agree other than 2 big errors:
Gooden will 110% be behind Phillips and most likely others
Will Ignont will be in the 2 deep at LB AND sapp will be at olb
completely disagree on Gooden, he was brought in to help the DL immediately, he will start day one of spring camp on the D line opposite Kongbo most likely. What have we seen of Phillips that would indicate he could be a starting DE in the SEC? All he as been good for here are injuries and slow play along with never setting an edge, ever.
completely disagree on Gooden, he was brought in to help the DL immediately, he will start day one of spring camp on the D line opposite Kongbo most likely. What have we seen of Phillips that would indicate he could be a starting DE in the SEC? All he as been good for here are injuries and slow play along with never setting an edge, ever.
I think our 3-4 will be good against spread teams, but I hope Pruitt has a 4-3 in his back pocket for the running teams like UGA, AU, and UA. I still have nightmares of the Sunseri 3-4.
Would love to see someone step up and take Abernathy's spot. Good kid, but lacks speed.My prediction is that we will have a top 5 SEC defense this year, which will be a massive improvement over one of the worst defenses in TN history vs the run.
Here is my early 2 deep: (without any of this years signing class besides Gooden)
DE Gooden 295/ Butler 285
DT Tuttle 310/ Alexis Johnson 305
DE Kongbo 280/ Phillips 280
OLB Austin Smith 240/ Jordan Allen 240
ILB Bituli 235/ Sapp 230
ILB Kirkland 235/ Bates 230
OLB D.Taylor 250/ Deandre Johnson 255
CB Shamburger/ Buchanan
CB Bird/ Labruzza
Nickel Osboure/ Bailey
S Abernathy/ Todd Kelly
S Warrior/ Theo Jackson
So we should have a legit 3-4 deep with our signing class with legit SEC size and speed. We won't be dominant but we have a chance to be really good IMO...we hv to get bigger at DE, and make big improvements with our DBs. Our LBs will be the strength of the defense.
Ive never seen a 3-4 work at Tennessee. Theyve never had the LBs with the lateral range, probably more to the point the position coaching assumes a lot and doesnt coach position discipline enough to see it on the field. They most times look lost, slow, and basic tackling just isnt there. Also any TE with skill have looked unstoppable. That said hopefully the new staff recognizes this and coaches position by position discipline and tackling quality up and our players are athletic enough to make it work. After being taught they have to see it works and believe in it before theyll become effective in the new look.
Ive never seen a 3-4 work at Tennessee. Theyve never had the LBs with the lateral range, probably more to the point the position coaching assumes a lot and doesnt coach position discipline enough to see it on the field. They most times look lost, slow, and basic tackling just isnt there. Also any TE with skill have looked unstoppable. That said hopefully the new staff recognizes this and coaches position by position discipline and tackling quality up and our players are athletic enough to make it work. After being taught they have to see it works and believe in it before theyll become effective in the new look.
Whats the learning curve time? As I remember most times it takes a year to get it down. Even Saban didn't have bama firing on all cylinders till year 3, maybe year 4. I don't think Tenns players will truly understand the system until year 2 at best, and that will be a huge rebuild yr due to a large SR class this coming year..