Recruiting Forum Football Talk V

[Z06VolinWV]

#7 on updated ESPN FPI top 25

 

[nashvol1]

Where do y’all think Pitt’s defense ranks among the ones we will face this year?

Top 4. GA, AL for sure. Probably toss up between KY, FL, and LSU

 

[VFL1993]

For all of the people complaining about how our game went, I get it, it was ugly but it’s like you all completely forgot the game right before ours in which the #1 team in the country played against an unranked opponent and should have lost.

These types of games happen to all teams. Let’s just be happy that for once we didn’t lose as a result. People should not be acting like the sky is falling.

 

[MemphisVol3]

Where do y’all think Pitt’s defense ranks among the ones we will face this year?

I’d put them after UGA and Bama.

 

[jakez4ut]

Yes, I think it is pretty obvious watching hadden mask his receiver and not allowing much separation all game. Then you watch Burrell bail too quickly and give up easy throws. I think they like Burrell because he is a good tackler and good against the run. But he is not a good cover corner.

The sad thing is he was in really tight and had the best coverage of the game on the td that tied it up. Kid can't win for losing.. Lol

 

[Aesius]

I get the Hooker complaints but then you look and see he’s completed 67.2% of passes on the year. And as pointed out he’s on track to throw for 3,500 yards.

I guess it’s a combination of sky high expectations for him and a few memorable bad throws. But he’s actually been very solid to very good thus far.

 

[InVOLuntary]

Like someone said yesterday, play like that continuously and we could lose 5 games.

I just don't see it happening. That was one of very very few times our offense has looked like that the past 15 games. Aberration.

I had placed Heuple's offense in the "Not worried, that's never going to be an issue" file. Yesterday made me second guess that a little. I'm worried that coaches are starting to get a handle on it. Time will tell. This offense seems to be at its best when moving fast. Yesterday it seemed all it took to derail a drive was for the defense to "develop" a cramp after a few up-tempo plays. I guess we'll see in the next few weeks whether it's an anomaly or whether it's a sign. Back in the day when I was in sales for a large medical software company, we used to say "We sell oranges when everyone else is selling apples. It won't be long until they're selling oranges too. By then we'll be selling passion fruit." Hopefully, if the defenses are catching up, CJH is working on the passion fruit.

 

[swchandler1988]

Kind of random question, for our ILB group of Banks, Beasley, Mitchell, Page, doesn’t anyone know how much eligibility they all have? I think they’re all listed as redshirt senior or senior, but didn’t know about the Covid year

 

[SouthKnoxVOL]

I think all three of those teams are comparable. AR played atrociously last night, but we saw what he is capable of. I am doubtful that he is as good as he looked against Utah or quite as bad as he looked against Kentucky. Hooker can play a good bit better than he did yesterday and if he gets there, we should be able to beat both UK and UF.

Saw what he is capable of? Lol. He wasnt that good against Utah...he only threw for 180 yds and no TDs. For some reason media was bumping him up as the next Newton. Here is his stat line through the first 2 games....311 yards 0Tds 2int QBR 48.

Here is Hendon's stat line.... 546 yards 4tds 0int QBR 82

 

[volinbama256]

Still Crazy after all these years and all the coaching changes, how diversified the viewpoints remain on here, and I love it... Many just love the win or hate the loss, while others dig deeper and break down the game and look ahead at how we match up against future opponents on the schedule... Many just pop on and off every now and then, while others seems to live on here. Many are super competitive in nature as seen by their posts, while others are just along for the ride... Some are on here just for the off topic conversations... all good.

I'm the seemingly no fun, bad fan/grad who is super competitive and always looking ahead, who wants desperately for UT to actually take that next step and be a top 10 team... I can't enjoy the win sometimes because I'm too busy breaking down what went wrong, but also I will say what went right. I'm realistic and don't look through orange glasses...

While I am actually happy with our win last night and how we never gave up and fought to the end, I am very disappointed in the undisciplined and sloppy way we played. I see it being our downfall in the coming weeks if we don't get some things fixed quickly and it will be the difference in a 6-6 season and a 8-4 season.

Everyone should expect beginning season jitters and rust, especially from the younger players and first year starters, but I didn't expect it from our two seasoned players in Hooker and Tillman. Between the two of them, they easily cost us 14-21 points that would have broken Pitt and sealed a very convincing win. Hooker over through, under through at least 2-3 WR's who were easily heading to the end zone if the pass was on target. Tillman certainly came through in the end when it counted the most, but he dropped what, at least 3-4 easy grabs that would have changed the momentum of drives and at least 1 TD... Hooker is a mobile QB, yet was sacked 4-5 times (I'll say 2 were on the O line and not Hooker) and acted confused on each... I got flamed yesterday, but there's no reason not to give Milton a look next week against Akron... He's there, no reason to see what he's got.

Our running game was barely a running game. We anticipated gashing them all day based on the WVU game, but only managed to get small runs in under 10yds that got us first downs and then a fumble that killed our drive and momentum.

Flowers fumble was absolutely inexcusable... sorry. He's a senior and all he had to do was literally take two steps back and catch it in the breadbasket. Wow it showed how much we miss Velus... that dude would have probably housed it at least once yesterday.

Defense--- Unless major changes are made in coverage and game planning/ingame adjustments, I just don't see how Banks is DC next season. The soft zone is going to get us absolutely killed against better throwing teams, which is basically all of the SEC.

I am not confident with how sloppy and shaky our offense was last night, that we will be able to outscore opponents like last season to overcome how horrible our secondary is.

This team found a way to win last night, and I am very proud of them-- we all remember a lot of past UT teams under other failed coaches who would have simply rolled over and given up. Heup has our kids all with the same great mindset.

The high expectations, even after BallSt, need to be cooled and reality needs to set in. Watching the other SEC games yesterday, unless we make some huge adjustments, clean up a lot of errors and sloppy play, make big adjustments on defense, I don't believe we have the talent/firepower this year to do any better than 7 wins at this point, based only on the first two games. I do believe it will all come down to our defense unfortunately. Just like last season, we don't have the depth and talent to get off the field against better teams and we will be gassed by the end of the 3rd quarter.

lots of talent/recruits coming in, so we are definitely headed in the right direction on that side of the ball, but it is going to take more time than many expected.

 

[BigSteve09]

Bold flex saying you've lost 3 out of 5

This is hilarious. They should just do all of the Stoops era not these cherry picked 5-8 year marks

 

[jakez4ut]

Coach Narduzzi is a defensive strategist the level of which Tennessee may not run into again this season. I just hope that the Offense was having an off night. I also hope that the blueprint for handling our offense wasn’t shown this game. The “defensive coaches “ in the SEC are used to being able to out talent the opponents. I think that we will have the upper hand in most games this season.

On different note, bama is vulnerable. Texas’s defense is not better than Tennessee’s defense.

15-0

I get the sentiment.. But we're gonna play smart and Saban... Talent aside...I think they'd compare favorably regardless

 

[butchna]

Why are you "concerned" with what happened between WVU and Kansas? Smh

 

[MemphisVol3]

I had placed Heuple's offense in the "Not worried, that's never going to be an issue" file. Yesterday made me second guess that a little. I'm worried that coaches are starting to get a handle on it. Time will tell. This offense seems to be at its best when moving fast. Yesterday it seemed all it took to derail a drive was for the defense to "develop" a cramp after a few up-tempo plays. I guess we'll see in the next few weeks whether it's an anomaly or whether it's a sign. Back in the day when I was in sales for a large medical software company, we used to say "We sell oranges when everyone else is selling apples. It won't be long until they're selling oranges too. By then we'll be selling passion fruit." Hopefully, if the defenses are catching up, CJH is working on the passion fruit.

I understand the concern but receivers were getting open all game. Pitt focused on shutting down the run game and they have the 3rd best DLine we’ll face.

 

[SpringBokVol]

I get the Hooker complaints but then you look and see he’s completed 67.2% of passes on the year. And as pointed out he’s on track to throw for 3,500 yards.

I guess it’s a combination of sky high expectations for him and a few memorable bad throws. But he’s actually been very solid to very good thus far.

I think this is it. My early comment was around the perceived expectations.

Which may or may not be too high.

He is dang good. I am thrilled that he is our QB.

I’ll leave it there.

 

[butchna]

Beasley has definitely looked better than Banks this year, I just don't know if spying a mobile QB is his strength.

I'm hoping that Mitchell and Dee Williams get to work back in against Akron. I think Dee Williams should see a clear path to the field as a corner and punt returner. I think Mitchell will take some snaps and strengthen that group.

Banks was tipping every other pass. We start catching those…?

 

[NMVol]

You’re funny

So you suggest that you have found a secret narrative for why the coaches would want to have the 2nd string QB ready. Quite bold really, when you think about it. Cause you never would want to prepare a second string guy otherwise?

 

[BigSteve09]

I get the Hooker complaints but then you look and see he’s completed 67.2% of passes on the year. And as pointed out he’s on track to throw for 3,500 yards.

I guess it’s a combination of sky high expectations for him and a few memorable bad throws. But he’s actually been very solid to very good thus far.

I am still waiting to see some other film/shots of the game aside from the broadcast view. I really do think that Pitt was getting away with murder in the secondary in the 2nd half, which led to Hooker holding it longer than usual or trying to scramble.

Pitt was also intent on stopping the run, and almost planned for us to try and fail. There were a few possessions where we galaxy brained ourselves on a 2nd down run and ran right into a brick wall or got tacked behind the line, when we were moving it fine through the air or had a drop.

It was like Narduzzi was depending on us to change it up from pass every now and then and they knew they could get us behind the sticks on a run.

There were times in the second half on offense where we really looked like we were at a loss for what to call.

 

[butchna]

I had placed Heuple's offense in the "Not worried, that's never going to be an issue" file. Yesterday made me second guess that a little. I'm worried that coaches are starting to get a handle on it. Time will tell. This offense seems to be at its best when moving fast. Yesterday it seemed all it took to derail a drive was for the defense to "develop" a cramp after a few up-tempo plays. I guess we'll see in the next few weeks whether it's an anomaly or whether it's a sign. Back in the day when I was in sales for a large medical software company, we used to say "We sell oranges when everyone else is selling apples. It won't be long until they're selling oranges too. By then we'll be selling passion fruit." Hopefully, if the defenses are catching up, CJH is working on the passion fruit.

Damn. Even your analogies have osteoporosis!

 

[SpringBokVol]

Let’s talk about the muffed punt. I’m still pissed about it.

How? Why?

Who should be back there instead?

 

[VolGee4]

I hate to say it but there is a chance Hooker peaked last year.

He can still be good. But you might realize there is no upside.

I think that’s why coaches wanted Milton to figure it out.

I am not saying make a change. I don’t think you can do that.

I’m just saying improvement on last year light not be reasonable. But something similar would be great.

He’s not perfect, and no one is. He will miss receivers, and he will run quickly when pressured instead of looking down field. However, he is much better than against Pitt last year. Hendon Hooker has taken the program to the next level. Heupel has made him into a really good college QB, and I’m glad to see he’s getting paid doing it.

 

[TechnoVol]

When Coach Ekeler was first interviewed last year about looking for return guys, he mentioned that he needed to find a "fart in a skillet" type of guy for punt returns. I'm not exactly sure about what he meant by that, but I think we may have one on the roster... Akron would be a great time to release the Squirrel and see how he does with punt returns.

 

[butchna]

For all of the people complaining about how our game went, I get it, it was ugly but it’s like you all completely forgot the game right before ours in which the #1 team in the country played against an unranked opponent and should have lost.

These types of games happen to all teams. Let’s just be happy that for once we didn’t lose as a result. People should not be acting like the sky is falling.

Gotta win these games before we compete in the others. Last year we mostly didn’t. Cept Kentucky…cuz they’re grandfathered.

 

[Z06VolinWV]

Let’s talk about the muffed punt. I’m still pissed about it.

How? Why?

Who should be back there instead?

Rule 1: Never, ever, and I mean never, try to catch a ball over your shoulders! Better to let it go…

 

[jakez4ut]

Let's remember he took time to settle in last year too. Didn't shred Pitt and threw a bad pick. Took him a few games to get more dialed in.

Next week will be big for him just dialing in on those screen passes (gotta get them down) and not overthrowing deep.

It's only game 2. Long season ahead.

I don't think anyone is or should write him off. I'm not worried about hooker.

Great stat day and he did make big plays... But overall he was off and not as accurate as we've seen him be.