Azzanni: 'This is not a pro-style huddle game anymore'

#26
#26
VolFreakJosh said:
I don't think he deserves critiscm yet. Sure, our WR's has dropped passes that should have been caught and yes, Dobbs sometimes doesn't make the necessary throws in order for WR's to make plays but whether you want to believe it or not, our offense is made up around Dobbs, Hurd, & Kamara. We rely heavily on the run game so of course our WR's aren't going to put up "Great Numbers" on the stat sheet. Coach Z can't make the plays for the players, he can only coach them during practice. Once they step on that field, they're on their own. I do think Coach Z is a good coach, I just don't think he fits in Butch's system.
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Doesn't deserve criticism YET? How many more years of our leading WR catches 38 passes for 400 yds do you want/need?

Also, don't need a lecture on the style of our offense, it's evident to any football fan who's watched 2-3 offensive series, much less 2-3 games. We're a run first, run heavy offense, we all know that. But that doesn't mean we can't have an efficient, productive, even big play passing game given the talent Azzani has to work with. Instead, we have guys who are 6'3-6'4 physical specimens who run 4.5 but can't get off press coverage and can't get separation.

Top offenses last year did both. Look at Alabama, look at Clemson, look at Arkansas and many others. It can be done and it sure as hell should be done at Tennessee.

As far as Azzani not fitting Jones' offense, I don't know what that means. He's been with Butch on and off for years and he coaches WRs at Tennessee solely because Butch hired and continues to employ him to teach exactly what Butch wants taught.
 
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#27
#27
IluvdoubleD's said:
We have had nothing but injured, young, and under developed receivers for years. We haven't even ever seen this offense open up. Dobbs better step up his middle of the field game. He needs to learn touch. And he needs to become more instinctual. He has been thinking too much and not reacting naturally. All accounts I've read, everything I've seen says this is going to be a very different U.T. team this year.
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We carve folks up on middle of the field passing. I don't know why we don't do it more. Sideline/shoulder throws is where Dobbs suffers.
 
#28
#28
I wonder how many times we passed it 4 or more times in a row last year considering we're a running team. The fans are ignorant of today's football is ironic as hell. Baylor, washington state, etc receivers must be genetically superior to our wr's. Truth is, we've coached Dobbs to be super conservative passing due to inexperience throughout the entire offense. Rarely hit TE over the middle. I assume Butch was coaching around his weakness to limit turnovers. He'll prob be wide open this year tho. We're an experienced, deep, and talented team now. So Azzani cant use that excuse anymore . He subs too much and everybody knows it.
 
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#29
#29
KBVol said:
Great strategy Zach..... you're catching heat because the production of the position group you specifically coach has been piss poor, damn near embarrassing for 3 years running despite some very talented players. So now, when you're getting much deserved, well-earned criticism, you decide to play the "fans are just stupid" card and just don't understand today's game. Well done buddy.

Also, which is it? On one hand you have to play so many WRs because none of them can possibly go more than 4 plays in a row, even though we typically use 80-90% of the play clock despite not huddling up. On the other hand you make the statement that youll only play 4 WRs if those are the best players to help us win. What?
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UT can do better at WR coach.

Azzanni is a nice guy but he is a weak link.
 
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#30
#30
KBVol said:
Doesn't deserve criticism YET? How many more years of our leading WR catches 38 passes for 400 yds do you want/need?

Also, don't need a lecture on the style of our offense, it's evident to any football fan who's watched 2-3 offensive series, much less 2-3 games. We're a run first, run heavy offense, we all know that. But that doesn't mean we can't have an efficient, productive, even big play passing game given the talent Azzani has to work with. Instead, we have guys who are 6'3-6'4 physical specimens who run 4.5 but can't get off press coverage and can't get separation.

Top offenses last year did both. Look at Alabama, look at Clemson, look at Arkansas and many others. It can be done and it sure as hell should be done at Tennessee.

As far as Azzani not fitting Jones' offense, I don't know what that means. He's been with Butch on and off for years and he coaches WRs at Tennessee solely because Butch hired and continues to employ him to teach exactly what Butch wants taught.
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As run heavy as we are the big plays should be there in the passing game, Azzani not owning that
 
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#31
#31
bowlinggreenvol said:
We carve folks up on middle of the field passing. I don't know why we don't do it more. Sideline/shoulder throws is where Dobbs suffers.
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Great observation, couldn't agree more. Dobbs is very accurate throwing to the middle of the field, has been since he got to Tennessee even as a freshman. We're very efficient when we throw to both WRs and TEs in the middle of the field.
 
#33
#33
BigOrangeVols said:
Basillio* wrote something nice on this. Pretty much said Calvin Ridley didn't catch 80+ passes by coming off the field every 4-5 plays.
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Hes right. Compound that with the fact they sometimes come off every 3 plays over the course of the game.

Azzani is a guy learning on the job.
 
#34
#34
DuckinVol said:
Kind of off-topic, but not entirely; we've all noted dropped passes, and we've also noted what appears to be an inordinate number of passes hitting a defenders hands but not being caught. Is it possible there is a correlation? Sincere question here, as I honestly don't know the answer having never played either position and nothing after high school. DuckinVol is only a message board football expert.
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It's hard to judge a QB's ball by whether a DB can catch it or not. At times the only difference between a player being a DB or a WR is their hands. All other skills are needed to play both positions.

I speculated that the drops by our guys last year were due to focus. There weren't a ton of times that our guys were hit in stride, and the few on the money drops that did occur weren't because they forgot how to catch a ball, but more likely because they lost focus while thinking what they would do after the catch.
 
#37
#37
KBVol said:
Great strategy Zach..... you're catching heat because the production of the position group you specifically coach has been piss poor, damn near embarrassing for 3 years running despite some very talented players.
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I don't know about the talent part. The WR corps in 2013 was almost unbelievably weak (basically, sophomore Pig and sometimes freshman North, plus an injured version of Josh Smith who couldn't catch anything). The 2014 WR group was just about as bad (Smith was out almost the whole year, North was out a lot of it, Croom was playing hurt, and you had Pig, Malone and Pearson). The 2015 group was supposed to be better, but Pig got kicked off the team, Croom redshirted, and P Willy was coming off a torn ACL and missed all of fall camp, leaving us with basically Smith, Malone and Pearson.

All that, plus the fact that the QB play has been mostly terrible until last year. (And last year the passing game did improve--we just ran the ball a ton. Our YPA as a team was 5.8 in 2013, 6.4 in 2014 and 7.0 in 2015.)

This year is, in many ways, the first year Azzani has been playing with a full deck. We will still probably run the ball a ton, but I bet we see another improvement in the overall performance of the passing game.
 
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#38
#38
Iam4utalways said:
It's hard to judge a QB's ball by whether a DB can catch it or not. At times the only difference between a player being a DB or a WR is their hands. All other skills are needed to play both positions.

I speculated that the drops by our guys last year were due to focus. There weren't a ton of times that our guys were hit in stride, and the few on the money drops that did occur weren't because they forgot how to catch a ball, but more likely because they lost focus while thinking what they would do after the catch.
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Oh, I get the DB part, and I'm hip to the fact there can be myriad reasons, other than QB "touch," for a receiver to miss. Obviously it's anecdotal, and there are probably stats which show I'm mistaken, but it seemed like there were several games when quality opposing DBs dropped an inordinate number of balls and the same with our receivers.

As I said, it's strictly anecdotal on my part, but it would seem there might be a potential connection when too many passes are dropped by both the WRs and DBs. Connection could be "both suck at catching a football that day," or it could be "QB doesn't throw a catchable ball."

Considering we have the same QB and some new receivers, I hope it was the former.
 
#39
#39
LittleVol said:
Hes right. Compound that with the fact they sometimes come off every 3 plays over the course of the game.

Azzani is a guy learning on the job.
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We can't have coaches learning on the job at Tennessee. They should be hired after spending the early part of their careers "learning" so that they're competitive and ready to go once they get to a top flight program like Tennessee. Azzani's been a coach for 13 years now, since 2003, including at one Big 10 school and two SEC teams. He's had more than enough time to "learn" and figure out how to lead a successful WR corps. He either can do it or he can't and right now, it sure looks like he just can't.
 
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#40
#40
KBVol said:
We can't have coaches learning on the job at Tennessee. They should be hired after spending the early part of their careers "learning" so that they're competitive and ready to go once they get to a top flight program like Tennessee. Azzani's been a coach for 13 years now, since 2003, including at one Big 10 school and two SEC teams. He's had more than enough time to "learn" and figure out how to lead a successful WR corps. He either can do it or he can't and right now, it sure looks like he just can't.
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I agree. CBJ needs to go find a successful WR coach.
 
#42
#42
DuckinVol said:
Oh, I get the DB part, and I'm hip to the fact there can be myriad reasons, other than QB "touch," for a receiver to miss. Obviously it's anecdotal, and there are probably stats which show I'm mistaken, but it seemed like there were several games when quality opposing DBs dropped an inordinate number of balls and the same with our receivers.

As I said, it's strictly anecdotal on my part, but it would seem there might be a potential connection when too many passes are dropped by both the WRs and DBs. Connection could be "both suck at catching a football that day," or it could be "QB doesn't throw a catchable ball."

Considering we have the same QB and some new receivers, I hope it was the former.
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And some of the same receivers. Drops are an unfortunate risk of the passing game. 1% a day will get us past the mistakes of last year.
 
#44
#44
photovol said:
Is Azzanni under the gun to step up the WR play, my guess would be yes.
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Quotes sound like he's slightly frustrated with the naysayers. Points primarily to the over-rotation, but he obviously has kept his ears open to the complaining.

Two short years ago, a lotta people around here were wringing hands bc we may lose him to a HC job. Now, I'm hoping that sentiment returns after this season.
 
#45
#45
CoaxialOrange said:
Sounds like the pressure is getting to him. IMO even if our receivers have a good year he should go
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No imo.

Because that means his methods work. It means maybe he altered his methods to where they work in the SEC. So you don't want to erase that by letting him go.

But his methods don't work for every wr. Hes intelligent but he doesn't internalize any game experience.

I was afraid of this while listening to him during his first interviews here.
 
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#46
#46
Yeah I lol'd at the "people just don't understand today's game." If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen Coach. It comes with the territory and frankly, the criticism up to this point is more than warranted.
 
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#48
#48
How many more years is this fool going to get to ride the coattails of Antonio Brown? He has literally nothing else worthy of putting on a resume.
 
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#50
#50
This seems to be the it thread at the moment, so thought I would share. Ty Chandler just committed to UT.
 
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