Recruiting Forum Football Talk [RIP 9.3.2019]

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#35,926
#35,926
vol2002 said:
It’s notable to me looking back that the best stretch of modern Tennessee football also happened to be a time of remarkable head coaching stability: two head coaches over 30 years.

It’s also clear from the last ten years that we are simply not a plug-and-play institution where we should expect new coaches to recruit big and win fast. LSU, Texas A&M, UF, UGA, etc seem to be able to do that, even when the coaches are mediocre overall. It’s just the difference in in-state talent. Dooley and Butch had some high rated classes but they were clearly top heavy and the kids they filled them out with just can’t hack it in the SEC. Meanwhile Florida grabs unheralded instate three stars to fill out their classes and they wind up being NFL prospects.

I say we manufacture that stability Tennessee needs from the outset.
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This in a way is the overall point I've been trying to make about the Tennessee program for a little while now. I've been guilty of this a lot in the past, but I think as a fanbase a lot of us have an elevated view of the Tennessee program. We're not on the same level as a Bama, LSU, A&M, UGA or UF IMO. It's just so much easier to win there than it is at Tennessee. Name brand isn't as strong, much more difficult to recruit to, and we've been in the wildness for over a decade now. There comes a time when I think you have to call a spade a spade. Can championships be won at Tennessee? Of course they can be. But it comes a lot easier at the above mentioned programs in this league. I think Pruitt can get us to the point to where we're competing again, but it's not going to happen as fast here IMO.
 
#35,927
#35,927
volsagain said:
We we're really bad last year, we could have easily just won 2 games. I know some will say should have won 6 . On top of the players we lost last year and new schemes and coaching. We got to wait 2 recurring cycles before we know what to expect from our coaches.
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I am definitely not out on Pruitt. I see a lot of positives. Next year will be a better indication but I agree it will not be a quick fix.
 
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#35,928
#35,928
vol2002 said:
I have a hard time drawing long term conclusions in year 1. The collapse yesterday was easy to explain as simply wearing down because of a lack of depth, and frankly talent, along the defensive line. You could give Nick Saban our DL and I’m not sure you’d see much better results.

I’m fully supportive of Pruitt. I used to think you need to pull the trigger quickly if you have doubts so you can move on to the next coach, but I don’t think that works for us. The roster is a mess and this will obscure the results for anyone we get. It takes longer at Tennessee to build a good roster than it does at other top programs. All new coaches need 5 or 6 years unless they are clear bombs like Dooley.

Butch got the right amount of time and now we just need to give Pruitt enough time.
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Agreed regarding the amount of time. I won't check out after this year because the team is playing hard and some players have improved and are playing well.
 
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#35,931
#35,931
I would be willing to bet had UT not fired Fulmer the last decade wouldn’t have turned out as badly.

They made a decision to get better as a program and man it backfired.

Just my opinion. I know Fulmer was on the decline but I don’t think he would have plummeted to the depths we have hit under the three coaches that followed him.
 
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#35,933
#35,933
HankHill said:
There are no facts? You’re saying be a blind sheep sheep to a 1st year defensive minded head coach and 1st year OC who’s only other time as an OC was under Brohm who calls plays most of the time.

We’re always willing to try other people and find other help at other position but when someone mentions a QB change it’s looked at as treason.
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lol what's the alternative?

Bitching exclusively about JG is a tired card.
 
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#35,935
#35,935
JAllen18 said:
JG is so much better this year.
Really like Chandler and Jordan.

Have to improve both lines. O-line and D-line are awful. Its gonna take 2 maybe 3 recruiting cycles to get there.
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Chandler looks like an elite NFL running back to me. He's so damn good as a pass catcher and that's the way the league is played now
 
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#35,937
#35,937
SpringBokVol said:
I would be willing to bet had UT not fired Fulmer the last decade wouldn’t have turned out as badly.

They made a decision to get better as a program and man it backfired.

Just my opinion. I know Fulmer was on the decline but I don’t think he would have plummeted to the depths we have hit under the three coaches that followed him.
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Hindsight is 50/50. They made a decision to leave their comfort zone in hopes of building a championship team. Kind of like UGA did with Mark Richt who was winning 9-10 games a season (obviously worked out better for them)

The issue was not the firing of Fulmer but who was leading them in pencil-neck mole rat Mike Hamilton (without a doubt is the most culpable in the demise of UT football)
 
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#35,938
#35,938
SpringBokVol said:
I would be willing to bet had UT not fired Fulmer the last decade wouldn’t have turned out as badly.

They made a decision to get better as a program and man it backfired.

Just my opinion. I know Fulmer was on the decline but I don’t think he would have plummeted to the depths we have hit under the three coaches that followed him.
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I’m beginning to think our curse is the Will Muschamp curse. If I remember correctly, when we fired Fulmer, it was because we thought Muschamp would take the job. He declined - and now we’re 0-7 against him.

Maybe beating him holds the key to the turnaround.
 
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#35,939
#35,939
UpstateVol613 said:
Hindsight is 50/50. They made a decision to leave their comfort zone in hopes of building a championship team. Kind of like UGA did with Mark Richt who was winning 9-10 games a season (obviously worked out better for them)

The issue was not the firing of Fulmer but who was leading them in pencil-neck mole rat Mike Hamilton (without a doubt is the most culpable in the demise of UT football)
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I’m a contrarian on this a bit - I don’t think Hamilton was that bad. Kiffin was a good hire. Circumstances no one could have predicted in December of 2008 led to him getting the USC job. There was no way to prepare for it.

The real issue was the Dooley hire. I preached and preached to give David Cutcliffe the job - or to give it to Kippy. But I understand why they didn’t at the time.
 
#35,940
#35,940
Kingston Vol said:
I’m beginning to think our curse is the Will Muschamp curse. If I remember correctly, when we fired Fulmer, it was because we thought Muschamp would take the job. He declined - and now we’re 0-7 against him.

Maybe beating him holds the key to the turnaround.
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No...Muschamp wasn’t on our radar in the search that netted Kiffin. One year later Muschamp was top choice but shot down the chance because of that sham “coach-in-waiting” designation Mack Brown sold him.
 
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#35,943
#35,943
NMVol said:
I would think possession football keeps the D rested. Color me worried for the remaining SEC games. And I thought our rushing defense would show improvement down the stretch this year. Hope my worries prove to be unfounded.
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That disappointed me as well. Offensively, we we did as good of a job winning TOP, slowing the game down, and giving the defense a rest as we've done in years. And the defense was still getting gashed. Makes me much more worried about our final 3 conference games.
 
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#35,944
#35,944
HankHill said:
There are no facts? You’re saying be a blind sheep sheep to a 1st year defensive minded head coach and 1st year OC who’s only other time as an OC was under Brohm who calls plays most of the time.

We’re always willing to try other people and find other help at other position but when someone mentions a QB change it’s looked at as treason.
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If KC had any eligibility left after this year, then sure. But he doesn't and I don't think he is the difference in us winning because if he did, he would play. But, he would have to be so far ahead of JG that no one on the team would even question it and that isn't the case. He was brought in because he is way better than McBride and we didn't want to play JT if we didn't have to do so. I don't think they felt like JG would not be broken in half before it was over. And, the season is still not over.
 
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#35,945
#35,945
BruinVol said:
Chandler looks like an elite NFL running back to me. He's so damn good as a pass catcher and that's the way the league is played now
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He's got some good tools and versatility, but I'm not sure he has the vision to be an elite RB in the NFL. He's had a few plays in the past few weeks where the right cut could have turned a good gain into a big chunk play that he missed.

Still, I think he's probably our best offensive player right now and I've been happy with him overall. It's still crazy to me how some on VN questioned whether he'd fit our new offensive scheme.
 
#35,946
#35,946
Kingston Vol said:
I’m a contrarian on this a bit - I don’t think Hamilton was that bad. Kiffin was a good hire. Circumstances no one could have predicted in December of 2008 led to him getting the USC job. There was no way to prepare for it.

The real issue was the Dooley hire. I preached and preached to give David Cutcliffe the job - or to give it to Kippy. But I understand why they didn’t at the time.
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Hamilton made his buy out if he wanted to leave at 850,000. That is the most stupid thing an AD has ever done outside of criminal or sexual misconduct.
 
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#35,947
#35,947
JG will go down as the best QB in our history not named Manning. He will be a Heisman candidate by his senior year and will rush for over 500 yards and throwing for 2500 his last year. He will make Tua look pedestrian.
 
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#35,949
#35,949
JAllen18 said:
JG is so much better this year.
Really like Chandler and Jordan.

Have to improve both lines. O-line and D-line are awful. Its gonna take 2 maybe 3 recruiting cycles to get there.
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Is it bad that, as poor as the OL has played, I think we get OL straightened out sooner than DL? At least we're gonna be returning plenty of experience at OL and we look to be in great position with some big time OL prospects. On the DL and at OLB, we've really gotta hope to hit big time on the guys we're bringing in and/or to get good production out of guys that aren't seeing much of the field next year. I like the upside of a lot of the guys we seem set to bring in up front, but idk that we have many guys who seem like year one impact players.

Speaking of the OL/DL next year, is Kingston Harris still on offense or did he move back to defense? If he stays on the OL, then we're gonna be thin as hell at DT next year.
 
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