Post-NSD 2016 Depth Chart Projections

#101
#101
VolPack22 said:
I think Alexis Johnson will be in the 2 deep at DT and I think Berry will start at S with Gaulden at Nickel. Warrior will challenge for the starting spot at either of those positions. I would want Jack Jones starting on the OL somewhere. He and Hall showed us they can play last year. Also I think Osborne will be in the 2 deep at CB. And I think JG will edge out Jones for 3rd string, which will probably want to make him transfer again.
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If Johnson isn't considered in the 2 deep the day he signed, they shouldn't of taken him. I think he is.

I don't see a likely scenario where Guarantano isn't a RS. Even if Jones or Dormady transfer, JG is still 3rd at best. He'll RS unless Dobbs is hurt AND one of the others has transferred.
 
#102
#102
Darth_Shiveman said:
I'm not sure he's going to be quite the force year one that many people think he will be (especially if he has to enroll later in the summer). I don't see him starting until maybe later in the season or 2017.

That being said, I think he'll absolutely be utilized for his pass rush skills one way or another. He's enough of an athletic freak that we can just line him up and let him go on 3rd and long and he should still be effective.

I'm just not so sure he holds up well enough against the run early on steal a starting spot early in the season. I think he'll eat against the spread teams on the back half of the schedule and hopefully be seasoned enough by the end of the season to be a force in Atlanta and bow/playoff season :rock:
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Exactly. He's not an EE and that means he's playing catchup mentally and physically. Look at the hype over McKenzie last year and the lag time it took just to get him up to speed for more than a few series per game. IMO Vereen is going to be tough to beat out opposite Barnett.
 
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#103
#103
kid50 said:
How good we can be on D is scary. I hope they can find a niche for some of these guys so they don't transfer. I think Sapp is a great athlete who may never have a position and could transfer out. He started out as a OLB then moved to S and it seems now he's back at OLB. He seems like a great athlete just without a place currently. Also, I think if Byrd is as good as he's hyped up to be he'll fight for a spot in the 2-deep at either CB, nickel, or maybe even safety. I also hope S can work itself out bc there are so many great athletes there that need to see the field. I think TKjr starts but then who starts beside him is a toss-up. It could be Jennings, Berry, or maybe even Griffin as I've heard he may be the best all-around athlete on the team. However, with all this talent at S I don't think Jennings make the change unless the staff truly feels like he can start and make a huge difference. So at S my prediction is this: starters - TKjr and Griffin; backups - Berry and Warrior. I think Gaulden moves to nickel and tears it up there.
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Thank you for mentioning this. Everyone keeps forgetting Griffin. He's got the highest ceiling IMO of any of our safeties.

I think he should start opposite Jennings at safety. Love TK but he doesn't have the athleticism of studs like Griffin and Jennings.
 
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#104
#104
butchna said:
If he redshirts a year, he can't use it for the transfer year. If you're saying Butch hoodwinks him into staying by not declaring who the backup is? That's low rent and I don't believe Butch does that. These are kids careers we're talking about. Cheating one out of a year would be recruiting suicide. The backup will know who he is by the end of Spring...smell me back? :hmm:
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If I'm QD, then I would be happy to take a RS if I could not unseat Dobbs this year. Let Jones play the backup role this fall. I could see Butch offering this even in QD won the backup slot again. RS, and compete with Jones & JG for 17' with 3 years left to play. Beats a year of scrub time, then only having 2 left to play.

But if he's got xfer in the back of his mind, then he may want to jump on that. Depends on his confidence at beating out the other 2 in 17'.
 
#105
#105
mercuryvol said:
Exactly. He's not an EE and that means he's playing catchup mentally and physically. Look at the hype over McKenzie last year and the lag time it took just to get him up to speed for more than a few series per game. IMO Vereen is going to be tough to beat out opposite Barnett.
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Agree. But the beautiful thing is that we'll have Lewis, Phillips, and Kongbo. All 3 should see quality reps regardless for important series in games. And were talking about very little dropoff as well. Then imagine what kinda sparks fly with a rested pair of Barnett/Vereen(or Phillips or Kongbo) on a final drive where we need a stop.
 
#106
#106
livefaith said:
If I'm QD, then I would be happy to take a RS if I could not unseat Dobbs this year. Let Jones play the backup role this fall. I could see Butch offering this even in QD won the backup slot again. RS, and compete with Jones & JG for 17' with 3 years left to play. Beats a year of scrub time, then only having 2 left to play.

But if he's got xfer in the back of his mind, then he may want to jump on that. Depends on his confidence at beating out the other 2 in 17'.
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Whoever wins the backup spot this Spring has the inside track for the starters nod next year IMO. Yes, even against Guarantano. That advantage is worth the "scrub time". If Dormady loses out, the writings on the wall. He won't waste a year of eligibility in the slim hope he makes up lost ground with a redshirt year. I detest the use of this term, but we're using ORANGE BLINDERS when we think that these kids gambling a year in the hope of starting for our Vols is worth the risk on their career. IDEALLY (for us) every talented player stays until their eligibility runs out...not ideal for them.
 
#107
#107
Gaulden starts at Nickel, Jennings stays at WR, EV berry starts at Safety with TKJR
 
#109
#109
Looking at this depth chart has me straight giddy.

I've never seen us have a team this deep.

Everywhere.

I almost feel secure looking at this depth chart that every single position has at least one or two guys that can step in at an elite level.

This may be a very very special year.

Thank you Coach Butch Jones. He's done everything you can ask a coach to do to put together a roster. He deserves our full support.
 
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#110
#110
ssutvols said:
I could see Jennings sticking at receiver, though he looks like a safety to me, and I like warrior to split time with berry or griffin. Or gaulden at safety and foreman/Osborne at nickel.
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Not trying to act like some sort of an insider or anything so TIFWIW. I work with a guy at the Murfrresboro Amazon that played WR and DB with Juaun at Blackman. His words were Juaun was a beast at safety and that's where he played the best at. He told me this back in August before the season had even started while we were just casually speaking. He wasn't tooting his own horn and isn't a Tennessee fan either. So there ya go!
 
#111
#111
My reaction when I look at our defensive depth chart.

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Then my reaction when I look at our offensive depth chart.

giphy.gif
 
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#112
#112
I think VolQuest dropped a nugget that Butch Jones has signed 51 4/5 star players since arriving in 2013. That is just insane.
 
#114
#114
UTK said:
Gaulden starts at Nickel, Jennings stays at WR, EV berry starts at Safety with TKJR
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I thought it was discussed in the football concepts article that we may not use Nickel nearly as much in Shoop's defensive schemes as we saw under Jancek. Shoop prefers the Star position in passing situations, which means one of the OLBs will slide out from the base 4-3 to cover the slot receive in passing situations as a hybrid OLB/SS hybrid. This would likely mean McDowell or A. Smith I would think.
 
#115
#115
Crazy Ivan said:
I thought it was discussed in the football concepts article that we may not use Nickel nearly as much in Shoop's defensive schemes as we saw under Jancek. Shoop prefers the Star position in passing situations, which means one of the OLBs will slide out from the base 4-3 to cover the slot receive in passing situations as a hybrid OLB/SS hybrid. This would likely mean McDowell or A. Smith I would think.
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This is what I understand as well. This poses an interesting issue in that, if Gaulden is healthy and our defensive principles remain the same, we were assuming he would be our NB and Sutton and Martin our CBs. We were also assuming that TK Jr. would be one of the starting safeties and then the other starting safety would be a battle between Berry, Griffin, Warrior, and, potentially, Jennings if he makes the move to safety. But, if Jennings makes the move to safety (and is starter quality) and we don't play as much nickel with Shoop, where does this leave Gaulden? Does Gaulden become a CB or is he a S? If Gaulden is a S, does it make sense to move Jennings to S when he is also one of our best WRs? I am also interested in the idea of the star position, which would seem to indicate that McDowell, Smith, and/or Bates may have a position more aligned with their skill set. Regardless, it seems like a good problem to have and may have the result of getting our best players on the field since I felt that McDowell, et al., were underused this past year in favor of Foreman, et al.

In short, I am really interested in how Shoop changes our defense and whether positional changes will reflect and maximize the apparent changes in defensive principles.
 
#116
#116
Crazy Ivan said:
I thought it was discussed in the football concepts article that we may not use Nickel nearly as much in Shoop's defensive schemes as we saw under Jancek. Shoop prefers the Star position in passing situations, which means one of the OLBs will slide out from the base 4-3 to cover the slot receive in passing situations as a hybrid OLB/SS hybrid. This would likely mean McDowell or A. Smith I would think.
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Taylor with his athleticism, speed and quickness would be a good option
 
#117
#117
2ez2dv8 said:
Taylor with his athleticism, speed and quickness would be a good option
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This guy needs to be more of a lb/s hybrid, a cover guy. Not a pass rushing lb/de hybrid.

McDowell would be a likely candidate. Evan Berry. Possibly Dillion Bates.
 
#119
#119
Jennings is one of our best receivers, but the dude has safety written all over him! Does he remind anyone else of Deon Grant? I could see him displaying the ball skills of Deon Grant and the nastiness. Dude loves to hit people! Unfortunately on offense it usually cost us 15! ha
 
#120
#120
Vol8188 said:
This guy needs to be more of a lb/s hybrid, a cover guy. Not a pass rushing lb/de hybrid.

McDowell would be a likely candidate. Evan Berry. Possibly Dillion Bates.
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Think you meant Elliott Berry. Bates and McDowell are Taylor's size 230+. Smith is 240+ and may move to DE

Taylor's athleticism and speed allows for both rushing the passer and drop back

I could see Sapp at Star too
 
#123
#123
Dust10 said:
I'd rather they just make the move before if that's what they are gonna do. No point in keeping him as a warm body at WR if the plan isn't to use him there.
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I could see him playing both during Spring. They plan for him to play Safety sooner than later.
 
#125
#125
I'd say one of the best things about our depth now is some of the arguments we've seen about who should see playing time. We've got a really good group of 5-6 guys that could legitimately start at Safety in TKJr., Ev.Berry, Jennings, Gaulden, Griffin, and Warrior. That's insane. We've got some serious speed in this incoming class at the WR position, and I think this staff will want to feature it, especially Callaway. That's why I think the staff will be comfortable moving Jennings into the safety rotation. The D-Line depth is nasty, with 5 guys at DT that could start at any point in time. D-End is stacked.

The obvious scenario to watch is injuries between now and the start of the season. It happens every year- we'll lose a few guys before the season begins. That will sort out the depth chart even more. The difference is how well built this roster is to manage those injuries. Certain positions, whether it be TE, MLB, OT, or one of our stars like Dobbs, Hurd, or Sutton, would hurt significantly, but the depth this staff has built up in 3.5 recruiting classes is insane. Should be a HUGE year.
 
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