SIAP John Crompton tells Bama fans...

[Wylo]

Hate to be the one to break it to you guys, but
many former players don't hate Alabama or any other school. They also don't hate Kiffin.

Kiffin broke our hearts, but most of you would
leave any other school to coach UT. He is not the best talent evaluator, that much is clear. He did us a favor.

Only fans take this so personally.

 

[thebjd]

I never understood all the hate for Clausen. Was it because he wasn't Peyton or Tee? Honestly, he won me over in his first game against Bama when he got his helmet ripped off and kept scrambling for a first down.

As for Crompton, Kiffin did help him look better than he did previously, so his comments make sense to me. Crompton bought into what Kiffin was selling and it helped him get to the pros, regardless of how many times he has been cut. Another Vol that fans love to rag on, Marsalis Teague, did well as a receiver under Kiffin as a freshman. Then when Dooley came in, he asked Teague to move to DB in the fall of 2010....

Many of us Vol fans bought into Lane and I believe we are still paying for doing so. Especially after watching Tajh Boyd, Bryce Petty, and the DC leadership of John Chavis at LSU. That's where my bitterness toward Kiffin comes in, I guess, from all that has been lost.

The Clausen issues really go to those teams and he was the leader. The bowl performances against mediocre ACC teams. The way we lost to Alabama, Miami and Florida at home. A big portion is also what seemed like missed opportunity as well. There should have been a couple of SEC titles and a BCS trip from one of his teams. I think he was way better than Tee as a QB. The pre-snap clap and foot stomp prior to the bubble screen was great though.

 

[utvolpj]

I'll give the little weasel props for good game there.

I'll also add that gem of a game 2 weeks later against ole miss.

D. McCluster 25 att 282 yrds 11.3 avg 4 td 71 long.

no one ever claimed it was all gumdrops and lollipops that season but there was some solid play and coaching. Something we did see for a few years after LK left

 

[BowlBrother85]

There seems to be a lot of Kiffin apologists on here and for his football acumen perhaps some good points can be made in his defense but he has never been taken to task for exactly what he told Lacey Pearl Earps to do with Bryce Brown on his visits. According to Armen Keteyien's book "The System" in which she was dubbed "The Closer" Kiffin asked if she would be willing to have sex with him or if she knew anyone else that would have sex with recruits. There is a very ugly word for what this could make Kiffin that I won't use but I would love to hear an Alabama fan or anyone on this board defend it....or his Alshon Jeffery gas pumping comment or the Willie Lyles/Lache Seastrunk recruitment or his accusations of cheating against Florida over Nu'Kees Richardson or his voting USC #1 and then lying about it or deflating footballs...hell it just goes on and on. It is possible to hate this guy for reasons having nothing to do with football.

 

[imavolfan]

I think I watched that 30 times and laughed every time. lol:lol:

 

[HBCButch]

In all honesty, Kiffin did help Crompton.

Helped him do what? Any Vol that's ok with how Kiffin left UT is no Vol. It's just as simple as that. Maybe IQ tests should be on the horizon for players. It takes a relatively high IQ to be able to work things out in your own head and come to the right conclusion.

 

[Other_Guy]

I really hope no one ACTUALLY has a problem with this. Kiffin is the best thing that ever happened to Jon, and I seriously doubt if he cares that we are hurt over him costing us a recruiting class and setting us back a year (not that it mattered with Dools). Don't see why this is news.

 

[Wylo]

I really hope no one ACTUALLY has a problem with this. Kiffin is the best thing that ever happened to Jon, and I seriously doubt if he cares that we are hurt over him costing us a recruiting class and setting us back a year (not that it mattered with Dools). Don't see why this is news.

this, completely.

 

[Vol Main]

Kiffin probably had more fun coaching at Tennessee than any other place. Fans also had fun, after being bored half to death for years. Don't know if that would have lasted even one more year, because the recruiting was a mess. As for Crompdaddy, Kiffin did have HIS back. JC owes Kiffin a lot more than he owes Tennessee fans...best fans in the world! Personally, I'm on the Coach Butch Jones train. Jones had to know that he was going to take some beatings when he took this job, but he wanted it. However hard and long, I just don't think that man will stop until he gets the team to the top.

 

[UTProf]

I really hope no one ACTUALLY has a problem with this. Kiffin is the best thing that ever happened to Jon, and I seriously doubt if he cares that we are hurt over him costing us a recruiting class and setting us back a year (not that it mattered with Dools). Don't see why this is news.

I have a problem with the notion that Kiffin was some kind of miracle worker when it came to Crompton as I think that's wayyy overstated and oversimplified given all the factors at play BUT I do understand why Crompton thinks Kiffin was the one who did it. I don't have a problem with Crompton giving props to someone who gave him a chance when a certain segment of fans despised him even though Crompton always had more than enough talent to be a great QB. However, just as we saw with plenty of Bray haters, fans who only count Ws-Ls tend to be blind when it comes to judging physical QB talent. Bray and Cromp had a lot in common in terms of their talent combined with poor decisions/key game mistakes serving to infuriate a certain segment of fans but neither were awful and both were insanely talented.

I also think Crompton's turnaround in terms of his total performance that year as a CFB QB was and still is overstated because he had some stellar performances and people remember those and forget the same ole Crompton performances in other games that year.

I don't begrudge Crompton being loyal, grateful, and full of praise for Kiffin. However, I think he's wrong in his assessment of Kiffin -- Kiff like Dooley had *some* player's backs and with Kiffin, USC provides data that makes Crompton's statements look silly. A lot of UT players who were left dealing with Kiffin's departure (and it's worth mentioning Cromp never faced that position and went from no chance at the NFL/CFL to a puncher's chance) disagreed and more than one broke the silence about who Kiffin was to them behind the scenes.

Finally, Crompton is pretty foolish if he thinks this isn't an insult to UT fans. Bama wouldn't have sought him out and interviewed him for any other reason than the hope he'd provide a quote that would make UT fans furious. Sure, players don't often get caught up the way fans do regarding rivalries but 90+ percent would know better than to praise a guy like this in a Bama based article even if they liked him but a lot of them wouldn't p!ss on Kiffin if he were on fire and dislike him for how he handled things even if they have nothing bad to say about he treated them personally.

Crompton's statements about Kiffin having his players backs (not the 'he helped me' part which is understandable to anyone) would make more sense coming from a former USC player.

IOW, this was a troll job by Bama.

 

[orangebloodgmc]

Crompton always was, and obviously always will be, a moron. Kiffin will have your back until he gets a phone call, then he will leave you high and dry. The statement he made about if you're going to play in the SEC, you might as well play for the best, is nothing more than a slap in the face of UT. Screw you Crompton.

I thought he said, if you want to go on to the NFL, you might as well be in the best league for that, the SEC :question:

 

[Doyle Hargraves]

I thought he said, if you want to go on to the NFL, you might as well be in the best league for that, the SEC :question:

Facts never slow down the pitchfork brigade.

 

[jarnol32]

Crompton was a 5 star who had all the talent in the world to be a great CFB QB and NFL QB. If Kiffin had really done as much as everyone thinks or even as much as Crompton attributes to him there's no way Crompton would be playing with the Edmonton Eskimos nor would he have been a 5th rounder immediately cut by the Chargers, the Pats, the Buccs, and finally the Redskins -- cut by every single one before he wound up in Canada.

I understand Cromp was low and that a certain element of the fanbase didn't like him or sent him hate mail. I also understand that at the same time he had some comparative success under Kiffin and he's probably grateful Kiffin gave him a shot. However, with Crompton's physical gifts, Kiffin should've been able to make something out of them that's far beyond 'serviceable.' Kiffin didn't.

Crompton was also senior who had gained experience and for all we know that had far more to do with becoming serviceable than anything else. And let's be real for a moment, he had an incredible UGA game but 27 tds and 13 ints is pretty bad for senior with the talent Crompton had. And let's not forget UGA was unranked (3-2 when we played them).

I understand Crompton saying 'thanks for giving me a chance' but I just don't see that Kiffin helped him nearly as much as the hype would have us all believe nor nearly as much as Crompton thinks Kiffin did. There's just not much proof of that.

People also tend to forget that Crompton played for four (sanders,cut,clawson,Chaney) offensive coordinators in 5 years.

 

[UT_Dutchman]

My understanding is that NFL people regarded Fulmer's players as not having been coached up. In any case LK got JC for a single season. There's only so much you can do in one season, especially with a downtrodden player who needs mental building as well as being taught the fundamentals of QB-ing. Like I said, JC was there and we were not. So his grasp on LK's level of influence carries more weight than the biased speculation spewed here.

The NFL team's sure signed a lot every year.

 

[Bluetic]

no one ever claimed it was all gumdrops and lollipops that season but there was some solid play and coaching. Something we did see for a few years after LK left

Because Kif was better than Dools does not make him solid...well...solid BS maybe.

 

[salutethehill]

LOL.

















John.

 

[knoxvols11]

I for one was calling for the benching of Crompton during the UCLA game but in the end on that season crompton turned out to be as good or better than Clausen 1.0!