We nearly lost that game last night when we quit blitzing. 1st half we held them to 69 yards total offense. 60 by the QB.. we were sending safeties and LB almost every snap. For some reason in the 2nd half we only rushed 4, and he had way too much time back there and had some success. We still only gave up 1 TD. I just knew we were beat at the end of the 4th when we only rushed 3 and dropped 8 in Dime coverage...they had a 25yd and a 13yd completion. 38 yards in 2 plays put them right at FG range. We blitzed the next snap and got a sack.
That QB made a great play with that scramble and lateral...and it almost won them the game. Their kicker covered that 52yds no problem, he just hooked it . If that QB didnt make that great play it would have been 58 or 59yds out. No chance.
Ramel Keyton looked good and he was HBs leading receiver 2 years in HS...look for a breakout season next year. Hyatt...our incoming WR with the laser timed 4.31 forty was named the MVP of the Shrine Bowl...which is NC all state vs SC all state HS all star game. He will stretch the field for us and keep those safeties deep so we can hopefully run Gray from day 1....he is that fast. Faster than Gray. Plus we bring back Palmer and Johnson, who led us in catches last year. We are losing 2 good WR this season, but we are getting faster at WR in the process. Wish we could keep Jennings forever though. So tough.
We really lose very little on defense next year. Toot will take Bitulis slot and captain the defense. We have the Memphis 3 plus more coming at LB also. Crouch and Peterson will have another year in the system, and we will finally be deep at DT and DE. Corners will be unchanged, safety will be quite interesting as a bunch of kids will be competing for those 2 slots. You can see CJP personality in our hard nosed defense.
Last year the top teams blew us out. This year we led UGA at the half, and nearly beat Bama. Only the g.a.y.t.o.r.s. made us look bad. Next year if we can just get average QB play out of anyone except JG, we should be able to run with anyone we play. We will lose some games. Probably 4 regular season losses.. maybe 3...but nobody should smoke us. Nobody. Go Vols.
