Recruiting Forum Football Talk IX

[SmyrnaATLVolisback]

What is our historic record? Hint: it's not a 10 win average (which Heupel has, amid probation and a dumpster fire)

UGA isn’t. No one has a ten win average for 100 years lol. What kind of argument is that?

It’s based on current college football. Before NiL, we were an 8-10 win program and likely not amount the elite. That’s fine.

In NIL, we are a top ten program. Our NiL is top notch and among the elite and only under Texas in the SEC. We should be competing for titles every year with NIL. And we are in men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and baseball. We are elite there.

 

[Aesius]

Did you forget this is year five? You have to average them all and this year is likely 8. He is a good coach. But can he take a big step to become a great coach remains to be seen is all I am saying. I think he is at 8-10 wins every year without changing. That means we are good, but we aren’t winning a title.

I think the culture we see under Heupel is what it is. He's not going to suddenly run an extremely tight ship. We can still win big through opportunistic defense (barring certain years where the stars align talent-wise and we actually have a strong unit there) and having a QB who can consistently hit deep balls and avoid turnovers.

Joey is so damn close to being a perfect QB for this system but he turns the ball over too much.

 

[Face]

I absolutely love how quickly fans shift. Less than a week ago we had threads full of folks worried about someone hiring Heupel away. Today they want him fired.

Never change VN.

The harsh reality is college football is an irrational ecosystem but that does not mean you have to apply irrational means to a situation.

Short of a hiring Nick Saban (who, btw, saw the portal/NIL world and said no thanks), there is no sure thing. If you have a young coach with a relatively high floor, you let him continue to learn and develop.

1) be exciting and good enough to keep the fanbase engaged.

2) get enough talent on the roster to make a run every couple of years.

3) with enough runs, the experience in those situations for a coach adds up and then you hit on one.

If a missed FG, a 99 yard defensive TD vs an end of half Vols TD, and a 71 yard defensive TD go the other way, Vols are 9-0 right now.

 

[Smokey123]

I'll never comprehend how a guy that slow could run 71 yards without being stopped. Coach Doug Mathews was perplexed about that run as well.

Where tf was help for kits? He was basically walking and nobody could get within 5 yards???

 

[JCVol00]

I hope that last night was a wakeup call to Heupel, I like Heupel, I really do. But his honeymoon phase is over now. He HAS to see the staff issues and roster issues and sack up and make the necessary changes and adjustments to win, or else we are just going to be stuck in the mud

 

[MarcoVol]

Did you forget this is year five? You have to average them all and this year is likely 8. He is a good coach. But can he take a big step to become a great coach remains to be seen is all I am saying. I think he is at 8-10 wins every year without changing. That means we are good, but we aren’t winning a title.

Ok so 37 wins first 4 years.

37 / 4 =9.25 win per year. Also more than 8.

You’re drunk on misery right now, I get it.

As for the winning a title part, yeah he might not be the guy. But he also might be.

Ppl want to point to PSU getting rid of Franklin. Didn’t you mention him? He was in Y12 and lost to b2b weeks to unranked teams. Had he done his usual win all but the big ones he’d still be the HC.

 

[LargePairOfVols]

Where tf was help for kits? He was basically walking and nobody could get within 5 yards???

You need your 6’4” 250 lb TE to be able to bring down a guy when he has 2 hands on him. Have to do better than that. Think how different that game is if Kitselman tackles him at the 40.

 

[Volnut]

We have a GM. His name is Billy High. He just has a different title at Tennessee.

Tell me about this High fellow.

 

[VolNash17]

Call it a “down year” if you want, but people need to understand that there are at least 8 SEC teams who think it’s their birthright to be in the playoffs every year — and only 4-5 can make it every year. And that doesn’t count the spoilers like Ole Miss, Missouri, etc., that might make a run some years.

Agree to an extent, except for the fact Tennessee has the 2nd biggest athletics budget in the SEC and spent the 3rd most in the SEC for football behind A&M and Bama for fiscal year 2024 (2023 football season). Both of which changed head coaches at the end of that season so that’s baked in there as well. Tennessee spends more than it’s getting on the field. Every other big 4 program on campus is ran super aggressively championship level recruiting staffing transfer portal etc except Football.

 

[jave36]

I hope that last night was a wakeup call to Heupel, I like Heupel, I really do. But his honeymoon phase is over now. He HAS to see the staff issues and roster issues and sack up and make the necessary changes and adjustments to win, or else we are just going to be stuck in the mud

I really think he's the type of coach who would benefit from a GM. Let Heupel focus on football, pay someone to handle the organizational side of things. It might help our discipline, and it might help our road woes if someone could nail down a good road routine that a "free spirit" type person that Heupel seems to be probably isn't good at.

 

[jave36]

We have a GM. His name is Billy High. He just has a different title at Tennessee.

He's strictly a recruiting and talent evaluator. Heupel needs a GM who handles all the non football aspects of coaching.

"High oversees revenue sharing, recruiting, evaluation of high school and transfer portal prospects and works with player development on the cohesiveness of all departments.

In his current role, High works directly with Heupel on roster management. High had previously served as the Director of Internal and Advance Scouting during a four-year stretch that saw the Vols have their greatest on-field success in over two decades. He was the program's NFL liaison, working closely with scouts and league personnel year-round, while coordinating Tennessee’s annual Pro Day that has attracted all 32 NFL teams for four straight years.

High has overseen the Vols' transfer portal evaluation and process since 2022. UT has enjoyed great transfer portal success, producing NFL Draft picks in Omarr Norman-Lott and Dont'e Thornton Jr., as well as current standouts Jermod McCoy, Colton Hood and Chris Brazzell II."

 

[Checker_the_Shire]

For those in the know, or at least knowledgeable on past seasons/regimes, what is going on with our strength and conditioning program? I’m done with Hazle and I can get behind both keeping and getting rid of Banks, but to me one of the most glaring issues is the S&C Program. It feels like every week we’re losing guys for some minor injuring and every game we have a star go down for something bordering being tired.

 

[Jimmy Football]

Ok so 37 wins first 4 years.

37 / 4 =9.25 win per year. Also more than 8.

You’re drunk on misery right now, I get it.

As for the winning a title part, yeah he might not be the guy. But he also might be.

Ppl want to point to PSU getting rid of Franklin. Didn’t you mention him? He was in Y12 and lost to b2b weeks to unranked teams. Had he done his usual win all but the big ones he’d still be the HC.

“Drunk on misery” is a great line. Perfectly describes my mindset right now.

My rational side is having a difficult time reconciling with the reality that last night was a BAD home loss, considering the stakes.

A Jimmy Football divided against itself cannot stand…

 

[SmyrnaATLVolisback]

If he played at Bama uga OU a red hot Vandy and at Florida, he would absolutely have a down year. We saw when they played OSU last year how far from the top they actually are. We'd be 11 or 12 wins with their schedule too.

They literally play one ranked team the whole year. This year they happened to beat them, so good for them, but it's a lot easier to get up for that tough game when it's literally the only tough game you play all year. Your starters are healthy and rested from only playing 2 or 3 quarters literally every week because almost none of your opponents are even making a bowl game. You never have to put anything but vanilla base offense and defense on film because you only play one ranked team.

It's not a good comparison. What he's done at that crappy school is incredible, but acting like we should expect the same is ludicrous.

Did I say we should expect 11 wins? Did I say anything about their conference or schedule? No…

The point is this is a down SEC and we have an easy schedule. We should be able to get to 9-10 wins. Every year has different expectations and results.

If we get 9 wins, it will likely be right on par with where we should be but with how the offense exploded early it was ok for fans to say 10 wins is attainable.

And no we shouldn’t have down years with our NIL budget and resources. We are top notch with Danny White. Down years means seven wins. That’s not acceptable.

Going from 11 to 9. Absolutely. But we are past seven win teams and rebuilding years.

 

[GVol1966]

W

Yes. Every team will have some years where they don’t make the playoff. Unless they expand this thing to 24

playoffs? Playoffs?( picture Jim Mora)

Not making playoffs doesn’t make it a down year or rebuilding year.
Only 12 teams making the playoffs so you’re going to have to be really good to make it.

You can have a good year and not make it,

We are in the pack of USCjr , Miss st , Arkansas and UF. That’s not a good year or a sign that you’re a good team .

 

[RandomUTfan]

The harsh reality is college football is an irrational ecosystem but that does not mean you have to apply irrational means to a situation.

Short of a hiring Nick Saban (who, btw, saw the portal/NIL world and said no thanks), there is no sure thing. If you have a young coach with a relatively high floor, you let him continue to learn and develop.

1) be exciting and good enough to keep the fanbase engaged.

2) get enough talent on the roster to make a run every couple of years.

3) with enough runs, the experience in those situations for a coach adds up and then you hit on one.

If a missed FG, a 99 yard defensive TD vs an end of half Vols TD, and a 71 yard defensive TD go the other way, Vols are 9-0 right now.

I used to let losses bother me but one day I realized that the only way Tennessee losing can affect my personal life is if I let it. I no longer do. I take things in stride. If I let following sports make me miserable, then I'd be dumb to keep doing it.

 

[jave36]

“Drunk on misery” is a great line. Perfectly describes my mindset right now.

My rational side is having a difficult time reconciling with the reality that last night was a BAD home loss, considering the stakes.

A Jimmy Football divided against itself cannot stand…

I'm not standing, I'm lying down in misery. This one doesn't hurt as bad as the uga loss, but it's a lot more frustrating to watch us beat ourselves like we did at OU.

 

[Checker_the_Shire]

Ok so 37 wins first 4 years.

37 / 4 =9.25 win per year. Also more than 8.

You’re drunk on misery right now, I get it.

As for the winning a title part, yeah he might not be the guy. But he also might be.

Ppl want to point to PSU getting rid of Franklin. Didn’t you mention him? He was in Y12 and lost to b2b weeks to unranked teams. Had he done his usual win all but the big ones he’d still be the HC.

Fair point. But you cannot sit on the couch and watch these games week in and week out and not scratch your head wondering what is happening. There’s been 0 improvement, in my opinion, post UGA game. Whatever team we field that day has not shown up since. That’s alarming to me. And from year 1 to now, we still have issues with in-game discipline, clock management, and consistency from week-to-week. Those are coaching issues, not player ones.

So yes, maybe we are all drunk on misery at the moment. Or maybe, just maybe, this year has taken off the rose colored glasses and caused us to take some deep, much needed self reflection on where we’re heading.

 

[csprig9]

Florida, LSU, and Arkansas jobs are all open. SCar, KY, and Auburn are all screaming to fir their HC. Sark is flirting with the NFL. And that's just in the SEC. Not a good year to be looking for a coach.

CJH can do it
Just need to upgrade his help
I think he’s better then what he has
I think littrell would be a great OC
And keep halze as QB coach
Halze isn’t a bad QB coach

 

[GVol1966]

Nop

We been rebuilding since 2005.

Nope we were top 5 -6 in 22 , playoff team in 24 . The Dumpster fire years are no longer a valid excuse.
Don’t think too many people would be crying over a 3 loss season if we played at a high level all the time and lost to better teams.
Too much bad football and head scratching moments in games is what people don’t like.

 

[jave36]

Did I say we should expect 11 wins? Did I say anything about their conference or schedule? No…

The point is this is a down SEC and we have an easy schedule. We should be able to get to 9-10 wins. Every year has different expectations and results.

If we get 9 wins, it will likely be right on par with where we should be but with how the offense exploded early it was ok for fans to say 10 wins is attainable.

And no we shouldn’t have down years with our NIL budget and resources. We are top notch with Danny White. Down years means seven wins. That’s not acceptable.

Going from 11 to 9. Absolutely. But we are past seven win teams and rebuilding years.

Agreed with your overall point, but we absolutely do not have an easy schedule. The SEC is not down, the entire CFB is achieving parity, so maybe relative to prior years of SEC dominance it's down, but 4 or 5 SEC teams will make the playoffs. It's a tough sec.

Last year the sec was down, which is why we made the CFP with trash Nico. Not so much this year.

 

[SmyrnaATLVolisback]

Ok so 37 wins first 4 years.

37 / 4 =9.25 win per year. Also more than 8.

You’re drunk on misery right now, I get it.

As for the winning a title part, yeah he might not be the guy. But he also might be.

Ppl want to point to PSU getting rid of Franklin. Didn’t you mention him? He was in Y12 and lost to b2b weeks to unranked teams. Had he done his usual win all but the big ones he’d still be the HC.

I have never once called for a new head coach anywhere or asked for James freaking Franklin. Lol

He is a good coach and will do a good job somewhere else but not here. What the heck

 

[UpstateVol613]

Not good when the head coach is talking to the kicker.

 

[Checker_the_Shire]

Not good when the head coach is talking to the kicker.

I said it last night and I’ll say it again: why don’t we go grab one of the bad ass LV soccer players? You telling me they can’t out kick this jokester?

 

[Orangeburst]

I am hungry. anybody have a desire to eat lunch about 11AM this morning?