Recruiting Forum Football Talk IX

#77,001
#77,001
Enki_Amenra said:
I am slightly convinced that Halzle and Heupel trade game plan/play calling duties every few games.

Whoever gameplanned and called our offense for UGA and UF is not the same person who called the Vandy/miss St and a few other games.
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Teams circle certain games every year and save plays until those games. Every team does it. And that’s why most games seem status quo with play calling and then in a big game, you’re like where was this all year? We know which games we likely can win without it and which will be our toughest.

Look at Vandy, they never played anyone on defense all year the way they did us. They scouted all off season and in season to beat our a**. I guarantee we spent way more time on UGA and Florida. And we should have won both.
 
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#77,005
#77,005
Enki_Amenra said:
I am slightly convinced that Halzle and Heupel trade game plan/play calling duties every few games.

Whoever gameplanned and called our offense for UGA and UF is not the same person who called the Vandy/miss St and a few other games.
Click to expand...

It’s just execution. That also ultimately is the HC’s fault so I’m not assigning blame only to players and there def some game plans better than others but many times the successful games we execute and the unsuccessful ones we don’t.
 
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#77,007
#77,007
HoleInTheRoof said:
Day after thoughts.... (half of which I'll likely get roasted for but whatever)

  • Obese people shouldn't be allowed in the stadium. Not hefty. Not overweight. Obese people. The bleacher style seats are already crowded. I got to enjoy last nights game with two morbidly obese dudes to my right. I basically had to stand up the entire game because if I wanted to sit down, dudes fat cells were spilling onto me like thanksgiving gravy. Dude to my immediate right wasn't even in any Vols gear, and never cheered. Just ate pretzels and popcorn and sat there being fat.
  • I think I posted this after the Oklahoma game but the signs were right there in our face all year long that we just weren't a good team this year. Outside of the Georgia game and the first half vs Florida, we never really looked good. Teams like UAB moved the ball way better than they should have against us. NMS was a bore. Arkansas and Miss State are cheeks, but both took us to the wire. Kensucky of all teams scored 30+ on us. And the New Mexico game was like watching drunk people play Jenga.
  • I hate, hate, hate how three players this year were vocal and public before our games, disrespecting us, as we just proved them right.
  • To kind of soften the blow last night, yeah yeah yeah we should never lose to Vandy, but consider that that team had, I want to say one podcast said, 26 graduate students. Those were grown men. Meanwhile, our roster is literally 49% freshman and 16% sophomores. If you were at the stadium and you saw the seniors being called out - first off it was a very short ceremony, only 12 guys some of which weren't contributors. Brian Grant. Montrell Bandy. Jourdan Thomas. William Wright. We are a very young team that went against a well coached team full of grown men in the 20's. It showed.
  • I know I was posting incessantly all week about the line, as I tend to track that stuff during game week if I something looks fishy. Hopefully some understand why now. That line action was suspect all week. Then myself and @OGbabyaviVol in back to back posts pointed out how there was a massive wager placed on Vandy less than an hour before kick off. The money percentage was 85% on Tennessee, then around 245pm it shifted to 56% towards Vandy.

    Hence my comments that the fix was in. Which is to say, someone knew that Vandy was going to be getting a favorable whistle all night. Now, I was at the stadium so I didn't to see all the television replays, but right from the jump the calls were suspect. Brazell got mugged first play of the game with two refs staring at it. Neither threw a flag. There were numerous blatant holds on Vandy throughout the night, no flags. There was a lot of post play flaggable extracurricular activities by dirty vandy players - never a flag. And any time the refs got a 50/50 situation, on a questionable or close call, it went Vandys way.

    Sports are able to be rigged. There have been a lot of documented instances of point shaving, players wagering, corrupt refs etc in sports. That is what I'm saying. I'm not saying there is this grand conspiracy by Sanky or the SEC to screw Tennessee (although it wouldn't surprise me if it came out that the sec wanted as many 10-2 teams for playoff consideration as possible). What I am saying as that sports are corrupt, refs can be bought, and someone somehow knew to put a ridiculous amount of money on Vandy last night just before kickoff. Argue with me until you're blue in the face, but I will die on that hill. Money rules all.
  • I am on board the Tim Banks has to go bandwagon. Nothing more needs to be said.
  • This'll be a popular opinion I'm sure, but AP has speculated that Rodney Garner might be Auburn bound after this year, depending on who they hire as a coach. I don't think that would be that big of a loss. Listen, RG is a legend. And I know a good evaluator and a good recruiter (although I think his best recruiting days are behind him). But our DL is not elite. It has never been elite under him. I mean, last year there was talk of us having the best DL in football - and we were damned good, until we played a very good team like UGA or Ohio State who mauled us in the trenches. We've seen time and time again our DL get pushed all over the place. Im not just talking about last night because I fully understand Vandy was holding a lot, but against Miss State and other much lesser opponents, our DL never made a significant impact in games. We had something like 26 sacks going into the Alabama game, and how many have we had since? Am I wishing RG would leave? No. But I definitely don't think it would be that big of a deal if he did. Most DL recruits mention coach chop more than RG.
  • I'm fading on Coach Heupel. On the one hand this feels like crazy talk because I'm pissed off and disappointed after watching a 8-4 season, when not that long ago I went into every season HOPING we could get to at least 8 wins. I don't want this to be like how, when Fulmer left I was actually excited. I'm wary of always being careful what you wish for. Which is to say I'm not wishing Heupel leaves. But I am saying he leaves a lot to be desired. Our offense, even with all our new wrinkles this year, is easily defensed. Crash down on the mesh point and you cause havoc more than half the time. The rush to the line just so the RB can run into the ass of the guard is beyond predictable. We don't run tempo anymore, or at least not near as much. And worst of all, he's too stubborn to make changes to his coaching staff. Which brings my next point -
  • Our OL coach is useless. It's documented he's not a good recruiter and has no personality. I fully attribute our recruiting successes to NIL and other coaches, plus it not being hard to recruit to Tennessee. Our OL is not good. He doesn't develop people. Everyone wants to point to Darnell Wright, but who else has really grown under his watch.
  • I think the only way we see any coaching changes this off season is if Danny White presses the issue, which I think is a real possibility. By virtue of having as young of a team as we have, plus the situation we went into the season with with our cornerback depth issues and question mark at QB, you can almost consider it a monumental achievement that we salvaged 8 wins out of this season. At the same time, in year five, the ceiling has to be higher at a place like Tennessee. You can't sell 8-4 while at the same time pushing for talent fees and everything else. Changes need to be made. I could see DW having some hard conversations with Heupel.
  • I cheered the loudest when Andre Turrentine was announced during senior day - but thats only because he's leaving. In state kid, transferred here from OSU, and to his credit gave his all for Tennessee. It probably isn't his fault that his all just wasn't very good. At all. In fact, in the five years this staff has been here, no one has played the safety position well. I might sound foolish saying that considering McCoullough is getting plenty of reps with the Rams now.... but we all know what he was here. Which begs the question: what is going on with (a) our recruitment of safeties and (b) our development of safeties? I mean, Farooq is still a young player and he certainly flashed some this year.... he also flashed in negative ways this year. The middle of our defense has been a liability for years. Why is that?
  • Speaking of the middle of our defense... is William Inge another example of an elite recruiter but mediocre coach? Has any of our linebackers, save for some big hits by Perlotte, and a few plays here and there by AC (who i know is hampered by injuries) impressed anyone this year? I suppose its too early to tell as Inges linebackers are literally true freshman this year. I know he has an incredibly impressive group of linebackers coming in this cycle as well. But I'll definitely be keeping an eye on their development going forward.
  • There is talk of Joey possibly coming back next year. I mean, I guess. This might be crazy talk but I'd be fine going into next year with new blood at the position. Don't get me wrong - I love the player, his mom is awesome, he gave us some incredible moments and memories this year, and there is a part of me that wonders how he'd do with a full offseason under his belt. But there is another part of me that thinks that, ultimately, he isn't an NFL caliber QB. I think Faizon and McIntyre have higher ceilings. And I think in order to be an elite team, you have to have an elite, NFL caliber QB. Consider this years roster being almost 50% freshman. Start McIntyre next year, let him get a year of starts under his belt. Let the chips fall where they may. Then in 2027 all of our mostly blue chip freshman today will be third year players.

    I don't remember the exact circumstances around it, but years ago Bill Parcells made a roster decision where he either cut or traded decent starter and went with a less experienced guy with more upside. When asked about it, he praised the player but basically suggested he was a progress stopper. As in, in order for the younger guy with more upside to progress, he was going to have to play, and he wasn't going to be able to do that as long as the older guy was there. I would hate to refer to Joey as a progress stopper because that is incredibly disrespectful, but .....

    And as an added bonus, if JA can't come back, that means Pavia can't either. Although I would like another shot at that punk.
  • I wouldn't be surprised at all, or bothered at all, if Peyton Lewis went to the portal. He is big and fast but he has not demonstrated to me the vision or instincts of an SEC back. I could see him heading to Virginia Tech with Franklin, which is a lot closer to home for him.
  • I have a lot on my mind, and I doubt anyone is still reading this, but if you are, thanks for letting me vent. This is therapy for me.
  • At the end of the day, Vandy is still Vandy. Vandy will stay Vandy. They caught lightening in a bottle this year, and I don't even care that they're landing the 20 year old five star freshman QB. Next year will be a complete reset on their roster. And as much as I hate Pavia, credit given where it's due. The kid is a freakishly good college QB. He has that intangible - call it moxie, swag, whatever, that just makes him elite. If Joe Milton had an ounce of whatever that intangible is, he'd be unstoppable. It's a rare trait and Vandy benefitted from having a 32 year old QB who had it, with a roster full of grown men. They're not going to be able to sustain that going into next year. And if their offensive coordinator lands a head coaching job somewhere.... well, that isn't good for Clark Lea. Last night suuuuuuuuucked. Being at the stadium suuuuuuuuuuucked. It was their night. At the end of the day, this will be their one win and they can gloat over it the next 12 months, but we'll probably go on to win the next 10 in the series.
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100% agree with all this.

I don’t get the officiating defenders on here. The evidence is clear as day. The Vandy line movement shortly before kickoff with David Smith calling the game should be an indictment. I hate that the conference keeps all this a secret until right before kickoff. If there is a place where you can read game assignments earlier I haven’t found it.
 
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#77,009
#77,009
MarcoVol said:
It’s just execution. That also ultimately is the HC’s fault so I’m not assigning blame only to players and there def some game plans better than others but many times the successful games we execute and the unsuccessful ones we don’t.
Click to expand...
Maybe, probably, but there seems to have been some play designs that went MIA in some games. Made our offense look completely different. Maybe we called them and didnt execute, so you couldn't tell it was the same set/play. Idk, it just seemed like some of our best stuff stayed in the shelf.
 
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#77,011
#77,011
MrVolton said:
I get saying 8-4 was the expectation with QB situation and injuries to corners. However, both of those spots were better than serviceable this year and none of it explains why we had maybe the worst performing safety and linebacker units in the league this year.
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I had 9-3. I also had 9-3 going into 2024.

In 2024 it was the QB that underperformed and defense that overperfrormed and got us to the playoffs.

Opposite this year.

And yet...we're still 18-6 over the last 2 regular seasons. 1 up, 1 down.

We have the same expanded playoff rate as Bama, Tamu, Texas (prolly), OM, and more than LSU, Florida, Auburn, USCjr, and the rest.

Only UGA has made it both years....(and GT should've knocked them out last year tbh...bs)...but you'd think from some UT fans it was our born destiny to go from Dooley, to CBJ, to Pruitt, and under sanctions, to expecting to make the playoffs every year, just 3 years later 😅🤣🤣😂😂😂
 
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#77,014
#77,014
OGbabyaviVol said:
Ugh! I want an elite DC! Why can’t we get one of these to match with our elite offense?!
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You have to understand that a lot of DC's don't want to coach somewhere that has an fass pace low time of possession offense like we have. We need someone with experience doing that and having success.
 
#77,015
#77,015
ETNVolunteer1 said:
Durkin was never leaving Auburn. It was pretty well-known that their AD said he had to be retained. It’s a big reason reason Sumrall took the Florida job instead. Wanted to get his own guy for DC and Auburn said no.
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If you think a program with as much integrity as Auburn was gonna let a coach who killed a kid just walk away, you had another thing coming.
 
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#77,019
#77,019
Vol423 said:
UT's fan base is its own worst enemy.
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Many are truly clueless and many of the rest have short term memory problems.

They think we're special little snowflakes. The rest forget what has occurred in just 5 years, out of ruins a phoenix rose.

Thank you Coach Hype!

giphy (8) (11).gif
 
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#77,021
#77,021
Carp said:
Bama is nearly guaranteed to be in dude. The committee has made it pretty clear they don't want to punish teams that play in a conference championship game. Now if Ty Simpson were to get hurt or if Bama gets rolled by 30 points, that could change things. But as of now, Bama is most certainly in.

I still don't understand why ND remains in front of Miami when Miami has the h2h. The ND bias is astonishing for a program that hasn't won anything of relevance in nearly 40 years.
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I guess it has something to do with the fact that ND has its own TV contract with NBC and a nationwide fan base. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
 
#77,022
#77,022
RandomUTfan said:
Could be this sort of behavior and reputation among people who are in the know:



View attachment 794430
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Here's where Ole Miss fans can kiss my butt on this:

Yall didn't care about any of this shiz until he left. Just like UF covered up for their basketball coach. Selective outrage because as long as he's helping you that's more important than any moral or ethical failings. You're going to compare it with the Epstein Files but admit in the process you were aware of it the entire time and didn't say anything? What does that say about you?

We do that too freaking often with people in our "tribe" be it politicians in our parties or players on our teams. If you really had a problem with it you would have cared enough before they burned you.
 
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