Recruiting Forum Football Talk V

[YNWAvols]

and yet wont get a single Heistman vote because, its political and not about actual stats or leadership capabilities.

It’s ironic that they consider team performance so heavily for an individual award.

 

[jakez4ut]

When did Aaron Torres lose his blue check on Twitter? Or is that someone using his name to steal followers?

No idea. Don't follow either?

 

[jakez4ut]

It’s ironic that they consider team performance so heavily for an individual award.

You sure?
-paul horning, prolly

 

[Jackcrevol]

VN movement to send @Ulysees E. McGill and @Glitch to Heistman HQ - to good cop/badcop those SOB's!

 

[MarcoVol]

Heupel summed up my my exact thought on where we are:

“It's really a lot of fun when you're a part of the climb."

How could you not love cheering for this team right now? So much fun. Dangerous. Exciting.

'This team is different': Vols, fans looking for more after finally slaying Gators

 

[Jackcrevol]

View attachment 494574

LOL, cathardic. Smug bastiges, dolphin high five!

 

[RockyTop411]

Feels great to be someone’s “moral victory” or game where the team “grew up” again. Been far too long

None of that ever matters. The only thing that matters in this game is wins and losses. Can’t wait to see how they react after we whoop that *** in the swamp next year

Tennessee wins
Florida loses

4-0 and onto LSU

 

[barrylee]

Some.of ya'll forget that just 2 years ago we ended a season 3-7 and the NCAA was knocking our door down......fast forward to now....its unreal how far this program has come....i for one did not expect this.

Thank you! You are exactly right. Go back to Jan of 21 I thought we may never get to this level again. We're not all the way back yet but I can see it on the horizon.

Even with all the love the team is getting I don't think Heupel is getting the recognition he deserves. Remarkable what he has achieved in a really short time..

 

[VolByLaw]

I hope former Vol commits (and current Gators) Trey Dean and Kamar Wilcoxson enjoyed their L.

 

[smokeyhuntsgators]

It's a sign!

 

[NMVol]

Thank you! You are exactly right. Go back to Jan of 21 I thought we may never get to this level again. We're not all the way back yet but I can see it on the horizon.

Even with all the love the team is getting I don't think Heupel is getting the recognition he deserves. Remarkable what he has achieved in a really short time..

But if one has watched Heupel closely since that time it's no surprise that being in hunt was d*m* near inevitable. He's been there before and he knows how he got there.

 

[Glitch]

had chili yesterday during the game. Felt it was a mistake cause it added to the amount of sweat was coming out of me come 4th quarter lol.

Sweat. Riiiiiiight...

 

[Tennessee Golfer]

 

[Dudley Smith]

weird comparison to make. but fine, i'll play.

two totally different games. that 98 FL team was a whole lot better than the FL team we played Saturday. and for us, our defense in 98 was what our offense is in 22. the other side of the ball, on both of these teams, struggled at times, and also made HUGE plays at times. but when you pull up your favorite gifs and pics from that game.....almost every one of them are a defensive highlight. as will be the case with this game saturday...i'm betting that HH 44 yard run and Keyton's catch are the new "al wilson sack" gif.

but to say one is more impressive than the other? if you make me pick, i'd say 98. first year w/out Peyton, huge questions on the QB and offense in general, and we had to ride the backs of that defense early on. and we played florida in week 2, there were a top 3 team, and a favorite for a national title. and the TN game was the only game they lost that year. and we went on to win the conf and national title.

i mean....if you want to say the offense was waaay better, cool. i agree. but 98 was more important and impressive, all things considered.

and that doesn't take a thing away from this game Saturday. but i think seeing how the season plays out, will help dictate how important/impressive this game was. for now, it was absolutely a necessary step this program had to take.

It really is a tough comparison because in 1998 we were the reigning SEC Champions, but we had lost 5 in a row to UF and Spurrier was at the height of his powers. They were comparable to what UGA and Bama are right now. We certainly weren’t 11 point favorites going into the game, and that’s why everyone rushed the field and carried off the goal posts (and attached CBS camera) and threw them in the Tennessee River.

This is in no way an attempt to diminish what Heupel has done with this program given what he inherited. Fulmer certainly had things rolling a lot more at that point and Heupel is still on the climb.

 

[Devo182]

There’s seemingly a lot of angst about our defensive performance in the game. It’s all over the web especially in the various forums where Vol fans gather. Obviously it’s in this thread too.

Our run defense did good but the concern is really still our pass defense. I think we had at least 13 pressures on Richardson. There’s a number of fans discounting any concerns or chalking it up to their lower expectations. The typical reasons are proposed that thwart any accountability. It is what it is.

I think our guys in the back end need to learn how to tackle. Hadden missed a lot of fall camp and so that’s a rational explanation why his tackling sometimes seems middle-schoolish. Still he led the team in tackles. He wasn’t alone in tackling deficiency. I think the whole backend played poorly. We might have given up 200 fewer yards if we had tackled better. We had a few opportunities to take Richardson to the ground behind the LOS but the effort on those plays by our blitzing DBs didn’t seem very convincing to me.

PFF grades for the game:

CB Christian Charles — 62.1 (81 plays)
CB Kamal Hadden — 60.3 (89 plays)
S Jaylen McCollough — 56.9 (90 plays)
S Trevon Flowers — 54.5 (90 plays)
STAR Tarmarion McDonald — 44.8 (74 plays)

I think everybody is glad to get the win but I think a number of people are lowering expectations based solely on the performance of our pass defense in the game. We were last in the country last year in pass defense for all of football, at any level, including pop warner. The disappointment after Saturday is that it looks like we’re even worse this year. We could make a pop warner QB a legitimate contender for the Heisman. We might even be able to get every 7-year old QB in the country nominated for the honor. lol

Heupel was critical of the pass defense in his postgame remarks. A lot of people in the stadium, probably including prospective recruits, at the end of the game were wondering whether or not we were going to choke the game away after such a brilliant offensive performance. Yes, Florida, regardless of what they say, went home with a moral victory. Who cares, right? Anyone who was referenced in the Tradition video narrated by David Keith several years ago. That’s who. Vol fans don’t want to just beat our rivals; we want them humiliated. That’s partly why the win to some is a bit less satisfying than it would have been if we could have delivered on Nico’s forecast of a 3 TD winning margin.

Heupel said we needed to be tighter in our coverage. After they watch the film I’m sure they’ll see that after missing a world record number of tackles that is something our secondary guys will also need to work on during the bye week.

SBV said after the Pitt game that “perhaps” Hooker had peaked in his performance last year. Listening to Hendon in the postgame that week I was disappointed in the way he addressed some legitimate concerns. That didn't happen this week. Hendon had a career performance against Florida and in the postgame both he and McCoy sitting side by side came across as guys I thought could compete for championships. They were down to earth and talked about preparation, work, and the job that they have the opportunity to do. Maybe the guys heard the noise and as I said at the time, “got their heads on straight.”

I think the same dynamic can work to improve our pass defense. I reject the idea that we don’t have the talent. I said last week we’d probably be okay without Tillman. We have a lot of talent on this roster and have had. The QBs, RBs, and WRs are playing championship level football. So is the DL and from what I can see so too are the LBs. I think the OL is good enough. I think at TE we're lacking a bit but the biggest weakness on our team I think is our secondary. I’m not convinced it’s the guys as much as I think it’s the way they’re playing. We need our coaches to coach them up and put them in the best position for them to be successful. It’s mostly about fundamentals and we have a bye week to work on it.

I’m pretty sure the staff and players will hear the noise. I hope they do. FPI after week 3 gave us a 50.6% probability of beating LSU. After the

Hooker said in his postgame remarks the team’s goal this year is to get to Atlanta. That’s probably the staff’s goal too and the same for most fans. In order for that to happen we’re almost certainly going to have to improve the performance of our pass defense. No excuses. Let’s do this. jmo.

Oddly, it somehow feels more likely to make the playoffs than Atlanta. Assuming Bama is still pretty beatable and UGA a tougher out. Would need to win out the other games regardless I'd assume. Don't see UGA dropping a game to anyone else with their raggedy schedule. But, ya never know.

 

[LadyVolette]

Oddly, it somehow feels more likely to make the playoffs than Atlanta. Assuming Bama is still pretty beatable and UGA a tougher out. Would need to win out the other games regardless I'd assume. Don't see UGA dropping a game to anyone else with their raggedy schedule. But, ya never know.

Gave a like for ‘raggedy schedule’ lol

 

[RiseToTheTop]

Loved seeing how many former players were hanging out on the sidelines the entire time Saturday. Several guys who haven't been around much were down there having a blast. There was more than i can even name right now. Just feels good having the administration, coaches, players, fans, former players, etc all pulling in the same direction in unison. The fuse has been lit again. Love it.


Theres such a fun, welcoming and supportive culture going on right now. Refreshing as hell.

 

[ConwayFitty]

that was funny. the old school Starter jacket

wonder how long they have been holding on to that jacket just for this video

 

[InVOLuntary]

View attachment 494574

Hey! I was just pointing something out that I thought was interesting.

 

[butchna]

Yeah…. He wasn’t real well liked when he was here..People respected him more when they realized just how huge of a drop off it was from cutcliffe to Randy Sanders…. Casey did an awesome job with the outdated offense that he was tasked with running…. No matter the offense…. You wouldn’t want the iceman as your qb when it rained.

Guy went into THE SWAMP TWICE and won. I never didn’t appreciate him. His arm never fully recovered from the injury in fall camp preceding his true freshman season. He used everything else to win for us afterwards. Converting 4th and 19 against Bama demands revisionist silence.

 

[volbeast33]

It really is a tough comparison because in 1998 we were the reigning SEC Champions, but we had lost 5 in a row to UF and Spurrier was at the height of his powers. They were comparable to what UGA and Bama are right now. We certainly weren’t 11 point favorites going into the game, and that’s why everyone rushed the field and carried off the goal posts (and attached CBS camera) and threw them in the Tennessee River.

This is in no way an attempt to diminish what Heupel has done with this program given what he inherited. Fulmer certainly had things rolling a lot more at that point and Heupel is still on the climb.

It’s definitely 98….. this is great too but we were going for championships in 98…. If we somehow do the same this season then I will change my mind.

 

[KptVFL]

Haven't seen Knoxville, campus, Neyland like that in a long, long time. That was incredible.

I've been around for games that had a lot of nervous energy (late in the 4th we had some of that, yikes). Saturday, tailgating and walking into the stadium, it was eager energy.

Simply an insane environment. I still don't have my voice. Can't say I remember much from about 7pm on, including some posts I saw that I made lol. But hey, good for us!

Totally agree. Being in that stadium Saturday was really special. Was as electric as I believe I've ever seen it. Reminded me of how that place rocked in the 90's.

Definitely one of those moments in life that I will never forget!

As for the voice, It's Monday morning and I still sound like Peter Brady hitting puberty.

GBO!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[reVOLution33]

View attachment 494236
Our seats.

Nice, here are my seats!!!

 

[volbeast33]

Feels great to be someone’s “moral victory” or game where the team “grew up” again. Been far too long

None of that ever matters. The only thing that matters in this game is wins and losses. Can’t wait to see how they react after we whoop that *** in the swamp next year

Tennessee wins
Florida loses

4-0 and onto LSU

Yep reading florida fan’s comments about how proud they of the loss…. Warms my heart…

 

[smokeyhuntsgators]

There’s honestly probably a lot on here that were initially disappointed with the Heupel hire. I know every one of those folks are thrilled that they were wrong.

But yes, Dan Wolken is a chode.

I’ll own up to it..I was one of those people but have never been so glad to be wrong.