Pruitt: 'Speed can be overrated'

#29
#29
What year?

Hesitant to ask... we might be related. Mom's family is from Jackson County primarily. Dad was from Stokes County.
She would have been class of 88 or 89, was in school with Shular. But we weren't form there, we're from East Tennessee.
 
#30
#30
She would have been class of 88 or 89, was in school with Shular. But we weren't form there, we're from East Tennessee.
I was older. She might have known my brother though. He played before Heath too but was a pretty good player. He played against Pickens. I played against Eric Streater… man I'm old.
 
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#31
#31
I was older. She might have known my brother though. He played before Heath too but was a pretty good player. He played against Pickens. I played against Eric Streater… man I'm old.
She might know him. I was class of 92 but not exactly feeling young either.
 
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#35
#35
Had a boss in the Army who had a similar pet phrase: "son, going 100 miles an hour in the wrong direction isn't going to get you to the goal, it's just gonna get you farther away from it faster."

Sounds like Jeremy is reassuring our lads that they can be just as good as any team full of 5* players (*cough* Bama), as long as they do a good job learning from his coaches how to play smart.

If our guy runs 4.5 and there guy runs 4.5 and our guys jumps 38" vertical and there guy jumps 38" vertical ........the difference is in the coaching!
 
#36
#36
Speed is the great equalizer.

Yep with hands of stone!

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#39
#39
That’s what you say when you want more speed. Then when you have more speed you change the tune. It’s a musical chair thing where coaches make the best out of what they have and market/coach it according to what they have to work with. It’s not Einstein stuff, it’s just making good with what you have.

When they get into a game against a big, fast and strong team that can hit the edges fast with authority they will tell the fans they need to recruit more speed. It’s a life cycle of evolution in the game and putting out the best mindset for whatever your circumstances are at the time. Nothing wrong with it, but it’s also not like most coaches are making radical and game changing comments when they say it’s better to run in the right direction. Think that’s been pretty well covered over the years.
Very good analysis but also if you're keeping containment, penetrating into backfield and/or closing the gaps, and getting to the ball on your angles and other basic fundamentals, you can fight that speed.

We may not poop 5 stars, just to quote Saban, but we can do a lot to throw those teams off balance and be competitive.
 
#40
#40
If you have ever coached a team sport like football, soccer, basketball etc., you learn quickly that a player that understands what his assignment is and how to do it, is more valuable than a more athletic player that just doesn’t get it, or doesn’t try. Busted assignments are killers.

It is really frustrating to have a great athlete on your team and you can’t get him to understand what you want him to do. Many times they are able but not willing to listen or try. Many times coaches continue to give them special consideration and a starting position when they need a little bench time.
 
#44
#44
If our guy runs 4.5 and there guy runs 4.5 and our guys jumps 38" vertical and there guy jumps 38" vertical ........the difference is in the coaching!

Not always. Some players are just better. They have faster instincts or know how to process information a split second quicker. Can some of that be taught? Sure. But not all of it.

In your scenario, take one guy as the receiver and one as the defender. If the receiver runs a lazy, rounded route and the defender gets a 0.2 second jump because he noticed the QB staring down the receiver then the defender's 4.5 speed is much quicker than the receiver's.

That's why I've never understood why people put so much stock in a 40 time or how a player performs in a combine. Football isn't played in a straight line in shorts.

There's a reason you never hear about 40 times once a player is in the NFL...because you either have it or you don't.
 
#45
#45
If you have ever coached a team sport like football, soccer, basketball etc., you learn quickly that a player that understands what his assignment is and how to do it, is more valuable than a more athletic player that just doesn’t get it, or doesn’t try. Busted assignments are killers.

It is really frustrating to have a great athlete on your team and you can’t get him to understand what you want him to do. Many times they are able but not willing to listen or try. Many times coaches continue to give them special consideration and a starting position when they need a little bench time.


I agree. You see this all the time at the high school level. You especially see it when you have an all city type player for example with a hurt or injured arm he can't lift or use trot back on the field to play when he's at 40% and they have players behind him riding the bench completely healthy but perhaps smaller or not as athletic that are 80% of the all city guy.
 
#46
#46
Not an original. Matt Dillon said the same thing to Chester about a gunfighter's fan move.

(Gunfighter was Pernell Roberts. Glenn Ford was said to be the fastest draw in Hollywood, btw)
 
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#47
#47
I hope we have speed as I know on defense we'll have power. This is as big a front seven as I can remember at Tennessee. Were a big football team that should be able to jar the heck out of a QB and runningbacks with some very hard hits.
Phillips 273, Tuttle 300, Johnson 314, Kongbo 254, Taylor 247, Bituli 244, Sapp 223
Backups like Allen 242. Kirkland 234, Smith 246, D. Johnson 244, Ignont 239
DL backups Harris 316, Butler 276, Mincey 264, Garland 275

You get all the guys playing at SEC level quality and you can put some hurt on some runningbacks and QB's. Three of our four starting linebackers are over 240.
 
#49
#49
would rather have slower guys running in the wrong direction than faster guys...9th maxim...:D

GO VOLS!
 
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