Recruiting Forum Football Talk [RIP 9.3.2019]

[ChattaTNVol]

I figure there are some here like me that like to get a lot of the tidbits that come out of practice that may not be included in Finger's FF threads. Vince Ferrara is one of my go-to people for reports and especially videos. I finally got around to checking his notes on the first 3 days of our spring work this year.

Vince’s View – Practice 1

Notables out due to injury or precaution:
OL – Trey Smith
OL – Brandon Kennedy
OL – Chris Akporoghene
DL – Kurott Garland
LB – Darrin Kirkland Jr.
RB – Eric Gray
DB – Tyus Fields
*Pruitt did not address Trey Smith’s status
*Kennedy is just being held back as a precaution and would have been able to play a game
*Pruitt said Akporoghene, Fields and Garland should be back soon
*Pruitt said Peterson is banged-up and should be back soon, but he was in some drills while we had viewing
*There were coaches everywhere with the Coaches’ Clinic at UT
*The drills we were able to view in our three periods looked crisp, organized and energetic
*Jr. S Theo Jackson impressed me by how vocal he was at calling out formations and communicating with his teammates
*You can see the work done in the off-season in the strength and conditioning program, especially year two for many of the players
*It was good to see OL Trey Smith at practice with his jersey on, encouraging his teammates, focused on watching every practice rep and trying to learn any way he can
*OT Wanya Morris, not surprisingly, is a massive guy who went through his drills with physicality
*Some of the injured players that ended their football careers this off-season were out supporting their former teammates at practice including former OL Chance Hall
*There were some recruits at practice as well
*Pruitt says, due to lack of numbers, true freshman Quavaris Crouch is starting out practicing at inside linebacker after it was previously said he would play at outside linebacker, which I think will still eventually happen
*Pruitt said Banks and Fant will be re-evaluated by Jim Chaney and David Johnson after 6-to-8 practices to see if they will stay there at RB

UT Football Spring Practice 1 – Views, Notes, Weight Gains, New Positions and Numbers | WNML-AF

Vince’s View – Practice 2

*This was the last day of practice before the pads come on in practice 3
*QBs were high a lot in the throws that I saw
*R-Sr WR Jauan Jennings had a sweet grab on a high throw (see above) in the middle of the field where the ball may have been past his shoulders behind him but he reeled it in and cut up field
*I like what I’m seeing from the wide receivers overall. They look stronger, more physical and focused.
*Fr LB Quavaris Crouch isn’t as tall as I pictured him to be, but he is stout, appears to be doing the drills like an older player and is working with the inside LBs right now
*I think, overall, the players are better at their drills, they know where to be, what’s expected of them and it shows in the tempo and the way they practice compared to a year ago
*I don’t see or hear the loud correcting and frustration by coaches as frequently so far this year that was obvious last season
*One of the loudest voices you hear on the practice field is OC Jim Chaney, which surprising for those of us that have experienced him coaching at UT before. His volume isn’t necessarily because he’s always mad but because he’s constantly roaming, watching and coaching every single position of offense. The personality, style and coaching execution of moving to all positions is a much different dynamic from Tyson Helton last season to Jim Chaney now.
*We did get to see some one-on-one drills between the DBs and the WRs with Jeremy Pruitt standing over each of them coaching and motivating
*So CB Alontae Taylor looks stronger and is practicing with an edge

Views and Notes From Tennessee Football Spring Practice 2 | WNML-AF

Vince’s View – Practice 3

*It was the first full day in pads
*Jr OL Trey Smith was in uniform with his helmet but was not participating in the drills we saw. He’s engaged in every single practice rep of his teammates trying to help them out
*WR coach/Pass Game Coordinator Tee Martin is a different personality than some of the other Vols coaches. He has a direct and very positive demeanor while still teaching and correcting technique. I’m not saying its better or worse, just different than the styles of some of the others, in my opinion.
*R-Jr Jarrett Guarantano has a bulky left knee brace which I’m sure he would say doesn’t affect him. It may just be a precaution, like OLs take, but it’s something to monitor after the punishment he took a year ago. He may still take similar punishment this season.
*The QBs again today threw a lot of high and errant passes while I watched them. Of course, it’s just a small sample of their two-hour practice.
*The WRs continued to do a nice job, making tough catches and looking determined to get better
*I think Sr LB Daniel Bituli looks explosive. Jeremy Pruitt is looking for more communication and consistency this season,which he has already shown.
*So DL John Mincey has shown violent hands and has been complimented numerous times on the execution and physicality of his drills. UT needs development on the defensive front in a massive way. It’s still too early to declare anything with Mincey, but he’s off to a nice start.
*Several players that were said to be banged-up or held back did practice while we were there…Sr. DL Emmit Gooden, RS-Fr. LB JJ Peterson and R-Sr OL Brandon Kennedy
*R-Sr. LB Darrin Kirkland Jr. is out for the spring
*Fr. RB Eric Gray seems unlikely to return as Jeremy Pruitt did not mention him among those that could start practicing at some point. Although, Gray is doing cardio work on the side with Fields and trainers.
*Others that may return include Fr OL Chris Akporoghene, R-Fr DL Kurott Garland, Fr DB Tyus Fields
*Here are the guards/interior linemen in the offensive line drills we’ve seen: Brandon Kennedy, R-Jr Ryan Johnson, So Jerome Carvin, R-Jr Nathan Niehaus, Jr Riley Locklear, R-So Eric Crosby, R-Fr Ollie Lane (Chris Akporoghene is expected to join this group at some point this spring)
*Here are the tackles in the offensive line drills we’ve seen: Fr Wanya Morris, Sr Marcus Tatum, R-Jr Jahmir Johnson, R-So K’Rojhn Calbert
*Jahmir Johnson looks like he’s returned to his original tackle position after being moved to guard and starting there for UT last season
*Nathan Niehaus was the first OT off the bench numerous times last year when Trey Smith came out of the game and he did fine at LT. With the two stud 5-star tackles coming in this year, he may slide back inside, where he’s played before. He also could be just cross-training, so we’ll keep an eye on it.
*Another loud voice you hear on the field is TEs coach Brian Niedermeyer. His energy level is insane. He has a real talent in Sr TE Dominick Wood-Anderson at the top of his group. The rest really will rely on his development and more strength and conditioning because it is a raw, inexperienced bunch. His coaching will be tested, if they have the right guys.

Views and Notes From Tennessee Football Spring Practice 3

 

[JCP201]

Grant getting his jersey retired?

 

[ChismsHeadband]

Appears that way. I would've voted for Barnes, but I don't get a vote. Davis was the 2nd choice, so him getting it doesn't surprised me.

I'm far happier that Grant rightfully won his 2nd SEC Player of the Year, once ESPN started buzzing PJ I thought the media would try and screw him out of it.

It's a different sport, but the year was 2014.

Mullen had his cast 3*s reach and build the #1 ranking for several weeks before dropping a couple games late. The core of that team had been together and although it was surprising they got to #1, State was still expected to make some noise that season.

COTY went to Gary Patterson, who transformed TCU from 4-8 to 11-1. (Inb4 "but GP was also the reason they went 4-8 in 2013." True, but it's COTY, not Coach of the Respective Coach's Entire Career award.)

Just a parallel that may provide insight into how voters value coaching performances.

 

[chargervol]

Woo hoo, I'll be hurting in my own house tonight! Much like OOC games, gotta take victories where you can get them

 

[MoCo_Vol]

It's a different sport, but the year was 2014.

Mullen had his cast 3*s reach and build the #1 ranking for several weeks before dropping a couple games late. The core of that team had been together and although it was surprising they got to #1, State was still expected to make some noise that season.

COTY went to Gary Patterson, who transformed TCU from 4-8 to 11-1. (Inb4 "but GP was also the reason they went 4-8 in 2013." True, but it's COTY, not Coach of the Respective Coach's Entire Career award.)

Just a parallel that may provide insight into how voters value coaching performances.

Solid point. I mean Davis coming into a poor performing team (all of which were 3 stars) and also having zero SEC experience winning 20 games in his first season was COTY worthy.

 

[Ace]

I bet CRB is not the least bit concerned about who won COTY

 

[chargervol]

"Roster Updates

New Numbers
RB – Ty Chandler – 3 to 8
RB – Tim Jordan – 22 to 9"

Jordan was 22?

 

[drvenner]

Is Athlon just "ranking" and not using some sort of special sauce? I think if SBNation and ESPN were ranking us, we'd be closer to the 35-50 range.

Hyams contributes to Athlon. TIFWIW.

 

[drvenner]

Ok...Barnes went from 1st to 3rd in the SEC. Davis went from 14th to 7th.

I get being a homer, but stop cherry picking counter points. Davis had the better season in the SEC based on the previous year. All that award does is highlight that.

Barnes won it last year when he was more deserving of it. I am just happy Bone got 2nd team

Based upon this argument, then there is no way Barnes could have won it because he finished first in the standings last year. I don't have heartburn over Davis winning it, but there is the argument that he had much more room to improve.

 

[SweetasSoda]

Still praying for you!
Edit...Charger...not sure where the quote went.

 

[SweetasSoda]

Based upon this argument, then there is no way Barnes could have won it because he finished first in the standings last year. I don't have heartburn over Davis winning it, but there is the argument that he had much more room to improve.

Yeah, they already had their mind made up. He had to not lose a game.

 

[SweetasSoda]

Grant back to back SEC player of year!

Voted on by coaches and AP.

Admiral and Bone honored with 1st & 2nd team, respectively.

Love it!

 

[pismonque]

Grant getting his jersey retired?

Those criteria don't quite match up with what's shown on the UT Sports retired jersey page.

 

[SweetasSoda]

This is the order, my very first response pointed out the records and I thought very clearly highlighted why I felt Davis deserved it more. At no point did I ever say I was happy. I'm not sure why you keep asserting I said things I didn't when it's easy enough to re-read my replies.

Do you work in the media? I was answering 2 different posters, but nice mix up and leave outs. Hank said he was happy. You jumped on his bandwagon. I assumed you were happy. Happy you're not happy. You can be whatever you want. I was just asking if he won because the media perceived him as a classy guy that supported his players kneeling which is the perception Hank implied.

 

[SweetasSoda]

She's already got her mind made up about your opinion.

She made up her mind on the opinions he posted even though she asked several times for clarification.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Based upon this argument, then there is no way Barnes could have won it because he finished first in the standings last year. I don't have heartburn over Davis winning it, but there is the argument that he had much more room to improve.

To be clear I'm not making an argument for Davis, he won so the debate doesn't exist. I'm simply sharing the reasons I believe Davis was selected. I pointed out the end results because Barnes this season returned every starter from his previous SEC Champion team, so the expectations were higher. Obviously he can't do better than 1st, but to return that much production and finish 3rd in the SEC is likely what was the deciding factor for him not winning the SEC Coach of the Year, had we beaten Auburn and repeated as SEC Champions then I believe he would have at least been co-coach of the year, but who knows if the media panel would have agreed.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Do you work in the media? I was answering 2 different posters, but nice mix up and leave outs. Hank said he was happy. You jumped on his bandwagon. I assumed you were happy. Happy you're not happy. You can be whatever you want. I was just asking if he won because the media perceived him as a classy guy that supported his players kneeling which is the perception Hank implied.

That's the issue then.

Honestly I don't care either way. Barnes won the award last year when he won the SEC after being picked to finish 13th, he went from 16 wins to 26 wins and from 8 SEC wins to 13. That was a COTY season, to be the #1 team for most of the season and then lose 3 SEC games in the last 7 and finish 3rd instead of tied for 1st was disappointing. This season can be really special still though, if he wins the SECT and makes a deep run in the NCAA.

It's a conference performance driven award based on regular season performance, and they've clearly shown previous season impacts the voting, otherwise Calipari would arguably win it every season since UK is always finishing in the top of the SEC.

But to answer your question I don't know why he won the award and I have zero clue how the media perceived anything he or Barnes did all season. I can/have showed why I think he was given the award and it's all based on where he took Ole Miss in his first season on the court. It's just an exercise of information sharing, don't perceive it as bias/happiness/favoritism in anyway I can assure you that I've been an avid BasketVols fan well before all the fairweather "we're winning" bandwagon fans showed up.

 

[VolGee4]

You’re acting like Barnes is working with chicken sh**. Grant, admiral, and bone are great players and that’s not all because of this staff. Great players come out no matter where they are.

I have no problem with Davis winning it, but it's not because of this. Barnes found these guys, and no other big programs wanted them. Barnes developed them.

I have no issue with Davis winning because they weren't expected to do much. Barnes won his last year.

I know we have had this discussion before, but Grant doesn't get this kind of exposure and coaching if he goes to Harvard. He just doesn't. He has alot to do with his own success, but UT has provided an avenue for it.

 

[VolGee4]

I always roll my eyes when I hear of the children of rich/connected people attending Ivy Leagues or other powerhouse schools. Most of those schools are extremely selective in their admissions processes. And while I'm sure there are plenty of well-to-do kids who get there with legit grades/test scores/extracurriculars, plenty of them get admitted via nepotism or outright bribery. And they often graduate while barely doing any work and ultimately end up in positions of power where they also barely do any work.

There is a legal way to do it. When you agree to donate a certain amount or if you were an alum and have donated a certain amount, then your child will probably get a leg up on others. Not sure that I can totally disagree with that thought because it is sometimes how the world works.

 

[SpringBokVol]

• John Calipari, Kentucky — $9,276,643
• Rick Barnes, Tennessee — $3,250,000
• Tom Crean, Georgia — $3,200,000
• Avery Johnson, Alabama — $3,062,000
• Frank Martin, South Carolina — $2,950,000
• Cuonzo Martin, Mizzou — $2,800,000
• Mike White, Florida — $2,612,758
• Bruce Pearl, Auburn — $2,600,000
• Mike Anderson, Arkansas — $2,550,000
• Will Wade, LSU — $2,500,000
• Kermit Davis, Ole Miss — $2,500,000
• Billy Kennedy, Texas A&M — $2,454,000
• Ben Howland, Mississippi State — $2,200,000
• Bryce Drew, Vanderbilt — $2,047,142

 

[ChismsHeadband]

because it is sometimes how the world works

This is increasingly not going to be a proper excuse anymore. I'm not railing on you for saying it, because you're right. But what I'm looking forward to is a time where that's said less and less.. Gotta think, there are people who try hard and miss out, and that's all they hear in return.

 

[ChattaTNVol]

In checking in on others who have been to our practices I listened to a podcast between Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams of KNS from this morning (so you wouldn’t have to).

They talked about the apparent difference between the way Chaney is approaching the QB position with Guarantano and the way Helton appears to have worked. In essence they suggested that Helton had kid gloves on JG and Chaney has removed them. The suggestion was that Helton micromanaged the offense and limited JG’s options on the field. Chaney seems to be giving him a lot of leeway to operate the offense based on what he’s seeing in real time on the field. They’re not sure how this is going to work out but citing Pruitt’s “effusive” praise of JG yesterday, “game slowing down, etc.”, they thought some of it could be designed to boost JG’s confidence. They agreed the only competition at QB is for the back up job.

Another thing of note in the podcast was a discussion about Crouch. They said you can normally pick out early enrollees at this point on the practice field but Crouch is different. Instead of looking like he should be in the 2nd half of his senior year in high school they said he looks like a college sophomore or junior. Adams said he’s thought for some time that our defense needed more speed and Crouch brings that. Both thought it’s possible, maybe even likely, Crouch could end up starting for us out the gate.

They noted that while he played in all the games last year DKjr didn’t seemed to have recaptured the level of play he first exhibited in his career here. Adams said while he didn’t know for sure it could be that the procedure and rehab DK is in the midst of is an effort to help him get back to his “old self” and get his career in football back on track. I took it to mean the work done by the medical staff in this offseason was sort of tweaking previous repairs to see if it would give DK and opportunity to have some added upside versus what he was able to do last season.

On Trey Smith, Adams thought a redshirt this year could be a good option and would allow more time for Trey, his family, and the Doctors to work through the situation. They specifically noted that given Pruitt’s comments yesterday regarding Trey’s planning to play again someday that apparently the doctors have at least not yet ruled that out. In the meantime Trey will be at practice not only encouraging his teammates but also making sure he’s up to speed on everything so if he does get a green light he’s as ready to go as possible.

 

[Rishvol]

• John Calipari, Kentucky — $9,276,643
• Rick Barnes, Tennessee — $3,250,000
• Tom Crean, Georgia — $3,200,000
• Avery Johnson, Alabama — $3,062,000
• Frank Martin, South Carolina — $2,950,000
• Cuonzo Martin, Mizzou — $2,800,000
• Mike White, Florida — $2,612,758
• Bruce Pearl, Auburn — $2,600,000
• Mike Anderson, Arkansas — $2,550,000
• Will Wade, LSU — $2,500,000
• Kermit Davis, Ole Miss — $2,500,000
• Billy Kennedy, Texas A&M — $2,454,000
• Ben Howland, Mississippi State — $2,200,000
• Bryce Drew, Vanderbilt — $2,047,142

Cal is way overpaid

 

[Souce]

• John Calipari, Kentucky — $9,276,643
• Rick Barnes, Tennessee — $3,250,000
• Tom Crean, Georgia — $3,200,000
• Avery Johnson, Alabama — $3,062,000
• Frank Martin, South Carolina — $2,950,000
• Cuonzo Martin, Mizzou — $2,800,000
• Mike White, Florida — $2,612,758
• Bruce Pearl, Auburn — $2,600,000
• Mike Anderson, Arkansas — $2,550,000
• Will Wade, LSU — $2,500,000
• Kermit Davis, Ole Miss — $2,500,000
• Billy Kennedy, Texas A&M — $2,454,000
• Ben Howland, Mississippi State — $2,200,000
• Bryce Drew, Vanderbilt — $2,047,142

Kentucky is insane.

Where does Calipari rank nationally? HAS to be #1 or #2.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

Kentucky is insane.

Where does Calipari rank nationally? HAS to be #1 or #2.

2nd to Coach K according to this article: The 10 highest-paid NCAA basketball coaches

or 1st according to this one: USA TODAY Sports