Recruiting Forum Football Talk [RIP 9.3.2019]

[Z06VolinWV]

The entire offense was horrible from OC down.

I noticed a few times on TV, Pruitt seemed rather disgusted with Helton based on body language alone during interaction of the two

 

[Rishvol]

I noticed a few times on TV, Pruitt seemed rather disgusted with Helton based on body language alone during interaction of the two

As I said earlier. My greatest disappointment from the offense was the RBs running into a clogged C gap when the B gap could fit 2 trucks

 

[Vols2DaWall]

I agree with Hank on this. Poor performance and effort all around. Our lone TD came from basically a jump ball on 3rd down. Our explosive play was a fluke flea flicker that hung in the air longer than a punt. We had negative rushing yards going into the 4th against freaking Charlotte. Our offensive line looks pathetic.

 

[Chief Vol 13]

Pruitt: We beat a good football team that, I think, we're pretty evenly matched against.


No. That’s an excuse for not having your team ready to play and having an awful offensive gameplan.

Starting to have questions about this offensive staff. I think the defensive staff is elite, think we have a lot of question marks on offense going forward.

 

[Vols2DaWall]

Targeting needs to be just like NBA flagrants. 2 and you are out. Overly egregious and you are out. But AT absolutely not be ejected for that hit yesterday

 

[Chief Vol 13]

BYU is a getting really underrated by our fan base imo.

That's a team that everybody will want to chalk up as a W, but it'll be tough sledding. They would destroy us up front on both sides right now.

 

[VFLneedsSPEED]

sapp has been up and down all year. he's flashed big time ability, and then sometimes he just disappears.

it's like a broken record, but it's true, this team's lack of consistency is it's biggest problem.

SAPP has been consistent ALL YEAR..... the biggest inconsistency is his rotation and the time he is on the field.

I went back to review ALL LINEBACKERS in SEC GAMES. Sapp has out played everyone in SEC games.... with the exception of SC (where he only played 2 snaps in the entire 2nd half).

I remember the talk was LBs was supposingly our strongest unit! LIES!! LBs pad there stats during NON SEC games. Bituli had 13 tackles this week 8 tackles against Alabama’s 2nd team defense!! DK numbers are all from NON SEC games.....during SEC play he is horrible. UGA game should’ve been benched! Bama game he was scared and slow.

Sapp has 8 against Alabama’s first team, played well against UGA, never on field against FLORIDA and very well against AUBURN. He wasn’t s mistake free BUT no one is.

My Rant is because the kid did not have ONE SNAP last night..... this is coaching politics at its best!!!

 

[volsagain]

Starting to have questions about this offensive staff. I think the defensive staff is elite, think we have a lot of question marks on offense going forward.

I think we'll find out the next 3 games where the offense staff can get it done.

 

[Chief Vol 13]

I noticed a few times on TV, Pruitt seemed rather disgusted with Helton based on body language alone during interaction of the two

Won't be surprised if Helton isn't back next year. It's early, but he hasn't showed anything.

 

[MrVolton]

Lol at criticizing Gurantano or any offensive coaching this year. The OL played like that for years before Pruitt even got there, and it’s obvious that Jones didn’t know what he was doing at that position to the point that we are barely even D 1 level there. The HC, the OC, the QB, none of them can do much of anything without better OL play than what we are getting.

 

[Kingston Vol]

I agree with Hank on this. Poor performance and effort all around. Our lone TD came from basically a jump ball on 3rd down. Our explosive play was a fluke flea flicker that hung in the air longer than a punt. We had negative rushing yards going into the 4th against freaking Charlotte. Our offensive line looks pathetic.

You gotta have the right mindset to be a good offensive lineman. Our guys don’t have it.

 

[Kingston Vol]

Lol at criticizing Gurantano or any offensive coaching this year. The OL played like that for years before Pruitt even got there, and it’s obvious that Jones didn’t know what he was doing at that position to the point that we are barely even D 1 level there. The HC, the OC, the QB, none of them can do much of anything without better OL play than what we are getting.

Disagree wholeheartedly. They’ve proven they can scheme around it and move the football. What’s interesting is that sometimes they choose not to do so.

It’s like they’re saying “do it my way and do it successfully or the team will fail” instead of “okay, we’ll do it the way you’re comfortable for now in order to be our best.” I think there are pros and cons to both.

 

[BigOrange15]

You gotta have the right mindset to be a good offensive lineman. Our guys don’t have it.

Small, weak, slow, and mentally fragile. Can't for the life of me understand why we suck.

 

[Col_Cathcart]

I wouldn’t get too bent out of shape over pt in the homecoming game. Lots of players took yesterday off (including the entire OL from what I could tell)

 

[rekinhavoc]

Small, weak, slow, and mentally fragile. Can't for the life of me understand why we suck.

 

[volinbama256]

It will be interesting to see how the team performs to finish the season. Will they roll over and go through the motions, or will they come together and fight until the end? Pruitt is balancing on a thin line right now in my opinion--- he's called out players almost every game this year, and they may be sick of it, or know they are leaving, so they play/act flat and uninspired.
Pruitt should probably back off the verbiage if he wants to keep the team together (he's made his point loud and clear) and united until the end of the season... he can then make the changes he needs and everyone knows is coming.

 

[MrVolton]

Disagree wholeheartedly. They’ve proven they can scheme around it and move the football. What’s interesting is that sometimes they choose not to do so.

It’s like they’re saying “do it my way and do it successfully or the team will fail” instead of “okay, we’ll do it the way you’re comfortable for now in order to be our best.” I think there are pros and cons to both.

You think these opposing coaches don’t watch tape? Against Auburn we were able to max protect and win a bunch of jump balls along the sideline. Guess what, Muschamp watched that and game planned to take it away. Folks almost universally agreed that we had great offensive game plans for Auburn and at least the first half vs. USCe. We find something that works, the coaching staff for the next opponent watches tape and takes it away. A blind man can see our deficiencies. We are also down our best player in Trey Smith at the biggest need position on our team, not to mention that two of our best offensive play makers did not play this game. You can only scheme so much when your OL is getting blown up every single snap. And when non-power 5 cupcakes have pushed your OL around for years before the current staff got there, it’s unfair to blame the QB or even the coaching staff when they are still pushing you around in year one.

 

[TennGentry]

SAPP has been consistent ALL YEAR..... the biggest inconsistency is his rotation and the time he is on the field.

I went back to review ALL LINEBACKERS in SEC GAMES. Sapp has out played everyone in SEC games.... with the exception of SC (where he only played 2 snaps in the entire 2nd half).

I remember the talk was LBs was supposingly our strongest unit! LIES!! LBs pad there stats during NON SEC games. Bituli had 13 tackles this week 8 tackles against Alabama’s 2nd team defense!! DK numbers are all from NON SEC games.....during SEC play he is horrible. UGA game should’ve been benched! Bama game he was scared and slow.

Sapp has 8 against Alabama’s first team, played well against UGA, never on field against FLORIDA and very well against AUBURN. He wasn’t s mistake free BUT no one is.

My Rant is because the kid did not have ONE SNAP last night..... this is coaching politics at its best!!!

Found Quartes Mom

 

[JacketVol]

Maybe a little. But I specifically remember them showing the zebras for a while before showing AT on the targeting call. There were a couple others where I was trying to figure out what had just happened and no replay.

I agree. They showed the targeting replay once but I would've like to have seen it several times. Weird thing is they did show the safety play a few times. It was better BUT could still be even more so.

 

[JacketVol]

There is absolutely no need for an ejection. If you want to have a reviewable 15 yarder, so be it, but there is no reason to toss a player where 9 out of 10 times there is no malicious intent.

Toss them if warrented in their judgement OR toss them for the next game after a review by league office. Who I have no faith in as well.

 

[Big Gucci Sosa]

Took this from a post on VQ

Position: National ranking/Position ranking/Stars - Name

WR1: 95/3/4* - Callaway (ranked as ATH)
WR2: -/65/3* - Palmer
WR3: -/13/4* - Jennings (ranked as QB)
LT: -/43/3* - Tatum
LG: JUCO #44/ 3* - Ja. Johnson
C: -/19/4* - Ry. Johnson
RG: -/62/3* - Niehaus
RT: 12/2/5* - Richmond
TE: JUCO #11 - DWA
QB: 37/3/4* - JG
RB: 80/6/4* - Chandler

DE: 32/3/5* - Phillips
DT: 66/8/4* - Tuttle
DE: JUCO #12/ 4* - A. Johnson
JACK: -/-/3* - D. Johnson
WLB: 168/10/4* - Kirkland
MLB: -/18/4* - Bituli
SAM: 243/12/4* - D. Taylor
CB1: 112/4/4* - A. Taylor (ranked as ATH)
CB2: 222/8/4* - Thompson (ranked as ATH)
SS: 92/4/4* - Warrior
FS: -/52/3* - Abernathy

 

[scvolfan7]

I’m willing to give Pruitt six years to fix this program. We are in a bad bad place right now.

As the VQ guys pointed out, when Pruitt got here he asked where the big guys were. He assumed we had a team of a bunch of small fast guys. Turns out they aren’t fast either. So we have a small, slow team of guys that don’t really love football. One recruiting class isn’t going to come close to fixing that.

We’re KY level right now. Maybe even worse. Took stoops time but look where they are now. Took Majors 5 or 6 years to get this thing going again. We need to lose the mentality of “we’re tennessee by god!” We’re not. The tradition and everything are still there obviously but the on the field product is far away from what we expect. Patience will be key

 

[Big Gucci Sosa]

Five years minimum. 6-7 if we ever want to be somewhat relevant again

 

[Aesius]

If given enough time and support, the only way Pruitt doesn't make us nationally competitive again is if he has some glaring personality flaw like Kiffin, Dooley, and Jones had.

Kiffin was immature to a fault. Dooley was arrogant to a fault. And Jones was insecure to a fault (and probably just flat-out dumb).

Pruitt just seems like a no-nonsense old-school football coach who understands what he needs to do to win, which inspires a good bit of confidence in me. He's also an SEC guy with elite coordinator experience, which is almost always preferable. Most good coaches are like that. But of course, it's early in his tenure.

As others have pointed out, even Dooley and Jones were a bad decision or two away from being nationally relevant or at least relevant in the East in year 3/4. And they are terrible coaches. Perhaps Tennessee isn't that difficult to rebuild after all.

 

[Kingston Vol]

Small, weak, slow, and mentally fragile. Can't for the life of me understand why we suck.

To be honest, I’m not sure how entirely fair to some on the line. Some of the guys fit that bill for sure.

But if you think about it - it’s a ****** situation for the players too. These guys were specifically recruited and developed to run a spread offense that prioritized a quick passing game, a mobile QB, and shifty runningbacks that need a small hole wedged for them for a split second.

Now we’re asking those same guys - recruited for that specific system - to be road grading hogs that mow through their assignment, hold that block for multiple seconds, then get to the next level of the defense if possible.

Two completely football strategies - both can be successful if implemented and executed correctly.

The thing is, Alabama doesn’t even run the kind of running game we’re trying to implement anymore. We’re literally asking players suited for a West Virginia, Cincinnatti, Oregon type offense to play like Wisconsin. Of course it doesn’t work.