Recruiting Football Talk VII

[BigOrangeTrain]

We watched all The Dukes of Hazzard episodes (not Coy and Vance) together when they were in elementary school and they loved them more than any other show/cartoon I have shown them from my childhood.

*My older son got hooked on Hogans Heroes (my all time favorite sitcom) when he was in middle school. I thought that was pretty cool.

Did you know people got triggered by the General Lee car?

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

It’s infuriating –

Statistically, if you suffer a negative yardage play on offense there is an 84% probability that drive is DEAD and you will have to punt. Penalties, TFLs, and sacks are the second most potent drive killers, only behind turnovers.

The games I often care about the most are the games we lose. I was impressed with the A&M win last year. It took all three phases of the game to come out ahead. Anyway, I’ve been mostly studying the 4 games we lost plus the bowl game as that suggests where we came up short and how we may be moving forward.

View attachment 628280

The Florida game we beat ourselves. It was Spraggins killing two drives, Lane killing two drives, Crawford killing a drive, and Castles killing a drive.

Historically, Napier is a ball control fanatic. I think for two years running now his games have featured the fewest drives among SEC teams. Generally, you’re only going to get 10 possessions in a game with Napier. It doesn’t really much matter who the opponent is – that’s Napier’s style of football.

When the offensive line basically kills half of your total possession opportunities in a game you have to ask yourself, what’s going on? Are they scared? Are they not well coached? Are they not paying attention? Do they even freaking care?

The same thing happened in the bowl game. On the drives where we punted we had negative yardage plays. On the drives where we scored we didn’t have any negative yardage plays. It’s really pretty simple. What is almost impossible is overcoming negative yardage plays.

I think maybe sometimes we beat our chests when we blow out teams that we have a significant advantage over because we’re bigger, faster, and stronger, but unless you’re Kentucky you measure yourself based on your performance against the big six of the SEC. At least that’s the way it’s been in the 60 or so years since I became a fan.

Anyway, what I’m bitching about are the false starts. It hurts us most against the big boys. I understand there’s a number of causes behind false starts, mostly (and obviously) having to do with the snap count. On the road the guys have to deal with crowd noise. There’s the QB shifting protections or mixing up the cadence so the defense can’t easily time up the snap. There’s thinking about your assignment, reading the defense, and figuring how you’re going to get leverage on your guy for the upcoming play.

This and more is all happening in maybe 10 seconds or less. They say sometimes it’s easy to get distracted, like thinking about what you did wrong on that last play or wondering if Crawford is going to puke again, any number of things could pop into your head. There could be movement on the defensive side of the ball that distracts you because some of that movement could change your assignment on the play.

I think playing offensive line they say generally requires a minimum of three years development. Many times we may think that’s so the guys can get bigger, faster, stronger, but it might also mean that they need to do their drills, work on technique, form, and leverage, and practice their plays so they can do it, essentially, instinctual. Going against inferior competition may allow you to dominate, almost like back in high school, but when you go up against peer competition, well, that’s when you find out what you’re made of.

It is widely accepted that the measure of returning experience on the offensive line is on average across all FBS teams the single most weighted metric for projecting improvement or regression of an offense from year to year. Experience is the best teacher and relative to some of the better opponents on our schedule we’re fortunate this year to have quite a bit returning on our offensive line.

I also think it’s likely we will have more power and athleticism on the line this year and that is what we need desperately if we are going to impose our will on even elite defenses when we get into the redzone.

My speculative lineup is LT Heard, LG Umarov, OC Mays, RG Spraggins, RT Campbell, but we’ll probably get Davis, Lampley, or Karic at LG, or maybe not.

Eric Cain said in his report on practice #2 that Umarov was running at LG with the twos. 247 had Umarov as a 94 rating and their evaluation had him as a prototypical left tackle so I see him similar to Kirby moving Ratledge from OT to OG. It may be risky with two 19 year olds manning the left side of our line but these two aren’t your typical 19 year old offensive line recruits. 247 reassigned Sham to its IOL rankings and he was #4 in the country in 2023. Lance was the #3 OT in the country in 2023.

I understand there’s a lot that goes into a coach’s decision on which players to put out on the field. It may not be simply a question of who may be able to help you the most; there’s likely some consideration on who may hurt you the least, so it’s probably a bit more complicated from their perspective vs from a fan’s perspective. jmo.

One thing I noticed in one of the early practice videos was Lance Heard coaching Gage Ginther in one of their drills. That was for me a big highlight because my sense is that it shows a measure of buy-in to the team, meaning Lance is a Tennessee Volunteer. jmo.

I think since the new staff took over they have demonstrated a high level of development for the offensive line group even though in some cases there wasn’t a lot to work with. I think it takes at least a couple years to get established relationship-wise on the recruiting trail and based on the recent and ongoing recruiting this staff is doing, and their demonstrated ability at development, we’re being set up to only get better in the near future with this position group and that will only make our offense that much more formidable. jmo.

Chatt post! Woo!

We destroyed soooooo many drives with false starts and penalties in general. Just absolutely ruins everything.

 

[Glitch]

Wonder if it has anything to do with manicuring your lawn in sub-zero temperatures?

Ha, j/k. Sucks to be sick in the spring or summer. . . or fall/winter.

Is that some sort of euphemism for something?

 

[Christian Lowe]

I said this in baseball forum, but I think the highlighted paragraph is what most likely happened. It’s still illegal, so that’s why they have to deny it. But shohei doesn’t seem much like the type to gamble or care much about money, he does however seem like the type to do anything to help a friend. And ippei and he were best friends prior to all this. Probably still are.

If I had to guess, Ippei will be taken care of back in Japan by shohei. Probably give him a job managing his marketing overseas or something.

 

[SweetasSoda]

V-O-L-S!!!!!!!

 

[LaagerVol]

Didn't feel like waiting. I'm going to Knoxville dragway for their races tomorrow. I figured i'll huff enough exhaust and burning rubber then to make up for what I missed tonight,

Hopefully there will be something there besides mustangs

 

[Enki_Amenra]

It’s infuriating –

Statistically, if you suffer a negative yardage play on offense there is an 84% probability that drive is DEAD and you will have to punt. Penalties, TFLs, and sacks are the second most potent drive killers, only behind turnovers.

The games I often care about the most are the games we lose. I was impressed with the A&M win last year. It took all three phases of the game to come out ahead. Anyway, I’ve been mostly studying the 4 games we lost plus the bowl game as that suggests where we came up short and how we may be moving forward.

View attachment 628280

The Florida game we beat ourselves. It was Spraggins killing two drives, Lane killing two drives, Crawford killing a drive, and Castles killing a drive.

Historically, Napier is a ball control fanatic. I think for two years running now his games have featured the fewest drives among SEC teams. Generally, you’re only going to get 10 possessions in a game with Napier. It doesn’t really much matter who the opponent is – that’s Napier’s style of football.

When the offensive line basically kills half of your total possession opportunities in a game you have to ask yourself, what’s going on? Are they scared? Are they not well coached? Are they not paying attention? Do they even freaking care?

The same thing happened in the bowl game. On the drives where we punted we had negative yardage plays. On the drives where we scored we didn’t have any negative yardage plays. It’s really pretty simple. What is almost impossible is overcoming negative yardage plays.

I think maybe sometimes we beat our chests when we blow out teams that we have a significant advantage over because we’re bigger, faster, and stronger, but unless you’re Kentucky you measure yourself based on your performance against the big six of the SEC. At least that’s the way it’s been in the 60 or so years since I became a fan.

Anyway, what I’m bitching about are the false starts. It hurts us most against the big boys. I understand there’s a number of causes behind false starts, mostly (and obviously) having to do with the snap count. On the road the guys have to deal with crowd noise. There’s the QB shifting protections or mixing up the cadence so the defense can’t easily time up the snap. There’s thinking about your assignment, reading the defense, and figuring how you’re going to get leverage on your guy for the upcoming play.

This and more is all happening in maybe 10 seconds or less. They say sometimes it’s easy to get distracted, like thinking about what you did wrong on that last play or wondering if Crawford is going to puke again, any number of things could pop into your head. There could be movement on the defensive side of the ball that distracts you because some of that movement could change your assignment on the play.

I think playing offensive line they say generally requires a minimum of three years development. Many times we may think that’s so the guys can get bigger, faster, stronger, but it might also mean that they need to do their drills, work on technique, form, and leverage, and practice their plays so they can do it, essentially, instinctual. Going against inferior competition may allow you to dominate, almost like back in high school, but when you go up against peer competition, well, that’s when you find out what you’re made of.

It is widely accepted that the measure of returning experience on the offensive line is on average across all FBS teams the single most weighted metric for projecting improvement or regression of an offense from year to year. Experience is the best teacher and relative to some of the better opponents on our schedule we’re fortunate this year to have quite a bit returning on our offensive line.

I also think it’s likely we will have more power and athleticism on the line this year and that is what we need desperately if we are going to impose our will on even elite defenses when we get into the redzone.

My speculative lineup is LT Heard, LG Umarov, OC Mays, RG Spraggins, RT Campbell, but we’ll probably get Davis, Lampley, or Karic at LG, or maybe not.

Eric Cain said in his report on practice #2 that Umarov was running at LG with the twos. 247 had Umarov as a 94 rating and their evaluation had him as a prototypical left tackle so I see him similar to Kirby moving Ratledge from OT to OG. It may be risky with two 19 year olds manning the left side of our line but these two aren’t your typical 19 year old offensive line recruits. 247 reassigned Sham to its IOL rankings and he was #4 in the country in 2023. Lance was the #3 OT in the country in 2023.

I understand there’s a lot that goes into a coach’s decision on which players to put out on the field. It may not be simply a question of who may be able to help you the most; there’s likely some consideration on who may hurt you the least, so it’s probably a bit more complicated from their perspective vs from a fan’s perspective. jmo.

One thing I noticed in one of the early practice videos was Lance Heard coaching Gage Ginther in one of their drills. That was for me a big highlight because my sense is that it shows a measure of buy-in to the team, meaning Lance is a Tennessee Volunteer. jmo.

I think since the new staff took over they have demonstrated a high level of development for the offensive line group even though in some cases there wasn’t a lot to work with. I think it takes at least a couple years to get established relationship-wise on the recruiting trail and based on the recent and ongoing recruiting this staff is doing, and their demonstrated ability at development, we’re being set up to only get better in the near future with this position group and that will only make our offense that much more formidable. jmo.

I think you mentioned this (negative plays kill drives) last year, maybe even before the UF game. It was & is true. I was pulling my hair out with how our offense played that game.

Considering we return some guys and have an experienced transfer, I think that's a good sign for how much our offense can improve. . . I was just excited thinking that, even if we have the same OL play, Nico will improve our offense a lot over what Milton could do. It seems we're set up to have potentially better OL play and it makes me wonder how much more Nico can achieve because of improvement there.

We have a lot of talent at all the skill positions. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I think we can reach or pass '22 offensive production. What is our ceiling if the OL does it's job, if Nico is the superman we think he is, and if Sampson & Seldon become great blockers (I know Sampson can run and I think Seldon is gonna have an impact similar to what James Pearce had on defense)? . . I'm convinced we have the best WRs/TEs in the country or at least on par with the other top teams. I really think we make the playoffs and push for the title.

Like you say though, none of that stuff matters if we continually have negative bonehead plays. We could have mistakes on offense for all the reasons you said, but also because of the tempo of Heupel's offense. It must add a good bit of stress to the OL and players in general.

I think our defense does it's job this season. I am a little worried about the new defensive backfield, but I'm worried more about our LBers. I think our starters will be fine, but I hope we avoid any injuries there. . . Herring's play at LB last year makes me a little nervous for the backups.

If our defense stays on par or just a little better than last year's and our offense does reach or surpass '22 production, we can beat absolutely anyone, imo.

Also. . . it's pretty impressive you have virtually 0 typos,

 

[Orangeredblooded]

You suck just because you posted a bama level video. Not cool and uncalled for. I’m close to a trigger finger over the ignorant, yes, I meant ignorant, button. Your posts about Sally’s latest keeps from doing so.

 

[TN-POSSUM]

Did you watch any hee haw? Me and my wife both grew up watching it every Sunday after church. I bought the 4 disc set when my kids were toddlers and they used to fall asleep to it. Made my son a Waylon fan so it worked out even better than expected. My daughter, not so much. She don't like grandpa music, only 90s alt and grunge. Her favorite is Alice in Chains as is mine, but I love the Allman Bros and the Gourds too. Can't get her to understand good is good no matter what genre.

Dukes of hazard are a favorite of ours too.........but only Bo and Luke like you said, none of that coy and Vance stuff.

We watched hogans heroes on me tv when the kids are vacation too, used to come on at 10 and 1030. I must say you have excellent taste in cartoons and tv shows.

Oh yeah. My mom's, mother's family get togethers/reunions were like watching Hee Haw in person. They were the funnest group out of either side of my family.

Unfortunately, the kids don't appreciate the humor of Hee Haw. I think it was the Inspire channel on Dish recently showing it on Sunday nights at 9 or 10. I'd have it on and they'd eventually find a reason to leave the room. TBH, it's a little cornier than I remember. My wife can't stand it.

Everyone loves the Andy Griffith Show.

The boys both like older country music and southern rock (especially Lynyrd Skynyrd/ZZ Top), so I did something right. I couldn't get them into the Rolling Stones or the Beatles though. My younger one does like Zeppelin, the older one likes AC/DC.

*We were at Old Navy the other night and the 16 yr old wanted a Nirvana shirt. I asked him to name 3 of their songs and he only knew 'Come as You Are'. So, we're currently having a 90s grunge lesson, starting with Nirvana. (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Stone Temple Pilots were my favorites from that era, but I also liked Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters, and Silverchair.... their Frogstomp album is one of my all time favorites, you're daughter might like that one).

**The Hogans Heroes complete series on DVD is only $36.99 on Amazon.... if you're interested. It's very bingeable.

 

[Enki_Amenra]

Hopefully there will be something there besides mustangs

I saw some F series trucks, a few raptors, but mostly Mustangs. . .

 

[Enki_Amenra]

You suck just because you posted a bama level video. Not cool and uncalled for. I’m close to a trigger finger over the ignorant, yes, I meant ignorant, button. Your posts about Sally’s latest keeps from doing so.

You don't like Ed Bassmaster?

 

[TN-POSSUM]

Did you know people got triggered by the General Lee car?

Yes


Dodge sucks!



seriously, the triggered crowd is why it got pulled from CMT. They could have blurred the Confederate flag and kept it on TV. It actually had good moral lessons and examples on how to be decent people. The "woke" need to shut up.

 

[Orangeredblooded]

You don't like Ed Bassmaster?View attachment 628286

Ahh, what were we talking about exactly???

 

[Enki_Amenra]

Ahh, what were we talking about exactly???

 

[Enki_Amenra]

This game is close, but it's not good to watch.

 

[Weezer]

A real man (or a really) strong woman would say to hell with it and accept their ‘vaca’. Stand on business. . I’m that person.

Now I'm confused. Are you saying you're an (elderly) woman about to have a vasectomy? I guess anything really is possible.

 

[UTSuave’]

Good Lord, is that Malt Liquor? Brings me back to the 80’s and buying booze illegally when I was 16.

If you were drinking malt liquor back then,you were the party only people that was drinking them with me were the boys.that was our thing and they’re all married now and some have passed away.so I still drink 40’s till this day as a tribute to the good times…good to know someone else was enjoying them as much as me.

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

This game is close, but it's not good to watch.

It's heating up

I'm wanting to pull the trigger on Boise St...

 

[TN-POSSUM]

Ahh, what were we talking about exactly???

*Post #131806

 

[Enki_Amenra]

It's heating up

I'm wanting to pull the trigger on Boise St...

Should be a good finish. . . @Glitch

 

[pismonque]

Did you watch any hee haw? Me and my wife both grew up watching it every Sunday after church. I bought the 4 disc set when my kids were toddlers and they used to fall asleep to it. Made my son a Waylon fan so it worked out even better than expected. My daughter, not so much. She don't like grandpa music, only 90s alt and grunge. Her favorite is Alice in Chains as is mine, but I love the Allman Bros and the Gourds too. Can't get her to understand good is good no matter what genre.

Dukes of hazard are a favorite of ours too.........but only Bo and Luke like you said, none of that coy and Vance stuff.

We watched hogans heroes on me tv when the kids are vacation too, used to come on at 10 and 1030. I must say you have excellent taste in cartoons and tv shows.

Oh man, the Gourds are like in my top 5 all time.

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

Dribbled off his foot...oof

 

[Enki_Amenra]

Dribbled off his foot...oof

That one stings a little for Boise St

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

That one stings a little for Boise St

Yeahhh still winless in the tournament all time

Screw Colorado

 

[TN-POSSUM]

Sweet

Colorado beat Boise St


*I also have Colorado beating Florida on Friday.



(I'm 4-0 in these 1st 4 games for the 1st time ever. I can't wait until my bracket gets totally wrecked tomorrow.)