Recruiting Football Talk VII

[landscapingvol]

I agree with you 1000% on Heupel’s “comfort”. He’s a steady Eddy kinda guy along with his staff. I don’t see us consistently winning 10+ games here to compete with Bama and UGA and for NCs.

I like Heupel so not calling for a new HC but he may top out at Mark Richt level which isn’t good enough to compete for titles this day and age. There may be a flash in the pan year thrown in there every so often (2022) but 8-4/9-3 is where I believe he’ll typically land. 9-3 may be enough to get you in on the fringe of the CFP some years so there’s that.

Some of y’all are ridiculous lol Nico wasn’t ready and Milton played about as well as he could so outside of a one year rental that didn’t exist what would you have had them do? Outside of Tennessee, name another program in the nation that plays Alabama, Georgia, and Florida every year. There isn’t one and you can say that it doesn’t matter because the SEC is hard but it does and whether or not you are willing to admit it, Tennessee has the toughest road to Atlanta. We have zero room for error and less instate talent than Alabama, Georgia, and Florida on average. We aren’t going to hire a coach that can win the majority of those games and out recruit them but we can hire a coach that will occasionally beat them/maintain a strong roster. Heupel is doing that

 

[SSVol]

So the roster has steadily improved under Heupel, and this year was clearly the outlier in offensive performance, but Heupel has already found his top? I don't see that at all.

 

[cHiZzLeVOL]

Sounds like a cleansing. Out with the old…

Thank god

 

[knoxvol52]

UCF vs Georgia Tech tonight...

Take the Gus Bus plus the points....

 

[rikberry31]

Heupel has always called the plays. However, having an experienced OC who can break down other teams film, work up schemes against them and then present this to the HC takes a lot off of the HC.

I’m not saying Halzle didn’t do this but it definitely wasn’t at the level of what Golesh could do.

We didn't have the horses. Golesh leaving is the not reason for offensive differences from last season, it was purely personnel.

 

[peaygolf]

SIAP, but that’s his alma mater, right?

It is..........

 

[Enki_Amenra]

Usf -5.5 at +220. Yeah... Easy.

I took the USF ML @ +130

 

[Enki_Amenra]

 

[rikberry31]

Portal pickings are getting slimmer unless/until new options enter. Need some new OL and Edge options.

I'd buy OL but not edge, we will be fine there.

 

[SSVol]

We didn't have the horses. Golesh leaving is the not reason for offensive differences from last season, it was purely personnel.

For the life of me I can't see why this isn't obvious to everyone. What Joe did, he did very well. The problem was what Joe couldn't do. The changed game plan wasn't because Golesh is a savant and Heupel is really not too smart, it was because that was the game plan that Joe could execute effectively. I expect the game plan will look very different with Nico.

 

[cHiZzLeVOL]

Imo, Walker is a thumper, and those guys have value in stopping the run and making tackles on the backend. But he's not the most athletic guy and seemed bad in coverage. Hurts depth more than anything. He shouldn't be starting for an SEC school other than Vandy.

The issue with players like Walker is they were brought in to combat our issues on the DL while it was being rebuilt and re-coached.

Once our DL could actually get a pass rush, players like Walker weren’t needed. We now need DBs that can cover in space and play zone.

That is now what this staff is trying to transition to. We don’t need DBs who can come off the corners and be basically another Blitzer.

 

[landscapingvol]

For the life of me I can't see why this isn't obvious to everyone. What Joe did, he did very well. The problem was what Joe couldn't do. The changed game plan wasn't because Golesh is a savant and Heupel is really not too smart, it was because that was the game plan that Joe could execute effectively. It expect the game plan will look very different with Nico.

You would think it would be it’s the “put Nico in” crowd that thinks we had reserves of proven talent just rotting on the bench. It was always going to be a drop off this season

 

[MarcoVol]

We didn't have the horses. Golesh leaving is the not reason for offensive differences from last season, it was purely personnel.

I wonder if some of these posters realize that Heup was running this O and putting up numbers before Golesh. He didn’t join Heup’s staff until 2020, the worst of the 3 years Heup was at UCF.

 

[jakez4ut]

Wesley Walker is a prime example of what I call a progress stopper.

He could come back and he’d be okay. Not bad. Not great. Just okay. Meanwhile he’d be stopping the progression of potentially better, clearly more athletic kids behind him.

I wish him well but as I am with all our secondary portal entries - glad they’re leaving.

agreed.

 

[Revived2002]

So the roster has steadily improved under Heupel, and this year was clearly the outlier in offensive performance, but Heupel has already found his top? I don't see that at all.

Crazy talk, if that’s what folks believe.

Heupel needs to be our Johnny Majors - 10+ years of stability, good recruiting, big wins and occasional runs at titles. Consistently in good bowls and almost always in the national conversation.

We are never getting Nick Saban 2.0, especially not in the new SEC where you can quickly rattle off six or seven programs where it is “easier to win” than Tennessee. Those programs will be chasing Nick Saban 2.0 - we need to be chasing stability.

 

[rikberry31]

Everything not on Joe. Was he Hendon? No. Was he JG? No. Go look at his numbers, he actually had a solid year despite everyone blaming all our failures on him. I've said all season our play calling and gameplans were lacking. That's on the coaches.

So, Heup changed philosophy and play calling strategy? No, he was calling what the players could execute plain and simple. Joe had a solid year because of play calling and Heup managed his personnel the best he could. It's the Jimmy's and the Joe's .

 

[cHiZzLeVOL]

There should be no more excuses by anyone if secondary performance does not improve. Banks/Martinez have handpicked talent at their disposal with a couple of established vets working in as transfers. The D-line and LB rooms are experienced and loaded. No more BS excuses allowed.

If the O scoring returns to closer to its 2022 performance, making the playoffs should be the expectation. So now I expect the manage expectations crowd on here to rush in with their 8-9 win projections.

What’s the new thing it would be? 18-0? Instead of 15-0? With the new 12 team playoffs?

18-0 Baby!

 

[screenthis]

Random thoughts:
- With all these players leaving, who is going to play in our secondary for the bowl game?
- With a stacked receiver room, will some become disgruntled about not getting enough playing time?

 

[rikberry31]

I wonder if some of these posters realize that Heup was running this O and putting up numbers before Golesh. He didn’t join Heup’s staff until 2020, the worst of the 3 years Heup was at UCF.

That is exactly right, make no mistake it is Heup's offense.

 

[jakez4ut]

Some of y’all are ridiculous lol Nico wasn’t ready and Milton played about as well as he could so outside of a one year rental that didn’t exist what would you have had them do? Outside of Tennessee, name another program in the nation that plays Alabama, Georgia, and Florida every year. There isn’t one and you can say that it doesn’t matter because the SEC is hard but it does and whether or not you are willing to admit it, Tennessee has the toughest road to Atlanta. We have zero room for error and less instate talent than Alabama, Georgia, and Florida on average. We aren’t going to hire a coach that can win the majority of those games and out recruit them but we can hire a coach that will occasionally beat them/maintain a strong roster. Heupel is doing that

i think you're giving FL too much credit to be named alongside the other two. outside looking in, nobody right now considers FL this big untamable beast. it just so happens we have a proven knack for losing to them, regardless of how bad they are.

i'd say Auburn fits here, they play GA and Bama every year, plus LSU.

to your point, it's a select list that plays those 2 every single year.

and beating them every year is not the goal. making those games relevant and the series compelling again, is. we've made strides in that direction already and i don't see any signs of that not continuing to be the case. both of those programs are still a rung or two ahead of us though. but i don't think that gap is as wide as it was 4 years ago.

 

[knoxvol52]

Random thoughts:
- With all these players leaving, who is going to play in our secondary for the bowl game?
- With a stacked receiver room, will some become disgruntled about not getting enough playing time?

Gibson, Matthews, Thomas and company in Secondary I assume..

Yea looks like WR room is a little crowded at the moment....

 

[JoeyVols32]

One thing I will appreciate Joe for is playing how he did at Kensucky. We don't win that game if not for some of the throws he made, in my opinion.

 

[orangejuice]

1 minute in and they show they don’t actually know what they are talking about saying, “in his opinion pass rush was where TN needs to get better”. LMAO, dude has no idea that we had one of the best pash rushes in the SEC, and we have a top 5 if not top pash rusher in the country for next year.

 

[Glitch]

We saw how you shined when you created that abomination of a game thread during the season. No thanks and please never again. If you want to shine, there’s not one poster that what’s to see that. Family site, sir.

 

[TheRain]