Ten questions going into August

[Daloth]

The only part I disagree with is "smash mouth football."

That's two tight ends, a fullback (maybe two), and run straight at people. That doesn't win games anymore, not from the 1st to the 4th quarter. Not even in high school. It takes knowing your opponents strengths and exploiting them, and being flexible when your style doesn't work. Even Bama can't run everyone over. Oregon can't out run everyone. Stanford can't outsmart them all. One style does not win. Not these days. Especially not that style.

 

[ScreaminVolHawkins]

Rather intersting. You say the freshmen will beat out Croom as the season progresses(see #2) yet Croom will be the offensive breakout player of the year (see 6).
How 'bout splainin' that to me cause I don't see how those mesh together.

Im hoping breakout offensive player will be Devrin Young as returner more than a receiver, so maybe he thought Croom would contribute elsewhere? Dunno

Ooops should that be breakout special teams?

 

[terrypedigo]

We will suck this year and next, no way around it some hard times lays ahead for the Big Orange but these teams need to kick our azz in the next 2 because in 2015 we will be doing alot of azz kicking.

 

[SmokeyFTW]

Worley doesn't have elite arm strength??

I disagree with this part. I believe it was the Vandy game were Bray and him were being clocked and he was throwing 1to 2 mph behind Bray. I believe everyone would agree bray had elite arm strength. So As long as he puts in the work on the field and in the film room he'll be just fine. Worley does have a strong arm.

 

[ncvol17]

John Janacek's defensive philosophy reminds me of former UT coordinator John Chavis. Attack teams with speed from sideline to sideline

Poor Coach Chavis was skewered like a grill full of Kabobs on this site his last couple of years. I am surprised no one has called out this comment. Time must heal all wounds. BTW I always liked Chavis, a true UT man to the core.

 

[zjcvols]

The only part I disagree with is "smash mouth football."

That's two tight ends, a fullback (maybe two), and run straight at people. That doesn't win games anymore, not from the 1st to the 4th quarter. Not even in high school. It takes knowing your opponents strengths and exploiting them, and being flexible when your style doesn't work. Even Bama can't run everyone over. Oregon can't out run everyone. Stanford can't outsmart them all. One style does not win. Not these days. Especially not that style.

Maybe I should clarify.

This team is going to have run and pound teams by running in order to win. I'm not talking 3 yards and a cloud of dust offense.

 

[coach799]

John Janacek's defensive philosophy reminds me of former UT coordinator John Chavis. Attack teams with speed from sideline to sideline

Poor Coach Chavis was skewered like a grill full of Kabobs on this site his last couple of years. I am surprised no one has called out this comment. Time must heal all wounds. BTW I always liked Chavis, a true UT man to the core.

Chief's LSU record speaks for itself. He is a great defensive coach for several reasons. He gets it and his players love him. He is a class act and will always be one of my all-time favorites. Vol for Life!

GO VOLS!!

 

[all4vol]

Originally Posted by Rudy123:
(1)once the freshmen get some experience and some confidence, they may replace Crooms


(6) Our offensive break out player for this year will be Croom.






QUOTE=orange parmejohn;8862579].[/QUOTE]
My thoughts exactly!

 

[gnm53108]

Chief's LSU record speaks for itself. He is a great defensive coach for several reasons. He gets it and his players love him. He is a class act and will always be one of my all-time favorites. Vol for Life!

GO VOLS!!

With ya coach.

 

[Nocleats]

11. Will the OLine finally have the strength and violence needed to dominate in games? Tired of seeing the center THROWN through the air backwards and am really tired of seeing a bunch of really nice guys who are fine young men. Tennessee needs their lineman to be mean, nasty, violent, and downright dirty. Its been a feww years.

 

[oldfartvol]

John Janacek's defensive philosophy reminds me of former UT coordinator John Chavis. Attack teams with speed from sideline to sideline

Poor Coach Chavis was skewered like a grill full of Kabobs on this site his last couple of years. I am surprised no one has called out this comment. Time must heal all wounds. BTW I always liked Chavis, a true UT man to the core.

I always liked Chavis at UT too, until the yard marker flipped to third down. Then maybe not so much.

As for his success at LSU, with all that talent it would be hard to fail as a DC.

Truth.

 

[sjt18]

(1) The q.b. for the first few games will be Worley at starter but Peterman will share time with him against Western, Austin Peay, Oregon & Florida. After the Florida game, Peterman will be the starter.

Doubtful. I like Peterman too but his spring was far from impressive. He seemed lost and threw several picks because of mental errors. The best manager of the O will be the QB barring injury. Worley fits that bill.

(2) Jacob Carter will be in the slot, UNTIL a younger, more athletic receiver grows in to the position. Drae
will be one receiver and Crooms will be the other receiver. However; Howard will back Carter up at the slot and once the freshmen get some experience and some confidence, they may replace Crooms & Drae.

Bowles is another guy who seemed to get chance after chance during the spring but failed to take a stranglehold on a position. Blanc outperformed him as a receiver.

BUT the biggest factor here will not necessarily be who is the best receiver. To stand any chance of winning, UT needs much better blocking from its WR's than it has had over the last 2 years. With Jones and Moore, Poole had over 1000 yds. Without them... he stank it up. WR blocking will be one of the biggest things for determining the course of the season.

(3) No! You will not get speed on the defense this year.

Speed is relative. Dooley had the S&C program bulk guys up to play the 3-4. The design of this off season seems to be to build speed. Besides that... schemes can make guys look fast or slow depending on how often the player is put in a one on one with a ball carrier.

(5) The game that we will NOT be favored to win but will be most likely to win, would be Georgia. Not Florida, Not Alabama and Not Oregon.

Bama is extremely unlikely. Of the "next tier" down games you listed, I think Oregon (unfortunately) is the most likely win. They are definitely the team UT matches up to best.

(6) Our offensive break out player for this year will be Croom.

Very well could be if he avoids injury. Either one of the RB's could garner that praise too.

Odd the OP didn't even mention Croom.

(7) Our defensive break out player of the year will be Harris at linebacker. Hopefully, he will remain injury free.

I'm going to go out on a little more of a limb and say McNeil though I was tempted to say Brewer/Sapp. One of those OLB's is going to be considered a "surprise".

(8) Can the defense pick up the 4 - 3? Heck yeah, they can. They have all played in the 4 - 3, under Justin Wilcox; except for McC, so they will be fine.

RIGHT. People keep acting like they were in the 3-4 for years or something. Almost all of these guys are only 1 year removed from playing the 4-3 MUCH better than the 3-4 debacle last fall.

Trim them down. Run coverage schemes that keep plays in front of DB's... and get back to around 20 ppg.

(9) No! Butch has NOT established a new identity yet. However; before the season is over, it will be established.

Really hard to say. It is also hard to say how much the identity of the team needed to be changed vs how much the team and its identity needed a competent, positive coach. Dooley proved he was not competent but perhaps worse... he quit. He became cynical and almost disinterested. He was emotionally beaten and overwhelmed and gave up.

(10) My expectations are: Beat Western, Austin Peay, and South Alabama. Also, win three of the last four games against Missouri, Vandy, Auburn & Kentucky. This will give us a 6 - 6 record and we head to a bowl game. Also, we play a couple of the games that we lose, real close. Maybe lose to Oregon, Florida or Bama by 7 points or less.

I expect 7 wins. If Jones is the right guy for UT then he will win one of the games he is not currently expected to win. All 6-6 will prove is that he can coach a team to the level of its talent... not above it. I think Auburn and USCe look very winnable at this point. Oregon, UGA, or UF would be upsets but are within the range of possibility. Bama would be a near miracle.

 

[sjt18]

John Janacek's defensive philosophy reminds me of former UT coordinator John Chavis. Attack teams with speed from sideline to sideline

Poor Coach Chavis was skewered like a grill full of Kabobs on this site his last couple of years. I am surprised no one has called out this comment. Time must heal all wounds. BTW I always liked Chavis, a true UT man to the core.

Chavis was very good at game week coaching. He was an exceptional LB coach. He was a very bad gameday coach and horrible play caller.

 

[1974Vol]

defensive breakout players had better be mccullers and maggitt.

They are already established performers. I took question to be who among freshmen or new starters would become stars. I expect McCullers and Maggitt if healthy to contend for SEC and maybe evrn national honors. Which could be considered breakout I guess.

 

[99gator]

They are already established performers. I took question to be who among freshmen or new starters would become stars. I expect McCullers and Maggitt if healthy to contend for SEC and maybe evrn national honors. Which could be considered breakout I guess.

says who?

imo, they are the most physically gifted defensive players tennessee has. they have to produce.

established performers are players who have proven themselves on the field with production.

i have made comments about aj johnson on here, but at least he has proven if he gets to the ball, he will make the tackle.

those two haven't produced.

 

[sjt18]

says who?

imo, they are the most physically gifted defensive players tennessee has. they have to produce.

established performers are players who have proven themselves on the field with production.

i have made comments about aj johnson on here, but at least he has proven if he gets to the ball, he will make the tackle.

those two haven't produced.

Maggitt started as a FR and was 3rd on the team in tackles. Like any other DT, stats are not necessarily a great measure but he was a year long starter last year and was difficult to move. The 4-3 should give him more opportunity to play up field rather than just trying to occupy the middle.

 

[Daloth]

Maybe I should clarify.

This team is going to have run and pound teams by running in order to win. I'm not talking 3 yards and a cloud of dust offense.

My bad misinterpreting then. Every coach I've had growing up only refers to smash mouth football as that kind of offense and style. Running the spread and being able to drive down throats in the same manner is a very difficult thing, if not impossible. But I agree, he needs to find a strong balance.

 

[99gator]

Maggitt started as a FR and was 3rd on the team in tackles. Like any other DT, stats are not necessarily a great measure but he was a year long starter last year and was difficult to move. The 4-3 should give him more opportunity to play up field rather than just trying to occupy the middle.

i don't want to get into a point by point argument here.

those two need to have a far greater impact on the game and opposing offenses than they have had.

for mccullers, it's not even about stats. get in the backfield on occasion and screw up the play. keep blockers off the linebackers. etc, etc, etc.

maggitt has been damn near invisible.

the past is the past and why they haven't had much of an impact or a greater impact isn't relevant.

for tennessee to be successful, you are going to need to hear announcers call their name often during telecasts.

jmo.

 

[tomq_123]

i don't want to get into a point by point argument here.

those two need to have a far greater impact on the game and opposing offenses than they have had.

for mccullers, it's not even about stats. get in the backfield on occasion and screw up the play. keep blockers off the linebackers. etc, etc, etc.

maggitt has been damn near invisible.

the past is the past and why they haven't had much of an impact or a greater impact isn't relevant.

for tennessee to be successful, you are going to need to hear announcers call their name often during telecasts.

jmo.

Maggitt was injured last season, plus the switch to 3-4 so it's hard to really evaluate him totally.

Now Jacques Smith is the man who needs to be seen. I want to see Jacques in the backfield all year long. Expecting big things out of him this year.

 

[sjt18]

i don't want to get into a point by point argument here.

those two need to have a far greater impact on the game and opposing offenses than they have had.

for mccullers, it's not even about stats. get in the backfield on occasion and screw up the play. keep blockers off the linebackers. etc, etc, etc.

maggitt has been damn near invisible.

the past is the past and why they haven't had much of an impact or a greater impact isn't relevant.

for tennessee to be successful, you are going to need to hear announcers call their name often during telecasts.

jmo.

Maggitt was injured last year late in the year but still posted 30 tackles. I would agree that his drop in production was surprising since he seems to physically be more suited for the 3-4 OLB position... but Sal hurt most guys' production.

He had 57 as a Fr with over 5 per game and was 2 tackles per game better vs the SEC than OOC. That's far from being "invisible".

You don't have to get into a "point by point"... just say "Oh, I didn't know he had that kind of impact as a Fr.

I pretty much said the same thing about McCullers. Last year he was tasked with holding the middle and occupying blockers. He did.

 

[Cartervol]

They're going to have to run the ball. Worley is a statue. Teams will stack the box and force him to throw over the top.. If he cant, the better teams are going to hammer us, end of story..

 

[1972 Grad]

They're going to have to run the ball. Worley is a statue. Teams will stack the box and force him to throw over the top.. If he cant, the better teams are going to hammer us, end of story..

Your computer must be freezing up on you if you think that Worley is a statue. I have watched quite a bit of his high school tape from his sophomore, junior, and senior years. He sells both a run and pass fake well, and looks very athletic and light on his feet taking 3 or 4 step drops from the shotgun, and evading the rush, as well as a rolling out a few times. You must not be watching the same tape that I have.

 

[GolfvolSC]

John Janacek's defensive philosophy reminds me of former UT coordinator John Chavis. Attack teams with speed from sideline to sideline

Poor Coach Chavis was skewered like a grill full of Kabobs on this site his last couple of years. I am surprised no one has called out this comment. Time must heal all wounds. BTW I always liked Chavis, a true UT man to the core.

Chavis was a great coordinator. Bet people would live to have him back. I wish Tennessee would have at least offered him the HC job out of respect for what he had done for the university.

 

[Cartervol]

Your computer must be freezing up on you if you think that Worley is a statue. I have watched quite a bit of his high school tape from his sophomore, junior, and senior years. He sells both a run and pass fake well, and looks very athletic and light on his feet taking 3 or 4 step drops from the shotgun, and evading the rush, as well as a rolling out a few times. You must not be watching the same tape that I have.

He's no threat to run.. Teams know that and will pin their ears back.. They'll do better this year with a dual threat guy.. Keeps teams more honest..

 

[Loweboy]

He's no threat to run.. Teams know that and will pin their ears back.. They'll do better this year with a dual threat guy.. Keeps teams more honest..

He is more of a running threat than Bray ever was(anybody is more of a running threat than Bray). Is he a physical quarterback that can take a hit, probably not. If you look at the orange and white game, Peterman looks like he would keep a defense honest. He would be the QB most likely to scramble for 10-15 yards. You have to remember that Butch wanted him at Cincy.