Shades of 2002 (sure hope not)

[GenNeyland9]

The last time UT was this highly ranked and hyped to begin a season was 2002. Consider the similarities:

Coming off an impressive blowout win in a New Year's Day Bowl game over a very good program. (45-17 over Michigan in Citrus, 38-7 over A&M in Cotton)

Riding momentum from a consensus top 5 recruiting class. ('02 class with Banks, Riggs, Hannon, Haralson, Mapu; '05 with Morley, Coker, Crompton, et. al.)

Tons of injuries and distractions in off-season. ('02 was like a MASH unit, Kelley Washington nicknamed himself "the future," and players left early for the NFL; '05 has already had a ton of injuries as well, most notably Gandy, and has had all the off the field problems we're all tired of hearing about)

Talking about uniform changes because it's what the players want. ('02 we went with those terrible striped pants; '05 is talking about wearing black shoes and black socks)

Florida has a new coach . . .

Those are just a few that came to mind. I love UT being ranked highly to start the season, but '02 taught me to be extremely cautious about being overhyped. The good news is, from what I can tell, the '05 squad is more disciplined, harder working, more team-oriented, has great leadership, and many chose to stay in school rather than leave for the NFL (see Donte Stallworth and Albert Haynesworth). Also, I think most of our injured and off the field problem players will be ready for the start of the season.

Let's hope for a repeat of '98, rather than '02.

 

[IBleedOrange24/7]

Coincidence..........Lets pray!

Gandy is almost healthy, should return by atleast the Fla game.

Uniforms, I like what we've got. Though the shoe issue could be from more from fans than players? Many felt like they came off to easy, and looked like laundry on the field. I personaly liked the O/W adidas from last season. Either way its still going to be an adidas shoe, But the black looks a bit more old school.

Atleast this season, we dont have an injury riddled self proclaimed superstar. <_<

 

[BeltwayVol]

Well, I take exception to both of your opinions of the KW situation.

First of all, he did not give himself the nickname "The Future". ESPN gave it to him. He made a comment that said, "I feel like I&#39;m what receivers are gonna be like in the future." When he made that comment, ESPN the magazine took it and ran with it by writing the story that exposed that some of the defensive players that he embarassed in practice, didn&#39;t like him. Well BIG surprise.

BleedOrange- He also never proclamied himself a superstar. He was confident in his ability, but he never called himself a superstar. Had you known him personally, you would know just how down to earth he was as a human being. As for injury riddled, he BROKE HIS NECK. That&#39;s worth a few weeks off, and he is damn lucky to have a job in the NFL.

All that being said. I do not see similarities between this season and 05. I could list as many differences, as there are coincidences here. The shoes thing is a bit of a streatch, don&#39;t you think?

 

[surrealvol]

It always scares me when we are ranked this high. For some reason it always seems to undermine the motivation factor just a bit.

 

[IBleedOrange24/7]

How is replying to an uniform change including the shoes, a STRETCH?
While adding i was a fan of the O/W, that had a tendency to come off alot, To the new Black shoe that has more of a classic look.
As for KW, I never cared for his attitude, Again another QB hopeful turned WR tends to cause bad feelings. Now i will say that WR is his natural position. Injuries there was also some knee problems along with the head (neck) injury.
In 2 seasons he only made 15 games, Before leaving UT. :clap:

 

[newjersey4vols]

I think discipline is going to be key for them this year. I&#39;m still scared we&#39;re going to lose some good talent over stupid "off-season" mistakes. And then we&#39;ll have to hear a bunch of Spurrier&#39;s stupid barbs. (which will make it more fun to beat them thoroughly)javascript:emoticon(&#39;&#39

 

[NCGatorBait]

I still dont believe my wallet has dried out from those downpours in Neyland that day. That would be some nice Deja Vu though&#33;

 

[BeltwayVol]

Originally posted by IBleedOrange24/7@Jul 22, 2005 7:19 PM
How is replying to an uniform change including the shoes, a STRETCH?
While adding i was a fan of the O/W, that had a tendency to come off alot, To the new Black shoe that has more of a classic look.
As for KW, I never cared for his attitude, Again another QB hopeful turned WR tends to cause bad feelings. Now i will say that WR is his natural position. Injuries there was also some knee problems along with the head (neck) injury.
In 2 seasons he only made 15 games, Before leaving UT. :clap:

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And he STILL was the most athletic WR to play at Tennessee, the last 10+ years AT LEAST. Whether you liked him or not.

A minor league baseball player- turned WR- thats best sport is basketball.

 

[OldVol]

Originally posted by BeltwayVol@Jul 22, 2005 4:41 PM
Well, I take exception to both of your opinions of the KW situation.

First of all, he did not give himself the nickname "The Future".  ESPN gave it to him.  He made a comment that said, "I feel like I&#39;m what receivers are gonna be like in the future."  When he made that comment, ESPN the magazine took it and ran with it by writing the story that exposed that some of the defensive players that he embarassed in practice, didn&#39;t like him.  Well BIG surprise.

BleedOrange- He also never proclamied himself a superstar.  He was confident in his ability, but he never called himself a superstar.  Had you known him personally, you would know just how down to earth he was as a human being. As for injury riddled, he BROKE HIS NECK.  That&#39;s worth a few weeks off, and he is damn lucky to have a job in the NFL.

All that being said.  I do not see similarities between this season and 05.  I could list as many differences, as there are coincidences here.  The shoes thing is a bit of a streatch, don&#39;t you think?

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So, did Fox Sports give him the Squirrel Dance he did on the BDSSP?

I guess Tom Arnlold taught him those moves.

 

[BeltwayVol]

No, that has been his endzone dance since he turned pro.

You have a problem with endzone dances? You are "Old".

 

[OldVol]

Originally posted by BeltwayVol@Jul 22, 2005 10:34 PM
No, that has been his endzone dance since he turned pro.

You have a problem with endzone dances?  You are "Old".

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Wrong. I watched his very first appearance on the BDSSP. They asked him what his endzone dance would look like and he auditioned the Squirrel.

He did the dance before he had even been to mini-camp.

He hasn&#39;t had the opportunity to do it much in the league.

And yes, I&#39;m not a real fan of end zone dances.

I think when you get to the end zone you should act like it isn&#39;t your first time.

 

[BeltwayVol]

No, sorry. The time he did the dance on the BDSSP was after he had done it in a game. They showed clips of him doing it, and he was trying to teach the others on the show how to do it.

Arguing something about Kelley Washington with me is about as futile as me trying to get you to understand why rap music is an art.

I&#39;m a big fan of his, bigger because of people like the others here that unfairly judged him simply because he didn&#39;t fit into the "good ole boy network&#39;s" mold of what a player at UT SHOULD be.

 

[volmanbill]

Kelly Washington was a cancer. Period. If you recall, C. Clausen was attacked by many (fans, media) that year. His teamates quickly stood up for him and his character and work ethic. Not one of them uttered a single word to defend K.W. I wonder why? :question: What good did he ever do for UT? Oh yeah....he left.

 

[BeltwayVol]

Careful there bill, wouldnt want those stones to hit your glass house.

 

[volmanbill]

Uhhh...whatever that means. What? Are you his cousin? Agent? you have your opinion...that&#39;s fine, I&#39;ve got no problem with that. I have mine and interestingly enough my 9 yo son and I were just talking about KW in the past couple of days. He agrees with me so thats at least 3 ppl who share that same opinion. I would not wish another KW on any UT team. Way more trouble than potential...which btw...is still unfullfilled. IMHO. eace2:

 

[OldVol]

Originally posted by BeltwayVol@Jul 22, 2005 10:51 PM
No, sorry.  The time he did the dance on the BDSSP was after he had done it in a game.  They showed clips of him doing it, and he was trying to teach the others on the show how to do it.

Arguing something about Kelley Washington with me is about as futile as me trying to get you to understand why rap music is an art. 

I&#39;m a big fan of his, bigger because of people like the others here that unfairly judged him simply because he didn&#39;t fit into the "good ole boy network&#39;s" mold of what a player at UT SHOULD be.

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Well, you must have seen a different show.

The show I&#39;m speaking of was only 2 or 3 days after the draft. He was on the show and Tom Arnold asked him what his dance would be like.

He had never even been in an NFL practice, much less a game.

I&#39;m not down on Kelly. I do think he was a distraction on the team. Some of his teammates said as much, so I&#39;ll take their word for it. If only a handful of his teammates disliked his bravado, then that is a distraction. The team simply emploded. I don&#39;t blame Kelly for it all but he was part of the problem.

College football should be played with class.

If others want to call you the future, then that&#39;s just great. I do know that I heard him refer to himself as the future on more than one occasion. Still, I&#39;m not going to call him a cancer or any thing of the such. He was simply a distraction, the loudest personality on a team that horribly under achieved and most likely because of his bragging he received an unfair amount of the blame.

But I do know what I&#39;m talking about as it relates to the BDSSP because I watched it and thought it quite silly to perform an endzone dance before ever getting ther. I do think they were laughing at him and not with him. I really felt sorry for him.

I certainly do wish him the best and hope he has a breakout year this year. I always check for his stats to see how he&#39;s doing and will continue to pull for the young man. Squirrel and all, he&#39;s always a Vol as far as I&#39;m concerned.

 

[vols2345]

Sorry to tell yall but we aren&#39;t going to be ranked that high going into the season. I am saying we will be 10th pre-season. No one is going to rank us all that high with all of this offseason stuff happening. Plus I think this will be better for everyone.

 

[9296potsguy]

I thought KW was the one that tricked Donte Stallworth into entering the draft early. :dunno:

 

[BeltwayVol]

Yeah, he was. He was also the one that knocked Shuler out of the NFL, cost Peyton the Super Bowl, and made Leonard Little Drink and Drive. :banghead: :neener:

There are differing stories about the Donte deal. Regardless who you like, why is a grown man (Donte), letting another grown man (Kelley) tell him what to do when it comes to his career? Also, I never understood why they both would have wanted to leave together anyway. Obviously if one left, the other one would have a good year by staying back at UT. In the end, Donte made the right decision, and I wish Kelley had left too, so he wouldn&#39;t have ended up breakign his neck.

OldVol- Look for Kelley to make more of an impact this season. He has been working hard, and improving, and they are working him into the offense more and more. He&#39;s scored 7 times in the NFL, and after Warrick broke his leg last season, he has been used more and more as the third option behind Chad and T.J.

 

[milohimself]

Originally posted by vols2345@Jul 23, 2005 5:48 AM
Sorry to tell yall but we aren&#39;t going to be ranked that high going into the season.  I am saying we will be 10th pre-season.  No one is going to rank us all that high with all of this offseason stuff happening.  Plus I think this will be better for everyone.

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I&#39;d think higher than that, my man. I&#39;m guessing 5th-8th.

 

[BeltwayVol]

Originally posted by volmanbill@Jul 23, 2005 12:14 AM
Uhhh...whatever that means. What? Are you his cousin? Agent? you have your opinion...that&#39;s fine, I&#39;ve got no problem with that. I have mine and interestingly enough my 9 yo son and I were just talking about KW in the past couple of days. He agrees with me so thats at least 3 ppl who share that same opinion. I would not wish another KW on any UT team. Way more trouble than potential...which btw...is still unfullfilled. IMHO.  eace2:

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I&#39;m none of those things to him, but I have met him. I also know what Coach Fulmer thinks of him. You are entitled to your opinion of Kelley, and so is OldVol and myself. I&#39;m not trying to take that away, or change your minds. However, I&#39;m also saying that unless you KNOW someone, it is kinder human nature, not to label them. Even your son, who was 4 or 5 when Kelley stepped on UT&#39;s campus is entitled to his opinion. We&#39;ve all shared ours, and since coach Fulmer isn&#39;t here, I&#39;ll share his....

"It creates that competitive fire," said coach Phil Fulmer of Washington&#39;s actions at Tennessee. "He challenges the DBs, and I think that makes them better. He knows exactly what he&#39;s doing."

To be fair, Julian Battle (the corner that he burned in practice every day), had this to say, "His antics might help some," Battle said, "but at a certain point it breaks down the team, makes us compete against each other. We&#39;re supposed to be a team."

Fellow Defensive back Jabari Greer might have had the best quote on Washington when he said, "You learn to either love him or hate him. But either way, you have to respect him."

 

[Jmxvol]

&#39;02 would have been a lot different with #4 at Reciever along with Kdub.