Recruiting Forum Football Talk XXXI

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They were 6-13 on third downs.


I'm not saying Kirkland was bad. But didn't we all expect a bigger step forward from him than we saw early in 2016?

That's my point.

Everyone expected a bigger step forward from the whole team than what we saw in 2016, but apparently staff decided to go soft in fall camp and let inmates run the asylum in the gym during the offseason. I just don't see how you can single out Kirkland's performance before his injury.
 
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No revisionist history here pal. Appalachian State scored 13 points. That's 13 with 0 points coming in the second half. Their game plan made up of edge rushes and quick passes did sort of negate our pass rush, so kudos to them. It still doesn't take away from a solid performance on the part of our defense.

And in regards to Battle at Bristol, If you take away their 79 yard score in garbage time, Va Tech got 87 yards in the second half.

The bottom line is that the D was more than solid through the first half of the season.
More than solid is an overstatement, IMO. They were far too inconsistent and gave up easy scoring drives to opponents early in almost every game.


And FTR, they had 108 yards without their garbage time TD drive in the second half. But then they fumbled a ball like 20 yards back to the 4 and Tuttle hopped on it, so that came off the final tally.

At one point in the second half, they were driving down two scores, but then fumbled on their next two plays and the offense capitalized to make it a 28 point spread.
 
Everyone expected a bigger step forward from the whole team than what we saw in 2016, but apparently staff decided to go soft in fall camp and let inmates run the asylum in the gym during the offseason. I just don't see how you can single out Kirkland's performance before his injury.
I'm not saying he played badly, but in the small amount we saw of him healthy in 2016, he didn't seem to have taken a step forward at all from 2015.


I wasn't trying to single him out, but people are acting like he and the defense were playing out of their minds early in the season and that's just not the case.
 
I agree. It's premature to be picking sides and getting emotional over QB's for next season. I am happy we have both. May the best man win the job, so our Vols can win.

Everyone including myself circled 2016 as "the year". Before the 2016 season even started I heard from a players parent that some of the people and players in the program were just as, if not more excited about 2017. Their reasoning was centered around Dormady being able to pinpoint the deep ball more consistently and more accurate as a passer in general. The program as a whole has lost a lot of momentum since this time last year. Who knows what either QB will do. With that being said, I think we are in great shape with either QB and feel both passers can be dynamic in their own right. Now our Vols just need to block better and stay healthy across the board.
 
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I expect QD to be the starter in 2017. Kid can get it done.

Agreed. I know I am going to get killed with this, but JG was eh in his all star games. I have no problem with Dormady getting the call. If BB's analysis and evaluation of CBs are any indication, Dormady NEEDS to start. 😉 (J/K BB)
 
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More than solid is an overstatement, IMO. They were far too inconsistent and gave up easy scoring drives to opponents early in almost every game.


And FTR, they had 108 yards without their garbage time TD drive in the second half. But then they fumbled a ball like 20 yards back to the 4 and Tuttle hopped on it, so that came off the final tally.

At one point in the second half, they were driving down two scores, but then fumbled on their next two plays and the offense capitalized to make it a 28 point spread.

We'll just have to agree to disagree. The D played well enough to win until a ludicrous amount of injuries began to mount up halfway through the Florida, UGA, A&M, Bama gauntlet. Seems like consecutive three and outs by our offense sometimes put the D in a bit of a bind and made them look a little worse than they actually were particularly vs. App State and 1st half vs. Va Tech. South Carolina loss was on the O as much as the Vandy loss was on the D.

And BTW, lost yardage is still a win for the D.
 
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We'll just have to agree to disagree. The D played well enough to win until a ludicrous amount of injuries began to mount up halfway through the Florida, UGA, A&M, Bama gauntlet. Seems like consecutive three and outs by our offense sometimes put the D in a bit of a bind and made them look a little worse than they actually were particularly vs. App State and 1st half vs. Va Tech. South Carolina loss was on the O as much as the Vandy loss was on the D.

And BTW, lost yardage is still a win for the D.

Agree to disagree it is then.

The defense gave up points early that made the offense have to press even before the injuries piled up.

And yeah, lost yardage is a win for the d, but a ball being snapped over a QBs head for a twenty yes fumble recovery isn't exactly a defense imposing their will by any means.
 
I'm not bashing bro. I'm just curious for your insight.

JG is more talented and a better fit for our scheme. Its just that simple. Like Peterman, I think Dormady can have success elsewhere. He just won't be the next starting QB at Tennessee.
 
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Dormady has not proven to be incapable. He has thrown some nice balls, and has looked a bit scared in the pocket, IMO. His mobility is obviously not Dobbs, but if he can hit his WR's with accuracy, and have the slippery mobility of some of these other guys we see who can extend drives with 7 yard pick ups here and there, then we may be good to go.

How he responds if/when it is his team, and seeing if he has the mental make-up to play a full 4 quarters at Neyland will show us what we've got.
 
Agreed. I know I am going to get killed with this, but JG was eh in his all star games. I have no problem with Dormady getting the call. If BB's analysis and evaluation of CBs are any indication, Dormady NEEDS to start. �� (J/K BB)

Who gives a s*** what JG did in a all star game? Did you see him light up one of the best high school teams in the nation his senior year?
 
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QD is way more arm talented than Peterman

This. Throws a nice deep ball and does a nice job leading receivers. Whether we go 6-6 or 10-2 next depends mostly on our D and not who starts at QB. I think JG starting depends on his command in the huddle and reading defenses.
 
QD will start. I bet Butch has more trust in him than the others. Also, from the reports, JG throws with nice velocity but is sometimes inaccurate. This reminds me of the Worley/Dobbs situation. And i feel like Butch is to stubborn to take a chance. We were all shocked about how good Dobbs was and how Butch didnt see it, or didnt wanna chance it or upset the veteran.
 
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We didn't have a "really good" defense at any point in the season outside of the 2nd half against UF, really.

Even at their best, they were frustratingly inconsistents.

I can agree with this. My biggest problem was why the defense couldn't play with the emotion and effort of that game consistently regardless of opponent.
 
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Someone asked a few pages back, but the voting for 10th assistant/ early signing period/etc. is in April.
 
Heard Joey Kent on the radio the other day discussing this. He didn't seem to favor either one, seemed very impressed by both. He actually kept stating that Dormady's athleticism keeps getting downplayed, but that he can move around much better than people give him credit for. My personal opinion is still Guarantano will take the job, but it will definitely be a battle. Great problem to have.

I think JG will take the job as well (I just feel he has the chance to be truly special) but I think QD could also be very good *if* our OL doesn't make him a sitting duck every play.

That said, I don't think QD's experience matters going into spring and fall. He quite simply never got enough time as a backup for it to be of any real use and the time he did get the offense was incredibly simplified. Given that I don't think he holds much of an experience advantage and certainly not enough of one for it to be the end all be all when deciding who will be the starter.

When evaluating Guarantano and Dormady coaches are going to have to look at everything from ability to decision making but what they can't really rely much on is either one having enough experience to predict how they'll do in live action.

Also, although he seems unlikely right now, we shouldn't sleep on S. Jones. He's not only one hell of an athlete but also one hell of a leader (just review his sideline behavior this year -- he was there to uplift and inspire his teammates when the chips were down on more than one occasion). That's the kind of intangible that shouldn't be overlooked and I think most of us tend to forget about him because he's been injured much of his time here.
 
I just looked at some MCB highlights. Here's the thing about the careers J. Dobbs and D. Barnett had under the CBJ watch and this is relevant to the QB competition coming on. The position standards Dobbs and Barnett set are phenomenal. Those coming in behind them will have witnessed examples of very high levels of performance and this can only help in instilling a model of player development within the program. I think it bodes well. It's a feature of coaching value that doesn't necessarily show up in the "what have you done for me lately" glamour assessments and is the kind of thing one might look for in seeking signs of building a deep sustainable program.
 
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It's 100 percent correct. Perception changes everything and with fans watching their own teams that perception changes to be far more critical and often inaccurate when comparing one's own team to another. The biggest problem CBJ has right now (well one of the biggest, anyway) is that the Knoxville Area Media and UT fans more broadly have influenced national perceptions of him in a negative way.

That's resulted in very negative feedback from national talking heads like Cowherd and others but really the national guys are simply following the perception that our own media and fans create. We, "The Legions of the Miserable", as Johnny so aptly put it, have a stronger influence on how the local and national media portrays our program and coach than anyone wants to admit. This is especially true with a sports media that is as immature and over-saturated as Knoxville's.

We have a ridiculous amount of sports journalists comparative to our overall size and population and as such media that covers UT football tends to either feed us what we want (everything from positive stories to generating excitement for a recruit we might not actually have any chance with) or pander to the most absurd and embarrassing aspects of fanhood (see: football forum) to generate interest among fans and secure their livelihoods.

When looking at the big picture or national media, it's a perception game and unfortunately our local media tends to use the most ridiculous fan perceptions they can find. The national media then blows that up and reality starts to shimmer. Unfortunately once that happens there's not much rational minded folks can do about it.
 
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It's 100 percent correct. Perception changes everything and with fans watching their own teams that perception changes to be far more critical and often inaccurate when comparing one's own team to another. The biggest problem CBJ has right now (well one of the biggest, anyway) is that the Knoxville Area Media and UT fans more broadly have influenced national perceptions of him in a negative way.

That's resulted in very negative feedback from national talking heads like Cowherd and others but really the national guys are simply following the perception that our own media and fans create. We, "The Legions of the Miserable", as Johnny so aptly put it, have a stronger influence on how the local and national media portrays our program and coach than anyone wants to admit. This is especially true with a sports media that is as immature and over-saturated as Knoxville's.

We have a ridiculous amount of sports journalists comparative to our overall size and population and as such media that covers UT football tends to either feed us what we want (everything from positive stories to generating excitement for a recruit we might not actually have any chance with) or pander to the most absurd and embarrassing aspects of fanhood (see: football forum) to generate interest among fans and secure their livelihoods.

When looking at the big picture or national media, it's a perception game and unfortunately our local media tends to use the most ridiculous fan perceptions they can find. The national media then blows that up and reality starts to shimmer. Unfortunately once that happens there's not much rational minded folks can do about it.

One of the best post I have read in some time. Thanks for those insights. We and the media are our worse enemy very often.
 
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