Recruiting Forum Football Talk III

[volsfan_17]

Hardly. I don't get why people think this. Maybe the all-SEC schedule was a shock to fans, but a bunch of SEC offenses absolutely ate last year and no OOC games meant no stat-stuffing games.

We gave up 30.1 ppg (all in-conference of course), that was good for top half of the SEC (#7 exactly). Considering the SEC is the cream of the crop, being 7th isn't too bad at all. 69th nationally which has us just hardly below the midway point.

Historically, despite SEC offenses being a lot better than a decade ago, last year's defense was 5th best of the last decade vs conference opponents ('19, '15, '14, '11 were better). The other 5 seasons we allowed to SEC teams:
2018 36.1 PPG
2017 34.8
2016 36.9
2013 30.6
2012 40.0

I just don't think, and stats support it, last year's defense was "bad". It was an unusual year with an insane schedule and, still yet, we were better than half of the league.

So serious question; do your stats provided account for the point off turnovers that our offense gave the opposing team? Because to frame it up like you have, means that it was almost impossible for us to have the record we did last year. It's an even bigger indictment on the QB and coaching staff.

So, for sake of argument, who did we lose on defense that we didn't adequately replace? Thompson was upgraded with the CB's (Hadden/Turnage) that were brought in because he played hurt all season, HT was replaced by a team leading tackler from Texas (Mitchell), traded Middleton for Terry, swapped out Crouch for Mohan (that's a push at worst), add in actual development from one of the best DL coaches in the country and we should see growth from Baron, Eason, Simmons, Thomas, Bailey and Bumphus. And actual LB coaches, not just show cause waiting to happen placeholders, and I'd argue that the defense will be even better than last year.

If that's the case, based on your numbers, then we'll be a top half SEC defense this season. GO VOLS!

 

[Devo182]

I saw this the other day and thought it was a good perspective on the life of the modern athlete. Some people handle it better than others, but like @StoVol said, I sure am glad social media wasn’t around when I was that age.

He really summed that up well. Social media has enough avenues for harm to the average young person. But for young people also in the spotlight, all of those possibilities are just magnified.

 

[cHiZzLeVOL]

Tried to post a UT Facebook video….

 

[bignewt]

I had been married for two years, owned a three bedroom house with two acres, and had a truck and car already paid for at his age...plus I was making about 35,000 a year.

I became an idiot a few years later after a string of bad choices ruined my life, but I wasn't then.

McGill is the bar, apparently.

 

[Cosmo Kramer]

 

[Devo182]

So serious question; do your stats provided account for the point off turnovers that our offense gave the opposing team? Because to frame it up like you have, means that it was almost impossible for us to have the record we did last year. It's an even bigger indictment on the QB and coaching staff.

So, for sake of argument, who did we lose on defense that we didn't adequately replace? Thompson was upgraded with the CB's (Hadden/Turnage) that were brought in because he played hurt all season, HT was replaced by a team leading tackler from Texas (Mitchell), traded Middleton for Terry, swapped out Crouch for Mohan (that's a push at worst), add in actual development from one of the best DL coaches in the country and we should see growth from Baron, Eason, Simmons, Thomas, Bailey and Bumphus. And actual LB coaches, not just show cause waiting to happen placeholders, and I'd argue that the defense will be even better than last year.

If that's the case, based on your numbers, then we'll be a top half SEC defense this season. GO VOLS!

Points given up by the offense (fumble returns, INT returns...possibly even ST TDs) end up recorded as points given up by the defense afaik in college. So our defense may have been even better than 7th(!) but don't have these numbers. But why does this matter - they were CLEARLY not the worst in all of CFB c'mon lol.

Hardly impossible for us to have our record...we were 3-7. No team below us defensively was above .500. And we had the 12th best offense lol. 3-7 is very much possible even with the 7th best defense.

If you think our defense was the worst in the NCAA...well that just doesn't add up with reality. The defense was actually better than many seem to believe and thus our bar for this year is better than some expect imo. Though the losses may hurt, it's not like we're starting from the bottom. That is BS.

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

McGill is the bar, apparently.

Hell no...it wasn't an excuse for stupidity for me, and it is not an excuse for anybody else.

I have never excused my era of idiocy.

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

Points given up by the offense (fumble returns, INT returns...possibly even ST TDs) end up recorded as points given up by the defense afaik in college. So our defense may have been even better than 7th(!) but don't have these numbers. But why does this matter - they were CLEARLY not the worst in all of CFB c'mon lol.

Hardly impossible for us to have our record...we were 3-7. No team below us defensively was above .500. And we had the 12th best offense lol. 3-7 is very much possible even with the 7th best defense.

If you think our defense was the worst in the NCAA...well that just doesn't add up with reality. The defense was actually better than many seem to believe and thus our bar for this year is better than some expect imo. Though the losses may hurt, it's not like we're starting from the bottom. That is BS.

I tried to tell others this earlier in the year, but I never took the time to back it up thoroughly with numbers like you did..good job.

 

[UTProf]

They’ve addressed “trust” in Heupel’s press conferences. There’s a markedly different approach from previous staffs. Some players got an unlimited free pass from mental mistakes while others would go into a bottomless dog house from whence never to return. Heupel has a history of letting you play through them and use as teaching moments.

One of the tapes you can hear him tell a player that he's gonna make a ton of mistakes today and 'that's ok because we'll learn from them.' That won me over. I haven't paid much attention to Heupel at all -- didn't bother with his initial presser or his appearance during media days -- but that got my attention. That's different and in a good way. It's the best way to teach college kids imo. They are young adults in the truest sense - not children, not high schoolers. Treat them with respect and teach them as though you were teaching any other adult something and they will run through fire for you. I've seen it in the classroom and how much more so that will be on any field of play.

 

[UTProf]

because of what happened to him.

what i dont get are the dumbass raises given before exiting

I suppose you're right about what happened with him influencing his decision to go down with the ship. As for the raises, my guess is you'd have to ask the bean counters that. I don't think Phil really did much in the way of running the financial side of things unless fundraising/schmoozing counts. It was probably just standard practice to raise if you had no intention of firing and at that point in time we didn't have any intention of firing and no reason to think the upcoming season would turn out the way it did. When those raises happened things were looking up - we were coming off the best streak in CFB. It turned out to be fool's gold in hindsight but the picture looked good at the time.

 

[UTProf]

wow, never seen these before. They look like Walmart knock-offs by Russell Athletics.

Those are actually protest jerseys. I don't remember the coach but when the NCAA forced teams to stop wearing home jerseys whenever they pleased they came up with this as a protest. Prior to that rule change Tennessee and Alabama had always worn home jerseys during TSIO and that was the most amount of orange that could be put on the jerseys and still call them whites. Now, I like the story behind them but I agree they're ugly as sin.

 

[bignewt]

Hell no...it wasn't an excuse for stupidity for me, and it is not an excuse for anybody else.

I have never excused my era of idiocy.

And yet you judge all others based on you. C'mon brother.

 

[volKano]

One of the tapes you can hear him tell a player that he's gonna make a ton of mistakes today and 'that's ok because we'll learn from them.' That won me over. I haven't paid much attention to Heupel at all -- didn't bother with his initial presser or his appearance during media days -- but that got my attention. That's different and in a good way. It's the best way to teach college kids imo. They are young adults in the truest sense - not children, not high schoolers. Treat them with respect and teach them as though you were teaching any other adult something and they will run through fire for you. I've seen it in the classroom and how much more so that will be on any field of play.

Never understood how it’s a good thing to curse kids out all the time. People can be tough and motivated without it. Let them know what you expect and hold them accountable. I think positive and aggressive coaching can be done at the same time.

 

[rekinhavoc]

I don't think anyone at UT is spending a second mourning the loss of Henry T. That's a media narrative.

The guy literally quit playing after the first half of the Georgia game. Self preservation mode the rest of the season.

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

And yet you judge all others based on you. C'mon brother.

Calling a spade a spade is not judging..it is seeing it for what it is.

 

[bignewt]

Calling a spade a spade is not judging..it is seeing it for what it is.

Then do that without the insight into your own personal strife. Takes half the scales away.

 

[Johnny Majors' Ghost]

Johnny Majors Classic Tee

 

[tnhunter 10]

 

[VolsDoc81TX]

Does Volquest have an agenda? Seems like they cut their film to mostly show 5&7. Minimal on 15. When they had 2 QBs throwing, they only followed the throw of 5 & 7, not 15…
Curious if anyone else noticed that?

 

[BigOrangeGoose]

Lol. I can totally see this happening to Kirby

 

[VolsDoc81TX]

Speaking of lost talent....we have heard about Eric Gray at Oklahoma, but anyone heard anything about Wanya Morris at OK? What about Ty Chandler at UNC? Since we apparently lost all the talent off last year's team.....

NHDC

 

[VolsDoc81TX]

If we average 35-38 points per game, which I think is doable with JH’s resume. What would you say our record should be?

15-0

 

[volbeast33]

Never understood how it’s a good thing to curse kids out all the time. People can be tough and motivated without it. Let them know what you expect and hold them accountable. I think positive and aggressive coaching can be done at the same time.

It can definitely get too over the top….. the key is teaching kids to listen to the message and not the tone.

 

[ACvol3]

It’s hard for me to imagine Kirby smart as an SEC DB

 

[Johnny Majors' Ghost]

Kirk Herbstreit weighs in on Vols, new offense under Heupel