‘23 LA CB Jordan Matthews (Tennessee)

[GUNTERSVOL]

He is a decent football player, but his attitude needs an adjustment.

Not justifying his actions, just pointing out that many of those taking the lead on featuring his on field issues display equal or worse plus/minus value to the program in their roles as fans. Executing with lack of class is what it is in either roll and rarely justifiable.

 

[CABVOL]

That can’t be right. VolsPix said that he would end up flipping to LSU because his dad played there

You don’t have that dumba$$ on ignore?

 

[NighthawkVol]

Jordan Matthews and Ricky Gibson are criminally underrated. Both will push to start. It’s not ideal to start freshman CBs, but both are EEs, both will go through bowl prep, and both are physically ready. Adding these guys at CB allows Slaughter and (maybe) Charles to move back to Safety and Turnage to play NB, where he’s more natural.

 

[LittleVol]

Jordan Matthews and Ricky Gibson are criminally underrated. Both will push to start. It’s not ideal to start freshman CBs, but both are EEs, both will go through bowl prep, and both are physically ready. Adding these guys at CB allows Slaughter and (maybe) Charles to move back to Safety and Turnage to play NB, where he’s more natural.

Bryce Thompson and Alontae Taylor turned out just fine. And both of them were originally recruited to play WR


Those dudes were out there from game one.

 

[BelieveTheHeup93]

Bryce Thompson and Alontae Taylor turned out just fine. And both of them were originally recruited to play WR


Those dudes were out there from game one.

Getting a top notch transfer in to start on one side while rotating them at the other side would be more ideal though

 

[swchandler1988]

Bryce Thompson and Alontae Taylor turned out just fine. And both of them were originally recruited to play WR


Those dudes were out there from game one.

To be fair, there’s also another really good reason they started :

 

[NighthawkVol]

Bryce Thompson and Alontae Taylor turned out just fine. And both of them were originally recruited to play WR


Those dudes were out there from game one.

Good point. Had forgotten about them both starting as freshmen. Taylor did struggle some early, but I also thought he should've been a Safety. But yeah, Matthews and Gibson have a leg up on both of those guys in that they're already CBs and they're both arriving so early.

Also, we're not seeing a lot of activity with our staff pursuing CBs in the portal, other than swinging (and likely missing) on Cypress, who is the biggest fish. Maybe that tells us they like what they have in the two freshmen, unless they see an absolute can't miss stud.

 

[BelieveTheHeup93]

You don’t have that dumba$$ on ignore?
View attachment 523634

I like telling him he ain’t $hit and that his momma is a dirty whor3

 

[LittleVol]

To be fair, there’s also another really good reason they started :
View attachment 523659

Same situation as now

 

[LittleVol]

Getting a top notch transfer in to start on one side while rotating them at the other side would be more ideal though

Sure if we can get that.
If not...

 

[swchandler1988]

Same situation as now

Eh, you gotta admit Christian Charles, Hadden, Turnage are much better than a backup running back converted to corner back. The freshman coming in will create some really good competition but I don’t think they’ll come in and take the job like Bryce or AT

 

[BelieveTheHeup93]

Good point. Had forgotten about them both starting as freshmen. Taylor did struggle some early, but I also thought he should've been a Safety. But yeah, Matthews and Gibson have a leg up on both of those guys in that they're already CBs and they're both arriving so early.

Also, we're not seeing a lot of activity with our staff pursuing CBs in the portal, other than swinging (and likely missing) on Cypress, who is the biggest fish. Maybe that tells us they like what they have in the two freshmen, unless they see an absolute can't miss stud.

Outside of Bru and Mincey this staff has been atrocious at landing guys in the portal. If they honestly “like what they have” at corner they won’t be long for this league and what happened this past year will be a one hit wonder. Because despite Nico’s talent we’re not going to get much better QB play than what we had this past year

 

[NighthawkVol]

Outside of Bru and Mincey this staff has been atrocious at landing guys in the portal. If they honestly “like what they have” at corner they won’t be long for this league and what happened this past year will be a one hit wonder. Because despite Nico’s talent we’re not going to get much better QB play than what we had this past year

You don't think they should like what they have in Matthews and Gibson? Based on what?

 

[barrylee]

You don't think they should like what they have in Matthews and Gibson? Based on what?

Come on man, you should know this guy’s shtick by now!

 

[BelieveTheHeup93]

You don't think they should like what they have in Matthews and Gibson? Based on what?

Based on the fact they’re going to be true freshmen playing corner in the SEC

 

[RudyVol]

Outside of Bru and Mincey this staff has been atrocious at landing guys in the portal. If they honestly “like what they have” at corner they won’t be long for this league and what happened this past year will be a one hit wonder. Because despite Nico’s talent we’re not going to get much better QB play than what we had this past year

What transfers did you see that you would have liked to have landed? Jared Verse and Jahmyr Gibbs? I don't know how realistic those 2 were but I'm not totally familiar with a lot of other transfers that made huge impacts. I'm unfamiliar with any that we had a shot at that would have made a huge difference. I think it's crystal clear that we need to look at some LB and DB transfers. Not giving Heup a pass on recruiting but I think he's done relatively "okay" with the situation he came into and I'm of the opinion that we pumped the brakes after Nico's recruitment with NIL deals. Until recently that is. I'd like to see what we can do now that it seems Danny is on board with the NIL deals.

 

[sjt18]

Outside of Bru and Mincey this staff has been atrocious at landing guys in the portal. If they honestly “like what they have” at corner they won’t be long for this league and what happened this past year will be a one hit wonder. Because despite Nico’s talent we’re not going to get much better QB play than what we had this past year

You are so full of yourself its ridiculous. To make the statement in bold you would have to KNOW who they pursued and the value they placed on various portal guys. They may have missed some. But it appears that they decided that the value of others wasn't enough. But you think you know a whole lot that you don't... so there is that to fill the gaps.

As far as QB goes... Heupel took Hooker who was a bust at VT and made him into a Heisman contender. I'm going to trust his ability to find and develop a QB just a wee bit more than your "expert" opinion on the topic.

For all we know Heupel will take a portal QB to increase the competition. They probably want 4 scholarship guys in the QB room.

But to your point... as great as Hooker was... he missed opportunities. They also called the O away from some of his weaknesses. Both the height and depth of what's possible with this O is larger than what they did with Hooker. Several times it was mentioned that they took things out that Hooker wasn't comfortable executing.

From a physical standpoint, UT won't have a more talented QB than Milton. A lot of you are simply writing him off... but give Heupel a little time to customize the O toward his skill set and then make a judgment.

 

[sjt18]

Jordan Matthews and Ricky Gibson are criminally underrated. Both will push to start. It’s not ideal to start freshman CBs, but both are EEs, both will go through bowl prep, and both are physically ready. Adding these guys at CB allows Slaughter and (maybe) Charles to move back to Safety and Turnage to play NB, where he’s more natural.

If there is a silver lining to the past season it is that so many safeties got so much time playing corner and matching up one on one. If they move back to S and Star now then UT should have a pretty good cover secondary.

Slaughter, Walker, Turnage, Turentine, Charles, McDonald, Thomas, Miller, Harrison, etc... that's a lot of decent prospects to build up safety and star. And didn't someone say that either Flowers or McCullough had a year left if they chose to play?

 

[NighthawkVol]

If there is a silver lining to the past season it is that so many safeties got so much time playing corner and matching up one on one. If they move back to S and Star now then UT should have a pretty good cover secondary.

Slaughter, Walker, Turnage, Turentine, Charles, McDonald, Thomas, Miller, Harrison, etc... that's a lot of decent prospects to build up safety and star. And didn't someone say that either Flowers or McCullough had a year left if they chose to play?

McCollough does. Let's hope he moves on.

 

[RudyVol]

To be fair, there’s also another really good reason they started :
View attachment 523659

I thought Thompson was the better player early on. Forgot they started over a former RB.

 

[RudyVol]

McCollough does. Let's hope he moves on.

I'll take him for depth at 3rd/4th string but please deer lord let's move on.

 

[sjt18]

McCollough does. Let's hope he moves on.

I don't. I hope he returns and has a better cast around him... and maybe better schemes and playcalling.

 

[BelieveTheHeup93]

You are so full of yourself its ridiculous. To make the statement in bold you would have to KNOW who they pursued and the value they placed on various portal guys. They may have missed some. But it appears that they decided that the value of others wasn't enough. But you think you know a whole lot that you don't... so there is that to fill the gaps.

As far as QB goes... Heupel took Hooker who was a bust at VT and made him into a Heisman contender. I'm going to trust his ability to find and develop a QB just a wee bit more than your "expert" opinion on the topic.

For all we know Heupel will take a portal QB to increase the competition. They probably want 4 scholarship guys in the QB room.

But to your point... as great as Hooker was... he missed opportunities. They also called the O away from some of his weaknesses. Both the height and depth of what's possible with this O is larger than what they did with Hooker. Several times it was mentioned that they took things out that Hooker wasn't comfortable executing.

From a physical standpoint, UT won't have a more talented QB than Milton. A lot of you are simply writing him off... but give Heupel a little time to customize the O toward his skill set and then make a judgment.

The previous staff landed Hooker. Not Heupel, and I’m not talking about our offense. I know it will always be good. We seem to be neglecting the defensive side of the ball in the portal. Which is a recipe for disaster next year with Milton at QB. There’s absolutely no reason whatsoever why South Carolina and Arkansas did a far better job in the portal than we did last season. We have massive holes in our defense that need to be addressed ASAP that won’t be accomplished with true freshmen

 

[Nuctech777]

Outside of Bru and Mincey this staff has been atrocious at landing guys in the portal. If they honestly “like what they have” at corner they won’t be long for this league and what happened this past year will be a one hit wonder. Because despite Nico’s talent we’re not going to get much better QB play than what we had this past year

They haven’t really portal’d much though. We had looming NCAA baggage last year. We will get a better feel on how they treat the portal this year.

 

[sjt18]

The previous staff landed Hooker. Not Heupel,

Do you really think that is a good evasion of the point?

and I’m not talking about our offense. I know it will always be good.

So Nico moved to LB? When was that? Mincey is a CB? McCoy a DT? Those are the guys you mentioned. All O.

We seem to be neglecting the defensive side of the ball in the portal.

Or they have a fairly high bar for taking guys out of the portal. The vast majority of the guys in the portal are there because they couldn't get on the field where they were. Some of those guys can be coached up. But they're a risk as much or greater than HS players.

Which is a recipe for disaster next year with Milton at QB.

There you go again being the "expert". Again, I'll trust Heupel with QB's. I'm pretty sure he's coached more to success than YOU.

There’s absolutely no reason whatsoever why South Carolina and Arkansas did a far better job in the portal than we did last season.

And there is no value to your ASSUMPTION that they did. Neither of those teams won 10 games. USCe finished well but they weren't a good team for most of the season. So maybe by NOT wasting time in the portal... UT's coaches built the best possible roster from their starting point.

Oh wait. Couldn't be. You say they failed.

We have massive holes in our defense that need to be addressed ASAP that won’t be accomplished with true freshmen

UGA started true Fr. USCe beat UT with 3 true FR in their secondary two deep. Two are starters.

Those "massive holes" won't be fixed by taking second rate players out of the portal in the hopes that they flopped somewhere else in spite of being "great". Again, there are some good players in the portal but most of them had trouble at their old school or were overrated and couldn't find the field. The other group are guys trying to move up from a lower level where they had success. That carries risks of its own.

Which "massive holes" btw are you talking about? The DL won't have "massive holes". Could use some depth. Replacing Banks is a necessity but UT will actually gain overall depth at LB and Edge.

If the Vols can find a good CB in the portal then that would be a pretty good thing. OTOH, they'll have a lot more experience even with their converted safeties. Burrell will be back. Some of the true CB's will be healthy.

So please with all of your SUPERIOR knowledge and expertise... define those "massive holes". Hopefully someone here can pass them on to the staff since they appear to be too stupid to make decisions about who to take or not take out of the portal.