Recruiting Forum Football Talk III

[Maxwell865]

DEFENSE WINS THE DAY

This wasn't the first day of camp the defensive line has shown up well and that is encouraging. The Vols have a lot of bodies and a lot of experience on the defensive line and some athletic playmaker types at the edge spots, so the ingredients are there even though the defensive line underwhelmed last season, albeit under less-than-ideal circumstances, and the Leos are unproven. Heupel touted the accountability in that group, a credit to Rodney Garner for establishing his culture with his veteran group.

Garner and defensive coordinator Tim Banks want the Vols to be more disruptive up front, so that showing up in a scrimmage setting is a good sign. It shows those players have bought into a new way of playing after primarily being asked to hold gaps in the previous defense. It was a process in the spring when the defensive line looked really shaky until the last few practices, but it's coming along well based on Thursday's evidence, though there is still work to do.

As far as individual standouts, Byron Young was a name mentioned to us by a couple of scrimmage onlookers. It shouldn't be a surprise as the gifted junior college transfer generated plenty of buzz during spring practice and in many ways is an improved product now in camp. He talked last week about adjusting to the speed of the game and improving his technique, and those gains are showing up for Young this month and did so as he was disruptive on Thursday and not for the first time in camp.

-Brown

 

[Maxwell865]

ON THE FLIP SIDE ...

The defense having a good day meant the offense didn't have a good day, and Heupel lamented the lack of consistency there. Tennessee's offense had some good moments in situational work as the Vols worked red-zone and other scenarios, but there wasn't much in the way of sustained drives. The lack of efficiency stunts the tempo the Vols want to use, and that was the case for much of Thursday's scrimmage for the offense, which was marred by penalties, drops, protection errors and other mistakes.

Tennessee's offensive line has been better in camp than it was on Thursday, and Heupel said that group is capable of playing better than it showed. The depth is still being built behind the expected starting quintet of (left to right) Darnell Wright, Jerome Carvin, Cooper Mays, Javontez Spraggins and Cade Mays, particularly in the wake of K'Rojhn Calbert going down. The Vols need some inexperienced linemen to continue coming on.

The Vols had some early three-and-outs in the scrimmage, and this staff going back to its UCF days really emphasizes getting the first first down on a drive. It sounds obvious, but that's when the offense likes to get crank the tempo to the max and really stress the defense, build momentum and set up for the shot play. Tennessee will vary tempos on offense, but one of the times it will want to go as fast as possible is after that first first down of a drive, so the inability to sustain some drives stemmed from an inability to get them going in the first place.

-Brown

 

[nicksjuzunk]

Going to save your fitness dudes a fortune here…

Check out supplementhunt . Com

 

[Maxwell865]

HEUPEL'S CONFIDENCE NOT SHAKEN

Heupel sort of bristled at a post-scrimmage question about cleaning up things on the offense, and his response suggested he's not overly concerned even after a bad day.
“I feel good about where we’re going on the offensive side of the ball,” he said. “We’ve got enough playmakers and guys are competitive and understand what we’re doing. It’s a growth process, we’ll get where we want to get to.”

The playmakers Heupel mentioned after the scrimmage were running backs Jabari Small and Tiyon Evans and wide receiver Cedric Tillman. Small isn't a surprise given what he's done this offseason, but we've heard Evans has been one of the Vols' standouts in camp, which also shouldn't be a surprise given his talent even though the Vols didn't really get to see him in the spring. We've consistently had Evans and Small as a tandem atop the backfield in our depth chart projections dating back to March, and that's how it's played out so far in camp with Jaylen Wright then Dee Beckwith likely next up in the pecking order.

Tillman continues to fly under the radar at wideout, but he quietly gets the job done and isn't going anywhere, his role safe as a big-bodied target alongside several speedy receivers.

-Brown

 

[drvenner]

This is the absolute coolest thing I have read in a very long time.

 

[Maxwell865]

TALKING TRANSFERS
At SEC Media Days last month, Heupel noted how the Vols expected all of the transfers they added after spring practice to contribute, and the first week-plus of preseason camp has only reinforced that expectation. On the defensive line, Caleb Tremblay is a potential starter and Da'Jon Terry almost certainly will be in the rotation, Juwan Mitchell is working his way into a starting role at linebacker and cornerbacks Brandon Turnage and Kamal Hadden are pushing, the latter just getting back to full-speed this week. Wide receiver JaVonta Payton also is starting to get more comfortable, Heupel said Thursday, and will be a factor on offense.

But it's the transfers on defense who have injected some life into that side of the football, whether it be with their play or the competition they've added. Some will break into the starting lineup or significant roles sooner than others, but those pickups are looking more and more important by the day. That was evident in Thursday's scrimmage, particularly with the additions on the defensive line and at linebacker.

“I think for all those guys, they’ve blended in immediately,” Heupel said. “When I say that, you don’t see them consistently out of the gap, being able to get a call and get lined up. You don’t see issues with communication. They’ve blended right in with what we’re doing on all three levels. Really believe that all those guys are going to have an impact on what we’re doing.”

-Brown

 

[nicksjuzunk]

-Brown

 

[Maxwell865]

QB COMPETITION GOES ON

Obviously the quarterback situation, for now sans Brian Maurer, will get plenty of attention coming out of this scrimmage. The Vols rotated Joe Milton III, Hendon Hooker and Harrison Bailey through the first-, second- and third-team offenses much like they did in the spring with the goal of getting them similar snap counts. We're right at the target date of trimming the competition down, though based on what we've heard it might not happen until after Tuesday's scrimmage (and it kind of already did happen with the Maurer situation).

Indications are there wasn't much in the way of separation in Thursday's scrimmage. Milton notably broke free for a long run and Heupel was pleased with how the quarterbacks for the most part ran the offense, took care of the football and worked through their decision-making quickly, but from what we've been told it doesn't sound like any of the three staked a claim to the starting job. The chatter going into the scrimmage was Milton and Hooker were ahead with Bailey not out of it, and it doesn't sound the scrimmage will alter it much in any direction.

-Brown

 

[nicksjuzunk]

-Brown

 

[nicksjuzunk]

-Brown

 

[Catbone]

 

[volinexile17]

-Brown

That was the most neutral, understated “bristling” I have ever seen.

 

[bigorange]

Ghost is best tasting, hands down. Their sour patch watermelon pre workout is fantastic, and they package the scoop attached to the rim so you dont have to dig for it.

That's almost worth the purchase for me. Blows my mind (and dirties my hand) that more companies don't do that.

 

[cHiZzLeVOL]

Does that really make sense though? Is Alabama going to pay a guy that Tennessee had backed way off of to sit the bench at Bama….He will probably get some NIL costs but he would have to make 50,000 plus a year to off set a full ride scholarship somewhere else.

I think NIL will die down after this year. Once businesses realize they aren’t investing in anything profitable. Unless you are a good player NIL deals won’t get the kind of return they think they will/

 

[SpringBokVol]

So 4 new statutes are coming to the Vol Walk

 

[cHiZzLeVOL]

I'm excited about Small and Evans at RB, but damn I really hope Jaylen Wright jumps one of them. Kid is the perfect player for this offense.

Think he is our 3rd back. He doesn’t have the size right now to jump either of them. He is the guy we will go to for that Homerun

 

[drvenner]

OMG I read this joke when you posted it and it went straight over my head. I re-read it just now and am laughing hysterically.

I'm embarrassed, as an engineer.

The first time he wrote it was a total fail. The root cause is he omitted the word "root."

 

[Devo182]

Does that really make sense though? Is Alabama going to pay a guy that Tennessee had backed way off of to sit the bench at Bama….He will probably get some NIL costs but he would have to make 50,000 plus a year to off set a full ride scholarship somewhere else.

Yeah and Callahan brought up some good points as to why this is unlikely a big deal - mainly that most P5 level players do not want to be walkons. There's a definite stigma attached to it and kids want to be full ride scholarship players. Like you said, to make that up to a kid probably takes a few dozen thousand, at least.

Also noted how such recruits would be fully available to be recruited by all other schools until the moment they hit campus, making things even more iffy. They'd almost need to keep it hidden that the kid is planning to walk-on.

I still think if we set up an NiL deal for every player of 100k...that would push plenty of 4*s to be willing to walk on. Issue is other schools would soon try to match and the advantage is short lived. But if it even gave us 2-3 years of bigtime recruiting advantage, it could help get us back.

 

[cHiZzLeVOL]

The 2nd Room was worse.

Watch Llamageddon and get back to me….

 

[Rishvol]

So 4 new statutes are coming to the Vol Walk

As a Hispanic I feel left out during all of this racial pandering

 

[daugag02]

Tee's statute is going to be a pose of him updating his resume to try and get a different job.

 

[ACvol3]

Tee's statute is going to be a pose of him updating his resume to try and get a different job.

Yeah, screw that whole national championship thing

 

[Devo182]

Colorado’s starting qb transferred after the spring, so it looks like Shrout is likely going to be the starter there

Sounds like he is battling a dual-threat freshman qb at this point. Though from the bit I saw the other guy throw, I'd think JT could win the job for sure.

Brendon Lewis, Colorado, Quarterback

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I think NIL will die down after this year. Once businesses realize they aren’t investing in anything profitable. Unless you are a good player NIL deals won’t get the kind of return they think they will/

Depends on the deals and the companies. I’m a huge believer in the NIL for businesses if used wisely. You could get your ROI just through PR with the right deal. Look at the BYU deal.

the key is thinking outside the box on how to execute deals. Too many of these are X amount of dollars for x amount of social posts.

Most of these kids will make what they expect out of this. There were way too many people convincing kids they’d be millionaires because they have a large following on social channels. They don’t consider how engaged that audience is or the fact that as soon as NIL passed the pool of “influencers” businesses can hire grew by 1000x which drops the rates, but this can and should be a very useful tool for businesses, especially in the Southeast.

 

[Devo182]

Think he is our 3rd back. He doesn’t have the size right now to jump either of them. He is the guy we will go to for that Homerun

Was surprised to see he's listed at 200. Thought he was quite a bit lighter out of HS.

Evans - 220
Small - 206
Wright - 200

Probably does need a bit more on him, but he's coming along! Hopefully it doesn't hurt his speed though.