Official Gramps' Memorial Eternal OT Thread

[marcusluvsvols]

I have a suspicion Heard is playing through injury.
Normally we don't hear of the extent of a player's in-season injury until season's end.

Agree. They say its ankle...how much stress is put on a 330+lb guys ankle with a world class athlete at DE constantly trying to run over him, around him etc. From my own experience anyway, ankles are really slow to heal. Between Heards ankle and Campbells knee we are in bad shape at Tackle it seems. We have a 6 pack of 4* underclassmen recruits from HS at Tackle but the fact we never see them tells you that hurt starters are still better than those guys right now. Florida always has a good Dline. Always. Gonna probably be another ugly low scoring game. I hope not...

Theres a discussion to be had regarding how the portal changes things. Heard is the perfect example. Any Tackle good enough to start in the SEC isnt sitting the bench anymore because they'll never see the NFL right? Thats how we got Heard. Does that mean 1 lost Tackle due to injury completely derails a season? No chance at playoffs in the SEC anyway? Or do you guys think our current problem is unique to us and due to Elarbee not "developing talent" ?

How do you develop talent without them ever playing in games and taking their lumps?

How to compete with the elite teams at the top of the SEC whose lines always seem to be good like UGA, Bama? Or is that no longer gonna be the case for them either due to NIL. Both of those teams are more vulnerable now than before right?

Lots of questions and not many answers. Glad we are in the 12 team playoff era where we can lose a couple each year. So happy Bama lost to Vandy lmao. Yesterday was insane for upsets.

 

[AM64]

Anyone can control our run game with our line playing like the dainty little sissies they played like last night.

OD (Offensive Dysfunction) seems very similar to ED. Not going to be penetration if some members don't straighten up, and without penetration the ball is going nowhere.

Seems like there was this offense many years ago when defenses could concentrate on stopping runs up the middle with a few players and keep passers honest with the rest. You put in two running backs and run three backs and the ball to the corners and optionally drop the ball off to one of the other two runners. It got to be real popular for a while, until defenses caught up; but when you can't stick the ball up the middle, the foreplay loosens things up. It is probably pretty hard on the big bubbas on the line who generally only have to move around a little bit, too. We have two good runners; last night would have seemed an opportunity to turn the tables on a defense intended to stop the middle with a few players and use the rest to flood the passing zones.

 

[AM64]

Agree. They say its ankle...how much stress is put on a 330+lb guys ankle with a world class athlete at DE constantly trying to run over him, around him etc. From my own experience anyway, ankles are really slow to heal. Between Heards ankle and Campbells knee we are in bad shape at Tackle it seems. We have a 6 pack of 4* underclassmen recruits from HS at Tackle but the fact we never see them tells you that hurt starters are still better than those guys right now. Florida always has a good Dline. Always. Gonna probably be another ugly low scoring game. I hope not...

Theres a discussion to be had regarding how the portal changes things. Heard is the perfect example. Any Tackle good enough to start in the SEC isnt sitting the bench anymore because they'll never see the NFL right? Thats how we got Heard. Does that mean 1 lost Tackle due to injury completely derails a season? No chance at playoffs in the SEC anyway? Or do you guys think our current problem is unique to us and due to Elarbee not "developing talent" ?

How do you develop talent without them ever playing in games and taking their lumps?

How to compete with the elite teams at the top of the SEC whose lines always seem to be good like UGA, Bama? Or is that no longer gonna be the case for them either due to NIL. Both of those teams are more vulnerable now than before right?

Lots of questions and not many answers. Glad we are in the 12 team playoff era where we can lose a couple each year. So happy Bama lost to Vandy lmao. Yesterday was insane for upsets.

The portal and NIL are changing a lot of stuff. It's hard to keep depth when the portal lets players move and NIL offers them incentive. Check out the fun and games at UNLV for a taste of things to come. Bama and other top teams got where they were by nabbing quality players and maintaining depth. Saban probably looked at the new world and said "Screw it."

 

[marcusluvsvols]

The portal and NIL are changing a lot of stuff. It's hard to keep depth when the portal lets players move and NIL offers them incentive. Check out the fun and games at UNLV for a taste of things to come. Bama and other top teams got where they were by nabbing quality players and maintaining depth. Saban probably looked at the new world and said "Screw it."

Exactly. Why I brought it up. Also believe its why Saban retired. Gumps and pups days of having a 2nd team full of elite 5* guys on the Oline are over IMO.

 

[AM64]

Exactly. Why I brought it up. Also believe its why Saban retired. Gumps and pups days of having a 2nd team full of elite 5* guys on the Oline are over IMO.

I don't know if it will be good or bad in the end, but there's a lot of room for new abuse as compared to the old abuse. It always seemed like the old recruiting and retention game had two main features. Obviously there was getting primary and secondary (or backup talent) to build a quality team. The second part is that if you grab quality players, they can't play for your opponents; so in effect they are removed from the board. This latter kind of thing going forward is going to make teams like Vandy more dangerous - as Bama found out last night.

The part that is all wrong to me is that I can't see where the academic side fits in with free agency; these are universities, and the primary goal is education. Seems like the priorities are completely screwed up. Students are free to transfer, but there have always been a lot of rules about transferring credits and credits necessary for graduation. One thing that seems to get no mention these days is graduation rates, but then perhaps "sports management" has no actual requirements - just show up one fine day and get a diploma ... with or without the ability to read it.

 

[85SugarVol]

Our Front 5 couldn’t block their Front 3 last night….

Double Ooof….

 

[marcusluvsvols]

^^^ yep. Doesnt surprise me. Both RBs were garbage in pass protection as well when the Tackles got beat.

Real talk:

We are STILL overrated at 8th/9th. Bru left the game in an aircast and Squirrel in a sling right? Those are our 2 most dependable WR...and Bru is the best blocker too fwiw

I didnt ever go to the FF Saturday night, briefly passed thru today. With all the crazy folk bashing the team mercilessly, i dont want to sound that way myself. I think we are overrated right now and should be ranked in the teens perhaps until we beat flarduh at least. Being ranked high early never seems to help our VOLS only hurt em.

 

[JOEY’S ALL VOL !!!]

I’m not so sure what everybody is so worked up about the the loss on Saturday for, it’s just the yearly Heuple blows one to a lesser team disaster game, it happens every season like clockwork.

 

[Weezer]

But apparently it’s time to fire all the coaches, send Nico packing and consider ourselves a hockey school

What is your opinion on Elarbee? Supposedly he's Heupel's best friend, so I doubt he's in jeopardy, but I've been concerned at his inability to develop any of his high school recruits into solid contributors. Not even talking about starting, just contributing. Then you have a game like this where the OL plays so inconsistently, and that's with both starting OTs back in the lineup.

Honestly, he's the only coach I currently have any concerns with. And I'm not saying fire him, but there needs to be improvement there.

 

[hog88]

What is your opinion on Elarbee? Supposedly he's Heupel's best friend, so I doubt he's in jeopardy, but I've been concerned at his inability to develop any of his high school recruits into solid contributors. Not even talking about starting, just contributing. Then you have a game like this where the OL plays so inconsistently, and that's with both starting OTs back in the lineup.

Honestly, he's the only coach I currently have any concerns with. And I'm not saying fire him, but there needs to be improvement there.

NegaVol!

 

[Orangeslice13]

What is your opinion on Elarbee? Supposedly he's Heupel's best friend, so I doubt he's in jeopardy, but I've been concerned at his inability to develop any of his high school recruits into solid contributors. Not even talking about starting, just contributing. Then you have a game like this where the OL plays so inconsistently, and that's with both starting OTs back in the lineup.

Honestly, he's the only coach I currently have any concerns with. And I'm not saying fire him, but there needs to be improvement there.

I was just saying somewhere else that some great coaches have this flaw. Urban Meyer never got over it. Even in championship seasons he would drop a game he should not.
An argument can be made that it’s good that it happened now instead of the end of the season like the SoCar meltdown.

I am in wait and see mode to see how the team responds.

 

[hog88]

I was just saying somewhere else that some great coaches have this flaw. Urban Meyer never got over it. Even in championship seasons he would drop a game he should not.
An argument can be made that it’s good that it happened now instead of the end of the season like the SoCar meltdown.

I am in wait and see mode to see how the team responds.

I think The Hype will get them straightened out, the o-line concerns me and I think of any position group that could tank our season it would be them.

 

[Weezer]

NegaVol!

Says the man who calls himself "Hog" after we just lost to Arkansas....

Burn the witch!

 

[hog88]

Says the man who calls himself "Hog" after we just lost to Arkansas....

Burn the witch!

Stand in line, it's a long one.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

What is your opinion on Elarbee? Supposedly he's Heupel's best friend, so I doubt he's in jeopardy, but I've been concerned at his inability to develop any of his high school recruits into solid contributors. Not even talking about starting, just contributing. Then you have a game like this where the OL plays so inconsistently, and that's with both starting OTs back in the lineup.

Honestly, he's the only coach I currently have any concerns with. And I'm not saying fire him, but there needs to be improvement there.

I agree that there needs to be improvement...AP and Hubbs were talking about this too, obviously the Oline is a hot topic right now. Last years 2024 recruiting class we landed 4 bigtime Olinemen. High 4* guys in Satterwhite, Ginther, Perry and 1 more...but ALL those guys are gonna end up being interior linemen. Guards and Satterwhite looks to be our next Center. AP said talking to the coaches and even starters like Cooper, those guys can play. Will likely contribute and fill 2 or even all 3 of our interior line positions from those 4 guys once the starters are gone. Thats great. The problem is in 2023 we whiffed on all our top targets pretty much on the Oline, and we don't seem to have anyone from the 2023 or 24 class that can play Tackle in the SEC. The guys we went hardest after at Tackle in those 2 classes are at Bama, UGA etc. Thats a big problem honestly, and its gonna cost us a buttload of $$$ in the portal to fix it as best we can in the offseason. Again. Heard is only a Sophomore though and when healthy he may be the answer at 1 of the Tackle spots for 2025 and 26. Time will tell. We have the no1 Tackle (and lineman period,) coming in as a true freshman for next year...but I dont think we throw him to the lions right away honestly. We need 2 really good Tackles from the portal after this year IMO. Gonna need Defensive Tackles as well...

Also, to me the jury is still out on Elarbee but hes not terrible or inept. Injuries etc happen. Regardless, he isnt going anywhere IMO. Just landed the biggest fish in the USA for 25, and is in deep with linemen for 26 . We need to project stability in the staff to get better

 

[marcusluvsvols]

I think The Hype will get them straightened out, the o-line concerns me and I think of any position group that could tank our season it would be them.

Me too. Bru in an air cast and Squirrel in a sling leaving the game could kill us too...

We will see that 12 personnel i begged for vs Arkansas this week again IMO. Our slot WR is hurt, plus Bru...these TEs need to carry the load. Gonna be a low scoring game again IMO.

 

[BigOrangeMojo]

What is your opinion on Elarbee? Supposedly he's Heupel's best friend, so I doubt he's in jeopardy, but I've been concerned at his inability to develop any of his high school recruits into solid contributors. Not even talking about starting, just contributing. Then you have a game like this where the OL plays so inconsistently, and that's with both starting OTs back in the lineup.

Honestly, he's the only coach I currently have any concerns with. And I'm not saying fire him, but there needs to be improvement there.

Our offense avg 35 pts against SEC teams in 2021.

Averaged less than 24 the last 2 years.

Pruitt was awful but he left 4 NFL OL in 2021. This team might have 1 late Day 3 lineman.

Our line is guy inherited from Pruitt, one recruit, 3 backups from other P5 schools.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

After watching some replay again, and listening to the VQ guys as well...things likely arent as bad as they might seem.

Sometimes its just not your night, and the defense has exactly the right playcall or audible to kill your called play on offense. An example of this was running straight into run blitzes in the 1st half, or having a pass play called when the defense is in the perfect defense to cover your WRs. Arkansas did a good job on defense, and got lucky a couple times and had the perfect Kryptonite for what we were trying to do that play. Its a chessmatch out there. It happens. They also made some great plays on the Dline and breaking up passes in the secondary. They deserve credit.

That said, we had about 10 posessions in that game. Thats it. Bishop himself whiffed in pass pro and killed 2 of them. Sampson did also at least once. Penalties killed 3 or 4 by putting us in 1st and 15, ineligible downfield on Umarov (was BS), and 2 drives had offensive pass interference/holding. We scored TDs on the 2 drives after halftime...add those up. That pretty much gets us to the last drive of the game. CJH crapped the bed there...we had a 45 yard completion with 35 seconds left after the catch. He didnt call timeout, it took our linemen etc 18 seconds to get up, get downfield and set for the next play. We snapped the ball next with 17 seconds on a running clock. Terrible clock management. Incomplete pass to Kitzelman at 10yd line...down to 7 seconds left so we finally take the TO to try and scheme a game winning play. Thats on the coaches. CJH mostly, but also Halzle in the booth. They screwed up. It happens. Nobody points out the brilliant choice to let Arkansas score beforehand. Almost never see it...it was brilliant, and the only reason we had any chance at all to win the game at that point.

It only takes 1 player....on 1 play...not doing their job exactly right to kill a drive vs a good defense. Even moreso when you lose Bru, and Squirrel, have 2 banged up Tackles getting their azzes handed to them etc. Thats life in the SEC these days. 1 penalty, 1 sack, 1 dropped pass or great play by a DB and your drive is dead. Arkansas followed the blueprint used by UGA and it worked. Ball control offense chews up all the clock, limit our possessions, and take risks with blitzes designed for the run AND for the pass to kill our drives when they can. Everyone will try to do this now. Will be interesting to see how it plays out. I am every bit as worried about our 2 hurt WRs as I am about our 2 hurt Tackles. GO VOLS

 

[LouderVol]

well today has been pretty Monday for a Monday.

woke up early to take care of some things at work before HR comes around to yell at me.

Have a flat, big ole screw going thru the side wall. but its so early no place is open yet.
Try to work from home, but there is a new login process that doesn't work at all like the IT said it should, never could get logged on.
Go in for my tire, asked if I could just buy one tire, they say sure. but they have to install, and it will take the 45 minutes to get to me. Told them I could change it faster than that. but for "liability purposes" they have to do 5 minutes of work, just so happens that charges me an extra 30 bucks.
Finally get on the road and to work, internet problems, and with everything cloud based, access to even work files is spotty.
now I hear from my GF that her vehicle is leaking a noticeable amount of oil. so it sounds like I may be driving her around for a while.
HR is literally waiting at my desk to ask about what I was trying to get in early for. got it done in 5 minutes.

all of this before 10am.

 

[Orangeslice13]

Our offense avg 35 pts against SEC teams in 2021.

Averaged less than 24 the last 2 years.

Pruitt was awful but he left 4 NFL OL in 2021. This team might have 1 late Day 3 lineman.

Our line is guy inherited from Pruitt, one recruit, 3 backups from other P5 schools.

We’ve got some recruits coming. And some “potential “ as freshman/sophmores. They finally seem to believe and are willing to come but that doesn’t help us this season.
We’re still in the “future is bright “ mode.

 

[Wireless1]

well today has been pretty Monday for a Monday.

woke up early to take care of some things at work before HR comes around to yell at me.

Have a flat, big ole screw going thru the side wall. but its so early no place is open yet.
Try to work from home, but there is a new login process that doesn't work at all like the IT said it should, never could get logged on.
Go in for my tire, asked if I could just buy one tire, they say sure. but they have to install, and it will take the 45 minutes to get to me. Told them I could change it faster than that. but for "liability purposes" they have to do 5 minutes of work, just so happens that charges me an extra 30 bucks.
Finally get on the road and to work, internet problems, and with everything cloud based, access to even work files is spotty.
now I hear from my GF that her vehicle is leaking a noticeable amount of oil. so it sounds like I may be driving her around for a while.
HR is literally waiting at my desk to ask about what I was trying to get in early for. got it done in 5 minutes.

all of this before 10am.

My day looks much better now, sorry for all your trouble.

 

[LouderVol]

My day looks much better now, sorry for all your trouble.

I am labeling October my hell month. plans every weekend, some fun, but just no time to rest.

 

[Weezer]

Our offense avg 35 pts against SEC teams in 2021.

Averaged less than 24 the last 2 years.

Pruitt was awful but he left 4 NFL OL in 2021. This team might have 1 late Day 3 lineman.

Our line is guy inherited from Pruitt, one recruit, 3 backups from other P5 schools.

Cooper and Spraggins were both inherited. Heard came from LSU, Campbell from Miami, and Karic from Texas. None of the guys Elarbee has recruited from HS has seen significant playing time. Sham seemed to have the best shot of seeing playing time this season but got hurt.

Just seems that other teams have 1 or 2 OL that are contributing by at least year 2. Not starting, necessarily, but contributing. We're not really seeing that. Hopefully that changes.

I think Elarbee needs help. Garner has Chop helping him. We need someone like that helping Elarbee.

 

[Ritzwatch]

well today has been pretty Monday for a Monday.

woke up early to take care of some things at work before HR comes around to yell at me.

Have a flat, big ole screw going thru the side wall. but its so early no place is open yet.
Try to work from home, but there is a new login process that doesn't work at all like the IT said it should, never could get logged on.
Go in for my tire, asked if I could just buy one tire, they say sure. but they have to install, and it will take the 45 minutes to get to me. Told them I could change it faster than that. but for "liability purposes" they have to do 5 minutes of work, just so happens that charges me an extra 30 bucks.
Finally get on the road and to work, internet problems, and with everything cloud based, access to even work files is spotty.
now I hear from my GF that her vehicle is leaking a noticeable amount of oil. so it sounds like I may be driving her around for a while.
HR is literally waiting at my desk to ask about what I was trying to get in early for. got it done in 5 minutes.

all of this before 10am.

Well, the "before 10 am" is gonna be better than the "after 5 pm."

Once you start driving the GF around, you are really gonna know the meaning of Monday. Day. After. Day. (Until her car is fixed. )

 

[LouderVol]

Cooper and Spraggins were both inherited. Heard came from LSU, Campbell from Miami, and Karic from Texas. None of the guys Elarbee has recruited from HS has seen significant playing time. Sham seemed to have the best shot of seeing playing time this season but got hurt.

Just seems that other teams have 1 or 2 OL that are contributing by at least year 2. Not starting, necessarily, but contributing. We're not really seeing that. Hopefully that changes.

I think Elarbee needs help. Garner has Chop helping him. We need someone like that helping Elarbee.

I broke it down in another thread.

Texas, OSU, and UGA didn't have a first or second year player starting for them on the line. Bama had 1, Proctor kid, he didn't unseat someone, he took an open spot.

the rest of the SEC isn't much different. its old guys and transfers.

Alabama has 1 first or second year player starting on the OL.
Auburn has 1
Arkansas has 0
Florida has 1
Georgia has 0
Kentucky has 0
LSU has 1
Mississippi State has 0
Missouri has 0
Oklahoma has 1
Ole Miss has 1 (a transfer sophmore)
South Carolina has 1
TAMU has 0
Texas has 0
Vandy has 0

the first class was an absolute wash as the coaches were only here for like 2 months.
the second class we had the NCAA hanging over us. Umarov as noted is the most likely to play.
the third class are true freshman, and it looks like Satterwhite at Center is our #2 already.

Oline isn't great, but we aren't way out of whack from what the norm is either in the top teams or the SEC.