We all know the season ended in disaster. Not only did we not make a BCS bowl....we did not make a bowl at all. But no worries, we have a new Offensive coordinator and we have all this time to recruit while other programs have to actually still practice for a future football game.
I'm just going to break it down position by position and address where the Vols stand in terms of depth (or lack of) and ability at each position. And here we go..........
DEFENSE
Defensive Line - Although we do lose Mahelona, Haralson, Hall, and possibly Harrel, don't ever think that we wont have a good D-Line. McDaniel and McBride getting all the snaps at DT will not be a fall off by any means. McDaniel might be the best DL we have... just wait until he gets the majority of snaps. Reynolds and X. Mitchell will lock down the DE spots and all the young ones we have will work to be their backups. I'm sure we'll find some man-child recruit from somewhere that will fight for one of the spots. There is no doubt in my mind that our D-Line will still be among the SEC elite.
Linebackers - Wow. Now I really dont know what to say about next years group. Losing Simon, Mitchell, and Gaither will hurt. Bad. We need players to step up next year and I'm not sure who exactly will end up where. Marvin Mitchell looked good at the end of the year so I'm sure he'll have a starting spot. Karl is decent. Mayo looks promising. Other than that, who knows how the LB situation will pan out. Those three will probably be the starters with M.Mitchell in the middle. We definitely need depth, but McCoy and Mathis got redshirted... we'll see how they pan out.
Secondary - Everybody is coming back, so that's a good thing. One thing I personally don't like is the lack of size we have back there. It's like we have four corners on the field. These battles for spots will be the most competitive. Feelings will be hurt and hopefully they shake some things up. I predict Johnson and Fellows/Wade to be the corners. With Fellows and Wade rotating from corner and nickleback. I see Morley taking Stewarts position and Heffney will remain at Free. Hopefully Campbell comes back into his own or we can recruit a big physical safety, so either Heffney or Morley can battle for a corner spot (where they belong). They should be decent. Basically no better or no worse than this year.
OFFENSE
Offensive Line - The fate of our offensive lines lies in the hands of Sears and Smith. I believe they want to be first day draft pick-ups so they will probably come back. If they leave....it will be a LONG 2006 season. Let's just assume they come back. Our left side is still solid. Sears at LT and Smith at LG. Ligon coming back to be C. Foster seems to be a good RG. RT is up for grabs. I'm sure everything will be ironed out and with the younger back-ups getting more reps, I'm sure they will be improved. Not too worried about the OL unless Sears and Smith leave.
Wide Receiver and Tight End - Now I should just skip this section because there is virtually nothing to worry about here. I hope Cutcliffe cuts out this 8 man receiver rotation crap and finds 4 or 5 that take all the snaps. B. Smith, Meachem and Swain should be at the top of the depth chart. With the rotation cut down, maybe someone will actually have a breakout season. Rogers, Briscoe, Taylor, and Shelley should be a good battle to see who becomes the 4th. I personally like Rogers and Taylor and think they'll see more time than the others. Chris Brown has TE wrapped up, no questions asked. I hope we get our QB situation under control so these guys can get a chance to shine. B. Smith and Meachem are ridiculous athletes and should be putting up monster numbers. Forget about the dropped balls from the past season, these guys are the truth. It's time for one or two of our receivers to get some publicity.
Runningback - This will simply be a two-man race. Foster and Hardesty will battle it out for the starting job. It may come down to who rehabs the best from their injuries. Foster made everybody a believer with his performance at the end of the season. He wouldnt have gotten that chance if Hardesty didnt tear his ACL. If Hardesty gets back to the form he was in expect a duo at RB ala Cedric Houston and Gerald Riggs from a couple years back. They say Hardesty is the real deal and Phil was ready to give him the job but then he went down. I think the duo will actually end up being very good because Foster is patient with good vision, and runs powerful. Cory Anderson will return at FB. Just one thing, no more fumbles.
Quarterback - The Bottom line is it is Eric Ainge's job to lose. If he gets some type of composure he'll be fine. Actually he will be better than fine. From what I hear, Ainge is a practice player All-American. He just can't get it done in games. Cutcliffe will help. Crompton will have to be the second coming of Peyton Manning to take the job straight up from Ainge. But if Ainge struggles, he'll surely get a shot.
Special Teams - STOP LETTING FRESHMEN RETURN KICKS!!!!! :banghead:
If Taylor gets his fumbling problem under control he should be ok, but something just doesn't seem right with him returning kicks. I say give J.Wade a shot. Stop letting Heffney return punts. It isnt for him. I'm sure the coaching staff can find somebody better. I had to get that off my chest.
Overall we still have all the talent in the world and should be an elite team. I hope we have a less eventful offseason and the Vols get themsleves ready for next year. I'm sure this season has left a bad taste in their mouth and they want to prove that they still deserve to be considered an elite program. So we should have motivation covered unlike this year when we were hyped and thought we could coast through the whole season because we were ranked Top 5. I'm not gonna make any predictions because those always come out wrong, but i will say that we'll do better than 5-6.
I'm just going to break it down position by position and address where the Vols stand in terms of depth (or lack of) and ability at each position. And here we go..........
DEFENSE
Defensive Line - Although we do lose Mahelona, Haralson, Hall, and possibly Harrel, don't ever think that we wont have a good D-Line. McDaniel and McBride getting all the snaps at DT will not be a fall off by any means. McDaniel might be the best DL we have... just wait until he gets the majority of snaps. Reynolds and X. Mitchell will lock down the DE spots and all the young ones we have will work to be their backups. I'm sure we'll find some man-child recruit from somewhere that will fight for one of the spots. There is no doubt in my mind that our D-Line will still be among the SEC elite.
Linebackers - Wow. Now I really dont know what to say about next years group. Losing Simon, Mitchell, and Gaither will hurt. Bad. We need players to step up next year and I'm not sure who exactly will end up where. Marvin Mitchell looked good at the end of the year so I'm sure he'll have a starting spot. Karl is decent. Mayo looks promising. Other than that, who knows how the LB situation will pan out. Those three will probably be the starters with M.Mitchell in the middle. We definitely need depth, but McCoy and Mathis got redshirted... we'll see how they pan out.
Secondary - Everybody is coming back, so that's a good thing. One thing I personally don't like is the lack of size we have back there. It's like we have four corners on the field. These battles for spots will be the most competitive. Feelings will be hurt and hopefully they shake some things up. I predict Johnson and Fellows/Wade to be the corners. With Fellows and Wade rotating from corner and nickleback. I see Morley taking Stewarts position and Heffney will remain at Free. Hopefully Campbell comes back into his own or we can recruit a big physical safety, so either Heffney or Morley can battle for a corner spot (where they belong). They should be decent. Basically no better or no worse than this year.
OFFENSE
Offensive Line - The fate of our offensive lines lies in the hands of Sears and Smith. I believe they want to be first day draft pick-ups so they will probably come back. If they leave....it will be a LONG 2006 season. Let's just assume they come back. Our left side is still solid. Sears at LT and Smith at LG. Ligon coming back to be C. Foster seems to be a good RG. RT is up for grabs. I'm sure everything will be ironed out and with the younger back-ups getting more reps, I'm sure they will be improved. Not too worried about the OL unless Sears and Smith leave.
Wide Receiver and Tight End - Now I should just skip this section because there is virtually nothing to worry about here. I hope Cutcliffe cuts out this 8 man receiver rotation crap and finds 4 or 5 that take all the snaps. B. Smith, Meachem and Swain should be at the top of the depth chart. With the rotation cut down, maybe someone will actually have a breakout season. Rogers, Briscoe, Taylor, and Shelley should be a good battle to see who becomes the 4th. I personally like Rogers and Taylor and think they'll see more time than the others. Chris Brown has TE wrapped up, no questions asked. I hope we get our QB situation under control so these guys can get a chance to shine. B. Smith and Meachem are ridiculous athletes and should be putting up monster numbers. Forget about the dropped balls from the past season, these guys are the truth. It's time for one or two of our receivers to get some publicity.
Runningback - This will simply be a two-man race. Foster and Hardesty will battle it out for the starting job. It may come down to who rehabs the best from their injuries. Foster made everybody a believer with his performance at the end of the season. He wouldnt have gotten that chance if Hardesty didnt tear his ACL. If Hardesty gets back to the form he was in expect a duo at RB ala Cedric Houston and Gerald Riggs from a couple years back. They say Hardesty is the real deal and Phil was ready to give him the job but then he went down. I think the duo will actually end up being very good because Foster is patient with good vision, and runs powerful. Cory Anderson will return at FB. Just one thing, no more fumbles.
Quarterback - The Bottom line is it is Eric Ainge's job to lose. If he gets some type of composure he'll be fine. Actually he will be better than fine. From what I hear, Ainge is a practice player All-American. He just can't get it done in games. Cutcliffe will help. Crompton will have to be the second coming of Peyton Manning to take the job straight up from Ainge. But if Ainge struggles, he'll surely get a shot.
Special Teams - STOP LETTING FRESHMEN RETURN KICKS!!!!! :banghead:
If Taylor gets his fumbling problem under control he should be ok, but something just doesn't seem right with him returning kicks. I say give J.Wade a shot. Stop letting Heffney return punts. It isnt for him. I'm sure the coaching staff can find somebody better. I had to get that off my chest.
Overall we still have all the talent in the world and should be an elite team. I hope we have a less eventful offseason and the Vols get themsleves ready for next year. I'm sure this season has left a bad taste in their mouth and they want to prove that they still deserve to be considered an elite program. So we should have motivation covered unlike this year when we were hyped and thought we could coast through the whole season because we were ranked Top 5. I'm not gonna make any predictions because those always come out wrong, but i will say that we'll do better than 5-6.
