Azzanni working overtime to mold new receivers

#1
kamoshika

kamoshika

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#1
Azzanni -- who described his on-field coaching style, saying with a laugh, "I don't hold back" -- isn't letting the learning curve get by as an excuse.

Instead, he's on his wide receivers from whistle to whistle; stance, splits, route running, ball skills, making catches, finishing plays all are teaching points. You name it and Azzanni has been in one of his wideout's ears about it over the first three practices.
VolQuest.com - Azzanni working to mold Vols' receivers

Zach Azzanni may look like the quiet type of football coach.

Put the 36-year-old father of three girls 5 years old and younger on a practice field with a crop of young and inexperienced wide receivers, and that perception will change.

His first three spring practices at Tennessee have been a test of his patience, but Azzanni actually relishes the chance to use his energy, raise his voice and whip a green group of Volunteers' wideouts into shape.
Zach Azzanni intense in motivating Vols' receivers | timesfreepress.com
 
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#2
#2
It's going to be interesting to see what he does for the UT receiving corps. I thought he was awful here at UF, but it might also be the fact that Urban's system doesn't fully utilize the receivers. They take on more of a blocking role in his offense and it became very difficult to recruit elite receiving talent. For your sake, hopefully Butch will manage it differently and perhaps Azzanni can have a more positive impact, but I'm glad he's not at UF and it's nice to have some elite receivers again (Demarcus Robinson, Alvin Bailey, Ahmad Fulwood, etc).
 
#3
#3
Chas in Boca said:
It's going to be interesting to see what he does for the UT receiving corps. I thought he was awful here at UF, but it might also be the fact that Urban's system doesn't fully utilize the receivers. They take on more of a blocking role in his offense and it became very difficult to recruit elite receiving talent. For your sake, hopefully Butch will manage it differently and perhaps Azzanni can have a more positive impact, but I'm glad he's not at UF and it's nice to have some elite receivers again (Demarcus Robinson, Alvin Bailey, Ahmad Fulwood, etc).
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We don't give a **** about the gators buddy.

Kick rocks.
 
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#4
#4
Chas in Boca said:
It's going to be interesting to see what he does for the UT receiving corps. I thought he was awful here at UF, but it might also be the fact that Urban's system doesn't fully utilize the receivers. They take on more of a blocking role in his offense and it became very difficult to recruit elite receiving talent. For your sake, hopefully Butch will manage it differently and perhaps Azzanni can have a more positive impact, but I'm glad he's not at UF and it's nice to have some elite receivers again (Demarcus Robinson, Alvin Bailey, Ahmad Fulwood, etc).
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We're WRU, even in our worst year we still have 2 possible 1st round NFL receivers.
 
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#5
#5
Chas in Boca said:
It's going to be interesting to see what he does for the UT receiving corps. I thought he was awful here at UF, but it might also be the fact that Urban's system doesn't fully utilize the receivers. They take on more of a blocking role in his offense and it became very difficult to recruit elite receiving talent. For your sake, hopefully Butch will manage it differently and perhaps Azzanni can have a more positive impact, but I'm glad he's not at UF and it's nice to have some elite receivers again (Demarcus Robinson, Alvin Bailey, Ahmad Fulwood, etc).
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If I may ask.. how do you know these guys are elite? I mean they haven't played a down yet.
 
#6
#6
RockyTop22 said:
We're WRU, even in our worst year we still have 2 possible 1st round NFL receivers.
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That's true - Tennessee does have a great legacy of receivers, so that should help.

The question will be whether Butch's system alters the role of the receivers. I just know that I didn't see much development in our receivers when they were working under Azzanni. We had supposed 5 star talent like Deonte Thompson who was playing like a 1 star by the time he left. It felt like we got worse from a fundamentals standpoint under Azzanni - poor route-running, poor communication, very few combination routes, failure to recognize where the sideline was, etc. I was glad when Azzanni left.
 
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#8
#8
Scotty's Flat Top said:
If I may ask.. how do you know these guys are elite? I mean they haven't played a down yet.
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Yeah, it's just something you can feel when you look at them. Demarcus made a huge catch down the sideline yesterday in our first spring practice. Granted, we were in shorts and it was over a 4th string cornerback, but you could still sense the greatness within him. He leapt up over the guy and contorted his body to make the grab. We haven't seen that in a few years here at UF.
 
#9
#9
Chas in Boca said:
Yeah, it's just something you can feel when you look at them. Demarcus made a huge catch down the sideline yesterday in our first spring practice. Granted, we were in shorts and it was over a 4th string cornerback, but you could still sense the greatness within him. He leapt up over the guy and contorted his body to make the grab. We haven't seen that in a few years here at UF.
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We got a Jedi here guys.
 
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#10
#10
Good to hear Azzanni has the receivers working hard. I'm sort of worried about the receiving corp,not a lot of depth.
 
#15
#15
WoodstockVol said:
Good to hear Azzanni has the receivers working hard. I'm sort of worried about the receiving corp,not a lot of depth.
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Actually a lot of depth, talent wise. Just not any experience outside of Dallas and Howard. Those 2, Bowles, Harris, Croom, Young (slot), Carter (a few catches last year), with North, Jenkins, and Josh Smith coming in. I agree that there are big concerns because of the lack of experience, but I do think we have decent depth talent wise.
 
#16
#16
KBVol said:
Actually a lot of depth, talent wise. Just not any experience outside of Dallas and Howard. Those 2, Bowles, Harris, Croom, Young (slot), Carter (a few catches last year), with North, Jenkins, and Josh Smith coming in. I agree that there are big concerns because of the lack of experience, but I do think we have decent depth talent wise.
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I can't wait to see Ryan Jenkins play for Tennessee,Lassiter High School is around five miles from where I live and I've seen Him play. My brother is a Clemson fan and was pissed Jenkins switched from Clemson to Tennessee
 
#17
#17
Chas in Boca said:
Yeah, it's just something you can feel when you look at them. Demarcus made a huge catch down the sideline yesterday in our first spring practice. Granted, we were in shorts and it was over a 4th string cornerback, but you could still sense the greatness within him. He leapt up over the guy and contorted his body to make the grab. We haven't seen that in a few years here at UF.
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jean shorts I'm sure...
 
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#18
#18
I would advise Vol fans to ask the tough questions about Butch's plan for the receiving corps.

From the snippets I've read, his philosophy is based on spreading opponents out and trying to make plays in space. Vol fans should ask what exactly this entails: does this means 3 receivers stock blocking for 1 to make the play (a la screen type plays with quick, short passes)? Does it mean all of them blocking for the RB to create something on the wing out of the backfield? Will it be the end of the more sophisticated "combination routes" and traditional NFL patterns?

I remember at Percy Harvin's pro day, he told scouts that he needed extra time to learn some of the traditional NFL routes because he hadn't been running them in Urban's system. It seemed like once that news report got out, opposing coaches jumped on it as a negative recruiting tool and told prospects, "Don't go to Florida because all you're going to do is block and run 1 or 2 basic routes, and you won't be prepared for the NFL." Our WR recruiting plummeted after that and we were taking guys like Stephen Alli - a 2 star from New Hampshire who had only played football one or two years.

Hopefully Butch will manage his WR's much better than Urbs did...
 
#19
#19
Chas in Boca said:
I would advise Vol fans to ask the tough questions about Butch's plan for the receiving corps.

From the snippets I've read, his philosophy is based on spreading opponents out and trying to make plays in space. Vol fans should ask what exactly this entails: does this means 3 receivers stock blocking for 1 to make the play (a la screen type plays with quick, short passes)? Does it mean all of them blocking for the RB to create something on the wing out of the backfield? Will it be the end of the more sophisticated "combination routes" and traditional NFL patterns?

I remember at Percy Harvin's pro day, he told scouts that he needed extra time to learn some of the traditional NFL routes because he hadn't been running them in Urban's system. It seemed like once that news report got out, opposing coaches jumped on it as a negative recruiting tool and told prospects, "Don't go to Florida because all you're going to do is block and run 1 or 2 basic routes, and you won't be prepared for the NFL." Our WR recruiting plummeted after that and we were taking guys like Stephen Alli - a 2 star from New Hampshire who had only played football one or two years.

Hopefully Butch will manage his WR's much better than Urbs did...
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You do know there are six years of video available on his offense, right? Six years, two schools.

Considering the WR haul he brought in on short notice, what are the changes he showed them film from those six years?
 
#20
#20
Chas in Boca said:
It's going to be interesting to see what he does for the UT receiving corps. I thought he was awful here at UF, but it might also be the fact that Urban's system doesn't fully utilize the receivers. They take on more of a blocking role in his offense and it became very difficult to recruit elite receiving talent. For your sake, hopefully Butch will manage it differently and perhaps Azzanni can have a more positive impact, but I'm glad he's not at UF and it's nice to have some elite receivers again (Demarcus Robinson, Alvin Bailey, Ahmad Fulwood, etc).
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We don't give a d**^ what you think gator troll!! Get off of our board and go back to fairy land! VFL! GBO!:rock:
 
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#21
#21
Volsfanatic91 said:
We don't give a d**^ what you think gator troll!! Get off of our board and go back to fairy land! VFL! GBO!:rock:
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Bruh... Give him a break. If it wasn't for UF fans, Jordache Jeans would have gone out of business already. They create jobs for hundreds of sweat shop laborers in China.

It's worth it to them for us to endure them. Stop being so selfish.
 
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#22
#22
Chas in Boca said:
It's going to be interesting to see what he does for the UT receiving corps. I thought he was awful here at UF, but it might also be the fact that Urban's system doesn't fully utilize the receivers. They take on more of a blocking role in his offense and it became very difficult to recruit elite receiving talent. For your sake, hopefully Butch will manage it differently and perhaps Azzanni can have a more positive impact, but I'm glad he's not at UF and it's nice to have some elite receivers again (Demarcus Robinson, Alvin Bailey, Ahmad Fulwood, etc).
Click to expand...

Have the best WR's and coaches in history and Brantley still couldn't have tossed more than 9 TD's that season.
 
#23
#23
Chas in Boca said:
I would advise Vol fans to ask the tough questions about Butch's plan for the receiving corps.
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Because after all, the opinions of overly emotional and uninformed fans will affect the outcome...right?

Here's the thing: The head coach defines and communicates a vision. The assistants deploy that vision. A good vision guy gets it done because he knows what needs to be done to be successful with what he has available. A position coach doesn't act in a vacuum and his results cannot be evaluated in a vacuum. Which is not to say that the position coach isn't responsible for results, but I'm certain that a position coach can be more or less successful based on the environment he operates in.

This 'fear this' or be 'concerned about that' trolling is ridiculous. Why don't we wait until we've played a game or ten before we worry about asking 'tough' questions. If we win, Neyland will be full, and all is good. If we lose, Neyland will be empty, and we will yet again be searching. At no point in that process does a 'tough' question serve any purpose other than trolling to divert attention from our current good fortune.
 
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#24
#24
Chas in Boca said:
That's true - Tennessee does have a great legacy of receivers, so that should help.

The question will be whether Butch's system alters the role of the receivers. I just know that I didn't see much development in our receivers when they were working under Azzanni. We had supposed 5 star talent like Deonte Thompson who was playing like a 1 star by the time he left. It felt like we got worse from a fundamentals standpoint under Azzanni - poor route-running, poor communication, very few combination routes, failure to recognize where the sideline was, etc. I was glad when Azzanni left.
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A. Look at who was throwing the ball.

B. Look at the type of offense, said QB who was throwing the ball, was running.

Not much of a wide receiver friendly offense, IMO.
 
#25
#25
From my understanding, the pssing game in the offensive system butch has run in the past requires receivers to be good route runners and utilizes a lot of short, high percentage passes that set up deeper routes and passes.

Haven't heard a whole lot about blocking, but I'm sure it's important too
 
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