'25 Portal Thread

[HoleInTheRoof]

VN Scouting Dept deemed him too slow

Let’s not pretend 99% of Vols fans weren’t ready to move on from McCoullough. He made plays this year with the Rams that he never made in five years here.

 

[jasonvol18]

Let’s not pretend 99% of Vols fans weren’t ready to move on from McCoullough. He made plays this year with the Rams that he never made in five years here.

Which kind of makes you wonder if our Secondary issues truly are Coaching??

 

[titansvolsfaninga]

Which kind of makes you wonder if our Secondary issues truly are Coaching??

Could be scheme. He may be asked to do different things in the NFL than he had to do here. But you will need to ask Tim Banks. In McCullough defense, the CBs were not very good when he played here.

 

[deatojl]

Let’s not pretend 99% of Vols fans weren’t ready to move on from McCoullough. He made plays this year with the Rams that he never made in five years here.

Both points can be true. McCollough didn't just magically increase his speed from "not good enough for an SEC safety" to "successful NFL starter" level.

 

[MarcoVol]

Let’s not pretend 99% of Vols fans weren’t ready to move on from McCoullough. He made plays this year with the Rams that he never made in five years here.

We also don’t have to pretend that 99% of Vols fans have any idea what they’re talking about when it comes to any sport or player. Myself included.

 

[SoilVol]

Which kind of makes you wonder if our Secondary issues truly are Coaching??

More likely scheme and role. Give him a smaller role and responsibility that utilizes his skills better and he will play faster and make more plays. We needed him to have a bigger role which stretched him thin and probably a job hes not a natural fit for.

 

[MarcoVol]

More likely scheme and role. Give him a smaller role and responsibility that utilizes his skills better and he will play faster and make more plays. We needed him to have a bigger role which stretched him thin and probably a job hes not a natural fit for.

And has better players around him that also do their job which helps. There were prob plenty of times where someone else busted coverage or got beat but McCullough was the one trying to chase down the play so everyone blamed him.

 

[titansvolsfaninga]

And has better players around him that also do their job which helps. There were prob plenty of times where someone else busted coverage or got beat but McCullough was the one trying to chase down the play so everyone blamed him.

But the VN coaches know the schemes and responsibilities, as they sit on their couch and drink their thunderbird and eat their fried spam.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

And has better players around him that also do their job which helps. There were prob plenty of times where someone else busted coverage or got beat but McCullough was the one trying to chase down the play so everyone blamed him.

I always thought Flowers was more of a liability and McCullough was having to make up for his mistakes along with deficiencies at corner. Similar reason for me not blaming our young linebackers for coverage issues last season. They were being asked to do too much because of our issues at safety. I think Brooks is a walk-on legend because of some of the plays he made, especially against Alabama, but we all know his lack of speed was a liability that had to limit what they could do on defense. Turrentine seemed to lack physicality and instincts. Put McCullough on the defense last season and our fans would have a totally different view of him.

 

[Blake25p]

We involved?

 

[HoleInTheRoof]

We also don’t have to pretend that 99% of Vols fans have any idea what they’re talking about when it comes to any sport or player. Myself included.

I’m included in the 1% that does.

 

[Jackcrevol]

We involved?

Well, can he?

 

[TrippieRedd]

We involved?

I don’t see that we offered back in HS, but Tim Banks does follow him on social media now.


Would be a nice depth piece. One I would actually like lol

 

[cncchris33]

VQ hasn't said much about Webb, but they have implied that we wanted to keep Nimrod and Squirrel.

-AP

Is there a Vol WR that entered the portal that the staff wishes they would have kept?

-AP

And still, Nimrod landed at USF. Seems like our staff has a much higher opinion of Chas than the rest of the P4 schools. Very strange. This staff's identification and development of WRs is really suspect.

Kaleb Webb
Squirrel White
Chas Nimrod
Cam Miller
Nathan Leacock
Nate Spillman
Mike Matthews
Braylon Staley.

Now the book is still out on MM and Staley...I think we all have expectations of those two, but Squirrel is the only notable WR we've landed/developed in Heupel's tenure. Pope should be on notice. Pruitt kids and portal kids are the only thing keeping that position afloat since Heup arrived.

 

[JCVol00]

And still, Nimrod landed at USF. Seems like our staff has a much higher opinion of Chas than the rest of the P4 schools. Very strange. This staff's identification and development of WRs is really suspect.

Kaleb Webb
Squirrel White
Chas Nimrod
Cam Miller
Nathan Leacock
Nate Spillman
Mike Matthews
Braylon Staley.

Now the book is still out on MM and Staley...I think we all have expectations of those two, but Squirrel is the only notable WR we've landed/developed in Heupel's tenure. Pope should be on notice. Pruitt kids and portal kids are the only thing keeping that position afloat since Heup arrived.

Yea I thought the same thing. I think it’s a Pope issue more than anything; but our wr class for ‘26 looks decent

 

[cncchris33]

Yea I thought the same thing. I think it’s a Pope issue more than anything; but our wr class for ‘26 looks decent

Yeah, they've got some dudes on paper. It's gotta translate, now.

 

[lfvol]

VN Scouting Dept deemed him too slow

He was better than Walker. But, Banks had him starting 20 yards deep and backpedaling at the snap. 11 on 9 for first downs. All while lacking make up speed to actually be over the top help to the corners out wide. He had a couple of picks but outside of one against a terrible team, they were all tipped balls initiated by someone else. Glad he is having success now.

 

[aRmo]

And still, Nimrod landed at USF. Seems like our staff has a much higher opinion of Chas than the rest of the P4 schools. Very strange. This staff's identification and development of WRs is really suspect.

Kaleb Webb
Squirrel White
Chas Nimrod
Cam Miller
Nathan Leacock
Nate Spillman
Mike Matthews
Braylon Staley.

Now the book is still out on MM and Staley...I think we all have expectations of those two, but Squirrel is the only notable WR we've landed/developed in Heupel's tenure. Pope should be on notice. Pruitt kids and portal kids are the only thing keeping that position afloat since Heup arrived.

I agree with this. WR position has been lackluster the past 2 seasons.

 

[OrangenSC]

No, don’t you know we are ruined. Lol

I think we should just cancel the season.

 

[vol94]

Lat night was portal deadline, but we could still see some late entries as OSU and ND have like two business days to enter the names of anyone who requested to enter the portal through last night. The lessons MM has taught us.

This.

W will know by Wed night if any Notre Dame or Ohio st players enter portal.

The schools then have roughly 48 hrs to submit paperwork and give such player time to complete the compliance piece /watch portal video, etc.

Time will tell. I want an elite safety, athletic LB, and experienced WR.

 

[titansvolsfaninga]

And still, Nimrod landed at USF. Seems like our staff has a much higher opinion of Chas than the rest of the P4 schools. Very strange. This staff's identification and development of WRs is really suspect.

Kaleb Webb
Squirrel White
Chas Nimrod
Cam Miller
Nathan Leacock
Nate Spillman
Mike Matthews
Braylon Staley.

Now the book is still out on MM and Staley...I think we all have expectations of those two, but Squirrel is the only notable WR we've landed/developed in Heupel's tenure. Pope should be on notice. Pruitt kids and portal kids are the only thing keeping that position afloat since Heup arrived.

Maybe he wanted to play in Golesh system because there is a level of comfort. It would be nice if people didn't speculate on the motives of others without knowing all the details.

 

[orangemadam]

But the VN coaches know the schemes and responsibilities, as they sit on their couch and drink their thunderbird and eat their fried spam.

love fried spam sandwich with lotsa mustard!

 

[Stoerner Fumbles]

And still, Nimrod landed at USF. Seems like our staff has a much higher opinion of Chas than the rest of the P4 schools. Very strange. This staff's identification and development of WRs is really suspect.

Kaleb Webb
Squirrel White
Chas Nimrod
Cam Miller
Nathan Leacock
Nate Spillman
Mike Matthews
Braylon Staley.

Now the book is still out on MM and Staley...I think we all have expectations of those two, but Squirrel is the only notable WR we've landed/developed in Heupel's tenure. Pope should be on notice. Pruitt kids and portal kids are the only thing keeping that position afloat since Heup arrived.

I’m on the record as the least likely to fire a coach guy, but having met Pope and watched him with players, I’m a non-believer. He’s a taskmaster without imparting the vision that goes with it. It’s fine to be a detail coach, but players need to know why. They also don’t trust him on the criteria he gives for earning time etc. He made enemies out of Squirrel and MM for punishing them for injury time. It took a lot of peace making to keep MM. I thought it was likely that he’d go at the end of last season, but Heupel is pretty strong in the belief that we honor contracts until they’re over unless there is a big reason. It’s a talented room, and they’ve settled on a spec for each position. If he doesn’t come through this year, that’ll be it.

 

[TrippieRedd]

I’m on the record as the least likely to fire a coach guy, but having met Pope and watched him with players, I’m a non-believer. He’s a taskmaster without imparting the vision that goes with it. It’s fine to be a detail coach, but players need to know why. They also don’t trust him on the criteria he gives for earning time etc. He made enemies out of Squirrel and MM for punishing them for injury time. It took a lot of peace making to keep MM. I thought it was likely that he’d go at the end of last season, but Heupel is pretty strong in the belief that we honor contracts until they’re over unless there is a big reason. It’s a talented room, and they’ve settled on a spec for each position. If he doesn’t come through this year, that’ll be it.

If he punished kids for injury, he should’ve already been gone.

Really, really sad we didn’t attempt to get Burns back. Surely we could’ve offered more than USF.

 

[Adam Sandler]

I’m on the record as the least likely to fire a coach guy, but having met Pope and watched him with players, I’m a non-believer. He’s a taskmaster without imparting the vision that goes with it. It’s fine to be a detail coach, but players need to know why. They also don’t trust him on the criteria he gives for earning time etc. He made enemies out of Squirrel and MM for punishing them for injury time. It took a lot of peace making to keep MM. I thought it was likely that he’d go at the end of last season, but Heupel is pretty strong in the belief that we honor contracts until they’re over unless there is a big reason. It’s a talented room, and they’ve settled on a spec for each position. If he doesn’t come through this year, that’ll be it.

Wild considering how good of a recruiter he has seemingly been