Offensive line now a weakness for Vols

#1
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WA_Vol

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#1
Offensive line now a weakness for Vols - Nashville, Tennessee - Monday, 09/18/06 - Tennessean.com

Here's some quotes from the article, they speak for themselves:

Fulmer said Sunday that the biggest issue was the manhandling of the offensive line by Florida's defensive front. The Vols finished with minus-11 yards on the ground, the lowest rushing total in Fulmer's 14 years as head coach.
Tailbacks Montario Hardesty and Arian Foster ran 19 times for a combined 16 yards. The longest run from scrimmage was a 5-yard gain by Hardesty.
"They've got a lot of work to do to get things where they want it to be," Fulmer said. "Fundamentally and physically, we got whipped."
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"I don't think it was as much missed assignments," guard David Ligon said. "I just think it was great talent.
"When you play against guys like that, you get them some and they get you. I take a lot of blame for that. I got beat. Our offensive line … we lost the game. We take full credit for this loss."
Fulmer said he was surprised by the poor offensive line play after what he saw in the first two games.
"These guys were outstanding players that they were going against, and some of them just didn't answer the bell," Fulmer said. "They lost their discipline or their fundamentals, or they weren't as physical as they needed to be.
"It wasn't that they didn't take the challenge, necessarily. They just didn't, from a technical standpoint, get it done."
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#2
#2
We were playing the best D-Lines in the SEC and one of the best in the country. I don't think our O-Line is great, but they are not horrible.
 
#3
#3
utvol0427 said:
We were playing the best D-Lines in the SEC and one of the best in the country. I don't think our O-Line is great, but they are not horrible.
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Since when is that supposed to be a consolation? We should expect to have one of the best, as well. Gaining NEGATIVE yards on the ground despite a commitment to the run (especially in the second half) to ME means we got, in Fulmer's words, "WHIPPED."

Play from the O-line like we got on Saturday is just plain inexcusable for a Tennessee team.
 
#4
#4
I remember on series inparticular. It was when Swain's TD was overturned and we on the goal line. UF's defensive was getting into the backfield and cutting our offensive line down before Hardesty even got the handoff. I'm amazed we even got that yard and scored they way thy were playing.

That offensive line is going to have to come together and figure it out. They might need to try some different combinations and I think it starts with McNeil at center.
 
#5
#5
the oline has gotten worse since jimmy ray stephens was the oline coach.

No push off the line. they are not moving the line of scrimmage.
 
#6
#6
I've said all along and I'm sure many others have as well, that our season will be defined by our offensive line. I'm sure the coaching staff new that going into the season as well. You had to know that Ainge would be improved, the receivers would be improved, and the runningbacks would be fine. We even showed against Florida that we were goin to be able to pass the ball however much we wanted, but that ended when they realized that we were no threat to run.

Fortunately, Florida's front 7 is probably the best in the SEC. UGA and LSU have really solid front 7's, but they aren't that good. Those two are the two we'll really have to worry about from here on out.

Our line is going to continue to make or break our season.....along with injuries that have seemed to riddle our team so far this year.
 
#7
#7
utvol0427 said:
We were playing the best D-Lines in the SEC and one of the best in the country. I don't think our O-Line is great, but they are not horrible.
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Last week it was the offensive juggernaut of Air Force. This week it's the impenetrable defensive front seven of Florida. A lot of you guys just refuse to admit the fact that it's not that our opponents are that great. It's that we're not very good. Our offensive line is atrocious and our defensive front seven is poor.
 
#8
#8
Vol423 said:
Last week it was the offensive juggernaut of Air Force. This week it's the impenetrable defensive front seven of Florida. A lot of you guys just refuse to admit the fact that it's not that our opponents are that great. It's that we're not very good. Our offensive line is atrocious and our defensive front seven is poor.
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Makes a great point. In Tennessee football past, it was our lines that were our foundations. A year ago, we were considered one of the best d-lines in the country and our o-line has always been made up of big guys that push off the line and play smashmouth football. Now i will admit florida's front 7 played great, but our o-line is getting no push and our dline is getting pushed around. what we're missing is the john henderson, albert haynsworth, and mahelona that we've enjoyed over teh past several years - a big guy to plug things up. i don't think our ends are that quick either. our oline, quoted, is "atrocious", even sears hasn't played to his best.

I will comeback and say that we lost a lot of guys from our front seven last year. You can argue that their young, and that we have a fresh group of young linebackers as well. So maybe we'll be ok in the future.
 
#9
#9
Vol423 said:
Last week it was the offensive juggernaut of Air Force. This week it's the impenetrable defensive front seven of Florida. A lot of you guys just refuse to admit the fact that it's not that our opponents are that great. It's that we're not very good. Our offensive line is atrocious and our defensive front seven is poor.
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I think the linebacker depth is OK. The tackles will be ok as well. I think the weak ling is at end IMO. I am most concerned about depth at D end and OL. Unless we dip into Juco I don't know if one year will solve these depth issues.

I wonder if UT will consider moving Dre Mathis to DE? Anyway, I will not go as far as to call out the front 7. There are legitimate questions at end with some concerns at tackle. Linebackers will be OK.
 
#10
#10
Lexvol said:
I think the linebacker depth is OK. The tackles will be ok as well. I think the weak ling is at end IMO. I am most concerned about depth at D end and OL. Unless we dip into Juco I don't know if one year will solve these depth issues.

I wonder if UT will consider moving Dre Mathis to DE? Anyway, I will not go as far as to call out the front 7. There are legitimate questions at end with some concerns at tackle. Linebackers will be OK.
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Lex,

The thing is, I'm not projecting how they will be. I'm discussing how they have been. However, I'm not as enthusiastic about the odds of significant improvement on the o-line or the defensive front seven this season as you are. Unless these two groups improve dramatically during this season there is a good chance that we are going to drop several more games.
 
#11
#11
Well..

When they pick it up, things will get better.

What does everybody think? Lack of strength and size? Just getting physically outmatched? Or was it poor technique and lack of effort?

Either way, it's going to have to pick up or we can kiss our shot at the SEC goodbye after losses to Georgia and LSU.
 
#12
#12
milohimself said:
Well..
What does everybody think? Lack of strength and size? Just getting physically outmatched? Or was it poor technique and lack of effort?
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That's a good question. I guess I'd say it's a combination of poor technique and inexperience. I wouldn't go as far to say they aren't talented, but we do have a walk on starting at center. I don't know.
 
#13
#13
OWB said:
That's a good question. I guess I'd say it's a combination of poor technique and inexperience. I wouldn't go as far to say they aren't talented, but we do have a walk on starting at center. I don't know.
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A walk-on starting at C, and a guy with two rebuilt knees (Ligon) at gurad.

As far as D-line play went; yeah, they weren't very good -- UF was running at Harrell's damaged arm. Xavier Mitchell made Chris Leak eat some fescue a couple of times. He's good this year and will be a monster next season.

We still had our chance in the 4th quarter and didn't get it done. What separates this team from '05 is how they will respond to the close-margin loss.
 
#14
#14
duct_tape_wallet said:
As far as D-line play went; yeah, they weren't very good -- UF was running at Harrell's damaged arm.
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I made it a point to pay close attention to Harrell when he played, in doing so, I saw him being held at least 5 times and he wasn't the only one. Was there even one holding call called on UF the whole game? I'm not offering this as an excuse because we lost, but I'm a bit baffled that the refs never noticed all the holding going on.
 
#15
#15
patrick said:
the oline has gotten worse since jimmy ray stephens was the oline coach.

No push off the line. they are not moving the line of scrimmage.
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I hate to point fingers, but I agree with you, Jimmy Ray is not getting it done. Our O line had some of the cleanest uniforms out there. Few times did I see them staying on a block until the play was over. Also, a walkon is not good enough to take away a Scholarship players position on the line if someone is doing a good coaching job.
 
#18
#18
GAVol said:
Jimmy Ray got canned last November.
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:whistling: I was wondering how long it would take for this little point to be made.

Greg Adkins took over the O-line, and I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that Fulmer said he would also be giving it some of his own attention.
 
#19
#19
Well , he needs to pay a little more attentio to it...-11 yrds rushing and a QB running for his life is unacceptable...Fix it! Fix It now!!
 
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