Recruiting Forum Football Talk II

[Catbone]

It’s the same offense we saw with Helton. It’s a different offense than what we saw with Chaney under both Kiffin and Dooley. Hell, it’s less creative than it was against South Carolina after which Pruitt complained about not running enough (although I’ve said before that he wasn’t wrong in that particular criticism of that game we were also trying to find playmakers and also trying to help jumpstart JGs confidence and establish him as a downfield threat which is something opponents haven’t taken seriously because of both his inconsistency and our reluctance to pass). Chaney was attempting to find his playmakers and instill some confidence in JG by letting him throw more in that game. It all offsets but the end result of Pruitt’s complaints after seeing that dash of a more modern looking offense with the tiniest bit of creativity has been handing the ball off incessantly until we create our own high turnover ratio by only throwing or trying something other than running it up the middle when we have no other choice.

It’s damage control/hedging bets to say that anyone other than Pruitt is behind that Offense when the OCs have changed and yet the offense has remained the same and both OCs are anything but run it up the middle every play guys. It’s a way of laying the groundwork for fans to accept Chaney or someone else on O as a sacrificial lamb should that wind up being the move that the powers that be want to make.

There are only two common denominators on offense during Pruitt’s tenure 1. JG and 2. Jeremy Pruitt who is absolutely married to the idea of running an antique offense in much the same way his fellow ex-Sabin disciples Muschamp and Kirby are. While in the meantime, Saban has long since moved past the offense he and Alabama football are still known for running and winning with even when it was past it’s expiration date.

Saban moved to an offense that works in today’s world where you have teams like Clemson, tOSU, and sometimes OU and others who have shown you can put up points and have a nasty defense. Kirby has gotten by via out talenting almost everyone on the schedule but his love of that same antique offense has kept UGA underperforming despite the talent upgrades. But even Kirby is starting to take heat for it and Muschamp lost his 2nd SEC job sticking to his philosophy.

We can bring in any OC, known for whatever style, and we will see the same antiques roadshow that we’ve been seeing until Pruitt fundamentally changes his views on offense. Chaney was his do over and he chose the same O. It’s one of the bigger reasons why the time for him to go has come — it couldn’t be more clear that we are running Pruitt’s preferred style and that giving him a 3rd OC much like UF and Outh Carolina did with Muschamp won’t change or help.

I agree. This offense that Pruitt seems to like is straight up archaic. He needs to change his philosophy. Dumb down the playbook and have some fun on offense or something. Show some creativity. This vanilla sh** doesn't work unless you have elite playmakers all over the field. We don't.

 

[Vol423]

Did we pursue King?

We didn't want him. We heard he wasn't very good in practice.

 

[Leeleesteeth]

It should be viewed as a grounds for dismissal since he is going against players wishes and causing the players to be divided. It means he has no control of the program and the team is starting to divide.

If it can be proven, he should be dismissed. If Coach O ignored sexual misconduct allegations, him too. The sport is under attack enough from the Liberal media, the overprotective moms, and the feminization of males culture to have to deal with major stupidity from guys being made millions.

 

[ndubvols]

1) every program is dealing with it.

2) player safety should trump winning football, even if your personal or political leanings are to take this virus less seriously. If a player wants to protect himself, you take him at his word and tell him he has a spot ready when he wants to come back. Not call him a pussy and say he’s letting the team down.

Not that it’s right by any means, but I’d be pretty shocked if this wasn’t happening at nearly every major college program. I mean there haven’t been that many opt outs, all things considered.

 

[05_never_again]

High floor in terms of our program's new standards. I think he would get us bowling every year at least. And that's probably enough for a lifetime contract now.

With our standing as a program and the schedule we play every year, the worst that Tennessee should be in any given year is about 7-5. That's losing to Florida, Georgia, Alabama, a strong rotating West opponent (LSU, Auburn, A&M, etc.) and a strong P5 OOC opponent (Oregon, Oklahoma, etc.). For all intents and purposes, Tennessee should always beat Mizzou, Kentucky, Vandy, and South Carolina, even when the program is "down." There is no excuse for any of those series to be competitive over a stretch of several years, yet they all have been except Kentucky. Somehow Kentucky's only managed to beat us 3 times this decade.

Going 7-5 (like we did last year) is fine the first couple of times you do it, but eventually we'd run a coach off if he never could beat upper echelon competition. Expectations have a way of ratcheting up quickly if people get hope.

 

[Aesius]

With our standing as a program and the schedule we play every year, the worst that Tennessee should be in any given year is about 7-5. That's losing to Florida, Georgia, Alabama, a strong rotating West opponent (LSU, Auburn, A&M, etc.) and a strong P5 OOC opponent (Oregon, Oklahoma, etc.). For all intents and purposes, Tennessee should always beat Mizzou, Kentucky, Vandy, and South Carolina, even when the program is "down." There is no excuse for any of those series to be competitive over a stretch of several years.

Going 7-5 (like we did last year) is fine the first couple of times you do it, but eventually we'd run a coach off if he never could beat upper echelon competition. Expectations have a way of ratcheting up quickly if people get hope.

I agree. I think the decision makers would be happy to keep a 7-5/8-5 guy around for a long time, but the fans would be out after 3-4 seasons of that at the latest, even if we started at 0-8 in conference play like Pruitt did. We haven't had one so we don't really know, but that seems to be the indication. It's like they were begging Dooley, Jones, and now Pruitt to give them something, anything to keep them around. But none of them could.

 

[Vfl2407]

How did Peay not offer this guy?

“The Universityof Tennessee is NOT a training ground for Carson-Newman” - J.Majors.

 

[UTSuave’]

Sounds like they are trying to make Tee the scape goat because Chaney and Friend aren’t going anywhere. So blame it on Tee and make him move on next year.

I can promise you this!..if they choose to go this route and if any fan feels like the issue isn’t Tee Martin and hey gets treated unfairly by a Bama lover!...Fulmer might as well pack up and run with him to because there will be a Uhaul truck waiting outside Pruitts house running to get him the hell out of town!...

 

[Kingston Vol]

This is very interesting. Godfrey is plugged in at the Mississippi schools, he’s an Ole Miss alum, and I believe he broke the initial scandal there.

 

[snowvols]

This is very interesting. Godfrey is plugged in at the Mississippi schools, he’s an Ole Miss alum, and I believe he broke the initial scandal there.

VOL

 

[Devo182]

I think we expect too much out of elite b-ball recruits. It can be misleading for recruits to be 5 stars when a guy like Lebron James would also be 5 stars. There should be a 6 star system for that over the top special talent guy.

Yeah theres a big gap between top 5 guys and the other 27 or so 5*s typically. Maybe Keon is one of those should have been top 5 types.

 

[Devo182]

This is very interesting. Godfrey is plugged in at the Mississippi schools, he’s an Ole Miss alum, and I believe he broke the initial scandal there.

Cliffs?

 

[snowvols]

Cliffs?

Said South Carolina doesn't have the clout for the SEC to allow a Freeze hire. Also said he is poison and he doesn't see a search firm bringing his name up.

 

[Kingston Vol]

Cliffs?

Said South Carolina doesn't have the clout for the SEC to allow a Freeze hire. Also said he is poison and he doesn't see a search firm bringing his name up.

This - but the sense I get from it is he'd be shocked if anyone in the SEC gave Freeze a chance, especially this year.

 

[05_never_again]

I agree. I think the decision makers would be happy to keep a 7-5/8-5 guy around for a long time, but the fans would be out after 3-4 seasons of that at the latest, even if we started at 0-8 in conference play like Pruitt did. We haven't had one so we don't really know, but that seems to be the indication. It's like they were begging Dooley, Jones, and now Pruitt to give them something, anything to keep them around. But none of them could.

Expectations have a way of getting ratcheted up pretty quickly though. It's so difficult to see given the current position we're in, but pretend that instead of this disaster season we're having Pruitt went 6-4 this season, with the losses being to the Big 3 and Texas A&M. Then pretend in 2021 we went 8-4 with the losses to the Big 3 and, hypothetically, a good Wisconsin team. Then pretend in 2022 he did the same thing, except instead of losing to Wisconsin he lost to a good LSU team.

7-5/8-4 sounds great right now, but after a few years of it you'd get used to it, and we'd be clamoring to get rid of Pruitt in favor of a coach that could "get us over the hump." We'll give a coach way more runway than we used to, but ultimately, we'll still run you off if you can't beat Florida/Georgia/Alabama.

 

[05_never_again]

This - but the sense I get from it is he'd be shocked if anyone in the SEC gave Freeze a chance, especially this year.

If the cookie crumbled in such a way that Tennessee or Auburn was in play for Freeze, I bet Saban would be able to get Sankey to block it. He'd really freak out if he thought Auburn was going to get him.

"Noooooo sir...I tried to hire him as my OC a few years ago and you said no...there's no way in hell he should be allowed to be Auburn or Tennessee's HC." And you know he'd get his way.

 

[rjd970]

Said South Carolina doesn't have the clout for the SEC to allow a Freeze hire. Also said he is poison and he doesn't see a search firm bringing his name up.

Also said Sankey is basically a feckless leader and he is only concerned with trying to keep the money machine going that he inherited. The one and only time he showed any kind of backbone was to get Hugh Freeze out of the conference.

I heard it as Freeze was a threat to the conference blue bloods and Sankey wanted him out.

 

[rjd970]

If the cookie crumbled in such a way that Tennessee or Auburn was in play for Freeze, I bet Saban would be able to get Sankey to block it. He'd really freak out if he thought Auburn was going to get him.

"Noooooo sir...I tried to hire him as my OC a few years ago and you said no...there's no way in hell he should be allowed to be Auburn or Tennessee's HC." And you know he'd get his way.

I don't know how the conference power structure works. But how can the SEC stop us from hiring whoever the hell we want as coach? They (the SEC) doesn't have to buy off on it do they?

 

[Kingston Vol]

I don't know how the conference power structure works. But how can the SEC stop us from hiring whoever the hell we want as coach? They (the SEC) doesn't have to buy off on it do they?

Well, generally speaking, the relationship with the conference is far more valuable than any one football coach. So if they insist you look in a different direction, you do so.

But I don't know how they feel about Freeze necessarily, given a few years to cool off. They let Bruce back in at Auburn and some thought that was going to be difficult.

 

[snowvols]

Well, generally speaking, the relationship with the conference is far more valuable than any one football coach. So if they insist you look in a different direction, you do so.

But I don't know how they feel about Freeze necessarily, given a few years to cool off. They let Bruce back in at Auburn and some thought that was going to be difficult.

I know the reason Sankey gave was that Ole Miss was on probation due to Freeze so he wasn't going to give the go ahead. The probation ends this season though so they'll need a new excuse

 

[snowvols]

Also said Sankey is basically a feckless leader and he is only concerned with trying to keep the money machine going that he inherited. The one and only time he showed any kind of backbone was to get Hugh Freeze out of the conference.

I heard it as Freeze was a threat to the conference blue bloods and Sankey wanted him out.

We are a SEC blue blood though so the treatment might be different

 

[05_never_again]

I don't know how the conference power structure works. But how can the SEC stop us from hiring whoever the hell we want as coach? They (the SEC) doesn't have to buy off on it do they?

They technically can't. But if the Commissioner was able to get Nick Saban, of all people, to back off hiring Freeze a few years ago, I imagine they'd still look at a school sideways if they tried to hire him.

Plus, it's actually in the SEC's bylaws that you have to consult directly with the Commissioner if you want to hire someone that has a Level I/II/III infraction on their record: Report: Alabama wanted to hire Hugh Freeze as co-OC, but SEC commissioner Greg Sankey discouraged it

A year-old SEC bylaw also gives the commissioner some additional oversight into the university’s hiring practices. Per the report, according to bylaw 19.8.1.2, a school must consult directly with the commissioner before offering a job to a coach “who has engaged in unethical conduct as defined under NCAA Bylaws or who has participated in activity that resulted, or may result, in a Level I, Level II or major infraction.”

Now, I suppose you can always tell the Commissioner "Up yours, we're hiring him anyway" if he suggests that you don't do it, but do you really want to do that?

 

[Smyrna ATL Vol]

We are a SEC blue blood though so the treatment might be different

I could care less what Sankey says. If we fired Pruitt and hired Freeze, let him try to tell you no. Make it a big publicity scene. Bama hired Kiffin who left us with sanctions. Hired a Former head coach who struggled with alcohol abuse. And so on. I bet he backs off.

 

[05_never_again]

We are a SEC blue blood though so the treatment might be different

Sankey got Saban to back off of a pursuit of Freeze a few years ago, so he's already shown that being a blue blood doesn't automatically give you a green light. Maybe time has softened that a bit now that we're a few years removed and Freeze is rehabbing his image, but who knows.

 

[Kingston Vol]

I could care less what Sankey says. If we fired Pruitt and hired Freeze, let him try to tell you no. Make it a big publicity scene. Bama hired Kiffin who left us with sanctions. Hired a Former head coach who struggled with alcohol abuse. And so on. I bet he backs off.

I guess the larger point is, if you put up this fight and get ugly about it, you have to be sure you're going to win as a result.

And you have to be sure there are no candidates worth hiring that might bring similar results while also not simultaneously making you the black sheep of the conference.