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Courtesy of @ChattaTNVol
Coach Doug Matthews discussed the first 2 days of spring practice on his “Big Orange Sunday” show this morning. He started off by talking about meeting with some Vol supporters at a pub in Bellevue (I was guessing they were probably bag men – just kidding – maybe). He said when he was coaching Kippy Brown was recruiting Memphis but he and Phil had the rest of the state. One of the things he noticed then was the further you got away from Knoxville in the state, the more rabid the fanbase. He said it probably had a lot to do with not always being able to get to Knoxville for games. It was, he said, one of the reasons back then why John Ward became so hugely popular.
CDM said he has been told that DKjr’s rehab is nothing structural so he expects DK will be back ready to go by fall. He said one of the reasons Jeremy Banks is back at running back may be because of the shoulder surgery that Eric Gray underwent in addition to Pruitt’s desire to have at least one big running back. CDM said he really liked Banks on the defensive side because he was so explosive but we now have a number of young guys on that side of the ball that are very explosive. He said while WR is probably the easiest position for a young guy to learn, in his opinion, running back was probably second easiest. CDM <3 Jeremy Banks.
Trey Smith is part of the team until he’s not. We’ll know this fall.
CDM was a defensive coach but coached offense for 8 and ½ years. He pointed to Pruitt’s comments about having offensive linemen with 3 years and some going into their 4th year and said he doesn’t really like the expression “pumping the brakes” but maybe we should a bit with some of the younger guys coming in on the offensive line. While they have good size there’s a question as to whether they have the strength to play well in this league at the outset. He again pointed to Pruitt’s comments about the offensive line being a developmental position.
He noted that Pruitt gave recognition to the strength and nutrition staff in his press conference and talked about how these people are so important to the development of a football team. He said Pruitt probably has extra appreciation for people who work behind the scenes for the football team because until he came to Tennessee that was all he did himself.
When you hear the expression we need to stay off the ground the reason for that is because if you’re on the ground the potential for injury goes up significantly.
When we hear that on the offensive side we’re keeping much of the same terminology. It’s not really rocket science but there are a lot of terms. For example, it could be something as simple as a take-off route which would be the same as a go route which is the same as a fly route. Keeping the same terminology shortens the learning/adjustment curve for the guys with Chaney and heads off some potential confusion.
He talked about the importance of drills. The point is you’re learning to play fast. When you’re in the game you can’t be thinking; you have to “flow and go”.
As an aside, I have a long paper I could write on playing fast but for now I’ll spare you the details. Suffice it to say that the typical brain has around 100 billion neurons and 1,000 trillion synapses (connections between various neurons). The 3 main components of the neurons are the dendrites, the soma, and the axons. The dendrites receive input and the axons generate output. Every neuron is connected to about 10,000 of the other neurons in the brain. The neurons are basically computer processors and while modern computers can do a single thing (one processor) billions of times per second the human brain can do quadrillions of things 30 times per second. The human brain is a parallel computer while classical computing is a serial computer. As you learn concepts and drill and drill the dendrites are receiving all that input. Throughout the day and more-so at night when you’re sleeping the brain is generating new synaptic (chemical electrical) connections (making associations) to neurons located in various regions of your brain. This is how you learn. The key to being able to play fast after you have done your learning and drilling is simply to trust yourself. If you’re thinking too much you’re slowing yourself down. You already know what to do and how to do it. The sooner you begin to show a little faith in yourself the better your performance will be on the field.
One of the key reasons we have to be perhaps a much improved football team this year is that for many of our guys it won’t be their first year in our systems. They should be able to play a lot faster. That’s an advantage we’ve been surrendering to a lot of less talented teams in recent years.