Im still not understanding the whole "we are too slow" slogan..

[Aday25]

Why does everyone look at the defense when we lose, when we had 3 turnovers on offense and only got three points with 8 trips into Missouri territory...sure the defense could have played better, but they did pick it up in the second half and played better. Offense was horrid all night.

I think most people use speed because its one of the more obvious issues. But I seriously doubt anyone says that is the only reason for our defensive woes. We simply have to get better. If you didn't expect growing pains during this first year then you need to go back to your fantasy world.

P.S. I don't like losing one bit but i'm also not so quick to throw a coach or players under the bus after a couple bad loses to two top 10 teams (considering all the positive things that are happening- W vs. USCe, recruiting, etc...).

 

[JFBanicki]

The biggest issue is that Dooley recruited knowing he wasn't going to make them better players so when going after his "diamond in the rough" players he always went for the players with solid technique rather than the players with game speed. Missouri went for the kids that could play fast and then taught them the technique.

Also the constant coaching changes, not HC, but more positional coaches meant that our kids were forced to learn new systems, techniques and the coaches tendencies every couple of years. So unlike all these other teams our kids, even with similar 40 times, are slowed down thinking and learning, while the other team has been in the same system so they have had time tolearn everything to a point that it just comes natural and they can go out and play rather than be slowed down mentally.

 

[onevolfan]

Oh we can get these little freshmen in the weight room and work on their leg muscles and it will help with acceleration and speed.

I hope you're being sarcastic here.

 

[Vol8188]

Ok people, so it seems to be a consensus that our D and some of our Offense are too slow and that's a huge reason why we get pummeled against good, solid opponents. So, tell me..why is Mizzou soooooo fast. They recruit 3, 4 and 5 star talent just like we have the past 5 years. Hell, I don't even know if they have had a top 10 recruiting class in years! Why are they sooooo fast and we soooooo slow?

Byron Moore....4 star Juco top DB that chose us over Miami, FL. Would he have been fast if he went to Miami? Why is he so slow? Justin Coleman....5 star stud recruit when came in. Why is he getting blazed so badly on every freakin play?! Brian Randolph...another 4 star recruit. Slow! Why are these guys slow while every other team's players are sooooo fast? I don't get it lol

We had Vincent Dallas at kick returner, and you think we had speed?

 

[JDogInDaHouse]

Corey Miller and Jacques Smith are both HUGE disappointment! The underachieving duo...

Do you talk to your kids this way? I bet you do. In a Doyle Hargraves voice.

 

[MrBiggles]

It's not that they are slow, but after years of being told 1 thing by 1 coach then another by another coach and then another by a 3rd coach. They don't know what to trust, instinct wise. So they hesitate a little and that is enough to put them on the wrong angle, get blocked by linemen, miss tackles, or just flat out get run by. The other reason that they look slow was that Dooley was trying to build them into body builders and didn't work on their cardio. That's fine when you have depth at every position, but not when you have depth issues. That extra bulk is weighing them down and they are tiring out quicker so they do all of the things listed above.

 

[Give_All_Vol]

Slow both mental and physical. I keed I keed.

Maybe not as far off as you might think. They are having to learn a whole new defensive scheme... again! How quickly they can decide what they need to do and start doing it is just as important as how fast they are physically. JMO

 

[SamRebel35]

Im with Sjt18 on this one. We may have guys that are not SEC speedsters, but that isn't why we got embarrassed last weekend. We got dominated because our guys were confused and they lacked discipline on their assignments. That isn't difficult to see. Now, is that all 100% on the coaches? Probably not, but some of it certainly is. We saw what this defense was capable of against UGA and USC when good coaching met good player discipline and execution. Some of the discipline issues may be because these guys are basket cases from Dooley's system, but they need to be fixed quickly to prove to us that the coaching is not an issue.

 

[BearCat204]

I think its a horrible combination of poor defensive coaching and a severe lack of speed. When you have a receiever open without a single defender within 20 yards of him, it is obvious that you have a coaching issue. When our defenders take terrible angles constantly, it just further exacerbates the lack of speed.

 

[rockytop114]

I think its a horrible combination of poor defensive coaching and a severe lack of speed. When you have a receiever open without a single defender within 20 yards of him, it is obvious that you have a coaching issue. When our defenders take terrible angles constantly, it just further exacerbates the lack of speed.

if the coaches are coaching and the players just cant take it in witch is the problem with some what you do.. you cant shine a turd! .... I think this years progress is learn to win at home next year it will be learn to win on road.

 

[DaddyChad]

being a 4 or 5 star does not mean you have super speed. lots of 3 stars are fast..

What is the attrition rate between Missouri and Tennessee? I suspect if you check, Tennessee has lost a lot more players from those classes than Missouri.

you can't just take the rankings of the classes without factoring in attrition and development of the players. Development of Tennessee players has been stunted by having 4 head coaches and over 50 different assistants in the last 6 years.

I was wondering how many assistants and changes in scheme we have had in the last few years. Dang was it really over 50 assistant changes?

 

[Spartacavolus]

I think its a horrible combination of poor defensive coaching and a severe lack of speed. When you have a receiever open without a single defender within 20 yards of him, it is obvious that you have a coaching issue. When our defenders take terrible angles constantly, it just further exacerbates the lack of speed.

I disagree it's coaching when a player decides to leave his man and gamble. That was 100% Coleman losing his man, peeking at the qb and gambling where there were already 2 other defenders. He had another horrible game.
Coaching at times has been an issue, but not in that situation. If we are coached to leave man to man d and improvise, then fire them all from the top down.

 

[BearCat204]

I disagree it's coaching when a player decides to leave his man and gamble. That was 100% Coleman losing his man, peeking at the qb and gambling where there were already 2 other defenders. He had another horrible game.
Coaching at times has been an issue, but not in that situation. If we are coached to leave man to man d and improvise, then fire them all from the top down.

Understood to a degree, but a well coached DB will not lose his man that bad when in man d.

 

[gnm53108]

Im with Sjt18 on this one. We may have guys that are not SEC speedsters, but that isn't why we got embarrassed last weekend. We got dominated because our guys were confused and they lacked discipline on their assignments. That isn't difficult to see. Now, is that all 100% on the coaches? Probably not, but some of it certainly is. We saw what this defense was capable of against UGA and USC when good coaching met good player discipline and execution. Some of the discipline issues may be because these guys are basket cases from Dooley's system, but they need to be fixed quickly to prove to us that the coaching is not an issue.

I agree...but the big question is why is this a mostly a "outside of Neyland" problem?

 

[SamRebel35]

I agree...but the big question is why is this a mostly a "outside of Neyland" problem?

That's a fair point too. I think it is a combo of the coaches not properly preparing the team and the players not being receptive to the preparation. Also, I think there are some lingering effects from the last regime where players just don't know how to get out of their own heads and play with instinct.

 

[LWSVOL]

I was wondering how many assistants and changes in scheme we have had in the last few years. Dang was it really over 50 assistant changes?

pretty close if not more. I think that number included GA's and VFL coordinator when I was given it. I can count up the assistants plus HCs.

Fulmer - none kept so 10 plus HC gone
Kiffin - 2 kept by Dooley so 9 plus HC gone (Kiffin had 2 S&C coaches while here)
Dooley - total change over with dooley was 10 while he was HC.
Jones - all 10 plus HC left.

If I counted correctly, that is 43 head coaches, assistant coaches and S&C coaches.

 

[gnm53108]

That's a fair point too. I think it is a combo of the coaches not properly preparing the team and the players not being receptive to the preparation. Also, I think there are some lingering effects from the last regime where players just don't know how to get out of their own heads and play with instinct.

IMO the effects of the last regime is a strong possibility. It seemed like it was our upperclassmen that were our biggest culprits.

 

[DC Vol]

How can you argue against the stats he mentioned?

Cuz, like, Arkansas State has good team speed and stuff like such as.

I think it has more to do with mental and physical preparation. Our DL got completely manhandled. That's not speed. Against Bama/Mizzou our LBs and DBs played scared. They were scared to shoot gaps. They're not confident at all.

We're about to see if this is a home/away problem or if this team took a major step back after that USC game. USC has a legit offense with Shaw @QB and we bottled them up pretty well.

Bama/Mizzou look like they destroyed this team's confidence. When you have no confidence... you play tentative and scared.

 

[roster]

I think its a horrible combination of poor defensive coaching and a severe lack of speed. When you have a receiever open without a single defender within 20 yards of him, it is obvious that you have a coaching issue. When our defenders take terrible angles constantly, it just further exacerbates the lack of speed.

You're almost 100% right BearCat. I just disagree with the last part. Don't matter how fast you are, if you take a bad angle you ain't going to get there.

This is a coaching problem and Willie Martinez is the secondary coach.

 

[roster]

Don't leave out AJ Johnson. & Randolph. & Moore. & Coleman

True. But the nickles are our weakest spot. We are only using two: #13 and #35. Neither of them ever seem to know who are they are suppose to cover. They either lack the intelligence or the coach Martinez is not doing his job. If it is an intelligence problem then why isn't a third alternative being given a shot?

 

[volfan411]

Ok people, so it seems to be a consensus that our D and some of our Offense are too slow and that's a huge reason why we get pummeled against good, solid opponents. So, tell me..why is Mizzou soooooo fast. They recruit 3, 4 and 5 star talent just like we have the past 5 years. Hell, I don't even know if they have had a top 10 recruiting class in years! Why are they sooooo fast and we soooooo slow?

Byron Moore....4 star Juco top DB that chose us over Miami, FL. Would he have been fast if he went to Miami? Why is he so slow? Justin Coleman....5 star stud recruit when came in. Why is he getting blazed so badly on every freakin play?! Brian Randolph...another 4 star recruit. Slow! Why are these guys slow while every other team's players are sooooo fast? I don't get it lol

There is a difference between being fast on Thursday and fast on Saturday. Just because a player can run fast does not make him play the game fast.

 

[volfan411]

I think its a horrible combination of poor defensive coaching and a severe lack of speed. When you have a receiever open without a single defender within 20 yards of him, it is obvious that you have a coaching issue. When our defenders take terrible angles constantly, it just further exacerbates the lack of speed.

Every defense has busts and the play Saturday where the receiver was that wide open was an obvious bust.

 

[volfan411]

You're almost 100% right BearCat. I just disagree with the last part. Don't matter how fast you are, if you take a bad angle you ain't going to get there.

This is a coaching problem and Willie Martinez is the secondary coach.

So what do think we do. These same players took the same bad angles last year. Do you think Martinez is saying when you get in the game take a bad angle. I am sure they are trying to correct it but it is obvious that the players are not responding and there in no one behind them to put in.

 

[lilesrt]

If my memory serves me correctly, Coleman was a 5* recruit out of VA....4* at minimum. Why does he play like a 2*?

Justin Coleman is from GA I believe. Is he not? He was a Rivals 3 star for much of the year before being bumped to a 4 star late in the recruiting process.

 

[MOOOOONEY]

I think its a horrible combination of poor defensive coaching and a severe lack of speed. When you have a receiever open without a single defender within 20 yards of him, it is obvious that you have a coaching issue. When our defenders take terrible angles constantly, it just further exacerbates the lack of speed.

I guess every team in the NFL, College Football, and high school football have a coaching problem, I guess the whole coaching staff in Denver needs to be fired after what happened in the playoffs against Baltimore last year.

I blame the coaches for not have the team playing with more energy and intensity, but I do not blame them for Coleman letting another guy run by him. Sutton is the freshman and he doesn't make as many mistake as Coleman so I guess that's coaching.

The bottom line is 9 games is not enough time to evaluate this coaching staff. Last year this team gave up 55 to Missouri at home so there is some improvement.

I wish people would understand we do not have the same offensive play makers as we had last year, our offense is not going to be as good as last years offense. We could have made a game out of it if our young receivers and QB had not struggled and what a surprise Neal struggled too.

What was really disappointing was the Line play, I thought this was the only area we had an edge over Missouri. It was unacceptable and pathetic.