Recruiting Forum Football Talk XXXIV

[nicksjuzunk]

**post from 2 years ago**

You're not lying 😂

 

[Darth_Shiveman]

Man what a weekend for the Vols, right?

Jones and Murphy were cleared, so no worries on that front anymore.

We got both of the top RBs on our board (both of whom have very complementary skill sets, IMO and seem excited to play together)

We added more muscle to a DL haul that seems to have as much promise as any I can remember in the last decade or more perhaps.


Team 121 seems to be fairly healthy heading into the second leg of summer workouts. Just gotta keep the focus, keep grinding, and hopefully hit the ground running once camp roles around in August.

 

[Glitch]

Where's Glitch?

Been really busy. Started my new job and studying for my licensing exams. I've been doing a little lurking but I haven't been able to keep up with anywhere near all the threads. It'll be a while before I post regularly again.

The recent booms are fantastic and I am going to give a bulk boom so I can relax and drink a little rum before I get back to studying in the morning. GBMFO!!!

BOOOOOOOM!!!!

 

[Darth_Shiveman]

I think we go 9-3 as well.

The West losing streak continues but we either beat UF in the Swamp or make it three in a row vs UGA.

We finish 2nd in the East again and win the Citrus Bowl. And there will still be a fairly large contingent of Vols fans who will want Butch fired after going 10-3.

I'm thinking 9-3 as well. Just not sure who exactly the 3 losses are. I could see us getting an upset against a team we're not favored against like UF or LSU (crossing my fingers for Bama, somehow), but also dropping a game to a dark horse team like USCe or UK. Or maybe even starting out with a loss against GT and then hitting the ground running once we face more conventional opponents.

 

[nicksjuzunk]

I'm thinking 9-3 as well. Just not sure who exactly the 3 losses are. I could see us getting an upset against a team we're not favored against like UF or LSU (crossing my fingers for Bama, somehow), but also dropping a game to a dark horse team like USCe or UK. Or maybe even starting out with a loss against GT and then hitting the ground running once we face more conventional opponents.

I'm in the same boat. My brain tells me 2 losses, but another one between UGA and FL, though I like us against both.

Ever the optimist, there is probably a sneaky loss in there as well that should have been a win

9-3 / 8-4

 

[Rishvol]

I'm in the same boat. My brain tells me 2 losses, but another one between UGA and FL, though I like us against both.

Ever the optimist, there is probably a sneaky loss in there as well that should have been a win

9-3 / 8-4

If you would just kill the cobra we'd have nothing to worry about

 

[Catbone]

7-5 or 8-4 if we stay healthy.

 

[volatil]

7-5 or 8-4 if we stay healthy.

Ouch

You better duck

 

[Blake25p]

7-5 or 8-4 if we stay healthy.

Not very optimistic I see

 

[volatil]

3 losses

2 of them to Bama. Split with LSU/UGA


11-3

 

[Aesius]

7-5 or 8-4 if we stay healthy.

5-7, but we'll finish with the 2nd best APR, so go ahead and buy those Birmingham Bowl tickets, folks!

 

[Mullins2010]

7-5 or 8-4 if we stay healthy.

Goodness

 

[Catbone]

vs GT-? New stadium. Monday. Hype. Away. I see this one as 50/50 because it'll be a first start for our new QB

vs Ind St-W duh

@ Fla-L First true road game for new QB, he may struggle. Close game but FL pulls out an ugly win

vs UMass-W duh

vs UGA-L Revenge on UGA mind. Not sold on Kirby, but they return so many starters it's hard to pick against the likely SEC E favorites.

vs USCe-W At home we finally knock off Muschamp.

@Ala-L **** Bama.

@KY-W It's Kentucky.

vs Sou Miss-W duh.

@Mizzou-W Their defense will suck.

vs LSU-L Another close loss, they ultimately wear us down on defense.

@Vandy-W Open a can of whip ass on them in revenge.

Jmo

 

[Mullins2010]

vs GT-? New stadium. Away. I see this one as 50/50 because it'll be a first start for our new QB

vs Ind St-W duh

@ Fla-L First true road game for new QB, he may struggle. Close game but FL pulls out an ugly win

vs UMass-W duh

vs UGA-L Revenge on UGA mind. Not sold on Kirby, but they return so many starters it's hard to pick against the likely SEC E favorites.

vs USCe-W At home we finally knock off Muschamp.

@Ala-L **** Bama.

@KY-W It's Kentucky.

vs Sou Miss-W duh.

@Mizzou-W Their defense will suck.

vs LSU-L Another close loss, they ultimately wear us down on defense.

@Vandy-W Open a can of whip ass on them in revenge.

7-5 or 8-4

I see 9-3 IMO...LSU is 50/50 with Ed O in charge

 

[Ron Swanson]

Butch needs to get to Atlanta this fall or the hot seat talk will be on fire even if we thump another second tier B10 team in a bowl game.

 

[SouthKnoxVOL]

That first game against GT in the new stadium will not feel like an away game... I guarantee that stadium will be 70% vol fans.

 

[Catbone]

If we stay healthy I think thats possible to win the East. Im mostly concerned about the DL vs run heavy teams. And obviously we will have our ups and downs with QD or JG, especially early in year as they're settling in

 

[Aesius]

Butch needs to get to Atlanta this fall or the hot seat talk will be on fire even if we thump another second tier B10 team in a bowl game.

Nah...I don't think ATL is the expectation this year. We lost too much from 2016. 2018 will be another prime year to make a run because of what should be excellent depth on the OL and DL and a second-year QB.

My prediction is that Butch doesn't win the East the next two years but does just enough to make it extremely hard for Currie to fire him. Something like back-to-back 10-win seasons (with bowl wins) and maybe even a win vs Bama. We're gonna be sitting here in the summer of 2019 having the same debate, IMO.

 

[Ulysees E. McGill]

If we stay healthy I think thats possible to win the East. Im mostly concerned about the DL vs run heavy teams. And obviously we will have our ups and downs with QD or JG, especially early in year as they're settling in

I pretty much see it going like you. I know your going to get crap for this, but the possible weaknesses you mention are not imaginary. I also however feel like there is a good chance that those same weak areas could very well turn out to be strengths instead, and could therefore lead to a really good season. I think anywhere from 7-5 to 10-2 is possible depending on how that works out...Of course key injuries, or weak development in certain areas could derail everything...lets hope not.

 

[Aesius]

If we stay healthy I think thats possible to win the East. Im mostly concerned about the DL vs run heavy teams. And obviously we will have our ups and downs with QD or JG, especially early in year as they're settling in

Worst case scenario on the DL:

Alexis Johnson is a non-factor (worried this is going to be the case)
Picou isn't really SEC-caliber
Tuttle never gets back to 100%
No one steps up at DE and we have no pass rush

Maybe we'll get lucky and one of the summer enrollees will be the second-coming of Derek Barnett.

 

[jave36]

Nah...I don't think ATL is the expectation this year. We lost too much from 2016. 2018 will be another prime year to make a run because of what should be excellent depth on the OL and DL and a second-year QB.

My prediction is that Butch doesn't win the East the next two years but does just enough to make it extremely hard for Currie to fire him. Something like back-to-back 10-win seasons (with bowl wins) and maybe even a win vs Bama. We're gonna be sitting here in the summer of 2019 having the same debate, IMO.

Butch gets fired in 2018 if he misses Atlanta the next 2 years, imo. I think he gets there in 2018 though. Having Bama and LSU is bad luck this year, so I think we miss it this year with 3 losses after splitting UGA/UF

 

[Darth_Shiveman]

Staying healthy on the DL will be a huge factor. If we stay mostly healthy, I think the defense should improve enough to be solid and keep QD/JG from having to do too much. If we lose a bunch of guys on the DL again and have to rely on too many of the younger guys, then yeah things could get rough quick.

I'm not sure this team is built to play from behind like we did so much last year. We kind of got away from Butch-ball last year. Playing field position, avoiding turnovers, making opposing offenses drive the length of the field, capitalizing on short fields thanks to solid special teams play....that's the way we'll see this team win IMO.

 

[jave36]

Staying healthy on the DL will be a huge factor. If we stay mostly healthy, I think the defense should improve enough to be solid and keep QD/JG from having to do too much. If we lose a bunch of guys on the DL again and have to rely on too many of the younger guys, then yeah things could get rough quick.

I'm not sure this team is built to play from behind like we did so much last year. We kind of got away from Butch-ball last year. Playing field position, avoiding turnovers, making opposing offenses drive the length of the field, capitalizing on short fields thanks to solid special teams play....that's the way we'll see this team win IMO.

Unless Mahoney was just truly a horrific coach and/or Wells is just truly elite, I don't see that terrible pass blocking OL giving our new QB any breaks. Returning a bunch of players who were bad isn't usually a good thing, but maybe Mahoney really was just a terrible coach and Wells can help us improve

 

[Darth_Shiveman]

Worst case scenario on the DL:

Alexis Johnson is a non-factor (worried this is going to be the case)
Picou isn't really SEC-caliber
Tuttle never gets back to 100%
No one steps up at DE and we have no pass rush

Maybe we'll get lucky and one of the summer enrollees will be the second-coming of Derek Barnett.

I'm worried about the same with Johnson...he's a big unknown at this point and I thought Bain actually looked better in the spring.

Also worried about Tuttle's health. I'd almost rather we miss him the first 3-4 games and have him healthy for the backend than vice versa.

I'm not sure Picou will ever be an every down guy, but I think he'll be able to contribute rotationally at the very least (which is also important). Probably don't want him as DT#1 ideally though.

Regardless of how Picou, Johnson, and Bain turn out, we'll get more out of them at DT than we did guys like Kongbo or Phillips, IMO. Especially against the run.


DE is more worrisome IMO. Phillips, Kongbo, Taylor should be a solid top 3, but Phillips has to stay healthy and we need 1-2 freshmen to be able to step up and contribute rotationally. Hopefully Butler is as good as we're hoping he'll be.

 

[Darth_Shiveman]

Unless Mahoney was just truly a horrific coach and/or Wells is just truly elite, I don't see that terrible pass blocking OL giving our new QB any breaks. Returning a bunch of players who were bad isn't usually a good thing, but maybe Mahoney really was just a terrible coach and Wells can help us improve

Experience against SEC defenses counts for a lot on the OL. That 2012-2013 OL we had that played so well was mostly the same guys for 3-4 years and was pretty bad in 2010-2011.

My hope with the OL is that the experience factor along with what should be better competition and position battles than we've seen over the past few years will lead to them being more solid this year.

We should actually have the depth to rest guys dealing with nagging injuries this year. Hopefully that should help as well.

But yeah, I won't be sold on the OL being a strength until we actually see it this year. On paper, it should be a strong point. But same could've been said last year.