiculous season across the board and that this sport has changed in a lot of ways. Look at how much Florida scored on Texas's $40 million roster. Look at who Ole Miss almost lost to today. Look at who Penn State DID lose to today. Hell, this might be the most exciting overall season in college football history. All we can do is survive and advance. And this team has survived a lot of games that I've seen other Tennessee teams lose.
Go Big Orange.
-Beard
