2012 Draft - Vol perspective

[Section KK]

The embarassment – Tennessee’s draft
1. Possibly the worst draft ever for the Vols – not a single player in the draft played more than 2 years at UT. Has this ever happened before? Our only pick was a transfer (who I love) who was drafted 157 overall in round 5.
2. Three players from the state of Tennessee who played elsewhere were drafted in the first round (Dont’a Hightower, Harrison Smith, Dontari Poe) http://www.volnation.com/forum/tenne...-state-tn.html
3. Three NFL-quality players left Tennessee early – Janzen Jackson, Bryce Brown (presser pending), BJ Coleman (completely understandable with Bray but maybe not Simms)

The good news - Our major opponents had key losses, specifically the 3 best teams on our schedule
4. Alabama – Lost ¾ of their secondary (Mark Barron, Dre Kirkpatrick, DeQuan Menzie). Dee Milliner will return, but Da’Rick/JHunt/CP vs. him is a much much much better situation that Da’Rick vs. all 4. They also lost 2 LB’s (top 35 picks) and 2 DT’s – literally (the better) half of their starting defense. They also lost some dude named Richardson, (3rd pick).
5. Georgia – Lose 4 pieces of a stellar offensive line (both guards, center, and Orson Charles). They should have a great defense returning, but we have a potentially great offense to match. Our improved defensive front could make a difference; I expect Murray and Crowell to have more trouble this year than last.
6. S. Carolina – Gilmore, Jeffery, and Ingram were all top 50 picks. Overall, they’re talent level should be steady from last year. I’m most happy that Lane, Neal, Young, and Bourque will benefit from not just any but SC’s former running back coach (VFL).
7. Florida lost Demps and Rainey, but should return a very talented team. They just seem to have a lot of questions still.

I don’t expect any of these 3 teams to be much worse than last year, but the point of all of this is that they have lost key players, and we only lost a 5th round pick.

The hope
8. Schedule – we replace LSU and Arkansas with Miss. St. and Missouri
9. 2013 draft – if this guy is right (2013 NFL Draft: Top 100 Prospects | NEPatriotsDraft.com - 2012 NFL Draft), then Bray is going to be opening a huge can this year, and it’s gonna be a great ride for Vol fans.

What are your thoughts?

[ACvol3]

2012 draft from a Vol perspective(short version)

Our upperclassmen sucked the last two years... Which in turn, our record sucked.. We will have a better record from here on out because our upperclassmen will not suck for the next few years. (barring massive attrition due to coaching change etc.) we will have many drafted. fin.

[UTvols#1]

Why is there no WR from UT on the draft projections for next year?

[Rudy123]

Michael Rivera & Herman Lathers are the only SENIORs that comes to mind that we have that will possibly be drafted. Now, if some of the juniors leave early, then there will be a longer list.
I, for one, think that (1) if we have a poor season (2) Dooley gets fired, then James, Bray, Hunter, Rogers, Bullard, etc. will likely go pro, rather than learn under a new coach again.

[peyton4heisman]

Quality stuff OP. Thanks for posting.

[Biopsyman]

Originally Posted by Rudy123

Michael Rivera & Herman Lathers are the only SENIORs that comes to mind that we have that will possibly be drafted. Now, if some of the juniors leave early, then there will be a longer list.
I, for one, think that (1) if we have a poor season (2) Dooley gets fired, then James, Bray, Hunter, Rogers, Bullard, etc. will likely go pro, rather than learn under a new coach again.

Wag and D thomas have a shot

[Big Ugly Vol]

Good post. It does show that talent has been a huge issue here and all our problems can't all be pinned, fairly or unfairly on Dooley. I think this draft was the end of the nightmare. Things change starting today. The coaching changes were all in our favor. We have recruited fairly well, especially considering the shape we have been in on the field and the fan base is starved for success. One big win creates a buzz here that gets everyone rolling. GBO!

[Rocky-Top 10EC]

Al and Fl will just reload

[BIG ADAM]

[QUOTE=Rudy123;6676201]Michael Rivera & Herman Lathers are the only SENIORs that comes to mind that we have that will possibly be drafted. Now, if some of the juniors leave early, then there will be a longer list.
I, for one, think that (1) if we have a poor season (2) Dooley gets fired, then James, Bray, Hunter, Rogers, Bullard, etc. will likely go pro, rather than learn under a new coach again.[/QUOTe
i agree but.....
they may not leave. if we have a bad enough season that Dooley gets caned, their play on the field would have to be terrible. We have a very favorable schedule this season......finally

[PimpVol]

Originally Posted by UTvols#1

Why is there no WR from UT on the draft projections for next year?

Would have to be 11 or 21, who are juniors at this point. 2014 will be the year of the VOL in the draft. Seniors and a few early entries as well

[lilesrt]

Until Our players can prove that they know how to win big games, I will reserve my opinion. Regardless of how "Talented" they are, If you have noticed, it is up to the coaching staff to coach up the talent we have and use it to win games. Thus far, Derek Dooley has not proved he is capable of doing that, nor have the players shown any sort of resiliency once getting behind in the game against quality opponents. We will see if that changes this year. If not, Hart has got to start putting his feelers out in terms of getting a coach to the Hill that knows how to win.

[jessee james]

From the draft outcome has DD done a better job than we thought by just hangin in the first half with these teams?

[ImportedVoL]

A year from now we will all be crying because we had 4-5 guys lost in the first round

[Biopsyman]

Shows what happens when the program is in chaos in 09 and 10....

[Vols4us]

Not all of it is on the quality of players that came to UT. An equal amount of the blame goes to the coaches UT hired to develop them. Remember, over half the NFL was rated 3* or less coming out of HS. Some coaches do a better job of developing players. Some coaches do a better job of recruiting guys that are hard workers. Some coaches can see potential better.