2014 DL without Lambert

[shoney]

Not just Auburn (they appear to have taken it to another level) but a close relative if mine who works for a SEC West school, said that the assistant AD said that cheating is running amok in the NCAA in general, and with the 2010 Auburn Cam Scam, Oregon, Mississippi State and Miami examples there appear to be no attempt to shut it down!

"To a very dark place, this kind of talk will take us" Master Yoda (I'm a Star Wars fan)
I had another person who I very much respect tell me that he thought that the NCAA had thrown in the towel. Because of staff limitations and a backlog of violations needing to be looked into, coaches and players no longer feel like there's an NCAA guy behind every bush. That along with the whole Cam Newton by some miracle not being suspended, has coaches taking more chances than ever. So in the next 2-3 years I think recruiting will become even more dirty and cutthroat. Here's the rub if your a coach that does things the right way, for the most part everybody is gonna have a minor violation from time to time, but your getting your arse kicked on the field and recruiting. Do you "turn to the Darkside" (Star Wars again) to win, keep your job, and make truckloads of money? The fear of doing that is probation and it's all over maybe even your job. Would you decide to stick with what you think is the right way to do it ,and run a clean program? :question:

 

[3rd_and_Jancek]

Auburn has been getting theses down to the wire flips for years, far more often than any other SEC school. They not only take signees from struggling team, but from the top tier teams in our league as we'll. They did it last year after one of their worst seasons in history. How do they do it? Do they do it with money (the dirty untraceable kind)? I don't know how they do it, and how they do it so much better than everyone else. But they are doing it and our staff and other staffs in this conference better find a way stop Auburn from taking your recruits right at or on signing day.

What do you guys think? What could Tennessee do to stop this, any ideals?:question:

How are we doing it? Back to back 5-7 seasons yet Butch has a top 5 class right now.Auburn isn't the first team to have a lousy season and pull a great class. Ole Miss last year comes to mind as well.

 

[sjt18]

Well beating a top 25 team seems to be neglected of an achievement but Dooley sure wasn't getting that done, and yes sadly it was improvement from a very bad year 3 Dooley team and that's no ones expectation of ut as a fan. But football is yr to yr and last years only good that existed left for pro. Team 116 probably one of the worst teams that I hope I ever see play at 117 just a tiny but better. The only reason last yr was even more disappointing was the talent was on the field just no results this year not much talent not much hope pulled one upset

The valid comparison is Dooley's year one and Jones' year one. Those are the situations the two coaches faced that were most alike. Dooley's year two after Hunter went down was pretty disastrous. They were forced to play and start way too many Fr. Far more than Jones will have to at any point unless he screws up... another proof that the situation is not as bad as it was.

To your last statement... that simply is not true. There WAS talent on this roster. They were not able to get the most out of it or to coach around/over the deficiencies. Great coaches do that EVERY YEAR. The only two programs that I know of that consistently don't have to do that in the whole country are LSU and Bama.

UT had returning talent but little depth at every position except WR. Most great coaches take what they have and make the most of it.

Jones approach seems to be to stubbornly cling to his way of doing things even if it means trying to force round pegs through square holes... until he gets the pegs he wants. The long term problem with that is that you can't always get those pegs. That's on O. On D... I think there may be an issue with the ability of the DC.

With Worley, I think the O actually began to approach their potential last fall. They weren't going to be "great" because of the transition and lack of experience at WR. But they began to play better until Worley was injured. Not blaming Dobbs for making freshman mistakes but they were very costly.

The D came nowhere close to its potential in any game except USCe and maybe Vandy. And NO I am not talking about their talent limitations. I fully agree they had them. I am talking about poor schemes, poor playcalling, and lack of corrections/adjustments.

 

[beachbums624]

And we lost 4 games by a combined 140 points and are spending the Bowl season at home.

These are facts, folks. Deny them if you want but if you want to know why we're losing these recruits... that is why.

We have lost 1 , yet you give the plural . DEFINE THESE .

 

[sjt18]

IMO on offense the only thing this years team has better than the 10 team is o line and depth at rb Poole did have a good year in 10 though. Dooley's first team had better wr and te and on d maybe a better d line.

The OL wasn't just better. Some of the same guys started as Fr in '10. Only one other guy that I know of that played on that OL got a chance to play in the NFL. Several weren't even close to SEC caliber players but got a chance over Fr starters.

IOW's, the ability gap between the '13 OL and the '10 was FAR more than the gap between the WR groups... though that was significant. Further, it is MUCH easier to get a Fr ready to play WR than to play OL from both a physical and mental standpoint.

Poole had a very good year. But going in... he'd done nothing. Lane and Neal were far more proven.

Not maybe a better DL. A much better DL at least from a natural talent and depth perspective. And if you take away the USC transfer that Dooley added and got ready to play in his first year... it was even worse.

 

[sjt18]

How are we doing it? Back to back 5-7 seasons yet Butch has a top 5 class right now.Auburn isn't the first team to have a lousy season and pull a great class. Ole Miss last year comes to mind as well.

You can sell a dream for a year... maybe two.

Freeze did a really good job last year and has done a credible coaching job. But the buzz is fading. He signed three 5* and nine 4* last year in a class of 27. They are just about full with 24 commits right now. Only six are 4* and none are 5*. They're currently 14th nationally, 9th in the SEC, and will probably drop as USCe fills up. MSU had a little buzz with a new coach and have faded.

You must WIN and win big to sustain that recruiting momentum.

 

[VOL6479]

The OL wasn't just better. Some of the same guys started as Fr in '10. Only one other guy that I know of that played on that OL got a chance to play in the NFL. Several weren't even close to SEC caliber players but got a chance over Fr starters.

IOW's, the ability gap between the '13 OL and the '10 was FAR more than the gap between the WR groups... though that was significant. Further, it is MUCH easier to get a Fr ready to play WR than to play OL from both a physical and mental standpoint.

Poole had a very good year. But going in... he'd done nothing. Lane and Neal were far more proven.

Not maybe a better DL. A much better DL at least from a natural talent and depth perspective. And if you take away the USC transfer that Dooley added and got ready to play in his first year... it was even worse.

The 10 DL did have Montori Hughes and was it Dooley that got Jackson ready to play or was More likely Wilcox and the Dl coach

 

[sjt18]

The 10 DL did have Montori Hughes and was it Dooley that got Jackson ready to play or was More likely Wilcox and the Dl coach

Wilcox. You don't have to look too far to find alot of evidence that I am a fan of that guy as a DC.

Hughes was not much of a factor and especially as the season progressed. Ayres as a 265 lb walk on replaced him at one point.

Hughes was a big, strong, athletic kid with almost no development and little discipline. IIRC, he flunked out after that season. I believe he was also the last DT Fulmer got to commit... and that out of extreme desperation after he whiffed on a bunch of others two years running.

 

[sjt18]

I will repeat what I have said elsewhere. The O did under produce but I can see and accept some of the reasons for that. I believe given time, talent, experience, development, and coaching the O will be good or better. I think Jones has some traits that make him an almost ideal HC for UT.

My major concern is Jancek. He underperformed the talent and not by just a little.

 

[TNnative]

I think we'll wind up being fine with the loss of Lambert. I mean, it wouldn't hurt to get a guy of his caliber but I think we'll be alright. Was he projected to be a DT or a DE at the college level?

If my memory isn't too shotty, right after he commited, Lambert tweeted he would play end. In film I saw on him in JUCO, he did move inside in certain situations.

I believe they may go after another once the dead period is up. How it might work, I don't know as far as the numbers game goes. But if it can be worked out, I know I have seen a few highly rated (3 star and above) still uncommited. And there might be some who are commited that are now wavering. It's recruiting. Flips happen.