The Wussification of Vol Football is over

#51
#51
Remember when Dooley was at media days and said "It's been a tough four years for Tennessee and I know the SEC has enjoyed taking advantage of our tough times. But you're not going to have Tennessee to kick around anymore."

Seems like that was the kiss of death right there. Since that moment, we are 17-41 in SEC play. I the lesson learned from coach orange pants, is that I think we need to be careful when declaring something over, especially "Mission Accomplished."
 
#54
#54
In the last few days, we have seen the toughness of Coach Pruitt. He dismissed banks, he was proud of the toughness of his team, he benched his starting QB, and he got energized by the crowd. He is tough and his team shows it. He has an outstanding coaching staff. I would say the wussification of Tennessee football is over.

The reason Pruitt dismissed Banks is that he was receiving some negative publicity from the phone call. He benched JG because he was horrible! The defense is being taken to the woodshed. Feel free to jump in.
 
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#55
#55
I’m not sure that was CJPs decision. Pretty sure that might have come from higher up.

Count on it. The whole world has access to it. You know, at some point when players do something this dumb, somebody says, "That's not him."
Oh yes it is. It is exactly him. Or he would have never done something like that. You are what you do.

As much as scouts recruit and recommend players to a program, one would think they would evaluate negative influences in their lives. Not blaming Pruitt for this one. He was a last minute signing when he first got here. And he is a good player. That is the shame of it. Too bad any positive influences in his life failed to keep him away from negative ones. They have brought in players from that type of background, and though there have been some get dismissed, I am sure somebody can list plenty that have succeeded as players and people.

This is why I go on and on about the culture of the program. They need strong role models throughout every member of the staff that might have contact with the players. And at the risk of somebody calling it racist and in the case of the next Jeremy Banks, that includes black men who are strong role models for them. Not just token hires, and not just coaches. If I could be in charge for one month, I would evaluate all those in contact with the team. If it meant reassigning every last one of them to other jobs on campus, so be it. And fill their positions with the very best people the players can admire and want to be like. That is how you build a winning culture.
 
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#56
#56
The reason Pruitt dismissed Banks is that he was receiving world wide negative publicity from the phone call. He benched JG because he was horrible! The defense is being taken to the woodshed. Feel free to jump in.

Fixed your post. No thanks necessary.
 
#57
#57
Hard to recruit players that everyone else is getting when we can't even beat a GA State. Our current players are better than anyone on GA States roster, period. That game was not on our current players it's on the coaching staff.

Why would an elite player want to come to UT right now when they are being recruited by winners like UGA, Bama, Florida, Clemson??
Why you ask because this is a great university that is in the sec and has great tradition . That's why kids come here . The GA st was a lose I didn't know that. Mistakes happen and the coaching staff will learn from it.
 
#58
#58
Butch was so tough that he demanded his players play wearing short sleeves in sub-freezing temps. So there's that.
 
#60
#60
I can't seen much that Pruitt has acheived, just what has he achieved, the team is worse than last year and won't even win 5 games?
I'm not impressed, going backwards is the wrong direction Mr Pruitt
 
#62
#62
Recruiting , Pruitt will have a top 25 recruiting class.
The problem is at least 12 other SEC teams will be ranked higher .
Thank you for pointing this out! The last time I checked we were an SEC team, so what if our recruiting class is in the top 25, if all the other teams in the conference are in the top 15? I guess as long as they can assign a number to it, it doesn't sound as bad as, "We will have the second lowest rated recruiting class in the SEC, we are only on step above Vandy-and they may beat us on the field, again this year.
 
#63
#63
Banks getting dismissed is no sign of toughness. His tirade was nationwide thanks to TMZ. He didn't dismiss him fast enough.

Yeah, Pruitt doesn't get big-boy kudos for dismissing Banks. He doesn't even get a clap on the back for doing the right thing. The ONLY reason he dismissed Banks was because TMZ was set to expose the tirade. If TMZ hadn't gotten the video and gone snooping, Banks would still be on the team.
 
#64
#64
Recruiting , Pruitt will have a top 25 recruiting class.
The problem is at least 12 other SEC teams will be ranked higher .

For UT to be competitive in sec, we have to have at least a top ten recruiting class. And that won't win the sec. Based on two of the teams we lost to, we are going to have to have better players than our competition, example Ga. St. no way they had better players or Byu. So based on that if we are to ever be sec champs we are going to have to have number 1 recruiting classes. Top 25 may get us to 7 or 8 wins. But with this said I did notice a huge difference by just changing one player, the qb. So I will just wait and see. So it looks like we will just have to wait and see what the next few years will be like.
 
#65
#65
Yeah, Pruitt doesn't get big-boy kudos for dismissing Banks. He doesn't even get a clap on the back for doing the right thing. The ONLY reason he dismissed Banks was because TMZ was set to expose the tirade. If TMZ hadn't gotten the video and gone snooping, Banks would still be on the team.

Then, it is a good thing TMZ exposed it. What he did was bad enough. Had he remained on campus, he might have done worse.
 
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#66
#66
Then, it is a good thing TMZ exposed it. What he did was bad enough. Had he remained on campus, he might have done worse.
You sir are SOOO right. The next time banks does one of his criminal acts-someone is going to get hurt or worse-remember, back in Cordova (where he is from) they shoot at cops!
 
#68
#68
In the last few days, we have seen the toughness of Coach Pruitt. He dismissed banks, he was proud of the toughness of his team, he benched his starting QB, and he got energized by the crowd. He is tough and his team shows it. He has an outstanding coaching staff. I would say the wussification of Tennessee football is over.
I don't have a clue.

But what I've noticed, prior to these men leaving the team, of course after losing a couple of games, Pruitt had a hard time holding his head up, I also noticed, when talking...he would look down. His speech had slowed, you could see he was in agony. Now that a few on the team have left, practice has changed. If you go to the games, did you notice before the game as well? Warm ups were plays, QB throwing the ball and defender stopping short of the tackle, yet held on long enough to show the play was over. Getting much more physical before the game. Now, notice Pruitt's demeanor is completely different, more upbeat, and generally sounds more positive. I think something is happening that's "good". Let's hope the change starts this weekend, Lord knows this team needs a positive. GBO!!
 
#69
#69
Coach Mumu hasn't proved any thing. Except that he knows how to get blown out by nearly every sec team

"nearly every SEC team" being two of the best four so far this season, and uga may well end up the best.

MSU is not in that category. Maybe hold your comments till then. Or as a wise man once said, "it's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought an idiot, than to open it and remove all doubt". :p
 
#70
#70
"Gotten better each week", that is an opinion that would be hard to defend. We are 1-4, which week are you talking about? If you're hanging your hat on our Big Chattanooga win, God Bless Your Heart.


definitely better from week 1 to 2, and could make a case for 2 to 3, though we all agree that UTC doesnt really count. Maybe a step back from BYU to Florida, though hard to tell how BYU stacks up against Florida. Definitely an improvement from Florida to Uga, though the final score doesn't really reflect it due to the late fumble and having JG on the last drive.

In short, the only case for a step back is BYU to Florida (ignoring UTC), and that's not ironclad, so what is your point exactly???
 
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#71
#71
definitely better from week 1 to 2, and could make a case for 2 to 3, though we all agree that UTC doesnt really count. Maybe a step back from BYU to Florida, though hard to tell how BYU stacks up against Florida. Definitely an improvement from Florida to Uga, though the final score doesn't really reflect it due to the late fumble and having JG on the last drive.

In short, the only case for a step back is BYU to Florida (ignoring UTC), and that's not ironclad, so what is your point exactly???
You are fffffuuuuunnnneee!! Good one.
 
#72
#72
It’s as simple as this even elite coaches make dumb mistakes in games. I’ve seen Saban and Meyer make terrible calls at crucial times; hell even Saban would say he’s made some critical mistakes at times. The thing is elite talent covers up or at least minimizes mistakes. Now don’t get me wrong Pruitt has made his fair share of dumb mistakes but we have had probably the worst Qb in the conference, our front seven on d is probably towards the bottom as well despite a few bright spots, Oline is improved but only mediocre as a unit, warrior at safety has been atrocious as well.

Now I know some of that is on the coaches and yeah I want to pull my damn hair out when our players are misaligned but a lot of this is lack of talent and lack of depth. Even when our dline comes up big, early in the Florida game early in the Georgia game they get gassed by halftime and aren’t the same.
 
#73
#73
You are fffffuuuuunnnneee!! Good one.
There’s no argument that we haven’t improved. That said it hasn’t made a damn. Oline is better, QB is better, Wrs are actually getting passes thrown to them. Defense looked like tissue paper versus GSU but generated multiple turnovers versus Florida and had some big stops early versus Georgia.

I get your point we’re still terrible. We’re just slightly less terrible than at the start.
 
#74
#74
Recruiting , Pruitt will have a top 25 recruiting class.
The problem is at least 12 other SEC teams will be ranked higher .
We’ll be top fifteen probably. Honestly he just needs to improve the defensive front seven heavily. I know recruiting rankings are important but we have one area that is going to kill us if we don’t get better there. Bailey at QB of course is a huge piece as well to this class if we can hang on.
 
#75
#75
We’ll be top fifteen probably. Honestly he just needs to improve the defensive front seven heavily. I know recruiting rankings are important but we have one area that is going to kill us if we don’t get better there. Bailey at QB of course is a huge piece as well to this class if we can hang on.
If we are in the top 15, and the other SEC teams (except Vandy, and they may beat us again this year) are ranked higher, then the ranking doesn't mean much-all it is telling you, is the other SEC teams have done better at recruiting than you have.
 

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