We can win next year

[zooguy]

Sept. 1 -- vs. West Virginia (Charlotte) Loss - They ain't beating WVU with Will Grier. He's Johnny Manziel lite. He's nowhere near the QB he was at Fla and has better offensive weapons.
Sept. 8 -- ETSU - Win
Sept. 15 -- UTEP - Win
Sept. 22 -- FLORIDA - Loss - The Florida curse continues.
Sept. 29 -- at Georgia - Loss
Oct. 6 -- Open Date
Oct. 13 -- at Auburn - Loss
Oct. 20 -- ALABAMA- Loss
Oct. 27 -- at South Carolina - toss-up
Nov. 3 -- CHARLOTTE-Win
Nov. 10 -- KENTUCKY - toss-up
Nov. 17 -- MISSOURI - Loss - Mizzou will run and pass all over UT again.
Nov. 24 -- at Vanderbilt - toss-up

That's 4.5-7.5 (4-8 or 5-7). You don't win without a QB and an OLine and Dline in the SEC. Tenn still doesn't have a proven QB (Guarantano looked alright in a few games) and their Oline is Swiss cheese and their Dline wasn't that good either. They also lack depth throughout the offense and defense, and that is not a recipe for success in the SEC, seeing as how many injuries they've had in the past couple of years. Plus, new, unproven coaching staff.

I don't have orange colored glasses - just calling how I see it.

 

[Volfan2012]

8 and 4 would be a marvelous result. I think we need to win at least six should be able to get it together to beat a couple of SEC teams.

 

[Vol0725]

8-4. Losses to UGA, Auburn, Bama, and SC

We start out strong but UGA, Auburn and Bama are just too much. We lose to SC simply by being beat up. But after that we win out and finish strong. Pruitt’s first year and worst year will be equivalent to Butchs best two years. That will speak volumes. What difference having an actual football coach makes.

8-4 regular season would be 'fantastic' 1st season results for Pruitt and crew...borderline epic...very few new team coaches win 8 reg season their 1st year coaching, much less in the SEC.

 

[wtmvol]

Sept. 1 -- vs. West Virginia (Charlotte) Loss - They ain't beating WVU with Will Grier. He's Johnny Manziel lite. He's nowhere near the QB he was at Fla and has better offensive weapons.
Sept. 8 -- ETSU - Win
Sept. 15 -- UTEP - Win
Sept. 22 -- FLORIDA - Loss - The Florida curse continues.
Sept. 29 -- at Georgia - Loss
Oct. 6 -- Open Date
Oct. 13 -- at Auburn - Loss
Oct. 20 -- ALABAMA- Loss
Oct. 27 -- at South Carolina - toss-up
Nov. 3 -- CHARLOTTE-Win
Nov. 10 -- KENTUCKY - toss-up
Nov. 17 -- MISSOURI - Loss - Mizzou will run and pass all over UT again.
Nov. 24 -- at Vanderbilt - toss-up

That's 4.5-7.5 (4-8 or 5-7). You don't win without a QB and an OLine and Dline in the SEC. Tenn still doesn't have a proven QB (Guarantano looked alright in a few games) and their Oline is Swiss cheese and their Dline wasn't that good either. They also lack depth throughout the offense and defense, and that is not a recipe for success in the SEC, seeing as how many injuries they've had in the past couple of years. Plus, new, unproven coaching staff.

I don't have orange colored glasses - just calling how I see it.

I think you're making some assumptions that can't be known yet about our team. Was our OL swiss cheese because of the dumb scheme they were trying to play in? Because they were injured? Or because they're just not good? Can our DL improve prior to next season with Pruitt's teaching? How much? We just don't know yet. We could very well go 4-8 again, but I see 7-5 as more likely.

What's your prognosis for A&M?

 

[WesternNCVol]

I see a few factors that will decide our record.

1. Injuries and depth. This is likely related to improper strength and conditioning as well as my playing loose due to butch jones and his red face. If we can keep guys healthy we have some talented athletes.

2. QB play. Someone needs to take the lead. Go be a leader and make some plays. Dobbs succeeded in a messed up environment with messed up coaching.

3. Line play. We've been BAD in this position for a long time. I'd like to see some aggressive lineman. Be mean. Really mean.

4. Coaching that adapts the system and game play to the strengths and abilities of the players. HS coaches do this every years because they have to. They're expected to win no matter the players abilities. College coaches need to do this to a point as well although they should recruit based on needs not stars alone. I think the last staff wanted to win the recruiting day and forgot that a 5 star db may not make a good wr.

I'm looking forward to seeing what this staff can do. They will win or they will fail. I'll support them as long as they are moving forward.

 

[zooguy]

I think you're making some assumptions that can't be known yet about our team. Was our OL swiss cheese because of the dumb scheme they were trying to play in? Because they were injured? Or because they're just not good? Can our DL improve prior to next season with Pruitt's teaching? How much? We just don't know yet. We could very well go 4-8 again, but I see 7-5 as more likely.

What's your prognosis for A&M?

Who knows. Depends on coaching. Our OL was absolute garbage. Our WR's were very underwhelming, and we lose Kirk most likely. RB's were underutilized. Starkel should be decent (threw for 411 in a half against NMSU), but if he's behind a Swiss cheese OL, he'll get killed. Our LB's are decent, secondary sucks. Dline should be ok.

Depends on who they get for DC as far as how good defense can be. Talent is there. I'll love finally seeing a TE being utilized and not running out of shotgun all the time. Fisher calls his own plays, so OC is not as important. Getting Brewster from FSU will be huge. Although Sumlin had good rated classes, the actual players and the development for the most part sucked. Myles Garrett didn't get any better in his time at A&M. He was over-rated.

Expect - 7-5/8-4, since we haven't been worse than that the last 6 seasons. There is decent talent; but what is Fisher going to do with it?

 

[NashvilleFan]

Tons of Talent on Roster with 5 Straight High Rated Recruiting Classes- We should Expect 9 Wins & Not Lower Expectations to Bottom Feeder Levels- Hoping to go 6-6 & lapping up a WeedEater Bowl Invitation is NOT ACCEPTABLE - We have underperformed & just accepted it as fans for the past 20 tears so now Losing is the NORM- 9-3 is the Minimum Requirement for a Competent Coach- Pruitt should understand that when he Accepted the job- WIN 9 Games or you are going to make a Whole Lot of Tennessee Football Fans Very Unhappy. Tennessee Football where 6-6 Football gets you Fired not a Contract Extension - NEVER ACCEPT LOSING

 

[Vols_Baby_Boomer]

if we had Butch Jones back, we'd win nearly every game next season.

 

[reecetn]

Tons of Talent on Roster with 5 Straight High Rated Recruiting Classes- We should Expect 9 Wins & Not Lower Expectations to Bottom Feeder Levels- Hoping to go 6-6 & lapping up a WeedEater Bowl Invitation is NOT ACCEPTABLE - We have underperformed & just accepted it as fans for the past 20 tears so now Losing is the NORM- 9-3 is the Minimum Requirement for a Competent Coach- Pruitt should understand that when he Accepted the job- WIN 9 Games or you are going to make a Whole Lot of Tennessee Football Fans Very Unhappy. Tennessee Football where 6-6 Football gets you Fired not a Contract Extension - NEVER ACCEPT LOSING

Lots of truth in this post.

 

[beneVOLence]

Tons of Talent on Roster with 5 Straight High Rated Recruiting Classes- We should Expect 9 Wins & Not Lower Expectations to Bottom Feeder Levels- Hoping to go 6-6 & lapping up a WeedEater Bowl Invitation is NOT ACCEPTABLE - We have underperformed & just accepted it as fans for the past 20 tears so now Losing is the NORM- 9-3 is the Minimum Requirement for a Competent Coach- Pruitt should understand that when he Accepted the job- WIN 9 Games or you are going to make a Whole Lot of Tennessee Football Fans Very Unhappy. Tennessee Football where 6-6 Football gets you Fired not a Contract Extension - NEVER ACCEPT LOSING

This all day long. 6-6 and a bowl should be the floor not the ceiling. Defeatest attitudes in here. If CJP doesn't win 6 games next year, we are probably looking for a new coach in 4 years like sjt said.

 

[sjt18]

There's the rub. Every new coach is the second coming to the fans who want to believe, but no one really knows what kind of head coach Pruitt will turn out to be. He's going to have some growing pains. Fans need to be real about the expectations. Pruitt has to put together a staff which will need time to gel as a group. He then has to begin patching holes in this roster and turning it over all while trying to put his systems in place and changing the culture. Oh...and do all this while winning in the SEC facing what might be the toughest schedule in the country next year. Yeah....he's got to work a miracle.

Coaching well is not miraculous. It, like anything else, is a combination of work, leadership, and talent.

People said what you just said about Jones... after his first year... after his second year... after his third year... even after his fourth year there were some saying he would "grow into the job". If you were watching you could see he simply didn't have the coaching talent to win even in that first year.

I think it was less a matter of wanting to believe and more a desire to not believe...

 

[Vol0725]

As I see it, our failures on the field last year were due to poor play calling and an unbelievable attrition from injuries. We simply could not handle that unfortunate combination. We needed talent to overcome the poor coaching, and much of that talent was in a cast on the sidelines.

The best thing Butch Jones did while at Tennessee was recruit. from his second year onward, we had top 10 recruiting classes. There is real talent on this team.

I've seen several threads talking about how bad next year could be. They cite a brutal schedule and a new coaching staff as very reasonable causes for a potentially bad outcome next year. I submit that, even with losses to Bama, Georgia, Auburn next year, there is potential to have a 9 win regular season. The talent is there, the injuries should be healed, and lets hope to God that the coaching is improved. WVU, UK, SCAR, UF, Mizzou, Vandy and the cupcakes will all be winnable games.

It may not go that way. I hope that it does, and I don't believe I am being foolish in thinking that it is a realistic possibility.

Respect your opinion, would love to see it. 9 wins in the regular season would be EXTRA-ordinary for 1st year coach in most any conference, much less the SEC. I can’t recall ever seeing it happen in the SEC when someone’s taking over a losing/down program.
Would love it, would be epic, not impossible, but it’s not realistic based on history.

 

[volmark]

I am not sure if Pruitt is going to be the man or not, but we all know that next year we will have some growing pains. However, I am persistently seeing people say 5-7 would be likely and 6-6 would be a stellar season for us. There is plenty of talent on this roster. It is not perfect. The OLine needs some help and TE is weak. However, there is PLENTY of talent at all other positions and this does not even include the incoming class. I am not thinking this is a 10 win team by any means, but this roster is good enough to be 7-5 or 8-4 IMO. We are in the east and we only have to better than SC, VANDY, MIZZ, UK to be 8-4.

Next Years Roster (Sans Freshman) - 247 sports rankings
5 - 5 star players
24 - 4 star players
32 - 3 star players

Offense
QB - Dormady - 4 star
QB - Gaurantano - 4 star
QB - McBride, 3 star
WR - Callaway - 4 star
WR - Jennings - 4 star
WR - Byrd - 4 star
WR - B. Johnson - 3 star
WR - Williams - 3 star
WR - Murphy - 3 star
WR - Palmer - 3 star
WR - Fant - 3 star
WR - J Jones - 3 star
TE - Pope - 3 star
TE - Bumphus - 3 star
TE - Johnson - 3 star
TE - Wolf - 2 star
TE - J. Brown - 3 star
RB - J Kelly - 3 star
RB - Chandler - 4 star
RB - Fils-Aime - 4 star
RB - Jordan - 3 star
RB - Coleman - 3 star
OL - T. Smith - 5 star
OL - D. Richmond - 5 star
OL - R. Johnson - 4 star
OL - Hall - 4 star
OL - Boulware - 4 star
OL - Tatum - 3 star
OL - Calbert - 3 star
OL - Brooks - 3 star
OL - Niehaus - 3 star
OL - Locklear 3 star

Defense
LB - Bituli - 4 star
LB - Ignont - 4 star
LB - Kirkland - 4 star
LB - Bates - 4 star
LB - Sapp - 4 star
LB - A. Smith - 3 star
LB - Blakely - 3 star
LB - Page - 3 star
LB - Reid - 3 star
DL - Mckenzie - 5 star
DL - Kongbo - 5 star
DL - Phillips - 5 star
DL - Tuttle - 4 star
DL - A. Johnson - 4 star
DL - Crosby - 4 star
DL - D. Taylor - 4 star
DL - Picou - 3 star
DL - Butler - 3 star
DL - Bennett - 3 star
DL - D. Johnson - 3 star
DL - Thaxton - 3 star
DL - Bain - 2 star
DB - Warrior - 4 star
DB - Abernathy - 4 star
DB - Osborne - 4 star
DB - TK Jr. - 4 star
DB - Gaulden - 4 star
DB - M. Gray - 4 star
DB - Buchanan - 3 star
DB - Labruzza - 3 star
DB - T. Bailey - 3 star
DB - T. Jackson - 3 star
DB - Shamburger - 3 star

Did you even watch the mizzou game? They couldnt catch a pass and still whipped us like dogs! And btw..we lost to all of those only have to be better thans...

 

[BigALWiLson]

I know two years we were 15 th rated class and many players never lived up to their rating. We do not have any big time players to play in the SEC.

We actually have at least 5 guys who could make all sec with good coachin on defense alone. Tuttle, McKenzie,Bituli,Warrior as well as Kongbo. Not saying they all make 1st team but talent is here in the present. I forgot Kirkland if he can stay healthy

 

[Vol0725]

If Pruitt goes 9-3, wins a bowl game. He’ll very likely be named Coach of the Year.
6-6 line in sand floor, anything above that is good based on 1st year seasons when programs are down the year prior. Lane and Monte went 7-6 after Fulmer left, I’d say something along that line is realistic.

 

[I40flyer]

I agree with those that think we should be thinking about a 6-6 season, that's 50% more wins than this year. Regarding those CBJ hanger on types, those with the constant drum roll of "He was a Great Recruiter-best ever........", I always ask, based on what? When asked to justify the great recruiting based on Actual Game Play, and not opinions of how a HS recruit will play, the room becomes quiet. I watched a team that was not ready to play more than two full quarters of football this year. Our team was both physically and emotionally out of shape. If we have a 6 or 7 win season, next year, it will be a sign of things to come, two years from now, I'm expecting a 10 win season-at a minimum! Thank God we are finally past jones, it was far too long in coming (his going) but he's gone now. Maybe we can get back to real Tennessee Football!:hi:

 

[Snapper58]

[twitter]<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Interesting info here: No SEC school has produced more elite NFL talent this century than Tennessee: <a href="https://t.co/cIPSz0amjn">https://t.co/cIPSz0amjn</a></p>&mdash; SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) <a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelWBratton/status/883055602200711168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
[/twitter]

Interesting!

 

[tallyho]

Did you even watch the mizzou game? They couldnt catch a pass and still whipped us like dogs! And btw..we lost to all of those only have to be better thans...

First, Jennings is not reinstated and may never be. Second, Boulware has transferred. However, I believe that on paper Tennessee has the second best talent pool of players in the SEC East when healthy. Under the new pro-set offense any one of the QBs should be better off than the old read-option spread offense. We may need to develop one of the backs or tight ends into a fullback like we had with Bryson on the NC team.

The OL should be better with the new coaching staff and scheme. I think you will see Richmond, Smith, Johnson, Brooks and Tatum as starters. Johnson or Locklear should be the center.

Our wide receivers have a lot of upside and with better coaching should be able to get better separation, run routes properly, block downfield and catch passes at them. YAC will be the most important byproduct of better coaching.

Running backs are pretty well set. Kelly, Chandler and Fils-Aime can carry the load provided the OL can open the holes for them to run through. TE will be very competitive with Bumphus, Pope and Brown battling it out.

On Defense the line of Phillips, Kongbo, Taylor, McKenzie and Tuttle should also improve. New coaches Rumph and Rocker will get on them. LBS are pretty well set as far as starters go with Kirkland, Butili, Smith, Ignont a pretty strong unit.

With Byrd moving to cover corner along side Osbourne or Shamberger and Warrior and Kelly at safeties and Gaulden at NB it is a pretty tight DB unit.

I doubt that the Vols are going to go 5-7 with this talent. They are too good to be a last place team. I am not so sure that West Virginia is going to beat Tennessee even with Grier at QB. I am sure CJP will have something up his sleeve to harass Grier.

 

[tennesseeduke]

Sept. 1 -- vs. West Virginia (Charlotte) Loss - They ain't beating WVU with Will Grier. He's Johnny Manziel lite. He's nowhere near the QB he was at Fla and has better offensive weapons.
Sept. 8 -- ETSU - Win
Sept. 15 -- UTEP - Win
Sept. 22 -- FLORIDA - Loss - The Florida curse continues.
Sept. 29 -- at Georgia - Loss
Oct. 6 -- Open Date
Oct. 13 -- at Auburn - Loss
Oct. 20 -- ALABAMA- Loss
Oct. 27 -- at South Carolina - toss-up
Nov. 3 -- CHARLOTTE-Win
Nov. 10 -- KENTUCKY - toss-up
Nov. 17 -- MISSOURI - Loss - Mizzou will run and pass all over UT again.
Nov. 24 -- at Vanderbilt - toss-up

That's 4.5-7.5 (4-8 or 5-7). You don't win without a QB and an OLine and Dline in the SEC. Tenn still doesn't have a proven QB (Guarantano looked alright in a few games) and their Oline is Swiss cheese and their Dline wasn't that good either. They also lack depth throughout the offense and defense, and that is not a recipe for success in the SEC, seeing as how many injuries they've had in the past couple of years. Plus, new, unproven coaching staff.

I don't have orange colored glasses - just calling how I see it.

You are basing this off a team that quit because goals, staff and injuries hit all at the same time.

3-4 defense with Mac and Tuttle will be much improved with serious depth. O line can improve immensely with a pro style offense.

Don’t base future off of this past year. I’m still a firm believer that this season ends much different had Gators not landed that bomb again. We will beat them in Knoxville no doubt. We’ve proven the past 4 yrs to be a better team yet have found a way to lose the games on 2 bombs and a blown late 4 quarter lead.
8-4 to me should be the low ball!

There is 4* depth at every position!
&#128176;&#128176;&#128176;

 

[wmcovol]

OL issues gonna hurt

 

[OH-Vol]

IMO depends on two factors

- JG maturity and taking the next step as an SEC QB
- 5 Star Defense talent that have busts, bringing it for their Senior seasons. McKenzie, Tuttle, Phillips, Kirkland, Kongbo

 

[JohnnyBall]

Realistically 6-6 in the regular season with a bowl win to get to 7-6 is a good first year.

Four play calls last year by this POS staff and they easily go 7-5.I expect 7-5.

 

[Exiled]

We go bowling next year.

 

[HooahVol]

We go bowling next year.

Yep. Music City Bowl here we come.

 

[UncontrollaVOL]

We will be LUCKY to win 5 games........I am anticipating worse than that. It is going to take time for Pruitt to implement his system. Fulmer needs to leave Pruitt alone and let him run the program. What AD forces himself on a new head coach on a recruiting visit? Cade Mays was not impressed. Right now we are 3 maybe 4 years away from competing for the East. By then Georgia will be light years ahead of us and equal to or better than Bama. It is what it is......years of bad hires have doomed us.