NighthawkVol
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It would be difficult to add to what has already been said about the Kentucky game. There wasn't a lot of positive to take from this.
-Obviously, QB play killed us. We knew last week that JG wasn't going to get us through the season. But I didn't expect this. He usually plays okay against the Kentuckys of the world. But he was abysmal. I'm hard pressed to think of a time a QB killed Tennessee more in a single game. Maybe Peterman at Florida, but that was a freshman starting his first game in The Swamp (I'll allude to that later), this is a 5th year senior with a ton of experience. Worse, the team has given up on him. That much was obvious. After the second pick 6, they seemed to slowly fade. While I'm not saying we don't have concerns elsewhere, I will say that QB is the most important position in sports: a good one can hide other deficiencies and a bad one can make deficiencies where there otherwise aren't any. Guarantano is not only NOT lifting this team up, he's making it worse than it actually is. He took a sack in the first half that was absurd. All he had to do was feel pressure, which WASN'T FROM THE BLIND SIDE, BUT IN HIS FACE, step up, avoid pressure, and make a throw. Instead he stood there, like someone standing in front of a truck attempting suicide. It would've blown my mind if I hadn't seen it so often before.
-This staff needs to get Bailey ready. Shrout and Maurer obviously aren't the answers. After the Kentucky loss, you stand to gain nothing from this season except two things:
1) Prepare for next season.
2) Try to possibly upset Florida. Beating Florida would salvage some good from this season. And it's possible with good QB play.
Starting Bailey and getting him ready is the best way to accomplish both of those. You're not going to beat Florida with Guarantano, Shrout, or Maurer. Bailey has the highest upside and the closer you get him to that upside, the better for the team. You have until December 5 to get him ready for Florida. He'll get better as the year goes on, then you go into next season knowing who your QB is, which is best for him and best for the team.
That said, I would NOT start him against Alabama. You don't want to kill a true freshman's confidence by giving him his first start against that defense...just as they did to Peterman in The Swamp. Let JG, Shrout, or whoever take his lumps against Bama. As soon as that game is over, make Bailey your #1 and go into the off week with a plan to get him up ton speed as quickly as possible, with 2 weeks before Arkansas.
-That's also true for other freshmen. After Bama, start involving Wideman, Beckwith, Eason, Hyatt, and others.
-Eric Gray played well. I'll say that.
-The offensive line looked good run blocking...and that's not nothing against a very good Kentucky front. Unfortunately, JG's turnovers put Tennessee behind the 8-ball so early that Tennessee couldn't line up and run the ball whenever they wanted. But I'm convinced that if Tennessee had just run the ball every play on offense, this would have been a close game. Tennessee may have even won.
-The defense played a good first half. And I don't think they played poorly in the 2nd half (which they did) because they were tired. Like the rest of the team, I think they got defeated. They've seen the JG shitshow too many times. One more example of how poor QB play can kill a team.
-Many of y'all are the biggest chicken little cryass fans in the world. It's gross. No, it's not time to fire Pruitt. No, Tennessee isn't doomed to be bad forever. But if we keep firing coaches every 3-5 years, we will be. I saw a post asking "what does Pruitt give you besides recruiting?" Well, he's the best defensive mind in Knoxville in a long, long time. His players genuinely like him because he is genuine. He brings accountability. He has an understanding of how championship programs are built and maintained. He'll get Tennessee there. You can either be along for the ride or not. And no, this isn't the worst loss in...whenever. Georgia State was worse. BYU was worse. Kentucky 2011 and 2017 were worse. Some of those Vandy losses were much worse. This is actually a good Kentucky team. Those teams weren't.
This is a weird year. In a normal one, the QB problem would have been addressed in spring because the best QB on the roster would've had an entire spring practice to get up to speed. Instead, Bailey didn't get a spring or a fall practice. Pruitt was left a crap QB room when he took over. It's hard to go land a 5* QB recruit coming off a 4-8 season with terrible OLine play. But in his 2nd full recruiting class, he landed one. He didn't get a chance to develop him early. But he will. And that will make this team look much better. Dan Mullen, on the other hand, looks great because of what he inherited. He got Franks AND Trask (not to mention Kyle Pitts, who committed to the prior staff...and a bevy of other talented players). Think Pruitt wouldn't kill for either? But Pruitt has drastically increased the talent level and player development. He is a first time head coach and he is still learning. That's undeniable. But talk of firing him at this point is ridiculous.
This is kind of a throwaway season anyway. Use it to build the program. Like it or not, that's still happening. We're not there, nor should we be. You don't fire a coach based on the results of this weird year with truncated practice times, players coming and going into quarantine, a weird schedule, no spring practice, etc. I know, "everyone else is dealing with the same thing." True. But everyone else isn't building from what Tennessee was building from. Everyone else doesn't have to deal with no viable QB option from the upper class, so they HAD to rely on the true freshman.
Moreover, should Clemson have fired Dabo after he went 6-7 his third year? Should Tennessee have fired Fulmer after he started 1-3 in his 3rd year with A TON more talent? That team lost to a 3-win UCLA team and a bad Mississippi State team. Common denominator? Bad QB play...until the freshman kind named Manning got up to speed.
Jeremy Pruitt will get the job done at Tennessee. This isn't a Butch Jones or Derek Dooley situation. Feel free to screen shot this and call me on it if I'm wrong in a few years.
-Obviously, QB play killed us. We knew last week that JG wasn't going to get us through the season. But I didn't expect this. He usually plays okay against the Kentuckys of the world. But he was abysmal. I'm hard pressed to think of a time a QB killed Tennessee more in a single game. Maybe Peterman at Florida, but that was a freshman starting his first game in The Swamp (I'll allude to that later), this is a 5th year senior with a ton of experience. Worse, the team has given up on him. That much was obvious. After the second pick 6, they seemed to slowly fade. While I'm not saying we don't have concerns elsewhere, I will say that QB is the most important position in sports: a good one can hide other deficiencies and a bad one can make deficiencies where there otherwise aren't any. Guarantano is not only NOT lifting this team up, he's making it worse than it actually is. He took a sack in the first half that was absurd. All he had to do was feel pressure, which WASN'T FROM THE BLIND SIDE, BUT IN HIS FACE, step up, avoid pressure, and make a throw. Instead he stood there, like someone standing in front of a truck attempting suicide. It would've blown my mind if I hadn't seen it so often before.
-This staff needs to get Bailey ready. Shrout and Maurer obviously aren't the answers. After the Kentucky loss, you stand to gain nothing from this season except two things:
1) Prepare for next season.
2) Try to possibly upset Florida. Beating Florida would salvage some good from this season. And it's possible with good QB play.
Starting Bailey and getting him ready is the best way to accomplish both of those. You're not going to beat Florida with Guarantano, Shrout, or Maurer. Bailey has the highest upside and the closer you get him to that upside, the better for the team. You have until December 5 to get him ready for Florida. He'll get better as the year goes on, then you go into next season knowing who your QB is, which is best for him and best for the team.
That said, I would NOT start him against Alabama. You don't want to kill a true freshman's confidence by giving him his first start against that defense...just as they did to Peterman in The Swamp. Let JG, Shrout, or whoever take his lumps against Bama. As soon as that game is over, make Bailey your #1 and go into the off week with a plan to get him up ton speed as quickly as possible, with 2 weeks before Arkansas.
-That's also true for other freshmen. After Bama, start involving Wideman, Beckwith, Eason, Hyatt, and others.
-Eric Gray played well. I'll say that.
-The offensive line looked good run blocking...and that's not nothing against a very good Kentucky front. Unfortunately, JG's turnovers put Tennessee behind the 8-ball so early that Tennessee couldn't line up and run the ball whenever they wanted. But I'm convinced that if Tennessee had just run the ball every play on offense, this would have been a close game. Tennessee may have even won.
-The defense played a good first half. And I don't think they played poorly in the 2nd half (which they did) because they were tired. Like the rest of the team, I think they got defeated. They've seen the JG shitshow too many times. One more example of how poor QB play can kill a team.
-Many of y'all are the biggest chicken little cryass fans in the world. It's gross. No, it's not time to fire Pruitt. No, Tennessee isn't doomed to be bad forever. But if we keep firing coaches every 3-5 years, we will be. I saw a post asking "what does Pruitt give you besides recruiting?" Well, he's the best defensive mind in Knoxville in a long, long time. His players genuinely like him because he is genuine. He brings accountability. He has an understanding of how championship programs are built and maintained. He'll get Tennessee there. You can either be along for the ride or not. And no, this isn't the worst loss in...whenever. Georgia State was worse. BYU was worse. Kentucky 2011 and 2017 were worse. Some of those Vandy losses were much worse. This is actually a good Kentucky team. Those teams weren't.
This is a weird year. In a normal one, the QB problem would have been addressed in spring because the best QB on the roster would've had an entire spring practice to get up to speed. Instead, Bailey didn't get a spring or a fall practice. Pruitt was left a crap QB room when he took over. It's hard to go land a 5* QB recruit coming off a 4-8 season with terrible OLine play. But in his 2nd full recruiting class, he landed one. He didn't get a chance to develop him early. But he will. And that will make this team look much better. Dan Mullen, on the other hand, looks great because of what he inherited. He got Franks AND Trask (not to mention Kyle Pitts, who committed to the prior staff...and a bevy of other talented players). Think Pruitt wouldn't kill for either? But Pruitt has drastically increased the talent level and player development. He is a first time head coach and he is still learning. That's undeniable. But talk of firing him at this point is ridiculous.
This is kind of a throwaway season anyway. Use it to build the program. Like it or not, that's still happening. We're not there, nor should we be. You don't fire a coach based on the results of this weird year with truncated practice times, players coming and going into quarantine, a weird schedule, no spring practice, etc. I know, "everyone else is dealing with the same thing." True. But everyone else isn't building from what Tennessee was building from. Everyone else doesn't have to deal with no viable QB option from the upper class, so they HAD to rely on the true freshman.
Moreover, should Clemson have fired Dabo after he went 6-7 his third year? Should Tennessee have fired Fulmer after he started 1-3 in his 3rd year with A TON more talent? That team lost to a 3-win UCLA team and a bad Mississippi State team. Common denominator? Bad QB play...until the freshman kind named Manning got up to speed.
Jeremy Pruitt will get the job done at Tennessee. This isn't a Butch Jones or Derek Dooley situation. Feel free to screen shot this and call me on it if I'm wrong in a few years.
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