SEC Subplots: Tennessee will compete for the SEC East soon

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WilliamDuVOL

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SEC Subplots: Tennessee will compete for the SEC East soon - Saturday Down South

1. Have to make a bowl game
If you’ve read anything this preseason around college football, you’ll know many project Tennessee to have between five and six wins this year. How many SEC teams go bowling largely depends on if Tennessee makes the cut. The goal for this season is bowl game or bust, period. The Vols haven’t been bowling in three straight years; that’s altogether crazy and incredible knowing how passionate the fans are and how much tradition the fallen powerhouse has. Winning six games this season could hinge on beating Florida in Knoxville, and it would prove the Vols are getting over the proverbial hump and Jones is righting the ship. By taking that next step and making a bowl game, prospects around the country will take more notice of Jones and his staff and of their accomplishments. Tennessee recruiting has been on fire lately, and making a bowl game will only help put the Vols in a position to win the SEC East in the next few years.

2. Navigating the schedule
Making a bowl game will require Tennessee to navigate one of the toughest schedules in the country that even features a road trip to Oklahoma, who most figure will compete for the College Football Playoff. Tennessee plays six preseason top 25 teams, including the annual bout with Alabama and dark-horse SEC West candidate Ole Miss. Tennessee’s opponents won 65.15 percent of their games last season; that’s good for third most in the country. There’s just one game we can circle as a win: Chattanooga. Non-conference bouts with Utah State and Arkansas State will be very interesting, but they should be wins. Florida, Kentucky, Missouri and Vanderbilt are swing games, and the Vols usually play Georgia tough and did upset South Carolina last season. Winning six games on this year’s schedule would actually be a rather impressive feat for Jones and company.

3. Line of scrimmage
In college football’s biggest line of scrimmage league, Tennessee replaces every starter along both lines of scrimmage. That’s been well publicized this off-season, and that has probably added to sleepless nights for Coach Jones and his staff. So, maybe more so than the schedule, how does Tennessee navigate the roster losses? It’ll be a revolving door this season, and both lines of scrimmage will be tweaked throughout the season. Mack Crowder, Marcus Jackson and Coleman Thomas lead the offensive line, while Jordan Williams and Corey Vereen lead the defensive line. The X-factor for the defense is linebacker/end hybrid Curt Maggitt, who’s returning after missing last season with a knee injury.

4. Wide Receiver U
Tennessee may have historically been viewed as Running Back U, with a plethora of big-time NFL running backs, but the Vols could have this year’s best receiving corps. MarQuez North, Von Pearson and Josh Malone is a nasty trio for quarterback Justin Worley, assuming the offensive line can provide enough protection for the quarterback. North could be the SEC’s best kept secret, and he’s a complete freak. The JUCO transfer Pearson was already featured on ESPN with a top 10 play during spring, and Malone is SEC-ready right now. Again, the receivers’ production depends almost entirely on the quarterback, and Tennessee hopes Worley can play his best football yet.

SDS Takeaway: The most important thing Tennessee fans need to realize is that Butch Jones is righting the ship. That doesn’t mean he’ll make a bowl game this season, but the Vols are set up to compete for the East in the next couple of years with a roster littered with young – but undeveloped – talent. I still think rough waters are ahead this season, and 5.5 Vegas over/under is a coin flip. So, if the Vols miss on another bowl game, it reflects more on the program inherited than Jones’ coaching ability. Butch Jones its the right man for this job, and coming to grips with the mess he inherited can’t be overlooked.
 
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#3
#3
Every article like this that is written expecting Mizzou to continue to play well in spite of losing almost all of their best players and returning the least starters and lettermen in the conference... is basically not worth reading. Many will notice that this has become a thorn under my fingernail. I'm no fortune teller so maybe MU does somehow find a way to replace all of that production and Mauk becomes the superman that many think he is... but sitting a week out from week 1... I don't know how any writer who has taken a real look at their roster losses and replacements does NOT predict a significant drop off for them.
 
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#4
#4

In the East alone, UGA, UF and SC are recruiting just as well as UT and teams like Mizzou have never built their program on recruiting ratings. UT gets better, but the competition does as well. from the West, Bama, Aub, LSU and aTm with the way they are recruiting now are going nowhere. This is not the old SEC, throne where UT, UF and Bama out recruited everyone and dominated. New age conference, even the MSU's, Ole Miss's and KY's of the world are starting to recruit well. Navigating the SEC has never been harder, especially with Bama as a common opponent.
 
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#5
#5
Every article like this that is written expecting Mizzou to continue to play well in spite of losing almost all of their best players and returning the least starters and lettermen in the conference... is basically not worth reading. Many will notice that this has become a thorn under my fingernail. I'm no fortune teller so maybe MU does somehow find a way to replace all of that production and Mauk becomes the superman that many think he is... but sitting a week out from week 1... I don't know how any writer who has taken a real look at their roster losses and replacements does predict a significant drop off for them.
Hard to argue with that.
 
#7
#7
In the East alone, UGA, UF and SC are recruiting just as well as UT and teams like Mizzou have never built their program on recruiting ratings. UT gets better, but the competition does as well. from the West, Bama, Aub, LSU and aTm with the way they are recruiting now are going nowhere. This is not the old SEC, throne where UT, UF and Bama out recruited everyone and dominated. New age conference, even the MSU's, Ole Miss's and KY's of the world are starting to recruit well. Navigating the SEC has never been harder, especially with Bama as a common opponent.
Go away party pooper.
 
#8
#8
Every article like this that is written expecting Mizzou to continue to play well in spite of losing almost all of their best players and returning the least starters and lettermen in the conference... is basically not worth reading. Many will notice that this has become a thorn under my fingernail. I'm no fortune teller so maybe MU does somehow find a way to replace all of that production and Mauk becomes the superman that many think he is... but sitting a week out from week 1... I don't know how any writer who has taken a real look at their roster losses and replacements does predict a significant drop off for them.

Agree, ole miss is also overrated. :twocents:
 
#10
#10
SDS number 4 is not exactly true at all. While we have had great backs in the past, we were known as WRU in the 80's and 90's. GO VOLS!!
 
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#11
#11
In the East alone, UGA, UF and SC are recruiting just as well as UT and teams like Mizzou have never built their program on recruiting ratings.
USCe isn't and hasn't according to the rankings. Spurrier however is a great coach.

Mizzou's program has also been cyclical in part because you cannot always count on the rock you found being a diamond in the rough. They lost a TON from last year's team. If Pinkel competes for the East this year then UT might need to pay the buyouts and hire him.

UT gets better, but the competition does as well. from the West, Bama, Aub, LSU and aTm with the way they are recruiting now are going nowhere. This is not the old SEC, throne where UT, UF and Bama out recruited everyone and dominated. New age conference, even the MSU's, Ole Miss's and KY's of the world are starting to recruit well. Navigating the SEC has never been harder, especially with Bama as a common opponent.
That's why you MUST have an elite coach. That's why Fulmer fell off toward the end while "doing what he'd always done".

A "good" coach even with great talent isn't enough.

For his part, Jones looks to be very good at recruiting and GREAT at player development. The last hurdle is getting it done in game week and on game day.
 
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#15
#15
SDS number 4 is not exactly true at all. While we have had great backs in the past, we were known as WRU in the 80's and 90's. GO VOLS!!

I'm not sure but i think that was referencing another article that showed UT actually had the most 1st round Rb picks in the SEC. Believe the number was 15. Which factoring in the last couple of years is very impressive considering the Rb's other teams have had.
 
#18
#18
USCe isn't and hasn't according to the rankings. Spurrier however is a great coach.

Mizzou's program has also been cyclical in part because you cannot always count on the rock you found being a diamond in the rough. They lost a TON from last year's team. If Pinkel competes for the East this year then UT might need to pay the buyouts and hire him.


That's why you MUST have an elite coach. That's why Fulmer fell off toward the end while "doing what he'd always done".

A "good" coach even with great talent isn't enough.

For his part, Jones looks to be very good at recruiting and GREAT at player development. The last hurdle is getting it done in game week and on game day.

Don't look now but SC has the number three ranked class, and SOS has been recruiting top 15 type teams consistently. They are recruiting with the big boys under Spurrier the past 4-5 seasons. Even at UF, he never built his reputation on being a top 5 type recruiter, he just evaluated and developed better than most. The class he has right now for the 15 cycle is sick. Same for aTm, Bama, and you know UGA, UF, Aub and LSU will all be in or around top ten. Cutthroat league these days, where half of the rivals top 100 are going to one conference every year, the SEC. Butch has his work cut out for him, gone are the days where UT can just out talent everyone not named Florida or Bama, TV money made it so.
 
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#19
#19
...

EDIT: I don't want to ruin the surprise for our Gamecock fan.

FURTHER EDIT (29 August): Texas A&M already ruined the surprise. dammit.
 
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#21
#21
Every article like this that is written expecting Mizzou to continue to play well in spite of losing almost all of their best players and returning the least starters and lettermen in the conference... is basically not worth reading. Many will notice that this has become a thorn under my fingernail. I'm no fortune teller so maybe MU does somehow find a way to replace all of that production and Mauk becomes the superman that many think he is... but sitting a week out from week 1... I don't know how any writer who has taken a real look at their roster losses and replacements does NOT predict a significant drop off for them.

Not only did they lose all of their best players to the NFL or graduation, the players they are replacing them with aren't very highly recruited. Mizzou hasn't had a top twenty five recruiting class in the last four years. Even Kentucky and Vandy have recruited more highly rated prospects, and have had top 25 five classes.
 
#24
#24
Every article like this that is written expecting Mizzou to continue to play well in spite of losing almost all of their best players and returning the least starters and lettermen in the conference... is basically not worth reading. Many will notice that this has become a thorn under my fingernail. I'm no fortune teller so maybe MU does somehow find a way to replace all of that production and Mauk becomes the superman that many think he is... but sitting a week out from week 1... I don't know how any writer who has taken a real look at their roster losses and replacements does NOT predict a significant drop off for them.

Marty Mauck is going to be a great college quarterback. The article was spot on send basically what I told you.
 
#25
#25
Not only did they lose all of their best players to the NFL or graduation, the players they are replacing them with aren't very highly recruited. Mizzou hasn't had a top twenty five recruiting class in the last four years. Even Kentucky and Vandy have recruited more highly rated prospects, and have had top 25 five classes.

Lol.....you guys never learn. Their talent and recruits are vastly under rated.
 

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