UT practice notebook: Depth continues to be a concern as Vols return to SEC play

#26
#26
VOLINVONORE said:
The bad angles reflects the lack of speed we have on both offense and defense. If you practice against slower players and make plays, you take the same angle when you play teams with speed and you end up taking your angle too short. Lack of speed kills in the SEC.
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This whole lack of team speed myth is getting old.

Yes, UT lacks speed on defense and in the secondary especially compared to other schools. But they aren't trotting out defensive linemen to play safety or CB either.

Why can't someone tell these DB's to widen their pursuit angles a little to offset the speed differential, use the sidelines a little more to help as an extra defender, and actually play within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage and try to get physical with a WR at the outset of a play occasionally?
 
#27
#27
JonGrudensAgent said:
This whole lack of team speed myth is getting old.

Yes, UT lacks speed on defense and in the secondary especially compared to other schools. But they aren't trotting out defensive linemen to play safety or CB either.

Why can't someone tell these DB's to widen their pursuit angles a little to offset the speed differential, use the sidelines a little more to help as an extra defender, and actually play within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage and try to get physical with a WR at the outset of a play occasionally?
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If you wish to deny facts as myth, you will live a sad life.
 
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#28
#28
JonGrudensAgent said:
This whole lack of team speed myth is getting old.

Yes, UT lacks speed on defense and in the secondary especially compared to other schools. But they aren't trotting out defensive linemen to play safety or CB either.

Why can't someone tell these DB's to widen their pursuit angles a little to offset the speed differential, use the sidelines a little more to help as an extra defender, and actually play within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage and try to get physical with a WR at the outset of a play occasionally?
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Dude we play a zone because we suck that bad in the secondary, and we still line up 4 yards off the WRs. Jancek wants to run man to man on the outside and can't because we have 3 pure freshman playing a lot, one of which is a walkon. Now, had you said our nickel CBs have to be more physical at the line, as nickel is more about position and being physical then speed, then I'd agree, but you can't ask every CB to jam WRs at the line when our S miss coverages and our CB get beat right off the line. We tried this last year and you saw what happened. We are a zone team until our freshman develop and we get more quality depth.
 
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#29
#29
immyaxl said:
James Franklin took over a 2-10 Vandy team that had no depth. He took a team that had no 4 or 5 star players to a bowl game his first year!
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6 wins:

2-10 Ole Miss
Elon
Connecticut
Army
5-7 Kentucky
6-7 Wake Forest

Wake Forest was your only quality win. You had no wins over any teams with a winning season.

And who did Vandy lose to in their bowl game? Butch Jones. Get used to it.
 
#30
#30
tgardnervol4life said:
you cannot fix depth problems until you start winning IMO. Because all of the talent goes to winning teams.
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There are a lot of people that hold this point of view. The truth is a lot of kids do go to winning programs, but not all of them. Kids attend schools for a host of reasons, legacy, specific academic program, playing time, position open/not open, favorite school/life long dream, position coach, door to nfl, etc etc etc. These days a lot of kids want to play in the SEC, only so many schools, so many slots. If Boise State year in and year out can find and put talented players on the field and win games, UT should as well, no excuses.
 
#31
#31
Grand Vol said:
I dunno, USC managed to capture top 10 classes until last year and where are they?

Additionally, UCLA is making good progress with a bunch of two and three star recruits.

Its not always about talent, proper application of talent by good coaches is just as important
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They're also helped with having a highly ranked QB with Brett Hundley.
 
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#33
#33
We used to be loaded with NFL level talent and have many 1st team all SEC players and thats how we won in the SEC. We were loaded with skill position players as well as defensive stars, we have to get back to this level of talent to compete for championships.
 
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#35
#35
MyBloodRunnethOrange said:
The James Franklin love fest on this board is sickening.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
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That is so true....some fans continue to point to Franklin as a measuring stick....really....we use Frankin a Vandy coach as a stick...I hate comparisons even with Other Sec coachs because there is zero common ground to compare.

Name one team that has experienced the turnover rate of coaches, players and staff that UT has in the past 7 years. It will be hard to find one that compares to Tennessee.

This mess is a perfect storm for where we are today.

It is hard to build teamwork and cohesion. Some act like this happened overnight. It did not so live with the process and the execution of it.
 
#36
#36
DC Vol said:
Why do we have no depth?

This isn't even attrition. 5 total LBs recruited in last 3 classes. Five. Linebackers.

1 is Maggit. Down to 4.

1 is Vereen. He's at DE. Down to 3.

That's just one group. DB is bad. OL is bad. DL is bad.

Dooley was a great WR recruiter though.
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Reeves-Maybin has been moved to LB. I know he is a Jones recruit but I just wanted to mention him.

I am as excited about him as any of the other Fr including those who are playing more. I am a little surprised he has not carved out some PT at LB considering the speed and violence he has brought to ST's. The kid is a hitter... He gets there fast and with nasty intentions.
 
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#37
#37
immyaxl said:
James Franklin took over a 2-10 Vandy team that had no depth. He took a team that had no 4 or 5 star players to a bowl game his first year!
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He did.... but you have to apply context.

Remember, I am a guy who has consistently said Jones should get 7 wins out of this roster if he is definitely "the guy". However, their six wins that year came against a 5-6 FCS school and 5 FBS schools with a combined record of 21-40.

In fact, Vandy's whole "rise" has been a function of UT being poorly coached and weak, weak, weak schedules for them.

I still predict that if Franklin can get them back to a bowl this year he's going to get while the gettin's good. If he doesn't... then they are just as likely as not to descend back to their place in the SEC.


Interestingly, they lost to Jones and Cincy that year in their bowl game. Vandy's roster is not significantly better than it was that year. Jones in spite of the handwringing over depth and such... has never coached a more talented roster.
 
#39
#39
Wonder how many more articles like this which clearly say Ferguson is ahead of Dobbs have to come to VN before people quit making threads like the current "Dobbs has dibs" thread? Since the day the kids started practice Dobbs has never, ever been listed ahead of Ferguson.
If CBJ builds his offense around mobile QBs (he does) and Dobbs is super smart (eliminates the "can't grasp the playbook" excuse...I think its safe to infer that:
A: Riley is athletic enough to fit well in CBJ's system
B: He has put enough distance between himself and Dobbs to get ALL the reps with the 2's
C: Barring injury to Worley and Ferg, Dobbs will keep his redshirt for the rest of the season.

Honestly I hope Ferguson gets the reins at or after the SC game. Let him play thru the easier Nov portion of the schedule to get ready for next year. Also puts a year of separation between him and Dobbs so that Dobbs will have at least a year (maybe 2 if Ferg left early..) of elligibility left. This would likely keep Dobbs from transferring.
 
#40
#40
tgardnervol4life said:
you cannot fix depth problems until you start winning IMO. Because all of the talent goes to winning teams.
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some good wins with the talent we have. Maybe we will have a great recruiting year this year--but when you are losing it's hard to recruit good players and the cycle continues, the Catch 22, made worse by the very tough conference we are in. If we were in any other conference, we would not have got stuck in a ten-year-old trough, but when you are playing three top 10 teams in your conference and other good teams besides, brother, it ain't easy. #gottafindaway
 
#41
#41
armchair said:
some good wins with the talent we have. Maybe we will have a great recruiting year this year--but when you are losing it's hard to recruit good players and the cycle continues, the Catch 22, made worse by the very tough conference we are in. If we were in any other conference, we would not have got stuck in a ten-year-old trough, but when you are playing three top 10 teams in your conference and other good teams besides, brother, it ain't easy. #gottafindaway
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True. Then you consider that UT is dependent on recruiting out of state talent to compete at a high level.

I keep saying it and people keep arguing against it... but Jones MUST prove he can beat teams with more talent. A coach who only beats the teams with less talent cannot compete for championships at UT in this era of college football. EVERYONE has gotten or is getting their act together.

Similar to what you said, the best recruits will be attracted ultimately only to a UT coach who proves he can outcoach some of the better teams. It feeds on itself. You either win then win bigger because the coach wins games unexpectedly then gets the players who want to play for a winner... or they only win the ones they're supposed to win and the players find a "hot" coach somewhere else or stay in state.
 
#42
#42
DC Vol said:
6 wins:

2-10 Ole Miss
Elon
Connecticut
Army
5-7 Kentucky
6-7 Wake Forest

Wake Forest was your only quality win. You had no wins over any teams with a winning season.

And who did Vandy lose to in their bowl game? Butch Jones. Get used to it.
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What Butch said about Franklin and Vandy was funny. He said they cheapshot his players.
 
#43
#43
orangeslice13 said:
I'm sick of the depth problem. It seems to never go away
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it won't until we get some staff stability. change coaches (head coach or assistants), then attrition is a problem and that in turn creates depth issues.

Be nice to keep same coaches for 5 or 6 years and see if that doesn't clear up the depth issues
 
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#45
#45
immyaxl said:
James Franklin took over a 2-10 Vandy team that had no depth. He took a team that had no 4 or 5 star players to a bowl game his first year!
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Taking over a team that has had a coach in place for 8 years is far different than taking over a team that has had 3 head coaches in the previous 5 years and like 40 different assistants and 5 different S&C coaches.

on top of that, the Vandy schedule was such was easy to get to 6 games
 
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#47
#47
Depth is hard to archive, you get talent and because lack of depth you have to start them as freshman or sophomores, then they go to the NFL as juniors and you have to start all over. It will be nice to get back to junior and senior level starters and great talented backups that have been riding the bench for a couple of years (like say Bama)
 
#48
#48
LWSVOL said:
Taking over a team that has had a coach in place for 8 years is far different than taking over a team that has had 3 head coaches in the previous 5 years and like 40 different assistants and 5 different S&C coaches.

on top of that, the Vandy schedule was such was easy to get to 6 games
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Yep give Vandy UT's schedule.
 
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