Josh Heupel emerges (old thread)

[KeyVol14]

The offense has improved this season. The defense has regressed. Im sorry that bothers me. Im glad we are undefeated but if our offense has a off game we will lose period

You can always go back to enjoying averaging 12 points a game under pruitt and getting blown out 55-10

 

[Frosty]

Would be a huge disappointment

Hmm

 

[MyAll]

I didn't know enough to post in this thread at the time of the hire.

I usually wait until year 2 or 3 of a coaches tenure before going all in. I went all in on Pruitt going into year 2, I posted a few threads praising him for his defensive recruiting & breaking down metrics of how he's improved defenses during his previous 3 tenures as DC. I was all in and it didn't age well.

As for Heupel, I'm as excited as everyone but I'm still not going all in. He's pretty much matched Butch's peak in just his 2nd year. It took Butch until year 4 to have this kind of start.
Now Heupel just needs to keep it together. I think he can do it. It doesn't even have to be this year. But it's gonna take at least 9-3 and a NY6 bowl for me.

That team was on another planet from this team talent wise. That team was so poorly coached and it caught up with them, whereas this team plays clean and wins despite being in such a hole with talent and depth. Heupel may not punt with the talent we had on offense and imagine what adding Tuttle, reeves Maybin, and Sutton to this defense would do. Remember the complaining we did about moseley at corner? We would be calling it moseley Island if he was on this team.

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

The offense has improved this season. The defense has regressed. Im sorry that bothers me. Im glad we are undefeated but if our offense has a off game we will lose period

Jury is still out on the defense.

Not at any point last year did they play as well as they did @ Pitt.

 

[sjt18]

The offense has improved this season. The defense has regressed. Im sorry that bothers me. Im glad we are undefeated but if our offense has a off game we will lose period

You mean like Pitt?

I haven't bought Banks yet. But they've done some things well. They need to improve but it isn't a hopeless cause yet Chik'n Lil.

 

[sjt18]

I didn't know enough to post in this thread at the time of the hire.

I usually wait until year 2 or 3 of a coaches tenure before going all in. I went all in on Pruitt going into year 2, I posted a few threads praising him for his defensive recruiting & breaking down metrics of how he's improved defenses during his previous 3 tenures as DC. I was all in and it didn't age well.

As for Heupel, I'm as excited as everyone but I'm still not going all in. He's pretty much matched Butch's peak in just his 2nd year. It took Butch until year 4 to have this kind of start.
Now Heupel just needs to keep it together. I think he can do it. It doesn't even have to be this year. But it's gonna take at least 9-3 and a NY6 bowl for me.

I think that's reasonable. One difference I see between Heupel and the others is that he's beating good/ranked teams. IMHO, UF is going to finish ranked and the AR hype talk will be going full bore by the end of the year. Pitt will finish ranked.

Heupel is winning the games that Butch choked away and the others either didn't have the talent/development to compete in.

 

[KeyVol14]

Defense has improved in more areas than it has regressed IMO. I think everyone is aware of the secondary but other than that, run defense, pass rush, and LB play look better to me

 

[MemphisVol77]

You mean like Pitt?

I have bought Banks yet. But they've done some things well. They need to improve but it isn't a hopeless cause yet Chik'n Lil.

I think that's reasonable. One difference I see between Heupel and the others is that he's beating good/ranked teams. IMHO, UF is going to finish ranked and the AR hype talk will be going full bore by the end of the year. Pitt will finish ranked.

Heupel is winning the games that Butch choked away and the others either didn't have the talent/development to compete in.

A couple more mobile QB's will give us trouble this year, but none of them have wheels equal to AR. I'm hoping FL will show to have been the worst matchup stylistically for Banks to scheme against this year.
If the defense performs like they did against Pitt rest of the year, we'll be praising Banks for scheming a game plan that allowed us to win ugly VS FL. GA/AL probably light us up, but we'll concede the talent advantage if we get that defense the other 6 remaining games.
We're probably still in the middle defensively. Not as good as we showed VS Pitt, and not as bad as we showed VS FL.

Baring a compete lack of improvement on defense, I want to keep Banks for the sake of continuity. Hindsight being 20/20, DeBord carried Butch more than Butch was capable of realizing. Dobbs was superman and showed potential early, but that offense was night and day better after DeBord got on board in 2015. A little supposition on my part, but I think that influenced Butch's decision to fire John Jancek and bring in Shoop going into 2016.

The biggest long term indicator I see that tells me we might have the right guy, is the amount of young guys getting snaps on both sides of the ball. It still baffles me the amount of highly rated 1st - 3rd year recruits we had on the 2016 roster that never got any snaps. At one point we even tried to convert Kongbo (as prototype a DE as they get) into an undersized DT, while we had multiple 4* DL's that had hardly ever received snaps.

I'm as happy as any VOL fan can be, I think it's likely Heupel succeeds, and most signs seem to be pointing so. I say 9-3 and a NY6 bowl for me to go all in, because that's not enough. I want to believe we've got the guy that can win the East and/or compete for a playoff spot. 9-3 NY6 bowl, then I'm going crazy thinking we have a coach that might be able to take the next step.

 

[praxite33]

If they hire Heupel, Neyland will be a ghost town. There is no juice in that hire. It will be like keeping Pruitt as far as the gate goes.

Not calling you out but this one made me giggle bro lol

 

[sjt18]

A couple more mobile QB's will give us trouble this year, but none of them have wheels equal to AR. I'm hoping FL will show to have been the worst matchup stylistically for Banks to scheme against this year.
If the defense performs like they did against Pitt rest of the year, we'll be praising Banks for scheming a game plan that allowed us to win ugly VS FL. GA/AL probably light us up, but we'll concede the talent advantage if we get that defense the other 6 remaining games.
We're probably still in the middle defensively. Not as good as we showed VS Pitt, and not as bad as we showed VS FL.

Baring a compete lack of improvement on defense, I want to keep Banks for the sake of continuity. Hindsight being 20/20, DeBord carried Butch more than Butch was capable of realizing. Dobbs was superman and showed potential early, but that offense was night and day better after DeBord got on board in 2015. A little supposition on my part, but I think that influenced Butch's decision to fire John Jancek and bring in Shoop going into 2016.

The biggest long term indicator I see that tells me we might have the right guy, is the amount of young guys getting snaps on both sides of the ball. It still baffles me the amount of highly rated 1st - 3rd year recruits we had on the 2016 roster that never got any snaps. At one point we even tried to convert Kongbo (as prototype a DE as they get) into an undersized DT, while we had multiple 4* DL's that had hardly ever received snaps.

I'm as happy as any VOL fan can be, I think it's likely Heupel succeeds, and most signs seem to be pointing so. I say 9-3 and a NY6 bowl for me to go all in, because that's not enough. I want to believe we've got the guy that can win the East and/or compete for a playoff spot. 9-3 NY6 bowl, then I'm going crazy thinking we have a coach that might be able to take the next step.

I meant to say I haven't bought Banks yet.

IMO, "continuity" is NEVER a good reason to keep a coach. In fact, I think that as much as anything led to Fulmer's downfall. He kept Sanders and others under the excuse of continuity even though they weren't getting the job done.

Banks will either improve the D or else he should be replaced.

 

[butchna]

Not calling you out but this one made me giggle bro lol

It’s even funnier considering that the Kentucky game will be the FOURTH CONSECUTIVE SELLOUT…at “Ghosttown”.

 

[MemphisVol77]

IMO, "continuity" is NEVER a good reason to keep a coach..

Fair point.

 

[VFL28]

As opposed to your gift of foresight? I see negavols wanna $hitpost, but then whimper and sob when quoted back to them later.







Wah waah.

I'm not whimpering or sobbing. Lol. I had some **** takes. I deserve to get roasted. I'm just saying I was wrong. A man with too much pride is never a good thing. I know when I'm wrong.

 

[dduncan4163]

Had to bump again. Look how far Heup has taken us in just 21 months. Tennessee hasn't looked this good in nearly 20 freaking years. Please don't wake me up.