Recruiting Football Talk VII

[Smokey123]

I don't know if UFs front 6-7 is fast and good enough to do what UGA and Pitt did...people don't understand that Pitt had some players up front.

And even in those games there were open opportunities, especially against Pitt...if Hendon had been on that day we would have scored 2-3 more TDs and OT would have never happened.

It’s definitely not as good as uga’s… it’s solid tho, it’s the only thing that might keep the game from being a blowout. If the games close it will 100% be because of their defense

However their defensive scheme is not what Pitt does so I don’t see them changing much

 

[JCVol00]

I know that is the general thought right now, but I wouldn't be surprised if he comes back. Just like Warren and Flowers and Vescovi and JJJ, a lot of these seniors enter their senior season with the expectation they are going to have a great year and not come back, either because they get drafted or they expect to be ready to move on. When they aren't projected to be drafted or they are faced with the decision to move on, the tune changes a little bit.

At this point it would certainly be a surprise if Mays is drafted. There are typically 5-9 centers drafted each year. I looked at a few different draft lists.

Mays wasn't in the top 10 in CFN
He wasn't in the top 7 in WalterFootball
He wasn't in the top 20 on NFLDraftBuzz
He wasn't in the top 16 on Drafttek

It would be absolutely fantastic if Mays did come back. Guess we have to see how this season turns out first

 

[eVOLve]

SMH...I hate Deion Sanders

Dude beat a very overrated TCU team and Nebraska.. his team will come back to reality soon enough

 

[avolation]

Just read this and copy/pasted:

The #Vols defense has been causing 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙘 in the backfield!
• Lead the nation in sacks
• 2nd in the nation in TFLs

Okay, so critics can say that we haven't played "anybody". Well, number one Georgia hasn't played anyone either and they don't lead the nation in sacks.

Just saying.

We have the potential to be the most balanced Heupel team yet. I’m going to remain optimistic until there’s reason not to be. Floor is still 10-2 this year.

 

[volsagain]

I think it is highly unlikely Davis starts at Center next season. And it might be even more unlikely that Nichols ever starts a game here. I hate saying that. He is a mountain. But he does not have any dog in him. Practices and plays with no fight or toughness.

Maybe he just needs a good ole Henderson slap

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

It’s definitely not as good as uga’s… it’s solid tho, it’s the only thing that might keep the game from being a blowout. If the games close it will 100% be because of their defense

However their defensive scheme is not what Pitt does so I don’t see them changing much

Agreed

 

[eVOLve]

I am worried that teams are figuring out Hueps offense. Feels to me that everyone will be letting us nickel and dime them down the field in hopes of us making a mistake or disturbing our rhythm. Feels like every time play gets interrupted whether it be a timeout or something that our drive stalls.

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

I am worried that teams are figuring out Hueps offense. Feels to me that everyone will be letting us nickel and dime them down the field in hopes of us making a mistake or disturbing our rhythm. Feels like every time play gets interrupted whether it be a timeout or something that our drive stalls.

Sure

 

[engineerVOL]

Heading to emergency room to get stiches. Prayers pls

@Glitch isnt that funny.

Praying for you, buddy. Get healed up!

 

[knoxvol52]

Dude beat a very overrated TCU team and Nebraska.. his team will come back to reality soon enough

If THIS Colorado team full of Portal players ends up 6-6 or 7-5 The Media will say one of the greatest coaching jobs they have seen...and by looking at their schedule 6-6 is very doable....

 

[mrMet]

I am worried that teams are figuring out Hueps offense. Feels to me that everyone will be letting us nickel and dime them down the field in hopes of us making a mistake or disturbing our rhythm. Feels like every time play gets interrupted whether it be a timeout or something that our drive stalls.

Lol ok

 

[JCP201]

All fun and game till Deion has to play USC etc.

 

[SoilVol]

Thanks everyone. I was in full freakout panic mode. Still at the hospital. I took my pocket knife down to bone on my left index finger. Doc hasnt come in for stitches yet though.

 

[engineerVOL]

Thanks everyone. I was in full freakout panic mode. Still at the hospital. I took my pocket knife down to bone on my left index finger. Doc hasnt come in for stitches yet though.

Just received footage of SoilVol in the waiting room:

 

[itsme]

That Tez Walker denial doesn't make any damn sense.

The year he was at North Carolina Central their season was cancelled anyway for COVID and I thought EVERYONE got that as a 'free' year towards their eligibility? He then played 2 years at Kent State before transferring to UNC.

For sure seems fishy as hell...

Meanwhile J.T. Daniels is on his 5th school and hasn't set out a season yet.

 

[SugarCC]

I hope we apply the "Carthaginian Solution" to the Gators...if we do, I vote we give Heupel the name he deserves...Joshicus Crushicass Gatoricanus

CENTURIES to recover, if at all.

 

[Weezer]

What game thread? I haven't started it yet. Waiting for the opportune moment!!

 

[drvenner]

I watched some of the MTV VMAs tonight. I felt so old.

I'm just glad I recognized some of the artists. Not most of them, but some.

How did Flock of Seagulls do?

 

[Volbucky]

Thanks everyone. I was in full freakout panic mode. Still at the hospital. I took my pocket knife down to bone on my left index finger. Doc hasnt come in for stitches yet though.

Pics or it didn’t happen

 

[Volsdeep4]

I am worried that teams are figuring out Hueps offense. Feels to me that everyone will be letting us nickel and dime them down the field in hopes of us making a mistake or disturbing our rhythm. Feels like every time play gets interrupted whether it be a timeout or something that our drive stalls.

That’s not sustainable. Nickel and dime turns to touchdowns. No one respects Joes accuracy in the intermediate range. That’s why they let everything develop infront of them.

 

[ChattaTNVol]

The offense is working as well as it ever has –

I’ve rewatched the film from last week and rewatched portions multiple times. I think it’s obvious that the offense is working just fine and at least as well as it did last year. The offense is designed to produce opportunities for our playmakers. In the passing game which seems to be of concern to many the plays have been there, really in both of our games so far this year. The problem is that our guys have not been making a lot of those plays. Are they capable of making those plays? Eminently capable. jmo.

LAVol posted that the coaches weren’t trying to be vanilla last week and I agree it didn’t start out that way but Pat Ryan, Jeff Francis, and Erik Ainge all noted that with the early struggles in the passing game the staff significantly dialed back on the aggressiveness. I think it was the writers at 247 that pointed out that almost half of Joe’s passes to this point in the season have been behind the LOS.

LAVol also said that the game Joe wasn’t the same as the practice Joe. Well, especially with the QB, practice is nothing like a game. In a game the QB is live; in practice, not so much. When Hendon Hooker came to Tennessee, before he ever took the field for us, he already had started more games than Joe has under his belt going into this week. Hendon started 15 games for VT, presumably that was all live-action. To date Joe in his college career has started 11 games. Hendon had 11 additional games in 2021 before embarking on a breakout season in 2022. It may also be worth remembering that Hendon lost his starting job at VT in 2020 which is why we were able to get him as a transfer. I think we have to let this play out before jumping to conclusions. jmo.

Saturday night I thought Joe had an outstanding postgame interview with Jayson Swain in the locker room but it seemed like a different Joe when he appeared before the local media. I don’t think he likes those guys. I don’t either so I can understand. I think they’re smug and I don’t know why because I don’t think they know much of anything about football. jmo.

With Swain Joe was pretty critical of the performance on Saturday. For a moment I thought I recognized him from his comments as any number of posters in this thread, maybe a bit less emotional. In the “routine” team meeting that was reported on, it was said that Joe took all the blame for the underperformance of our passing game. I wouldn’t put it all on him and both Pat and Jeff said the same on Monday’s Big Orange Hotline, but I would put most of it on him. I mean he’s the leader. The buck stops there. As the QB at Tennessee he’s not just responsible for himself; he’s responsible for leading the entire offense and consequently he will get outsized credit or blame as the situation at the time warrants. That’s pretty much life for every QB in college football, maybe moreso in the SEC. jmo.

I think we know what we have with Bru McCoy, Ramel Keyton, and Squirrel White. They can play better and have done so in the past. Keyton has had catastrophic moments in both games so far this year. He can’t do that. Neither one of those plays were on Joe and yet both were significant to the perception of our offensive performance in the game. I think that Squirrel White could be better than Jalin Hyatt in this offense. The QBs on the Big Orange hotline said the same after the Virginia game. Coming out of high school Squirrel had a 10.68 100 meter time but the big edge I think Squirrel has is vision and wiggle. He’s really fun to watch with the ball in his hands. jmo.

The big thing Hendon Hooker said he was working on in 2022 was staying quiet in the pocket. Remember that going into 2022 Hendon had already started 26 games in his career. I interpret staying quiet in the pocket as maintaining poise. I think maybe part of Joe’s accuracy issue is he may be rushing his throws by a couple hundred milliseconds. I think he just needs to settle down. I mean he’s demonstrated in the past that he can be accurate, especially downfield. I’m wondering if he’s pressing too hard. That’s the sense that I get. jmo.

Ultimately, I think the obvious key to us getting the production we want from the passing game is Joe and his receivers need to work better together. Right now they’re playing like they hardly know each other and maybe they don’t even like each other all that much. I don’t know but I do think they’re all going to sink or swim together. If they don’t come together and figure out how to succeed together then McCoy, Keyton, and Milton, in particular, are going to continue to see their draft stock plummet faster and steeper than our FPI rating. jmo.

In big games last year we played 13-15 guys on offense and no more so I think barring injury we’ll see less rotation on the OL in the swamp. I don’t know if we trust Thornton yet. Other fans have said he hasn’t lived up to the offseason hype and of course that seems apparent. He’s played 52 snaps so far this year, been targeted 6 times on those snaps, made 2 catches for 12 yards. Keyton is 8 of 11 for 118 yards and 1 TD on 139 snaps. Squirrel is 10 of 14 for 75 yards, no TDs, on 94 snaps, and Bru is 7 of 13 for 72 yards, no TDs, on 124 snaps. Donte may still be trying to learn his blocking assignments. I’m just not sure where he’s at with earning the staff’s trust. It doesn’t look like he’s there yet. jmo.

By all reports Campbell is a stellar teammate. Karic graded out well in the game this past Saturday and Cooper said he’s playing well. Cooper also thought Ollie was doing good. I think if Cooper doesn’t go against Florida, I think Ollie probably gets all the center snaps. According to PFF Mincey has been our highest graded offensive lineman in each of the first two games. He’s had 75 snaps. Crawford has had 91, Karic 116, Ollie 95, Campbell 121, and Spraggins 140. I think those are our 6 and Cooper would be #7. Lampley (32 snaps) and Davis (46 snaps) are emergency use only. jmo.

The offense is working just fine. It’s producing all the usual opportunities for our playmakers to make plays. They will have seen that in their review of the film. I find it very difficult to imagine that they’re not going to be hell-bent on making those plays this week. jmo.

Prediction: Tennessee 77 Florida 3 (Napier kicks a FG on 2nd down from the 34-yard line with 7 seconds remaining in the 4th quarter). Okay, yeah, that’s was trash talk. lol.

Spoiler: Offense - PFF snaps & grades season to date

Spoiler: Defense - PFF snaps & grades season to date

 

[drvenner]

My man Neyland Rising has 309 likes on an all-time Freezing Cold Take about Heupel being a “meh” hire.

View attachment 578775

It was perfect for the time. A one word post from a poster who had been lurking and liking for years, who became a legend for liking posts a few days old and then people started tracking his progress through the thread. That thread was jumping at the time because it was a coaching search.

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

CENTURIES to recover, if at all.

Burn and bulldoze Ben Hill Griffin to the ground and sow salt in the field that remains.

 

[Glitch]

Thanks everyone. I was in full freakout panic mode. Still at the hospital. I took my pocket knife down to bone on my left index finger. Doc hasnt come in for stitches yet though.

Sometimes we get the better of Waffle House, and sometimes Waffle House gets the better of us. It has happened to all of us at least once.

 

[OGbabyaviVol]

Wow

It’s pretty interesting the teams who do not have players on those lists.