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Luckily, I have permission from Freak to post this.
I wrote something. About our head football coach, where we are now as a fanbase, the preseason presser, and a couple of thoughts on the season. I'm posting the full write-up here.
I appreciate any and all feedback, and will be posting more throughout camp and football season.
I wrote something. About our head football coach, where we are now as a fanbase, the preseason presser, and a couple of thoughts on the season. I'm posting the full write-up here.
I appreciate any and all feedback, and will be posting more throughout camp and football season.
Pre-camp Presser: Excitement is Allowed
You have the Floor
The USA Today/Coaches Polls release today does not change the difficult task facing the 2014 Tennessee Volunteers, but it certainly helps clarify the battle that will be the 2014 every season.
The Slate
vs. Utah State
vs. Arkansas State
@ #3
@ #12
vs. Unranked
vs. Chattanooga
@ #19
vs. #2
@ #9
vs. Kentucky
vs. Missouri
@ Vanderbilt
After looking at that, one wonders what Butch Jones thought about as he took the podium. He grinned the entire time.
He is a man dedicated to each step in each plan. He is paralyzed by thoughts of missing steps and missing opportunities. Hes playing chess, not checkers, and subscribes to Lester Freamons mantra: All the pieces matter. Each players approach, mentally and physically, matters. Everyone must meet their full potential in our football program, Butch orders. In case he isnt clear on that point, he follows with a promise to challenge every player to meet that goal. He calmly discusses the omnipresence of this challenge, but not so calmly that it isnt taken to heart.
I remember Butch Jones introducing himself to the players for the first time. I remember feeling angry when he said, I told my championship football team that there is only one place (for which) I would leave, and thats for the University of Tennessee. It sounded too similar to Lane Kiffins lame excuse for treating Tennessee like a pest. It sounded like he was brown-nosing. Babying us. It sounded like we had been fishing for compliments and finally gotten a bite. *Seriously, youre beautiful. Dont let anyone tell you any different.* Unprovoked praise and excitement was unnatural. It made me squirm.
Butch Jones is too self-aware to fool himself into thinking he is who Tennessee fans expected to see addressing the team. Perhaps that is why it sounded disingenuous: he couldnt believe it, either.
Tennessee fans wanted a splash. We didnt want to have questions about the hire. We wanted to be the belle of the talk-radio ball. In his introductory presser, Butch Jones asked for patience from the fan base and promised to work hard. I am certain some fans wrote him off immediately. At the time, we did not care about intertwining plans and puzzle pieces. *He is creating built-in excuses. He is intentionally setting the bar low.* Tennessee football never crawled. It never moved inch-by-inch. It wasnt a baby who needed held. We wanted results. And we were through with the labor pains.
I remember being bothered by his cliche. Anything in life worth doing is supposed to be hard. *Coach Speak Sell by 11/2008.* Nobody cared if he said the right things. I dont know if we even cared what his voice sounded like. We knew how to over-analyze press conferences after losses, and, at the time, this was yet another in a long line of losses. The bad boy who promised it wasnt a fling had broken our hearts, the nice boy whose family endeared him to our parents had broken our hearts, and we had sworn off men. Looking back now, Butch Jones was basically pleading for a chance. He saw right through our promise to write off Tennessee football altogether. And he had a plan.
Despite Butchs constant recognition of each steps importance, did he let his mind wander beyond the opening of camp on Friday? Was he thinking about Justin Worley, Joshua Dobbs, or Chuckie Keetons respective read-option mastery, or who will play nickel when Utah State stretches Tennessees defense into a sub formation? I believe he was thinking about what this press conference means. *How can I use this press conference to improve tomorrows practice? How can I use this press conference, this move of a pawn, to give us a better chance at the Kings crown?* I believe he was smugly soaking in the realization that we care about the plan now.
That explains the smile. He knows we want to go back to the introductory meetings and listen more closely. We were suspicious on his first day, eager to interject and interrogate. *You arent Jon Gruden. You could be anybody.* That day, we scooped up our pride like a child beginning construction of a sloppy sandcastle and we challenged the man at the podium.
On July 31, 2014, we were content to sit back and listen. And he bit his tongue yesterday, as he should have, but hes waiting for the right time to say, I told you so.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y36zWDFq1IE[/youtube]
Mack Crowder and Marquez North (35:45)
Curt Maggitt and Jordan Williams (52:35)
The Quarterbacks (1:09:25)
Excitement is Required: Marquez North
Butch jumps head-first into the fine details of a players game. The things our untrained eyes dont notice when the offense cannot move the ball. Every player has a toolbox. What type of release techniques do you have? What type of ball skills do you have? I always thought of a toolbox in terms of 40-yard-dash times and vertical leaping ability. Butch, on the other hand, thinks in terms of technical skills at the wide receiver position.
Even as he praises Marquez for being better than the sum of the parts in his toolbox, he reiterates the importance of finely-tuned details. Blocking. Maintaining blocks. Release techniques. He promises to force everyone in the program to meet their full potential, and he follows through 30 minutes later, explaining all the ways our best returning player can improve his game. This is not criticism without follow-through. As we know, any coach can do that. This is criticism with a plan already in place to annihilate shortcomings.
At the 30:20 mark of the presser, Butch Jones let the cat out of the bag: Marquez North switched positions and had success as a freshman in the SEC. Quez, in the words of his coach, Was quite simply a high-school running back. I am open and overzealous with my great expectations for Marquez North. I think he is better than Amari Cooper, and that alone would make him one of the best receivers in the country. His commendable freshman campaign came without much polish at the wide receiver position. He played a somewhat new position, and, through displaying a knack for uncomfortable, seemingly impossible catches, he has many believing that he will be an uncomfortable, seemingly impossible assignment.
Excitement is Allowed: The Defensive Line
Jordan Williams tried to snatch the criticism before it slid out of his mouth, but it was too late. Last year, we had a lot of size, and I feel like they were more focused on themselves. Just holding their own gap. It sounds bad at first, but Williams wasnt calling anybody selfish.
Unathletic and stagnant? Thats a different story. As we have seen, even if someone has extra beef to take up space, it takes athleticism and quickness to garner attention from the offensive line. I took the initial comment and his follow-up clarification to mean that last years defensive line, while it may have looked good getting off the bus, thought it could get by on space-eating alone. The defensive line will look vastly different from a year ago, and I think that will be for the best.
The defensive tackle position is not a strength, but I dont think we are losing as much impact and talent as replacing both starting DTs leads one to believe. The defensive end position boasts two pass-rush specialists that are a threat to sack the quarterback all game long. It is scary to enter a season replacing the entire defensive line, but I am confident they can produce more than the 2013 version.
I go back to Butch Jones promise when he met the team: Its going to be hard. That sentence describes fall camp. Its going to be hard on the 15 seniors thrust into leadership roles, and harder on the 32 newcomers thrust into position battles. Its going to be hard on the coaching staff when they make the first depth chart, and harder on the players who fall short. Its going to be hard on the fans who need to know right now who will take the first snap at QB, DT, or CB2. Its going to be hard, and its going to be worth it.
In Closing
I didnt write the names on the schedule because its the usual suspects. Its not Auburn, its Ole Miss. Its not Oregon, its Oklahoma. Most of all, it is what it is. Its a power schedule for a team whose head coach knows that the crown is the target in 2015 and beyond. That same coach who, through sheer force of personality, has put Tennessee in the proverbial drivers seats of high school seniors all across the country. The nationwide, standing-room-only show that is Tennessees reappearance from the shadows and into the top-5s of those playing under Friday night lights has been nothing short of amazing. But there is plenty of time to talk about that. Right now, ALL we care about is a day 1 practice report. We dont want to jump the gun. Remember: baby steps. **Yeah, right**
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