Recruiting Forum Football Talk XXXIII

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#10,551
#10,551
Nashvegas31 said:
Bituli shows signs of being that guys I would like to see him grab the Mike spot and move Kirkland to JRMs old spot
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Forgot about 35, but they've got to do it in the game. Kirkland has got to step it up. And the position coach has got to step it up. Argument could be made that he's the worst defensive coach on staff right now.
 
#10,554
#10,554
Any news on Kyle Phillips? Is he healthy? I remember having such high hopes for him. Really stinks that he can't stay healthy. Really hope he breaks out this year. Talent isn't an issue
 
#10,555
#10,555
If one thing has become clear in John Currie's six weeks as Tennessee's athletics director, it's that he's going to do it his way, not that it should be a surprise after a pair of attention-grabbing moves -- the firing of tennis coach Sam Winterbotham and Mike Ward's exit from the athletic department.

It may be easy to look at the Winterbotham move and shrug and say, 'Well, it's just the tennis coach,' but there should be more to it. First, Winterbotham was hired during Currie's first stint at Tennessee, thus presumably they already knew each other. Winterbotham won multiple SEC titles, got the Vols to the NCAA tournament final in 2010 and had them in the NCAA round of 16 just three years ago.

Three finishes in the bottom half of the SEC later and Winterbotham is out. Is Currie laying down a marker about his expectations in terms of on-field results? It certainly looks that way.

The Ward situation is perhaps more interesting because it looked for a while like Ward, who's been a vital part of Dave Hart's executive team, was going to make it through the transition and stay on at Tennessee, and then the next day he's gone. The move didn't go over well in some circles. On the other hand, you can't blame Currie for wanting to clean house.

Speaking of Currie's house, how is it going to look? His hire of Reid Sigmon, previously the CFO for the College Football Playoff and his right-hand man at Kansas State, has been praised as a home run by everybody I've asked. At least one other hire appears imminent.

Blair DeBord, who worked in the development department at K-State and is no relation to the Vols' former offensive coordinator, is all but official, and it looks like he'll be Tennessee's assistant to the vice chancellor/athletics director and special projects manager, according to the updated info on his LinkedIn page.

Currie could have more hires done in the next couple of weeks. One key role he'll need to fill is the primary administrator for the football program in the wake of Mike Vollmar's departure. I don't expect Currie's cabinet will include as many people in it as Hart's, which had eight before some departures last year.

There's also a decision to be made soon on baseball coach Dave Serrano, whose one-year contract expires on June 30, according to GoVols247's own Grant Ramey.
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- 247 (Patrick Brown)
 
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#10,556
#10,556
Tennessee's hire of Mike Canales as quarterbacks coach was met with plenty of eye rolls, head shakes and angry message board posts, but the man certainly changed some minds with the recruiting result he nabbed on Friday when Adrian Martinez committed to the Vols.

Canales, whose nickname 'Chico' was given to him by his grandmother who believed his long hair resembled Freddie Prinze in the sitcom "Chico and the Man," was making a positive impact for the Vols months before his big recruiting victory.

Tennessee's quarterbacks almost immediately took to him after his arrival, and there's improved unity at the position despite the competition this offseason.

Prior to spring practice Canales put on what he called "Quarterback School" that focused on any and every aspect of the position. One of the topics was the magnitude of the position and the leadership and preparation it requires. Canales and the players studied how Peyton Manning and Joshua Dobbs handled their business in the brightest of spotlights and became incredible leaders.

The presence of an experienced coach for the quarterbacks was easily the biggest difference I saw on Haslam Field during spring practice. Canales was detailed-oriented and energetic. During footwork drills he'd often run at the quarterbacks as if he was a pass-rush, and he constantly reminded the quarterbacks about keeping their eyes downfield.

During routes-on-air periods he'd bark "Location!" repeatedly to emphasize its importance. After one practice they did a drill where Canales would hold a football right in front of the quarterback's facemask and drop it for them to catch and throw as quickly as possible into a net about 10 yards away. That's just one of the unique drills introduced to Tennessee's quarterbacks this spring.

Now Canales has a recruiting feather in his cap with Martinez. Tennessee's 2018 quarterback recruiting has been a bit of an adventure when you consider what happened with Trevor Lawrence, Emory Jones and Justin Fields. The Vols have to be happy about a haul of Martinez and Michael Penix.

It was excellent work by Canales to salvage the situation, though calling it that is a disservice to Martinez, who was good enough to be committed to a program that just had Jared Goff and Davis Webb and recently added an offer from the program that once had Baker Mayfield and Trevor Knight.
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- 247 (Patrick Brown)
 
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#10,558
#10,558
Catbone said:
Well... if you decide to open it, just know it was really cold outside that day so I had a shrinkage.
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It's the roids, not the cold.

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#10,559
#10,559
On incoming freshman Matthew Butler:

I've interviewed my fair share of recruits over the years, and my chat Wednesday night with incoming defensive lineman Matthew Butler has to rank up there with one of the best.

Butler was prompt in returning my text and gave me almost 15 minutes despite the fact he needed to study for an AP stats exam he was taking the following day. Between texts and the interview, he called me "Sir," at least a dozen times. It always cracks me up when players say that to me as if I'm some sort of important authority figure -- I fit neither of those descriptions.

I'll have more on Butler in a couple of stories this week, so I don't want to give too much away, but he was so impressive it's hard not to peg him for immediate success with the Vols. It became clear he's got a level head and simply loves ball.

He's been getting in extra work with a personal trainer and his position coach, adhering to a four-day workout sent to him from strength coach Rock Gullickson, watching videos on social media to pick up tips and techniques from other defensive linemen and even reviewing some film from Tennessee's spring practices.

While Butler was in Knoxville for Tennessee's spring game, he actually spent some time getting some one-on-one work in with outgoing Tennessee defensive end Corey Vereen.
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- 247 (Patrick Brown)
 
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#10,560
#10,560
Patrick Brown's take on Butch Jones' ranking in that CBS Sports poll on the top 65 coaches in power conferences:

About that Butch Jones ranking ...

My two cents: Butch Jones is better than the No. 52 spot he was given in a CBS Sports ranking of the 65 power-conference coaches last week. Jones hasn't been perfect and only he is to blame for the narrative around him shifting from what he did dragging Tennessee out of the mire to what he's not won and the games he's lost the past two years. Some of the names above him are head-scratchers, though.

Babers, Addazio, Graham, Riley and Brohm? Rich Rodriguez won three games last season. Jim Mora and Kevin Sumlin have squandered more talent than just about any coach. And I guess everyone forgot about Ed Orgeron's last head coaching stint in the SEC.

According to that list he's 10th among SEC coaches. You could make the case Jones should be lower than that or as high as fifth -- the coaching in this league currently is that mediocre, if we're being honest. I'll put him right in the middle in seventh -- ahead of Sumlin, Orgeron and Hugh Freeze (for obvious reasons) but not Will Muschamp, who he's yet to beat head-to-head.
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- 247
 
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#10,561
#10,561
Bassmaster_Vol said:
Any news on Kyle Phillips? Is he healthy? I remember having such high hopes for him. Really stinks that he can't stay healthy. Really hope he breaks out this year. Talent isn't an issue
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From what I've read, he is back to DE, and he has lost weight (don't know how much). That's positive news, IMO. He didn't look nearly as comfortable as Kongbo when forced to make the switch to DT. He needs to be at DE, but he also needs to stay healthy to compete with Kongbo and Taylor for significant PT.
 
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#10,564
#10,564
If anyone needed a crystal clear example of what click bait is and how UT's fanbase is routine used to generate clicks...

A certain former Memphis writer, who's name rhymes with Hon Riggins, now writes for the paper in New Orleans...yet he writes an article about Tennessee's "participation rings leading the conference", although he failed to mention any other conference members. So, an article focusing on Tennessee in a New Orleans paper. Makes sense.

Do not search it out, or click anywhere near it.

And they wonder why their medium is rapidly dying.
 
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#10,567
#10,567
Butch/Tennessee won't get off the hook from the national/local media until there's a College Football Playoff trophy in a glass case in Knoxville. The goalposts are ever-moving among the talking heads and beat writers.
 
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#10,568
#10,568
Aesius said:
Butch/Tennessee won't get off the hook from the national/local media until there's a College Football Playoff trophy in a glass case in Knoxville. The goalposts are ever-moving among the talking heads and beat writers.
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That would t even stop them because the headline will be "champions of life are now real champions"
 
#10,569
#10,569
Rishvol said:
That would t even stop them because the headline will be "champions of life are now real champions"
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And they celebrate you as long as you're winning even if half your team gets arrested for domestic violence drugs, and weapons charges. If you help mold young men into quality adults, we don't have much use for you.

Priorities of our society.
 
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#10,570
#10,570
WallyBalls said:
If anyone needed a crystal clear example of what click bait is and how UT's fanbase is routine used to generate clicks...

A certain former Memphis writer, who's name rhymes with Hon Riggins, now writes for the paper in New Orleans...yet he writes an article about Tennessee's "participation rings leading the conference", although he failed to mention any other conference members. So, an article focusing on Tennessee in a New Orleans paper. Makes sense.

Do not search it out, or click anywhere near it.

And they wonder why their medium is rapidly dying.
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Higgins was a huge LSU homer, even when he wrote for the Memphis CA. He would be on Memphis radio from time and time, and I would take his thoughts with a grain of salt.
 
#10,574
#10,574
The Breakerboy said:
Forgot about 35, but they've got to do it in the game. Kirkland has got to step it up. And the position coach has got to step it up. Argument could be made that he's the worst defensive coach on staff right now.
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When Kirkland has been healthy, he has shown that he can be a really good LB. He suffered a high ankle sprain, and most times it takes a full season to get over that injury. But even in the bowl game, you could see that he was feeling more like his old self. I think we might just benefit most by getting DKjr and Bituli on the field at the same time.
 
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