Predictions by position 2005

#1
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WA_Vol

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#1

QB - When I saw Ainge and Schaeffer play last year, I thought then these guys are probably gonna get hurt, they're too thin. The only reason I bring this up is, seeing the photos of Ainge (who will be the starter imo) from spring training, he doesnt look like he has put on much weight/muscle. I dont think he will finish the season without getting injured again. Not against LSU, Florida, Georgia, etc. If its at the end of the season I expect Crompton to win out if ainge goes down.

RB - Without a proven backup, Riggs should run the ball 30+ times a game, I think if he stays healthy, he should finish in the top 10 in rushing and be an All-American. The true freshman rb coming in is the heir apparent and should easily get the back-up job.

OL - Year and year this group always seems to be the biggest disappointment. The fact our 2 best lineman graduated last year and both went undrafted by the NFL, is a fact that wasnt lost by the NFL either. The only bright spot here is I think Toennia should have a break out year. He went to the same JC as Malehona who everyone agrees should be All-American, and was more highly recruited. I expect him to flatten people this year with his size.

DL - Dominating. Malehona All-American as expected.

DB- Allen All-American, D. Morley Starts as a true freshman.

LB - Dominating. No surprises here.
 
#2
#2
Ainge didn't get hurt cause he was to thin last year ok. He got hurt cause we had a sumb nut for a OC call a dumb play. 2nd there is no way Crompton beats out Clausen for the second spot on the depth chart. Its funny the lack of respect the Clausens get. He dominates texas a&M for our first bowl win in 3 years and now we are just going to right him off? he had some major games in vandy and kentucky and managed our offense pretty well aginst auburn. I have a wierd feeling that Arron foster is going to be big this year. Fulmer is never wrong when he speaks of running backs and I hope this isnt an exception. i think him and Riggs will be a 1-2 punch. I think there is no way Riggs is going to handle all of the carries. You totaly forgot to bring up our best lineman Arron Sears. I line helped our runnin backs have a combined 2,250 + yards last season and yet they were a dissapointment???
 
#3
#3
Originally posted by oklavol@Jul 24, 2005 2:23 PM
QB - When I saw Ainge and Schaeffer play last year, I  thought then these guys are probably gonna get hurt, they're too thin.  The only reason I bring this up is, seeing the photos of Ainge (who will be the starter imo) from spring training, he doesnt look like he has put on much weight/muscle.  I dont think he will finish the season without getting injured again.  Not against LSU, Florida, Georgia, etc.  If its at the end of the season I expect Crompton to win out if ainge goes down.

RB - Without a proven backup, Riggs should run the ball 30+ times a game,  I think if he stays healthy, he should finish in the top 10 in rushing and be an All-American.  The true freshman rb coming in is the heir apparent and should easily get the back-up job.

OL - Year and year this group always seems to be the biggest disappointment.  The fact our  2 best lineman graduated last year and both went undrafted by the NFL, is a fact that wasnt lost by the NFL either.  The only bright spot here is I think Toennia should have a break out year.  He went to the same JC as Malehona who everyone agrees should be All-American, and was more highly recruited.  I expect him to flatten people this year with his size.

DL - Dominating.  Malehona All-American as expected.

DB-  Allen All-American, D. Morley Starts as a true freshman.

LB - Dominating. No surprises here.
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Ainge has put on weight and muscle but remeber he's 6-6

He and Clausen will play and if he goes down Clausen will start.

Best Linemen last year were Sears and Smith
A Line consisting of Sears, Smith, Ligon, Douglas and Toeina couls very be the best in the SEC if unlike last year they can stay away from the injury bug


If Morely starts it will not be till the 5 or 6 game.
 
#4
#4
this may have been one of the stupidest posts ive ever read.

1. schaeffer and ainge had shoulder injuries. those would have happened even if they both would have weighed 250.

2. ainge has put on at least 20 lbs of muscle this off season, hes around 6'6" 225 at least.

3. there is a snowballs chance in hell that crompton leap frogs clausen. clausen may not be the most physically talented but the guy can run an offense. hes a leader and there is no way the coaches would start a freshman over a sr. captain.

4. riggs may run the ball alot, but i doubt 30 times a game. just because our backup rbs dont have experience, dont mean they wont get carries. they have plenty of talent and will gain lots of experience this year. expect riggs to get 20-25 carries a game with a more balanced offense.

5. there is no way that we lost our 2 best o lineman from last year. sears, smith, and douglas were our top 3. munoz was overrated, but talented. and respert was a good leader but no where near as talented as the 3 i mentioned.

6. mahelona and toeaina did not attend the same jc. toe might have a breakout year, but only if he worked very hard on his technique, conditioning, and discipline in the offseason.

7. morley wont start, he'll play alot but no way he starts. there are too many possibilities with only 3 db positions to fill. stewart, campbell, hefney, fellows, wade, and johnson all are possible starters.
 
#5
#5
All I have to say here is that we have so many talented players to choose from this year, I think one of our major strengths will be that we can outlast most teams we play because of depth.

At the end of the game I think we have players that will be much fresher than our opponents who have to play too many players too many minutes.

I really could care less who plays how long or even who starts because all of these guys are going to contribute to a team-oriented agenda this year and we are going to kick some butt!
 
#6
#6
this may have been one of the stupidest posts ive ever read.

Actually I think the stupidest post belongs to you below:

3. there is a snowballs chance in hell that crompton leap frogs clausen. clausen may not be the most physically talented but the guy can run an offense. hes a leader and there is no way the coaches would start a freshman over a sr. captain.

What the hell do you think happened last year when ainge and schaeffer started instead of C.J. Leak?????
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#7
#7
leak wasnt a proven leader like clausen is. leak had did nothing to deserve a starting position. clausen is 3-1 as a starter and is very respected amongst the team and coaches.
 
#8
#8
With all due respect to Rick, I don't think he's got the skills to get it done as a starter. He can't compete with the pass defenses around the conferences. He will be great to have as a backup while Crompton rides the bench, though.
 
#9
#9
this may have been one of the stupidest posts ive ever read.

Actually I think the stupidest post belongs to you below:

3. there is a snowballs chance in hell that crompton leap frogs clausen. clausen may not be the most physically talented but the guy can run an offense. hes a leader and there is no way the coaches would start a freshman over a sr. captain.

What the hell do you think happened last year when ainge and schaeffer started instead of C.J. Leak?????
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1. Anige and Schaeffer were A. more talented and B. Knew the Offense better.

Don't look for Crompton to leap frog Clausen. If and I mean if Ainge goes down Clausen will be the Starter. Don't be surprised if Rick Starts a game here or there or even plays more than Ainge on occasion. You don't have to have a cannon arm to win at UT Jeff Francis, Andy Kelly and Casey Clausen proved that. I like Crompton and I do think he' be a top notch QB and he will get his shot. Next year it'll be a dogfight with him and Ainge and they'll both play.
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#10
#10
I don't feel as though I should trash your article because it did in fact spurn some interesting posts. But I must say that there is very little in your prediction that I agree with.

1. QB
This position belongs to Ainge and Ainge alone. Rick Clausen understands the position well enough to help coach it and come in only in blowouts and dire emergencies. Crompton will work hard and learn alot when he starts practice, but will understand why he isn't the starter and redshirt to save his eligibility. With the same QB coach that worked with Payton Manning at his side, and a recieving core more talented than any Payton ever had, Ainge will put up numbers that will get the Hiesman buzz back in Knoxville.

2. RB
There won't be many carries for who ever wins the backup slot. With Gerald Riggs at TB and Cory Anderson at FB, they should gobble up about 30 carries a game with Anderson getting around 2 - 4 a game. That leaves only a handful of carries for the backups while they get there feel of bigtime football. With the opposing defences having to pay so much attention to the passing game look for Riggs to reach the 1500 mark with breakaway runs similar to the Travis Stephen days.

3. OL
If the line follows the lead of Arron Sears we should have the type of line that once was common around Neland Stadium. Though he doesn't quite have the technique of Michael Munoz he does possess the kind of attitude that leads to defensive players looking skyward from the seat of there pants. That type of fire was lacking with the ultra techical Munoz leading the line.

Well that's my 7 cents worth. Agree with it or fry it, but keep the posts comming.
 
#11
#11
Isn't it annoying how most magazines say we "officially" have only 15 returning starters (7 offense, 8 defense) and our kicker?

By my count, we only have ONE new starter on each: David Ligon, and Antwan Stewart (who started in 2003!). And of course Colquitt at punter.

They don't count Chris Brown, Riggs, or any combination of 3 WR's (Meachem, Swain, Hannon) as starters.

On defense, they don't count Simon, Jason Hall, or Corey Campbell.

Given the fact that these guys played/started as much or more than Karlton Neal, Tony Brown, Brandon Johnson, Victor McClure, Cedric Houston, shouldn't we be officially listed as having 20 returning starters?

10 on offense, 10 on defense. Think about how incredible that is. I love the fact that the coaching staff played so many people last year.
 
#12
#12
Originally posted by oklavol@Jul 24, 2005 2:23 PM
QB - When I saw Ainge and Schaeffer play last year, I  thought then these guys are probably gonna get hurt, they're too thin.  The only reason I bring this up is, seeing the photos of Ainge (who will be the starter imo) from spring training, he doesnt look like he has put on much weight/muscle.  I dont think he will finish the season without getting injured again.  Not against LSU, Florida, Georgia, etc.  If its at the end of the season I expect Crompton to win out if ainge goes down.

RB - Without a proven backup, Riggs should run the ball 30+ times a game,  I think if he stays healthy, he should finish in the top 10 in rushing and be an All-American.  The true freshman rb coming in is the heir apparent and should easily get the back-up job.

OL - Year and year this group always seems to be the biggest disappointment.  The fact our  2 best lineman graduated last year and both went undrafted by the NFL, is a fact that wasnt lost by the NFL either.  The only bright spot here is I think Toennia should have a break out year.  He went to the same JC as Malehona who everyone agrees should be All-American, and was more highly recruited.  I expect him to flatten people this year with his size.

DL - Dominating.  Malehona All-American as expected.

DB-  Allen All-American, D. Morley Starts as a true freshman.

LB - Dominating. No surprises here.
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ainge was unlucky. it was a bad snap and he stumbled picking it up and got creamed. i think with him we would have finished 10-1 and one the sec. (for those saying auburn was too good we only lost the sec championship because bad qb play.)
 
#13
#13
We lost the SEC because we couldn't stop Auburn. Clausen didn't do bad, he just didn't do much. The game would have been a smidge closer, maybe, but I don't think we could have beat them even with Ainge.
 
#14
#14
I think Ainge would have only helped in that he might have been able to keep the defense off the field by sustaining a few more drives. But unless Ainge ran a 4.5 and could cover somebody, I don't know that he would have helped.
 
#15
#15
Originally posted by tvolsfan@Jul 25, 2005 2:58 PM
ainge was unlucky. it was a bad snap and he stumbled picking it up and got creamed. i think with him we would have finished 10-1 and one the sec. (for those saying auburn was too good we only lost the sec championship because bad qb play.)
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Ainge wasn't unlucky...if he was smart he would have fallen on the ball like his is supposed to. If he had done that, he would have had a shoulder in one piece. And we lost the SEC Championship game bc our DBs couldn't stop Campbell...He had 374 passing yards and 3 tds. Not to mention that he ran for 63, 23 yrds more then Houston by the way. The only reason the game got close is cuz there punter kept choking and it swung the momentem our way. We got outplayed, simple as that.
 
#16
#16
I am not one for iffy history, but the stats do make one think.

When Ainge played Auburn we had 107 yards rushing and about 186 yards passing. When we played Auburn with Clausen as the qb, we had 228 yards rushing and 69 yards passing. Obviously the total yards are close, but I wonder what we would have done with Riggs cooking and Ainge giving us a viable passing weapon.

All things aside, we were outplayed in both games. The better team won, but what a neat "It could have been."

Anyway Ainge will be the starting QB, but it wouldn't surprise me to see Rick get a bit of time to throw off the defenses.
 
#17
#17
If we had Ainge and Schaeffer playing in the SEC Championship like they were in the USC game, UT wins. With just Ainge it's a much closer game because of a more balanced attack. With Clausen, we put up a good fight, but we didn't quite have enough bullets to get the job done.
 
#18
#18
I looked at the SECC game, As, while id just as well die than lose.
We didnt get pushed around, they out numbered/matched us.
But made a Big step towards the bowl game and this comming season.

Rick spooked the life out of me, But wound up winning alot of respect from myself and others. He may just be the coolest ICE MAN, since Casey (Val Kilmer) look alike. Riggs broke out and so did the O-line along with our Defense that decided to show up.They seemed to take the last 2 regular season games off?
 
#20
#20
Go back and see how many times the WR's dropped the ball in the SEC Championship game
 
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