‘23 JUCO DL Elijah Davis (uscjr commit)

#27
#27
bigl3327 said:
You are assuming that there in no development or progression by anyone from last season to the upcoming season. If the same guys are the best that we have, then it's the coaches jobs to coach then up or scheme to make them successful. If they are completely incapable, then you would think the coaches would have been much more active in the portal.
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The portal we just now got spots for? I think it’s pretty well known the staff would like multiple guys on the defensive side of the ball and either hasn’t had spots or simply missed on guys we wanted.

Progression/development only goes so far. You’re not going to make 22-23 year old safeties much faster than they were a year ago. And the previous staff signed about as many corners as Dooley signed offensive linemen.

The defensive roster is not good. Our defensive line is probably the best unit on the d, and it’s probably middle of the pack at best.
 
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#28
#28
butchna said:
Eli Herring will start by mid-season and anchor for four…imo. We lucked out targeting his brother.
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I hope you’re right. VQ seemed high on him. Hopefully Mitchell becomes what he’s capable of too. Would be nice to finally have those two spots locked down.
 
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#32
#32
VolMike16 said:
What is your idea of a "good" season? Banks 100% had a really good season. Don't take from him just because the rest of the room played awful.
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He started. He made a lot of tackles. But he did so while playing at a below average level for an SEC LB.

Both of Vandies starting LBs graded out higher than him according to PFF and he had the 26th best LB grade in the SEC. That’s not very good. Overall grade of 57.3

That’s 26th out of only 39 LBs who met the snap minimum for inclusion. Our other two who met the minimum were Page, 33/39 and Beasley 36/39.

That easily grades out as the worst group of LBs in the SEC
 
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#34
#34
VolMike16 said:
What is your idea of a "good" season? Banks 100% had a really good season. Don't take from him just because the rest of the room played awful.
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This is a joke right? Did he get a lot of tackles? Sure. But that’s a misleading stat. He routinely got toasted in coverage and could not contain a QB. Is Banks our best LB? Probably. Is that saying much? No it’s not. He likely wouldn’t start for 95% of the SEC.
 
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#35
#35
bigl3327 said:
You are assuming that there in no development or progression by anyone from last season to the upcoming season. If the same guys are the best that we have, then it's the coaches jobs to coach then up or scheme to make them successful. If they are completely incapable, then you would think the coaches would have been much more active in the portal.
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We don't have the talent at LB. It's weak there. We really need a great recruiting class at DB and LB.
 
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#36
#36
Vol8188 said:
He started. He made a lot of tackles. But he did so while playing at a below average level for an SEC LB.

Both of Vandies starting LBs graded out higher than him according to PFF and he had the 26th best LB grade in the SEC. That’s not very good. Overall grade of 57.3

That’s 26th out of only 39 LBs who met the snap minimum for inclusion. Our other two who met the minimum were Page, 33/39 and Beasley 36/39.

That easily grades out as the worst group of LBs in the SEC
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I don't know if PFF is the greatest source to use for this argument. They have some questionable rankings.
 
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#37
#37
MwB said:
I don't know if PFF is the greatest source to use for this argument. They have some questionable rankings.
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They’re the only source that grades these guys over every snap. Who are your questionable examples?

A lot of fans don’t like them because they tell them things they don’t want to hear
 
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#38
#38
Vol8188 said:
Safety is terrible. Corner is worse. LB is better than a year ago, but unless Mitchell steps up idk if any of our LBs could start for an SEC school not named Vandy
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Banks would start for several SEC teams but needs more help. Beasley needs to be depth, not a starter. Willis is just a Soph. I think you're being premature. Not sure about safety being "terrible". You have two gray hairs that have played well many times. Charles and McDonald both looked very good at times.

A lot of things today depend on CB's being able to hold up in man. Teams picked on whoever was opposite Taylor last year.
 
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#39
#39
bigl3327 said:
You are assuming that there in no development or progression by anyone from last season to the upcoming season. If the same guys are the best that we have, then it's the coaches jobs to coach then up or scheme to make them successful. If they are completely incapable, then you would think the coaches would have been much more active in the portal.
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Agree but there's a good chance the Vols aren't done in the portal.
 
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#40
#40
sjt18 said:
Banks would start for several SEC teams but needs more help. Beasley needs to be depth, not a starter. Willis is just a Soph. I think you're being premature. Not sure about safety being "terrible". You have two gray hairs that have played well many times. Charles and McDonald both looked very good at times.

A lot of things today depend on CB's being able to hold up in man. Teams picked on whoever was opposite Taylor last year.
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Played well many times? By that you mean “they’ve had a couple of decent games”? Our safeties are bad and very slow.

Idk how I am being premature. I’ve seen plenty from our safeties and LBs. They’re not very good. Mitchell and a younger player may be able to fix that (Willis or Herring maybe?).

Maybe Charles can replace one of our safeties and the other will magically become faster.

Maybe 2 corners will develop into solid starters we can rely on.

That’s a whole lot of maybes on one side of the ball and if you’re counting on all those things happening, the odds aren’t in your favor. We need multiple transfers on defense.
 
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#42
#42
butchna said:
The idea that he didn’t produce is a mythical fail.
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We shouldn’t confuse production in the form of tackles as a good season. Someone has to make the tackle unless the carrier runs out of bounds. Tackles 5 yards down the field aren’t a great measure of a “good” or “productive” season

Edit: I will add that I think he’s a good blitzing lb. He’s just not great in pass coverage
 
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#43
#43
Banks played much better as the season progressed. Still he’s mediocre at best imo. Really terrified to see our defense if we don’t add some talent everywhere.
 
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#44
#44
Vol8188 said:
Played well many times? By that you mean “they’ve had a couple of decent games”? Our safeties are bad and very slow.

Idk how I am being premature. I’ve seen plenty from our safeties and LBs. They’re not very good. Mitchell and a younger player may be able to fix that (Willis or Herring maybe?).

Maybe Charles can replace one of our safeties and the other will magically become faster.

Maybe 2 corners will develop into solid starters we can rely on.

That’s a whole lot of maybes on one side of the ball and if you’re counting on all those things happening, the odds aren’t in your favor. We need multiple transfers on defense.
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Yeah. You're being premature and more critical than reasonable at this point. No. I don't mean a couple of decent games. I meant what I said. There were breakdowns at almost every spot on D at times last year that were costly. How many times did games come down to opposing QB's being able to break the pocket and make yardage? That's not because the Safeties didn't have good coverage. In good measure, it was because safeties had to help the CB's leaving no one to react. The safeties had issues at times too.

Generally you can tell how coaches feel about a position group by how much focus they put on getting immediate help from the portal or incoming class. We'll know soon if they share your concerns.
 
#45
#45
Funny…first part of page 1 is a discussion about the actual recruit for this thread and by midway through page 1 and all of page 2 I it turns to a critique on our overall defense and a discussion about Banks…
 
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#46
#46
Vol8188 said:
We shouldn’t confuse production in the form of tackles as a good season. Someone has to make the tackle unless the carrier runs out of bounds. Tackles 5 yards down the field aren’t a great measure of a “good” or “productive” season

Edit: I will add that I think he’s a good blitzing lb. He’s just not great in pass coverage
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I haven't. Formed my own take armed with the same facts available to yourself.
 
#47
#47
VolFanNC09 said:
Funny…first part of page 1 is a discussion about the actual recruit for this thread and by midway through page 1 and all of page 2 I it turns to a critique on our overall defense and a discussion about Banks…
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First time in a sports discussion?
 
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#48
#48
DaddyChad said:
Banks played much better as the season progressed. Still he’s mediocre at best imo. Really terrified to see our defense if we don’t add some talent everywhere.
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Here’s a crazy thought though: last year, with just months after a dumpster fire, these coaches developed and made a team much tougher than many of us expected. This was also on defense where names like Matthew Butler and Theo Jackson came out of nowhere to do great things.

Let’s see what they can do with some of these younger guys with a whole extra year under their belts. I think many will be surprised.
 
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#49
#49
Vol8188 said:
The idea that Banks had a good season seems to be a reoccurring myth on here. LB play overall was poor. All year.
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Yeah. The SEC's second most productive tackler sucks... right? Come on guy. You're trying WAY too hard.

Interesting stat regarding your apparent claim that he didn't play well against better competition... he was #1 in the SEC vs teams with a winning record at over 13 tackles per game. His main problem is that he needs to be able to play free. He can't do that without the other LB helping more.
 
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#50
#50
UTMVol76 said:
Here’s a crazy thought though: last year, with just months after a dumpster fire, these coaches developed and made a team much tougher than many of us expected. This was also on defense where names like Matthew Butler and Theo Jackson came out of nowhere to do great things.

Let’s see what they can do with some of these younger guys with a whole extra year under their belts. I think many will be surprised.
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I hope you’re right. Honestly thought our secondary got worse as the year went on.
 
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