'18 TN OT Max Wray

[MwB]

1, not a UGA troll. 2, I misspelled one of our players names and even admitted to the mistake. I know you guys are perfect. Anyone on this board gets ignored or shut down the minute UT gets put in a negative light. You guys must be millennials and think everyone deserves a trophy. People can disagree, it's ok. It's cool that you think our OL recruiting and development is in good hands. I don't. End of story.

Is it really end of story? Millennials needing a trophy? Seems like you want to give some trophies to georgia, oh that's right they haven't won anything I remember the dream class. .. maybe you've forgotten...

 

[sonofUT62]

Yes it's Marcus Tatum, and he's a SO. He also looks like a TE playing OT, and if he sees the field for more than mop up duty come this Fall then you better be finding Butch a new job.

You mean to tell me Tatum looked bad as a true freshman in an emergency start....playing against a guy who's a probable top 10 pick? My God man you're a genius.

 

[MiramarVol]

1, not a UGA troll. 2, I misspelled one of our players names and even admitted to the mistake. I know you guys are perfect. Anyone on this board gets ignored or shut down the minute UT gets put in a negative light. You guys must be millennials and think everyone deserves a trophy. People can disagree, it's ok. It's cool that you think our OL recruiting and development is in good hands. I don't. End of story.

The situation is better now and the recruiting is way better now that Wells is the OL Coach. There have been nothing but rave reviews by players in regards to him. The Junior Day event was one where he was mentioned numerous times as being very personable. The on-field remains to be seen, but with himself and Scott, I think they'll be fine.

 

[jason3713]

1, not a UGA troll. 2, I misspelled one of our players names and even admitted to the mistake. I know you guys are perfect. Anyone on this board gets ignored or shut down the minute UT gets put in a negative light. You guys must be millennials and think everyone deserves a trophy. People can disagree, it's ok. It's cool that you think our OL recruiting and development is in good hands. I don't. End of story.

If you are not a troll you're a

 

[BarrythesnoUT]

What he was saying wasn't wrong, folks. Sorry to burst your bubbles.

 

[keckjm]

What he was saying wasn't wrong, folks. Sorry to burst your bubbles.

Leave it alone man. People rather throw insults and look cool than face reality. Never once said we should model how UGA does everything, but their OL recruiting under Smart is 100X better than ours at the current moment. People make excuses for everything. Yea, we had injuries, but if you have to play a FR on the OL do you want a 270 pound OT who's a 3-4 year project or a 315 pound OT who has the strength to hold his own right away?

We recruit Smith and then add 2 other 3-4 year projects when our depth is already bad. We got fans who celebrate our accomplishments like we did something last year, even when we had the best roster in a decade and went 8-4. We barley beat App State because our OL couldn't even move their DL.

 

[Skullbone]

Georgia sucks and their freshman linemen will suck if they have to play. I don't care if they're 7 foot tall and 350 lbs. They're freshman. We can gripe about our line struggles over the years but what's Georgia's excuse? Being year one doesn't explain why they sucked the last two years with all that talent.

 

[walkenvol]

What he was saying wasn't wrong, folks. Sorry to burst your bubbles.

It's his opinion therefore it can't be "wrong" as its not science or math. A reasoned person can look at the situation CBJ inherited along with the freakish amount of injuries the team endured to arrive at a level of understanding that's not quite so absolute IMO.

Smart inherited a GA team that was on a 15 year successful run with a stable coach who continually signed top classes from recruits in his back yard. Smart had been recruiting these same areas as a top assistant for the top program in the SEC so he arrived with a level of instant credibility. CBJ was a non-P5 coach from a different part of the country who inherited an unstable program that had not been recruiting well. CBJ had to establish recruiting relationships that Smart already had when taking the GA job. No way CBJ or any other coach was going to step into the UT job 6 weeks prior to signing day and have the same results Smart did at GA his first year.

If you include Mays, CBJ will have signed a 5* OT for 3 years running along with several 4*'s and some 3*'s who appear to have the talent to develop. That looks like a good recipe for success to me.

 

[Kristy*]

Leave it alone man. People rather throw insults and look cool than face reality. Never once said we should model how UGA does everything, but their OL recruiting under Smart is 100X better than ours at the current moment. People make excuses for everything. Yea, we had injuries, but if you have to play a FR on the OL do you want a 270 pound OT who's a 3-4 year project or a 315 pound OT who has the strength to hold his own right away?

We recruit Smith and then add 2 other 3-4 year projects when our depth is already bad. We got fans who celebrate our accomplishments like we did something last year, even when we had the best roster in a decade and went 8-4. We barley beat App State because our OL couldn't even move their DL.

All 3 OL we took this year are the right size. But it's ideal to not have freshmen contributing on the OL anyway. We took a couple of projects last year with the plan to RS them. Injuries changed plans. It was unfortunate. Georgia is going to be no better off this year needing major contributions from their freshmen OL.

You come on here acting like you are the only one who was unhappy with OL play. Find me one post where someone praised it. Nobody thought it was great. We're happy changes were made. We don't however applaud our opponents while bashing our own fans.

BTW, 2014: We had the top Juco player in Blair. Bust yes, but his offer list was outstanding. **** happens. Who's to say all the GA boys will be stars? Our class also included Mosley, who had the right size but had a bad car accident (unforeseen). And Jashon Robertson - playing pretty damn well. I actually think our recruiting at the position Jones' first year was pretty good. Now, we need a coach. I hope Wells is the guy!

 

[keckjm]

It's his opinion therefore it can't be "wrong" as its not science or math. A reasoned person can look at the situation CBJ inherited along with the freakish amount of injuries the team endured to arrive at a level of understanding that's not quite so absolute IMO.

Smart inherited a GA team that was on a 15 year successful run with a stable coach who continually signed top classes from recruits in his back yard. Smart had been recruiting these same areas as a top assistant for the top program in the SEC so he arrived with a level of instant credibility. CBJ was a non-P5 coach from a different part of the country who inherited an unstable program that had not been recruiting well. CBJ had to establish recruiting relationships that Smart already had when taking the GA job. No way CBJ or any other coach was going to step into the UT job 6 weeks prior to signing day and have the same results Smart did at GA his first year.

If you include Mays, CBJ will have signed a 5* OT for 3 years running along with several 4*'s and some 3*'s who appear to have the talent to develop. That looks like a good recipe for success to me.

The first paragraph is my issue. All of you keep using Dooley as an excuse. You don't need a whole senior OL to be good. Moreover, when you are in rebuild mode you have to increase the amount of talent as fast as possible in crucial areas, which means you can't strike out on your first recruiting class at OL. All of you keep saying 2013 Butch couldn't do anything recruiting wise. Guess what, you are right which is why I said look at Butch's first true class in 2014. From 2012-2014, we recruited one OT starter in Kendrick. Not all Butch's fault, but you can't sit here and give the man a pass year five when our depth is still subpar. To top that off, our OL development has not been good. Mahoney should have been fired two years ago.

 

[BondJamesBond]

... UGA does everything, but their OL recruiting under Smart is 100X better than ours at the current moment.

Smart's line recruiting is Not 100 x better than ours and it is silly to claim that. It is also equally unreasonable to compare Kirby's first recruiting class with Butch's, given the state of what they inherited. Butch had to replace every position, and didn't have the luxury of "focusing" on one position group. I'm not going to call names. I just think you aren't doing a rational comparison. That doesn't mean I am happy with every recruit we have signed or lost. It just means that I understand why there are differences.

 

[sonofUT62]

The first paragraph is my issue. All of you keep using Dooley as an excuse. You don't need a whole senior OL to be good. Moreover, when you are in rebuild mode you have to increase the amount of talent as fast as possible in crucial areas, which means you can't strike out on your first recruiting class at OL. All of you keep saying 2013 Butch couldn't do anything recruiting wise. Guess what, you are right which is why I said look at Butch's first true class in 2014. From 2012-2014, we recruited one OT starter in Kendrick. Not all Butch's fault, but you can't sit here and give the man a pass year five when our depth is still subpar. To top that off, our OL development has not been good. Mahoney should have been fired two years ago.

Ahhh when all else fails and all of your arguments have been picked apart, just fall back on the old Mahoney should have been fired two years ago defense.

 

[keckjm]

Smart's line recruiting is Not 100 x better than ours and it is silly to claim that. It is also equally unreasonable to compare Kirby's first recruiting class with Butch's, given the state of what they inherited. Butch had to replace every position, and didn't have the luxury of "focusing" on one position group. I'm not going to call names. I just think you aren't doing a rational comparison. That doesn't mean I am happy with every recruit we have signed or lost. It just means that I understand why there are differences.

I get what you are saying. I understand where we were depth wise, what I'm saying is, that doesn't matter. When you can't win the line of scrimmage you lose games you shouldn't. Recruiting one OT in 2014 wasn't a recipe for success. I get it, you can't build a depleted roster in one year or even two, but you also can't win in the SEC with a bad OL. You have to make certain positions a priority during a rebuild. I think Butch failed at doing that his first two years here, and that's why when our two OTs went down our best option was a 270 pound FR.

 

[Otis07]

If you are not a troll you're a

I prefer Massengale

 

[ScottishVol]

....So... I understand Wray is listening to our coach's?

 

[Nashvegas31]

Tatum is going to be very good here. I like his long term potential more than Richmond. Tatum has great length and athleticism. As he fills out he will be ready to go.

 

[Glitch]

....So... I understand Wray is listening to our coach's?

That is the rumor, once you filter through the garbage and self-mutilation of the past couple of pages. Maybe the coach bashing can go back to the FF and we can talk about the future of the Vols over here with a little more positivity.

 

[keckjm]

Tatum is going to be very good here. I like his long term potential more than Richmond. Tatum has great length and athleticism. As he fills out he will be ready to go.

I think he can be good too. He's just going to need about 30 pounds on his frame, which takes time.

 

[CABVOL]

I think he can be good too. He's just going to need about 30 pounds on his frame, which takes time.

Not one person is denying that. As Kristy* said, though, the plan was to RS him last year but vast amounts of injuries prevented that from happening. Yes, it sucked, we all know that, but continually bashing the same point over and over isn't going to miraculously give UT an all-SEC line.

It has been suggested that Mahoney was a big issue with development and recruiting OL, and now that situation has been changed, hopefully for the better. It seems to already be paying off on the recruiting side. Development is yet to be seen.

Let's all hope that the changes CBJ has made with the coaching staff with improve the on-field results this year. :hi:

 

[Tuckervol1003]

Not one person is denying that. As Kristy* said, though, the plan was to RS him last year but vast amounts of injuries prevented that from happening. Yes, it sucked, we all know that, but continually bashing the same point over and over isn't going to miraculously give UT an all-SEC line.

It has been suggested that Mahoney was a big issue with development and recruiting OL, and now that situation has been changed, hopefully for the better. It seems to already be paying off on the recruiting side. Development is yet to be seen.

Let's all hope that the changes CBJ has made with the coaching staff with improve the on-field results this year. :hi:

Part of the issue that Mahoney had is that you cannot continue to have to throw true freshmen into the lineup to fill gaps caused by lack of depth and injuries.

Of all the positions in college football, OL is one of the hardest positions for an incoming freshman to make an impact. The strength and athletic ability of your opponents is dramatically different from high school to Power 5 collegiate football.

Mahoney did not have much choice. His first year, he had all returning starters, but none that were suited to the offense. The 2nd year he had a bunch of freckle-faced freshmen. Year t3 saw some improvement, but last year saw the injuries crop up that alerted us to the depth issues. I still say that Dooley not signing a single OL in 2012 killed Mahoney's opportunity.

 

[LaagerVol]

Just curious here.. Am I the only one who can't ignore this guy? I typically try to add Georgia trolls to the ignore list pretty quickly but when I click on his profile the option to ignore does not show up.

I have the same problem lol. I've tried several times.

 

[LaagerVol]

1, not a UGA troll. 2, I misspelled one of our players names and even admitted to the mistake. I know you guys are perfect. Anyone on this board gets ignored or shut down the minute UT gets put in a negative light. You guys must be millennials and think everyone deserves a trophy. People can disagree, it's ok. It's cool that you think our OL recruiting and development is in good hands. I don't. End of story.

Marcus...... Jack...... They are so similar I can see how you would misspell that.

 

[LaagerVol]

Leave it alone man. People rather throw insults and look cool than face reality. Never once said we should model how UGA does everything, but their OL recruiting under Smart is 100X better than ours at the current moment. People make excuses for everything. Yea, we had injuries, but if you have to play a FR on the OL do you want a 270 pound OT who's a 3-4 year project or a 315 pound OT who has the strength to hold his own right away?

We recruit Smith and then add 2 other 3-4 year projects when our depth is already bad. We got fans who celebrate our accomplishments like we did something last year, even when we had the best roster in a decade and went 8-4. We barley beat App State because our OL couldn't even move their DL.

Butch can't force OL to come here. Isn't like he hasn't been focusing on the position. Georgia is in just a little bit better position than we are when it comes to recruiting, you know, being in the talent rich state of GEORGIA and all. Sometimes hard to fix every position's depth issues when the roster is as bad as ours was.

And saying fans celebrated our accomplishments last year?? Pure BS. Everybody is unhappy with how last year turned out, EVERYBODY. It's just that those of us with a maturity level above that of a 2 year old don't feel the need to continuously pi$$ and moan about it like a child throwing a temper tantrum.

 

[BarrythesnoUT]

Ahhh when all else fails and all of your arguments have been picked apart, just fall back on the old Mahoney should have been fired two years ago defense.

That's been part of the point the entire conversation.

 

[Orange Studs]

Hip hip! Haaaa ! Wray!!!