Recruiting Forum Football Talk VI

[Captain Mitch]

Did Leacock play in the spring game?

 

[Jackcrevol]

Did Leacock play in the spring game?

I recall him having a catch in 1st quarter.

 

[barrylee]

Obviously not a Vol fan. Go play in someone else’s litter box.

Agree but if just once no one gave him the attention he covets, it might go away.

I know it's difficult but we should try..

 

[VOLED]

Will hit you up also

My daughter is an SLP and has been working in skilled nursing facilities for 4 years. She is a UTK grad and would be glad to talk to your daughter, if she wants to.

 

[MemphisVol3]

I said earlier in the spring that I thought maybe we might only have a couple toss-up games this year based on Bill Connelly’s first edition preseason SP+ with those two teams being Alabama and Georgia. I think there are some other games which could be tough, A&M for example. A&M has a lot of talent and the most returning production in the conference. SP+ favors us in that game but I think A&M could be underrated depending on how much dysfunction or lack thereof their coaching staff has to deal with this year. jmo.

I think UF will likely be much improved on defense this year. Napier is sort of like Kirby, Stoops, and Narduzzi. He wants to put a good defense on the field and control the ball on offense. Some UF fans are in dismay with that approach as the thinking is if you don’t have an elite offense nowadays you can’t really play catch up very well if you fall behind on the scoreboard. The problem Napier will have with us is that our defense is designed to stop the run and we were wildly successful at that last year and I think could be even better this year. I think Napier could be a couple years away from having the team he wants. He is doing pretty good in recruiting so far. jmo.

While I think A&M may likely be underrated coming into this year, I think UK and MO are overrated. I think Alabama and probably Georgia are somewhat overrated as to some extent they often are due to their recruiting success. It doesn’t mean they don’t win; it means the margin of their wins is often overestimated in the preseason and I attribute that to the weighting given to their outperformance in recruiting. Alabama is near the bottom of FBS in returning production and has to contend with new coordinators on both sides of the ball as well as fielding a new QB. We’ll also be their 8th game in a row without a bye. Still, their roster is impressive, even a bit intimidating. Georgia has to deal with a new OC (still Kirby’s offense) and a new QB. Georgia should be expected to continue to be elite on defense. jmo.

South Carolina has a new OC and has struggled to field a competent OL. Beamer is working on the OL in recruiting. I think the outcome of last year’s game was the result of a labor dispute on our end and essentially a defensive walkout. We had a defensive stop rate of 70% on the year but against SC our stop rate was 10%. That was mostly on us. Still, they did beat Clemson, so it wasn’t totally a fluke. I think we gave them a lot of confidence. Without exception it seemed their fans were expecting to be annihilated by us before the game. They were ready to not only fire Satterfield but many were ready to move on from Beamer. We gave him a new lease on his job. jmo.

Interestingly, Mike Ekeler in his spring media appearance pointed out that our special teams units were 2nd best in the conference last year and he wants us to be #1. We were 9th best in the nation. The #1 team for special team units in the conference was SC. They were also #1 in the nation last year.

I know it’s popular to make fun of Beamer and Napier but I’m sort of keeping an eye on them because I think they may not turn out to be the jokes that we want them to be. jmo.

On our side, I agree with you in that I was really impressed with Nico in the O&W game. Specifically, I thought he was poised, in control, smart, great vision, very elusive, mobile, great arm, and aggressive. Both he and Joe were throwing into double coverage at times and I don’t know if that’s what we wanted them to do. Halzle says he wants them to be aggressive but not reckless. I’m posting Nico’s O&W film below and I suggest slowing the video down to half-speed (also mute the sound) to see it better. He does a really good job, a lot farther along with the offense than I expected. I’m thinking he’ll probably be ready by the time we get done with fall camp. I could say he’s got Heisman and #1 pick written all over him but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. He reminds me of Bryce Young, only bigger and better. jmo.

I’ve always had hope for Joe simply because unlike Hendon I don’t think Joe ever had early development and I don’t know how coachable he may have been in his younger years. I think he may have always relied on his size, athleticism, and arm talent and no one pushed him beyond that. The thing with Heupel is that he has always had a QB, Sam Bradford and Landry Jones at OU, plus he took Trevor Knight to the Sugar Bowl and beat Alabama. He had Chuckie Keaton at Utah State, Drew Lock at Missouri, and McKenzie Milton and Dillon Gabriel at UCF. Brent Hubbs said he thought we’d miss Hendon’s elusiveness this year with Joe. I think one of the extraordinary traits Hendon has is his competitiveness. Joe said he was focused on having fun which is probably what Halzle wants him to focus on right now. Make mistakes and fail forward. Halzle said last year one issue he had to correct with Hendon was Hendon was all business on the football field but on the basketball court he was the best player and (maybe because) he had fun playing so Joey told him he wanted him to play football the way he played basketball. Obviously, that instruction paid off. jmo.

Also in the video below I think you can see that often we’re playing much tighter coverage in the secondary, something we seemingly didn’t often do last year, especially against our more talented opponents. I’ve assumed that the staff on that side of the ball hasn’t been all that trusting of the DBs we’ve had/have matching up with NFL receivers, so we may or may not see that when we take the field in the fall against better QBs. jmo.

One last note. Over the years I’ve had this ongoing argument with Bill Connelly regarding the importance of OL returning production. Everyone it seems recognizes that OL is a developmental group and the general rule is that it takes 3 years to develop an offensive lineman. Connelly before going to ESPN maintained that he found no correlation between OL returning production and the expected offensive performance for that year. Well, he has now had a change of mind. I note this because, Drinkwitz “fired” his OL coach after their spring practice, Kentucky really struggled with their OL last year (#107 rushing last year) and haven’t solve it yet for this year. SC and UF are also at the moment a good ways from having quality OLs for the coming season. SC couldn’t run the ball last year either (#106 in the nation). UF seems to have lost just about everybody to either the NFL or the portal. We’ve got Cooper Mays so even though we lost Carvin and Wright I actually think we could improve on the OL this year, mostly because according to Elarbee Carvin was playing hurt last year. Coop says we’re not there yet which I find encouraging. He knows where we need to get to and I trust him to get us there. jmo.

Spoiler: Bill Connelly - Offensive Line

View attachment 546894

All good points and I appreciate your analysis as always @ChattaTNVol …regarding Nico, I think you’re spot on. A coach that coached he and Bryce Young made the exact same comparison. Said Nico was essentially a bigger and better version of Bryce Young. Really expect big things from him during his career here.

 

[barrylee]

Thought we would hear by now if we have anyone hitting the portal.
Does anyone here have the 411?

 

[MoCo_Vol]

@ChattaTNVol continues to be my favorite poster, please respect my decision and don't at me.

I will say this, I think last year the defensive side of the ball had some bad apples. And with our lack of depth, lack of recruiting, lack of development, and limited scholarships the staff had to put up with a lot of it. That game at South Carolina was 100% on the defense. I think that side of the ball is going to be MUCH improved this year. The younger talent that just came in isn't looking to sit on the bench or play special teams, they are hungry.

I also think RG is the best positional coach in the SEC and I believe Glenn is also one of the best. So if you have 2 of your best coaches working both sides of the LOS and you're landing great talent there...well you can win in this conference. I also think our pass rush is going to be fun to watch. Roman will have a big year, Pearce, Josephs, Herring, West, Hobbs, Omari, Norman-Lott, Baron, Eason, Bailey so many pieces on that DL that can be moved around and switched up. We have a top SEC level DL based on size & talent, and this will be the season where it really shows up IMO.

LB talent is at an all time high, just enough experience there too. Beasley has been the prototype for developing every year, and you bring in another great mentor with Pili. I'm excited to see what the young talent does as well. Herring, Perry, Telander, Smith, & Carter. This group could be really special as well next year especially (assuming we don't lose much in portal).

 

[drvenner]

My daughter is an SLP and has been working in skilled nursing facilities for 4 years. She is a UTK grad and would be glad to talk to your daughter, if she wants to.

VN is so awesome!! We will see how it goes this year, but if she continues on this path, I will definitely ask for some contact information.

 

[drvenner]

Wonder if Milligan does?

No idea. I hear it's a pretty good school, though.

 

[Ron Swanson]

 

[Adam Sandler]

Large Prospect. Want.

 

[Adam Sandler]

The month of June will decide where this class lands. I’m hoping for a top 5 class, 92+ average graded prospect, and with the talent scheduled for officials already, think those hopes are totally realistic.

 

[Jackcrevol]

 

[you]

I said earlier in the spring that I thought maybe we might only have a couple toss-up games this year based on Bill Connelly’s first edition preseason SP+ with those two teams being Alabama and Georgia. I think there are some other games which could be tough, A&M for example. A&M has a lot of talent and the most returning production in the conference. SP+ favors us in that game but I think A&M could be underrated depending on how much dysfunction or lack thereof their coaching staff has to deal with this year. jmo.

I think UF will likely be much improved on defense this year. Napier is sort of like Kirby, Stoops, and Narduzzi. He wants to put a good defense on the field and control the ball on offense. Some UF fans are in dismay with that approach as the thinking is if you don’t have an elite offense nowadays you can’t really play catch up very well if you fall behind on the scoreboard. The problem Napier will have with us is that our defense is designed to stop the run and we were wildly successful at that last year and I think could be even better this year. I think Napier could be a couple years away from having the team he wants. He is doing pretty good in recruiting so far. jmo.

While I think A&M may likely be underrated coming into this year, I think UK and MO are overrated. I think Alabama and probably Georgia are somewhat overrated as to some extent they often are due to their recruiting success. It doesn’t mean they don’t win; it means the margin of their wins is often overestimated in the preseason and I attribute that to the weighting given to their outperformance in recruiting. Alabama is near the bottom of FBS in returning production and has to contend with new coordinators on both sides of the ball as well as fielding a new QB. We’ll also be their 8th game in a row without a bye. Still, their roster is impressive, even a bit intimidating. Georgia has to deal with a new OC (still Kirby’s offense) and a new QB. Georgia should be expected to continue to be elite on defense. jmo.

South Carolina has a new OC and has struggled to field a competent OL. Beamer is working on the OL in recruiting. I think the outcome of last year’s game was the result of a labor dispute on our end and essentially a defensive walkout. We had a defensive stop rate of 70% on the year but against SC our stop rate was 10%. That was mostly on us. Still, they did beat Clemson, so it wasn’t totally a fluke. I think we gave them a lot of confidence. Without exception it seemed their fans were expecting to be annihilated by us before the game. They were ready to not only fire Satterfield but many were ready to move on from Beamer. We gave him a new lease on his job. jmo.

Interestingly, Mike Ekeler in his spring media appearance pointed out that our special teams units were 2nd best in the conference last year and he wants us to be #1. We were 9th best in the nation. The #1 team for special team units in the conference was SC. They were also #1 in the nation last year.

I know it’s popular to make fun of Beamer and Napier but I’m sort of keeping an eye on them because I think they may not turn out to be the jokes that we want them to be. jmo.

On our side, I agree with you in that I was really impressed with Nico in the O&W game. Specifically, I thought he was poised, in control, smart, great vision, very elusive, mobile, great arm, and aggressive. Both he and Joe were throwing into double coverage at times and I don’t know if that’s what we wanted them to do. Halzle says he wants them to be aggressive but not reckless. I’m posting Nico’s O&W film below and I suggest slowing the video down to half-speed (also mute the sound) to see it better. He does a really good job, a lot farther along with the offense than I expected. I’m thinking he’ll probably be ready by the time we get done with fall camp. I could say he’s got Heisman and #1 pick written all over him but I don’t want to get ahead of myself. He reminds me of Bryce Young, only bigger and better. jmo.

I’ve always had hope for Joe simply because unlike Hendon I don’t think Joe ever had early development and I don’t know how coachable he may have been in his younger years. I think he may have always relied on his size, athleticism, and arm talent and no one pushed him beyond that. The thing with Heupel is that he has always had a QB, Sam Bradford and Landry Jones at OU, plus he took Trevor Knight to the Sugar Bowl and beat Alabama. He had Chuckie Keaton at Utah State, Drew Lock at Missouri, and McKenzie Milton and Dillon Gabriel at UCF. Brent Hubbs said he thought we’d miss Hendon’s elusiveness this year with Joe. I think one of the extraordinary traits Hendon has is his competitiveness. Joe said he was focused on having fun which is probably what Halzle wants him to focus on right now. Make mistakes and fail forward. Halzle said last year one issue he had to correct with Hendon was Hendon was all business on the football field but on the basketball court he was the best player and (maybe because) he had fun playing so Joey told him he wanted him to play football the way he played basketball. Obviously, that instruction paid off. jmo.

Also in the video below I think you can see that often we’re playing much tighter coverage in the secondary, something we seemingly didn’t often do last year, especially against our more talented opponents. I’ve assumed that the staff on that side of the ball hasn’t been all that trusting of the DBs we’ve had/have matching up with NFL receivers, so we may or may not see that when we take the field in the fall against better QBs. jmo.

One last note. Over the years I’ve had this ongoing argument with Bill Connelly regarding the importance of OL returning production. Everyone it seems recognizes that OL is a developmental group and the general rule is that it takes 3 years to develop an offensive lineman. Connelly before going to ESPN maintained that he found no correlation between OL returning production and the expected offensive performance for that year. Well, he has now had a change of mind. I note this because, Drinkwitz “fired” his OL coach after their spring practice, Kentucky really struggled with their OL last year (#107 rushing last year) and haven’t solve it yet for this year. SC and UF are also at the moment a good ways from having quality OLs for the coming season. SC couldn’t run the ball last year either (#106 in the nation). UF seems to have lost just about everybody to either the NFL or the portal. We’ve got Cooper Mays so even though we lost Carvin and Wright I actually think we could improve on the OL this year, mostly because according to Elarbee Carvin was playing hurt last year. Coop says we’re not there yet which I find encouraging. He knows where we need to get to and I trust him to get us there. jmo.

Spoiler: Bill Connelly - Offensive Line

View attachment 546894

Thanks for your posts… don’t go MIA on us again

 

[UTSuave’]

 

[Wickman]

Money him

 

[TN-POSSUM]

@Jackcrevol... I think this gif is a little more appropriate for 6'7" 300 lbs.

 

[UTSuave’]

Tbf losing is never fun and if you're celebrating while getting yoir butt kicked, you may just be a clown.

Win, then the vibes will turn. Don't and it's a vicious cycle.

Quoted the wrong post but I get it…I’m just saying in reference to body language…they don’t seem invested as much during the game wether they’re losing Or ahead…it’s almost like they know any team is about to mount a come back and leads aren’t safe.the few times we were down last year we we’re giving the opposing team hell scrapping back with a lot of confidence in ourselves …this team seems like they has no confidence

 

[Jackcrevol]

@Jackcrevol... I think this gif is a little more appropriate for 6'7" 300 lbs. View attachment 546908

Ahhh, Pancakes. Nice.

 

[DeepPurpleFloyd]

Large Prospect. Want.

 

[StoVol]

Definitely git sum here

 

[volfaninpa]

Thought we would hear by now if we have anyone hitting the portal.
Does anyone here have the 411?

Hubbs said he thought 2-4 would enter the portal in the next couple of weeks.

 

[Adam Sandler]

View attachment 546910

@Glitch is going to be mad you got to it first

 

[BigSteve09]

Rough spring game…looks very average…

Play 1: Delay of Game but they let it go, complete

Play 2: worse version of the rollout and over-the-shoulder pass that Nico made in our spring game, incomplete

Play 3: Throwaway, incomplete

Play 4: nice scramble but he'll get killed running right down the middle of the field and not sliding

Play 5: offense moving with the incorporation of the run game

Play 6: Incompletion to the RB out of the backfield but not QB fault, incomplete

Play 7: play blown up by D, got rid of it ok, incomplete [Sark obviously getting frustrated with his DC at this point]

Play 8: blitz up the middle, nowhere to go, tries to get it to WR on the outside, safe placement of an iffy ball, incomplete

Play 9: over the middle to nobody, incomplete (1/7 at this point)

Play 10: tried to get it downfield on the run, incomplete, probably will get his shoulder killed trying these plays in game

Play 11: good poise, bullet over the middle, complete, most impressive pass thus far. should be noted it was third down and it was a complete ball to an 8 yard route just shirt of the first down line/defenders

Play 12: nice run, good RB

Play 13: pass low and behind WR, complete

Play 14: good run for RB

Play 15: probably a sack in real game, overthrows WR anyway, incomplete

Play 16: nice snag of a very high snap, hand off, nothing play

Play 17: meh run for RB

Play 18: half ass pass rush, finds open man and puts it on numbers but the WR drops it, incomplete

Final: 3/12 for ~25 yards

He's still young, needs a lot of development. Texas defense looked good though.

 

[SpringBokVol]

I think UF and Bama have QB issues.

UGA might not be great at QB either.

UGA and Bama taking a step back for sure.