John Adams: Can Jeremy Pruitt convert potential of Tennessee's lines into production?

#1
Gandalf

Gandalf

The Orange/White Wizard
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#1
UT Vols: Can Pruitt convert four-star potential into production?

Very good article. Makes it seem glaringly obvious that Jones could recruit but simply could not coach. I know stars arent everything but notice he is saying we will have an almost complete 4* line on both sides of the ball - at least to start.

When you check the recruiting rankings, Tennessee shouldnt be short in either line this season. Thats more puzzling than anything else about the team Jones left behind.

Maybe, some of those players were overrated. Perhaps, some of them werent properly developed by Jones and his staff.

But theres also the possibility that Pruitt and his staff can do more with whats available in both lines....

With Kennedy now available, Tennessee could field an offensive line with all four-star or better recruits, assuming star lineman Trey Smith is healthy. Linemen Drew Richmond, Marcus Tatum and Ryan Johnson all were four-star recruits....

The defensive front seven is just as well stocked with four-star recruits. Linebackers Daniel Bituli, Quarte Sapp, Darrell Taylor and Jonathan Kongbo were all four-star recruits. Taylor and Kongbo are now classified as linebackers since UT switched from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4. Down linemen Shy Tuttle and Kyle Phillips also were four-star recruits. Moreover, Pruitt added another four-star offensive line recruit and four four-star recruits to his defensive front in his first recruiting class.

Maybe, with this new coaching staff, they will have a better chance of reaching their potential.
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#2
#2
Richmond, Kongbo, Tuttle, and Phillips were 5 stars on some services, so there’s that. Not to mention that Hall was freshman All-American and very underrated, when healthy.
 
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#3
#3
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#4
#4
Roustabout said:
4 star doesn’t mean much. There is one player, maybe two on UTs roster that Bama had a commitible offer on.
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So let me get this straight, in this instance stars don't matter? The only time four stars means anything is if they have a commitable Alabama offer? Interesting:question:
 
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#5
#5
Pride85 said:
So let me get this straight, in this instance stars don't matter? The only time four stars means anything is if they have a commitable Alabama offer? Interesting:question:
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Not all 4 star players are created equal to say the least. And what the poster is saying is, if the top programs in the country didn’t recruit them hard/want them, then we likely went after and got the “lesser 4star rated players”....and the results on the field (along with Jones’ woeful inability to develop players) would seem to somewhat validate this idea. We’ve had plenty of 4 star rated players the last 5 years that we were all excited about, until we saw them play....and I don’t know about you, but several times I’ve found myself scratching my head and saying to myself “that guy is a 4star player? Sure doesn’t look like it”. Heck, I’ve done the same things regarding a few of our “5star” recruits....KMac and Kongbo and Richmond very quickly come to mind.
 
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#6
#6
1) S&C is the lifeline of any OL/DL
2) CBJ did a good job of recruiting linemen. However, some of them were recruited to play in HIS spread Read Offense which obviously blocks differently...if at all.
3) The talent is there and if we have enough time with S&C, we will notice a marked improvement in blocking/penetration verses the competition
4) Just getting rid of the stupid idiocies of the CBJ schemes should be worthy of better execution (lining up a yard off the ball, WR in weird stances, etc).
5) Next is leadership and I can see CJP already challenging the team to have leaders step up and take over the team. We need about 7 Al Wilson leadership prototypes out there now!
 
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#10
#10
"Moreover, Pruitt added another four-star offensive line recruit and four four-star recruits to his defensive front in his first recruiting class."


Is this down to two now? Lawless and Litaker not apparently on team
 
#11
#11
Pride85 said:
So let me get this straight, in this instance stars don't matter? The only time four stars means anything is if they have a commitable Alabama offer? Interesting:question:
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4 stars don't get it done versus well-coached five stars, which is what GA and Bama have. If the goal is Music City, bring on the four stars.
 
#13
#13
OnlyGodForgives said:
4 stars don't get it done versus well-coached five stars, which is what GA and Bama have. If the goal is Music City, bring on the four stars.
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I dunno. Utah lined up pretty well against those types a few years back . They played in position and knew their assignments. That's just one example of solid coaching equalizing the talent gap. Of course , I could just be wrong in my recollection.
 
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#14
#14
Watching the video on coach Friend coach technique and conditioning to the o linemen I think we're good. I'm going to say I'm confident coach Friend knows what he's doing, although that's not worth much. The proof will be gameday.
 
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#15
#15
Pride85 said:
So let me get this straight, in this instance stars don't matter? The only time four stars means anything is if they have a commitable Alabama offer? Interesting:question:
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It shows that all 4 stars aren’t the same in the eyes of the elite coaches.
 
#16
#16
Wezcoast said:
I dunno. Utah lined up pretty well against those types a few years back . They played in position and knew their assignments. That's just one example of solid coaching equalizing the talent gap. Of course , I could just be wrong in my recollection.
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I believe that was in Sabans 2nd year, so the gap wasn’t as great as you are assuming. It wasn’t as if he had built his roster to where it is now.
 
#17
#17
dan4vols said:
Watching the video on coach Friend coach technique and conditioning to the o linemen I think we're good. I'm going to say I'm confident coach Friend knows what he's doing, although that's not worth much. The proof will be gameday.
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Where did you find it at?
 
#21
#21
dan4vols said:
Watching the video on coach Friend coach technique and conditioning to the o linemen I think we're good. I'm going to say I'm confident coach Friend knows what he's doing, although that's not worth much. The proof will be gameday.
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Used to read AJC a lot, and the UGA fans take on Friend has made me tread lightly on his hire. Like the small sample size so far, but your gameday statement holds true.
 
#22
#22
Roustabout said:
I believe that was in Sabans 2nd year, so the gap wasn’t as great as you are assuming. It wasn’t as if he had built his roster to where it is now.
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Alabama on its worst year in recruiting should still not get controlled at the Line of Scrimage by Utah. 2nd year or not, Utah was well coached and didn't get dominated.

Wasn't Urban Meyer the Utah Coach? I can't remember...
 
#23
#23
dan4vols said:
Watching the video on coach Friend coach technique and conditioning to the o linemen I think we're good. I'm going to say I'm confident coach Friend knows what he's doing, although that's not worth much. The proof will be gameday.
Click to expand...

One of the things I noticed that alums are saying is different than before is that technique is actually being taught, whereas not so much under Jones. Hopefully, that is true and will show on the field.

And for you other silly people saying lines full of 4*s dont matter (onlyGodforgives I am looking at you) - almost any team would be thrilled to have 4* line ups. You can say that some 4*s are better that others but on the whole, they are darn good and every year there is only around 350 4* and 5* players in the whole country to go on all the teams.

Fact is there are teams who could actually coach that have done very well with 3* lines - but not in the SEC. Point of all this is that some talent may be there, if CJP can coach it up to expected levels of performance. Part of that also will be running schemes that actually make sense.

Will that make us a top 5 team and able to compete against Bama and GA, who are stacked with far better talent an being well coached? no. But it will get us back to being top 25 and top 5 teams in SEC. With that base we can actually push to build championship teams. So I am a lot happier that we have 4*s that have not been coached, than a lot of 2* and 3* that have been coached well. IF Pruitt is who we hope he is, he can take that potential and make it into a solid team and perhaps even surprise us a little this year.
 
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#25
#25
Y'all need some Rodney Crowell
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PxIKAg9Vt8[/youtube]
 
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