DD4ME
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Recruiting Football Talk VII
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Orange_Crush
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OGbabyaviVol
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My wife and I were just talking about this verse the other day. Have you ever paid attention and noticed that it is the fruit and not fruits? We tend to always read it as the fruits of the spirit. I think it changes a little bit of how we look at that verse and interpret it. In order to be truly producing the fruit of the spirit, we are to have all these things reflecting in us on a daily basis, not just a couple.
To add one other thought to this: I think it is singular, because God expects every believer to be able to produce this fruit. If we are truly a believer full of the spirit, then this cluster of fruit should manifest in every one of us, and not just a few of them. Makes me really understand how much I fail!
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ChattaTNVol
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Some thoughts on offensive skill positions for 2024 –
I think most people think we’re good at QB as far as Nico starting. He might make a few mistakes until he gains more experience but the upside is really really impressive. By all appearances it looks to me and many others both inside and outside Vol world that Nico has the proverbial “IT” factor in abundance.
I think one of the things that many noticed in the Citrus bowl is Nico took a lot of sacks. It wasn’t all on him but sacks are a drive killer. Any negative yardage play, whether a sack, a TFL, or a penalty, drops the probability of scoring on that drive to 16%. If the defense can get a negative yardage play on average there’s an 84% probability they have won that possession.
On 3rd down and long the average conversion rate is less than 3 out of 10. On 3rd down and short the average conversion rate is 7 out of 10. Being an efficient offense mostly means “staying on schedule” or “staying ahead of the chains” meaning on 1st down getting half the yards you need for another 1st down, on second down getting half of what remains, and on 3rd down getting what little bit is left.
In the Citrus bowl on every failed drive we had negative yardage plays. On all successful drives we had no negative yardage plays. We have to get our offense performing at a high level of efficiency if we want to be able to compete with everyone on our schedule this year, especially teams like Georgia whose defense has killed us three years running with negative yardage plays. jmo.
Jake will have to come up to speed fast, sense of urgency like, because, unlike Ryan Schumpert at Rocky Top Insider, my sense is Jake will be QB2 this year and Gaston is emergency use only or garbage time reps. jmo.
The only knock on Jake that I have seen is I think On3 and 247 both are not overly impressed with his arm strength, a view not shared by Rivals or ESPN. Everyone seems to agree that he is the quintessential point guard playing QB, is calm and poised in the pocket, and can distribute the ball to his playmakers with ease. He is regarded as a strong leader and a true competitor. He has excellent mobility, can throw accurately on the move, is considered very experienced with good command of his offense, a great decision maker, and is thought ideally suited to our offensive style. Now it’s just a matter of learning our system and playbook, adjusting to the speed of the game, meshing with his teammates, and getting to ready mode. We’ll have to see how that works out but with his character and intangibles I think he’ll do everything he can not to let his team down if called on for duty. Nico being in the same position last year and needing to be ready every week can only help build the bond between those two. jmo.
I think one of the things that many noticed in the Citrus bowl is Nico took a lot of sacks. It wasn’t all on him but sacks are a drive killer. Any negative yardage play, whether a sack, a TFL, or a penalty, drops the probability of scoring on that drive to 16%. If the defense can get a negative yardage play on average there’s an 84% probability they have won that possession.
On 3rd down and long the average conversion rate is less than 3 out of 10. On 3rd down and short the average conversion rate is 7 out of 10. Being an efficient offense mostly means “staying on schedule” or “staying ahead of the chains” meaning on 1st down getting half the yards you need for another 1st down, on second down getting half of what remains, and on 3rd down getting what little bit is left.
In the Citrus bowl on every failed drive we had negative yardage plays. On all successful drives we had no negative yardage plays. We have to get our offense performing at a high level of efficiency if we want to be able to compete with everyone on our schedule this year, especially teams like Georgia whose defense has killed us three years running with negative yardage plays. jmo.
Jake will have to come up to speed fast, sense of urgency like, because, unlike Ryan Schumpert at Rocky Top Insider, my sense is Jake will be QB2 this year and Gaston is emergency use only or garbage time reps. jmo.
The only knock on Jake that I have seen is I think On3 and 247 both are not overly impressed with his arm strength, a view not shared by Rivals or ESPN. Everyone seems to agree that he is the quintessential point guard playing QB, is calm and poised in the pocket, and can distribute the ball to his playmakers with ease. He is regarded as a strong leader and a true competitor. He has excellent mobility, can throw accurately on the move, is considered very experienced with good command of his offense, a great decision maker, and is thought ideally suited to our offensive style. Now it’s just a matter of learning our system and playbook, adjusting to the speed of the game, meshing with his teammates, and getting to ready mode. We’ll have to see how that works out but with his character and intangibles I think he’ll do everything he can not to let his team down if called on for duty. Nico being in the same position last year and needing to be ready every week can only help build the bond between those two. jmo.
At RB we all expect Dylan and Cam to carry the bulk of the work this year. I think I was as impressed with Cam in the Citrus bowl as I was with Nico, maybe more surprised actually. He apparently has made incredible strides at adapting to the offense, learning his position, and adjusting to the speed of the game. He just looked like the real deal to me and I wasn’t at all expecting that. I’m very happy for him and I think he can help us a lot going forward. jmo.
I’d like to see if Khalifa can also be a contributor in power mode. ESPN had him as a four-star and he was committed to UK for six months before flipping to us. He appears to be the prototypical back that Stoops turns in to a real war horse.
DeSean said recently that he expects to be full go by March and back in full form by the time spring practice starts. I figure many fans, including me, are eager to get a first look at Peyton against our run-stopping defensive front. Everyone knows about his speed but he's said he's been working on his lateral movements to enhance his game so it'll be of interest to see how much progress he has made. I think the RB room looks pretty good. jmo.
I’d like to see if Khalifa can also be a contributor in power mode. ESPN had him as a four-star and he was committed to UK for six months before flipping to us. He appears to be the prototypical back that Stoops turns in to a real war horse.
DeSean said recently that he expects to be full go by March and back in full form by the time spring practice starts. I figure many fans, including me, are eager to get a first look at Peyton against our run-stopping defensive front. Everyone knows about his speed but he's said he's been working on his lateral movements to enhance his game so it'll be of interest to see how much progress he has made. I think the RB room looks pretty good. jmo.
My sense of the receiver room is it is unsettled at the moment. Squirrel in our only real proven receiver, productive, healthy, and ready to go. If Bru is fully recovered by fall camp that’s an ace we have going for us. In the meantime we need Bru’s leadership and coaching for the young guys. If I had to hire a coaching staff from our roster Bru and Coop would be no-brainers. I think a number of fans thought Donte was coming along pretty good as the season progressed and it was unfortunate the injury bug sidelined him down the stretch. It’ll be important for him to at least pick up where he left off. jmo.
Chas and Kaleb will need to continue to progress and we may get to see Nate Spillman during the spring. The real interest though may be focused on newcomers Mike, Braylon, and Chris, along with maybe finally getting to see Nathan Leacock.
I know there were a lot of fans seemingly upset that Mike got dropped in the final update to the 247 ratings, presumably because 247 doesn’t think he’s a big play receiver. In the recruiting phase of the class I thought he’d be best on the outside but I tend to agree with Schumpert in suspecting the staff may start him in the slot, by default, meaning what are our other options to back up Squirrel?
During the recruiting phase I was thinking Mike and Ryan Wingo on the outsides and someone like Micah Hudson or Bryant Wesco in the slot, maybe even Amari Jefferson. I think both Mike and Ryan are or can be elite receivers but I thought Micah, Bryant, and Amari were all naturally more elusive with the ball in their hands. Mike has different strengths, in particular his ability to high point the ball and his knack (probably from his basketball background) for using his body to box out defenders thus protecting the ball. He also has elite speed but the services seem to see it more as straight line speed and apparently, at least to me, they’re looking for in addition to elite speed, stops, cuts, and acceleration more incorporated into a receiver’s running style. I think that’s what they think leads to big play ability. It’s their opinion. jmo.
The scuttlebutt on Nathan is he needed to work on his consistency catching the ball. I don’t know if that’s true. With Chris I checked his targets last year game by game at Tulane and he had a 60% catch rate which depending on his QB and the average depth of targets he was getting is winning more than his share of “50/50” balls. In looking at the data I’m guessing a high percentage of his targets were in fact explosive pass plays and we definitely needed help with that last year. We were #34 in explosive pass plays (20+ yards) in 2021, #19 in 2022, and #90 in 2023. Chris may be able to significantly help us out here as soon as he can get acclimated. jmo.
Braylon is really intriguing to me. While 247 in their final ratings update dropped Mike from 98 to 97, in the same update they bumped Braylon from 94 up to 96. That was a pretty big bump. I think he’s an outside guy too but I don’t really know. I can’t deny that I’m just as excited, maybe a bit moreso, to see him in action as I am any of the other receivers. jmo.
As an aside, and for the record, in the 247 final update, both our total class score and our average per recruit (not transfers) marginally increased after the update. I try to watch these things pretty closely and like many others I’m interested in why they may think what they think. I may not agree but sometimes, maybe not always, they turn out to be right and I turn out to be wrong. It is what it is. lol. jmo.
So as I see it right now we need to be a whole lot better in the receiving room this year. We have a couple guys with health issues that we hope will resolve timely and favorably and we have some young elite potential guys that should foster some really fierce competition for snaps this year. I’m not sure but we may not know who the winners are until we head to Oklahoma for our first SEC game this fall. I think you have to believe that Josh wants that game like none other so it’s likely going to come down to who can he trust the most. jmo.
Chas and Kaleb will need to continue to progress and we may get to see Nate Spillman during the spring. The real interest though may be focused on newcomers Mike, Braylon, and Chris, along with maybe finally getting to see Nathan Leacock.
I know there were a lot of fans seemingly upset that Mike got dropped in the final update to the 247 ratings, presumably because 247 doesn’t think he’s a big play receiver. In the recruiting phase of the class I thought he’d be best on the outside but I tend to agree with Schumpert in suspecting the staff may start him in the slot, by default, meaning what are our other options to back up Squirrel?
During the recruiting phase I was thinking Mike and Ryan Wingo on the outsides and someone like Micah Hudson or Bryant Wesco in the slot, maybe even Amari Jefferson. I think both Mike and Ryan are or can be elite receivers but I thought Micah, Bryant, and Amari were all naturally more elusive with the ball in their hands. Mike has different strengths, in particular his ability to high point the ball and his knack (probably from his basketball background) for using his body to box out defenders thus protecting the ball. He also has elite speed but the services seem to see it more as straight line speed and apparently, at least to me, they’re looking for in addition to elite speed, stops, cuts, and acceleration more incorporated into a receiver’s running style. I think that’s what they think leads to big play ability. It’s their opinion. jmo.
The scuttlebutt on Nathan is he needed to work on his consistency catching the ball. I don’t know if that’s true. With Chris I checked his targets last year game by game at Tulane and he had a 60% catch rate which depending on his QB and the average depth of targets he was getting is winning more than his share of “50/50” balls. In looking at the data I’m guessing a high percentage of his targets were in fact explosive pass plays and we definitely needed help with that last year. We were #34 in explosive pass plays (20+ yards) in 2021, #19 in 2022, and #90 in 2023. Chris may be able to significantly help us out here as soon as he can get acclimated. jmo.
Braylon is really intriguing to me. While 247 in their final ratings update dropped Mike from 98 to 97, in the same update they bumped Braylon from 94 up to 96. That was a pretty big bump. I think he’s an outside guy too but I don’t really know. I can’t deny that I’m just as excited, maybe a bit moreso, to see him in action as I am any of the other receivers. jmo.
As an aside, and for the record, in the 247 final update, both our total class score and our average per recruit (not transfers) marginally increased after the update. I try to watch these things pretty closely and like many others I’m interested in why they may think what they think. I may not agree but sometimes, maybe not always, they turn out to be right and I turn out to be wrong. It is what it is. lol. jmo.
So as I see it right now we need to be a whole lot better in the receiving room this year. We have a couple guys with health issues that we hope will resolve timely and favorably and we have some young elite potential guys that should foster some really fierce competition for snaps this year. I’m not sure but we may not know who the winners are until we head to Oklahoma for our first SEC game this fall. I think you have to believe that Josh wants that game like none other so it’s likely going to come down to who can he trust the most. jmo.
I’m really pretty excited about the tight end room. I think this should easily be our best room for the position group since the new staff took over. First up is Holden. I think we may make this guy a star. I don’t know what happened at Notre Dame but at the beginning of the year he was really producing, including 4 catches out of 5 targets for 115 yards and 2 TDs against NC State. It looked like most of his targets for the rest of the season were barely beyond the LOS. He said one of the reasons he chose to come here was because of the way we get our tight ends in space and give them grass to run. He also said it was nice that it was closer to his home in Atlanta. Getting this guy is unbelievable. He was a big time tight end out of high school. All the big guys wanted him. In the transfer window we had to hold off DeBoer at Washington and Venables at Oklahoma to get him in the fold. This was a recruiting coup. Okay, so I’m impressed. lol.
I’m also a big fan of Ethan Davis, having followed him during 7on7 competitions. To me he seems like a natural receiver. He was expected to play more last year; it even said so in his bio on the team roster page. Of course he had the collar bone injury in the spring but I don’t know, maybe we were saving him. He’ll be a redshirt freshman this year and I’ve never seen him on the field when I wasn’t impressed. I can’t imagine him not being a significant contributor this year. jmo.
Obviously we have Emmanuel but we’ll have to see how far along he is as far as learning the game. There’s no question he has elite athletic ability. The kid we signed from California, Cole, looks to me to be way way underrated. I may be missing something because he didn’t really have a lot of elite offers even though he was extremely productive for a TE. His team got destroyed by Mater Dei in the state championship game but I don’t think that’s the issue. Anyway, I like the kid.
Miles is a funny story. It seems our coaches and Alabama’s coaches were in Kansas to watch Malik Benson practice and notices Miles running routes with the wide receivers. Both schools started recruiting him right away. He was supposed to visit us in June of 2022 but Saban offered him the first week of May and he was so shocked he committed on the spot. lol. Anyway, even though he played a lot for Alabama, mostly on special teams, he’s apparently never had much opportunity to showcase his receiving skills. I think the prior relationship is why he ended up here out of the portal. I think we just have to wait and see what our staff has in mind for him. jmo.
I may not be right but we use two tight ends and I think those two this year will likely be Holden and Ethan and Miles is our go-to guy if we have a need. I could be wrong and maybe they give Miles the reps over Ethan but I’m not expecting that. jmo.
I’m also a big fan of Ethan Davis, having followed him during 7on7 competitions. To me he seems like a natural receiver. He was expected to play more last year; it even said so in his bio on the team roster page. Of course he had the collar bone injury in the spring but I don’t know, maybe we were saving him. He’ll be a redshirt freshman this year and I’ve never seen him on the field when I wasn’t impressed. I can’t imagine him not being a significant contributor this year. jmo.
Obviously we have Emmanuel but we’ll have to see how far along he is as far as learning the game. There’s no question he has elite athletic ability. The kid we signed from California, Cole, looks to me to be way way underrated. I may be missing something because he didn’t really have a lot of elite offers even though he was extremely productive for a TE. His team got destroyed by Mater Dei in the state championship game but I don’t think that’s the issue. Anyway, I like the kid.
Miles is a funny story. It seems our coaches and Alabama’s coaches were in Kansas to watch Malik Benson practice and notices Miles running routes with the wide receivers. Both schools started recruiting him right away. He was supposed to visit us in June of 2022 but Saban offered him the first week of May and he was so shocked he committed on the spot. lol. Anyway, even though he played a lot for Alabama, mostly on special teams, he’s apparently never had much opportunity to showcase his receiving skills. I think the prior relationship is why he ended up here out of the portal. I think we just have to wait and see what our staff has in mind for him. jmo.
I may not be right but we use two tight ends and I think those two this year will likely be Holden and Ethan and Miles is our go-to guy if we have a need. I could be wrong and maybe they give Miles the reps over Ethan but I’m not expecting that. jmo.
All in all for skill positions on offense this year we’ve got elite talent everywhere. Mostly we need a bit more experience and the kids need to work like heck this offseason to get ready. Every one of these guys is a Josh Heupel recruit. I think this is a really great group and should be a lot of fun to watch as they grow up. jmo.
Orange_Crush
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DD4ME
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DD4ME
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AllVol11717
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Yes it takes a certain mentality, but blocking is like 80% technique and precision.
Sampson doesn’t need to bulk up or get stronger, any rusher will always have a size/strength advantage outside of a CB blitz.
What he needs is to learn how to anticipate blitzes and what gaps they might be hitting while perfecting the thigh chip block. He doesn’t need to stop a blitzer, he needs to either redirect or hinder momentum for a second or two. That’s all he needs to not be a liability and keep himself on the field more.
VolsDoc81TX
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yes
VolsDoc81TX
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VolsDoc81TX
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Okay, I originally didn’t care about Nichols or Mincey transferring to SEC teams that we play this year.Soo...he is saying Elerbee sucks and doesn't teach anything...which is funny because walk-ons have been learning from Elarbee and beating his lazy ass out....not to mention he took Darnell from a "meh" mid-level SEC player...to a "holy crap!" best RT in CFB-top 10 NFL pick...somehow, I don't think Elarbee is the problem.
Now, I want the defensive coaches to scheme a serious defensive strategy aimed at them. Hopefully both are starters when they play Tennessee.
A la henry tootoo at bama in 22
Cause, you know it’s just business
WarMachine
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Jack Burton
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VolsDoc81TX
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Jackcrevol
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Rankings are for fans. Adults that sit behind keyboards and watch tape of HS kids, esp one's who play and excel on both sides of ball in upper tier GA program are just nerds.
Anyone who applies even the tiniest bit of logic here, esp after polynesian bowl, would see this kid is far and away one of the best players in the Country.
FFWD to today. On campus. Rankings are gone. Who cares? Any competitor wants to be the best they can be.
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