'14 JUCO OT Dontavius Blair (UT SIGNEE 12/18/13)

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#1,476
#1,476
“We’ll have a battle,” Jones said during his weekly press conference at Neyland Stadium. “We’re going to continue to mix it around. We’re going to look at Coleman Thomas a little bit more, possibly at right tackle. You may see Kyler Kerbyson going to left tackle a little bit. Dontavius Blair, we're going to ask him to play left tackle.
“You'll see players moving around. You’ll see mixes within the offensive front. Again, it's finding the right five individuals that have a mindset, a mentality to protect the passer, run the football and finish blocks.”
Kerbyson has been the Vols’ starting right tackle in their first two games, but Jones said he’s not concerned about the possibility of moving Kerbyson to left tackle “because we did this in spring football, and we also did it in training camp.”
“Really, left tackle, right tackle, it’s really the same thing. It’s just left and right, and he’s been able to do that,” Jones said.

Vols freshman tight end Ethan Wolf
“I'm not saying he will be our left tackle, but I'm saying he’ll gain repetitions there, along with Kendrick and along with Blair as well. As we continue to evolve, we need to find the best five players that fit us.”

Little piece from 247 article on position battles.
 
#1,477
#1,477
JCLawyerVol said:
I actually figured it out and he may be telling the truth, which is even more incredible. I won't expose him because he apparently is a Vol fan.
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I looked through his former posts and there's nothing that would point to him being a troll. Plenty have been well informed about football too.
 
#1,478
#1,478
This feels like an episode of catfish... DB will come around next year. He has the physical talent just needs to develop, and I wouldn't go as far as to say Kendrick is that bad. He's held his own when he been on the field. It's never cool to dis a VOL !
 
#1,479
#1,479
tennesseefan31 said:
Setting aside the complete absurdity of an active rival player spending his in season time debating the starting offensive line for a school he directly competes against instead of perhaps thinking about his own team, I decided to put your little story to the test.

Given that you said you're a RS Freshman, I knew that meant you must be from the class of 2013. So I went to rivals and looked, and you'd be on there given that you said "can't beat college for free" so you were obviously a scholarship player. Rivals lists players by high school, not "hometown" (an example is Vonn Bell being listed as a recruit from Georgia). Missouri signed exactly ZERO players from Tennessee in 2013. But i decided to give you the benefit of the doubt. So I checked 247 under the same parameters. Found nothing. So in some capacity you are lying to us. Goodbye.
Click to expand...

Ouch. I have a feeling that he will need some preparation H after reading this post :good!:
 
#1,480
#1,480
tennesseefan31 said:
Setting aside the complete absurdity of an active rival player spending his in season time debating the starting offensive line for a school he directly competes against instead of perhaps thinking about his own team, I decided to put your little story to the test.

Given that you said you're a RS Freshman, I knew that meant you must be from the class of 2013. So I went to rivals and looked, and you'd be on there given that you said "can't beat college for free" so you were obviously a scholarship player. Rivals lists players by high school, not "hometown" (an example is Vonn Bell being listed as a recruit from Georgia). Missouri signed exactly ZERO players from Tennessee in 2013. But i decided to give you the benefit of the doubt. So I checked 247 under the same parameters. Found nothing. So in some capacity you are lying to us. Goodbye.
Click to expand...
How he thought he would get away with that lie puzzles me beyond belief. It's just so easy to find out basic information about a teams's roster these days. He could have at least picked a school that had some players from Tennessee in that class if he was going to make up such an absurd lie
 
#1,481
#1,481
If you look at their roster and his username, you can figure out his name. Then search that name and you find a player who played for a local Knox high school recently. Haha crazy. What's weird, I love that he supposedly plays for Mizzou and loves the Vols. Lol.

Hell I played my freshmen year for another college and I wished like crazy I was at UT. I get it.

GBO.
 
#1,482
#1,482
JCLawyerVol said:
If you look at their roster and his username, you can figure out his name. Then search that name and you find a player who played for a local Knox high school recently. Haha crazy. What's weird, I love that he supposedly plays for Mizzou and loves the Vols. Lol.

Hell I played my freshmen year for another college and I wished like crazy I was at UT. I get it.

GBO.
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Good pickup. I figured him out too. One thing, he claims a scholarship yet he's not listed as a signee for the 2013 class on rivals.
 
#1,483
#1,483
maaaan, the Richmond move to ole m$$ hurts UT. without Blair not working out accordingly, anyone know who their targeting? and yes, orange in my blood. honestly, I was hoping we lost last year haha
 
#1,484
#1,484
abrock42 said:
maaaan, the Richmond move to ole m$$ hurts UT. without Blair not working out accordingly, anyone know who their targeting? and yes, orange in my blood. honestly, I was hoping we lost last year haha
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I don't think you can say that man lol. On a side note, I wonder how often it happens that a player goes to play for a rival of his favorite team and still privately roots for his favorite team from his childhood.
 
#1,485
#1,485
that was my one dream ya know? just wasn't fast enough. gonna be emotional coming back this year. not getting any major playing time (special teams) but running on that field will be surreal. people forget sometimes what UT stands for in college football. the place is special and built by legends.
 
#1,486
#1,486
abrock42 said:
maaaan, the Richmond move to ole m$$ hurts UT. without Blair not working out accordingly, anyone know who their targeting? and yes, orange in my blood. honestly, I was hoping we lost last year haha
Click to expand...

Love the loyalty haha. I'm definitely getting worried about our tackles. Richmond to Ole Miss and Hall tearing his achilles aren't helping.
 
#1,487
#1,487
abrock42 said:
that was my one dream ya know? just wasn't fast enough. gonna be emotional coming back this year. not getting any major playing time (special teams) but running on that field will be surreal. people forget sometimes what UT stands for in college football. the place is special and built by legends.
Click to expand...

Offer criticism of players more nicely, and you'd be an enjoyable poster.
 
#1,488
#1,488
If you look at the youth at DE, Hendrix, Henderson , Barnett all being true frosh. Vereen is a sophomore and then look at the commits...Butcher, Ford, Jackson and still pushing for another de it makes you wonder IF Jacksons future spot is on the oline....
 
#1,489
#1,489
abrock42 said:
maaaan, the Richmond move to ole m$$ hurts UT. without Blair not working out accordingly, anyone know who their targeting? and yes, orange in my blood. honestly, I was hoping we lost last year haha
Click to expand...

Richmond has not made his official decision yet. It's a long way to NSD. We will be in it till the end. Blair could still end up being a good OL. Nothing is definite.
 
#1,490
#1,490
BornToBleedOrange said:
“We’ll have a battle,” Jones said during his weekly press conference at Neyland Stadium. “We’re going to continue to mix it around. We’re going to look at Coleman Thomas a little bit more, possibly at right tackle. You may see Kyler Kerbyson going to left tackle a little bit. Dontavius Blair, we're going to ask him to play left tackle.
“You'll see players moving around. You’ll see mixes within the offensive front. Again, it's finding the right five individuals that have a mindset, a mentality to protect the passer, run the football and finish blocks.”
Kerbyson has been the Vols’ starting right tackle in their first two games, but Jones said he’s not concerned about the possibility of moving Kerbyson to left tackle “because we did this in spring football, and we also did it in training camp.”
“Really, left tackle, right tackle, it’s really the same thing. It’s just left and right, and he’s been able to do that,” Jones said.

Vols freshman tight end Ethan Wolf
“I'm not saying he will be our left tackle, but I'm saying he’ll gain repetitions there, along with Kendrick and along with Blair as well. As we continue to evolve, we need to find the best five players that fit us.”

Little piece from 247 article on position battles.
Click to expand...

I haven't looked through other threads ... but ... did anybody else find this little snippet intriguing?
 
#1,491
#1,491
Mike4Vols said:
I haven't looked through other threads ... but ... did anybody else find this little snippet intriguing?
Click to expand...

Just bad copy and paste. The article has a link to a separate article on Ethan embedded in the middle of the story. It's not saying Ethan will be LT. At least that's what it usually is. I think its continuing to talk about Kyler. You just don't see any 240 lb SEC tackles.
 
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#1,498
#1,498
I think (and it's just a thought) the absence of Blair in the UTC game is a positive sign. If this staff thought that Blair was a bust and would not be a future starter or major contributor then there is no need to redshirt. You put him out there in live action in mop up minutes and see what happens. There is no reason to preserve his eligibility.
However, if you think that he can develop then you want to secure as much peak playing time as possible. I heard Swain go through the stats of Juco linemen recruits and none of the top 5 tackles are starting for the teams that recruited them.

My biggest concern is why Gilliam didn't at least get a few reps. Either he can play on a torn ACL or he can't. I doubt you want to try and find out against a top level SEC foe. therefore, I don't think we see Gilliam this year.
I think initially this staff thought Gilliam would be a stop gap, and the difference in Blair's size and raw talent wouldn't out weigh the experience and maturity. Therefore you redshirt and slowly acclimate the player, but that was out the window in game one.

It seems they have made a decision to value the future with Blair more than any potential contribution he might provide this year. The confusing part for me is how evident it is that Thomas would have GREATLY benefitted from a redshirt. throwing him in next to another true freshman is nothing short of insane. I know Kendrick has played both LT and RT and I find it hard to believe that his play would be any worse having one more year in this system.
 
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