Jakobe Thomas on leaving Tennessee

[TopDog4TN]

Link to interview

I blame Tim Banks since that was his position group and his defense as a whole. We've all seen Turrentine play and even if Turrentine knew the playbook better, aint no way he should've had 300 more snaps than Jakobe Thomas.

He doesnt really go into great detail on the reason for leaving but considering he said being at Tennessee was a dream come true and that he loved it here, but he had to bet on himself, I inferred it being playing time/depth chart. Could be wrong.

 

[TrojanorVol]

Jokobe Thomas thriving and a stud. In the NC game now and a black eye on the Tim Banks era. We are no longer in the tim banks era. We are in the Heupel era part 2 now. Lets see how that works out now! So far so good!

 

[bigalvol27]

Much respect to Jakobe and the process he went through to make the best decision for himself. Makes me wonder if this staff is going to miss on someone else from this past year.

 

[vol94]

Jokobe Thomas thriving and a stud. In the NC game now and a black eye on the Tim Banks era. We are no longer in the tim banks era. We are in the Heupel era part 2 now. Lets see how that works out now! So far so good!

Exactly- let’s move forward and not look in the rear view mirror as we can’t change the past.

Go Vols!

 

[Action_1505]

Much respect to Jakobe and the process he went through to make the best decision for himself. Makes me wonder if this staff is going to miss on someone else from this past year.

Well they’ve let a couple go that they probably should’ve kept in this portal cycle.

 

[bleedorange1983]

Am.i wrong or was.turrentine featured as a LB this season?

 

[CornDontGrow]

Am.i wrong or was.turrentine featured as a LB this season?

He was a safety I think

 

[TopDog4TN]

Am.i wrong or was.turrentine featured as a LB this season?

he played safety. Well I say that loosely, he was on the field. I appreciate his work and effort, but just the least effective safety I can ever recall playing for our Vols.

 

[DaddyChad]

Banks is dog crap as a safety coach.

 

[wmcovol]

Much respect to Jakobe and the process he went through to make the best decision for himself. Makes me wonder if this staff is going to miss on someone else from this past year.

They’ve won a lot more than they’ve lost on. JT is about the only one that’s really succeeded at the same level of school.

 

[Mustng959]

We missed Jakobe. He should have been a VFL!

 

[Dormandy Fan]

I think he had a much higher ceiling than Turrentine. Turrentine can't seem tackle or cover well enough to be an SEC starter.

 

[BruisedOrange]

This is not a comment on Jakobe himself. But it's an aspect that we need to recognize is going to go into decisions about who we recruit and reject on defense.

1 - There are a limited number of college athletes who have the physical abilities (speed, size, coordination) to play the safety position at a high level.

2 - We know that Knowles' defense takes a while (conceptual understanding + time to develop specific habits/recognition skills) to learn to play at a high level.

3 - There are many mental areas where any person can be brilliant, while still being average in other aspects of intellect. For example, abstract reasoning (math) vs. abstract reasoning (language) vs. abstract reasoning (systems) vs. spatial reasoning vs. spatial logic vs. etc., etc., etc. (My ACT math scores were 40 percentile lower than my next lowest score--I'm utterly inept with numbers!)

Point: there will be more guys physically capable of playing safety for Knowles than will also be mentally suited to thrive in his system. It's not a simple "smart enough / not smart enough" question. Knowles' system will require guys to be smart in specific ways. There are plenty of Nobel Prize winners who aren't smart enough in the ways necessary to thrive in Knowles' system.

So we shouldn't be surprised if Tennessee passes on some excellent safeties--'cause we don't want opposing QBs to also be passing on our safeties!

 

[TennesseeTarheel]

What is the job of an analyst, anyway?

 

[VolinMichigan]

We need more players like Will Brooks. Maybe not the most physically gifted player but he was always in the right spot to make the play. Turrentine was just so inconsistent and routinely took bad angles and was a bad tackler. Ty Redmond could only do so much as a true freshman on an island by himself. But your Sr safety shouldn’t be making the same mistakes as a true freshman.

 

[#1fulmerite]

Although he did not state this, it alludes to a personal issue a or the coaches had against him. Cuddos for not slamming the coach or program.

 

[wmcovol]

Never saw what Tim Banks saw in Turrentine.

 

[Rushin Orange Collusion]

Never saw what Tim Banks saw in Turrentine.

Nor what Heupel saw in Banks.

 

[WaywardVol]

Link to interview

I blame Tim Banks since that was his position group and his defense as a whole. We've all seen Turrentine play and even if Turrentine knew the playbook better, aint no way he should've had 300 more snaps than Jakobe Thomas.

He doesnt really go into great detail on the reason for leaving but considering he said being at Tennessee was a dream come true and that he loved it here, but he had to bet on himself, I inferred it being playing time/depth chart. Could be wrong.

It was absolutely a playing time issue. He wanted some assurances of his role. Dumbass Banks wouldn’t give it to him. It was his last year and he’d wasted away on The Hill. Considering how little they played him, it’s really amazing Miami had them on their radar. It’s funny that they knew we had an under utilized player and we didn’t.

 

[wmcovol]

Nor what Heupel saw in Banks.

There wasnt exactly a line of defensive coordinators ready to take this job in 2021 with a horrible defensive roster, major scholarship reductions & playing D with a fast paced offense. Heupel’s mistake was he was loyal too long to Banks.

 

[UT97Vol]

Also being a Middle grad I saw him played quite a bit there before he transferred. I thought back then he was the best safety I had seen at MT and that includes guys like All Pro Kevin Byard and Reed Blankenship who had been a staple in the Eagles elite defenses.

 

[Rushin Orange Collusion]

There wasnt exactly a line of defensive coordinators ready to take this job in 2021 with a horrible defensive roster, major scholarship reductions & playing D with a fast paced offense. Heupel’s mistake was he was loyal too long to Banks.

Good points all!

 

[05_never_again]

He keeps his response classy, but it sounds like the defensive staff last year simply thought he couldn't play and he didn't get playing time over Brooks and Turrentine, and coming into this season he thought that wouldn't change.

 

[wmcovol]

He keeps his response classy, but it sounds like the defensive staff last year simply thought he couldn't play and he didn't get playing time over Brooks and Turrentine, and coming into this season he thought that wouldn't change.

Brooks kept the secondary lined up correctly. He made some big plays also. Not sure what Turrentine provided. I never saw much there.