247: Pruitt Contemplating Change at QB

#179
#179
ChiefTKE said:
I think we all know it is time. Honestly, what Pruitt is doing to JG is tough to watch. I know that JG has experience, but his game film shows us an inconsistent QB and one that will make really dumb mistakes. JG is an outstanding young man, and Vol fans should appreciate what he has been willing to go through for us. That being said, to continue to run JG out on the field in front of a fan base that is ready to move on puts him in a place to be overly criticized everywhere you turn. Right or wrong, college fan bases will bash a player's performance at this level. Pruitt should think about that. Some other toughts:
1) You go with the experienced QB over a young one because you think they will manage the game and protect the ball. JG is making mistakes. If He is going to make these mistakes, you might as well let a young QB make them...it will be at least a little more palatable.
2) The 1994 TN/AL game is on TV right now and it was the Manning/Stewart game where they were taking over the reigns. At one point the announcer said "starting these two freshman now may be a blessing in disguise for Phillip Fulmer...now he can see what these two freshman can do and can develop who will be his quarterback next year." Not exact phrasing because I don't remember.
3)The argument about putting one of these young QB's out against Alabama could hurt their psyche. IMO If taking a beating vs. Alabama ruins a kid, there probably wasn't much that was going to happen with that kid anyway. I see BM and HB as two guys with a strong enough ego to bounce back. Also going back to this 1994 Alabama game we went into the half with Peyton Manning 2/5 for 22 yds and 2 Int's. I think he bounced back and did alright.
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Good points and you are showing a bigger picture other than just replace JG.

I will match your Peyton Manning example with Nathan Peterman. BJ threw him out to the wolves against a Fl team that we should have beat. Peterman went on to look like the wettest noodle in a UT uniform. However, after transfering, Peterman ends up on NFL rosters. No Peyton but Peterman did not recovery at Tennessee.

Coaches do need to be a little careful who they just throw out there against the bammers. I am not opposed to letting JG get tee off on for a quarter then letting 2, 3 or 4 qb play. Or, let B.M. start but that is a tough first game back.
 
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#182
#182
84Volfan said:
Can I come hunt šŸ˜
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A little late this year... hit me up again next August. Family has to come first though. My bro in law is coming in from SC. Both of my sons are going to hunt. I have 3 good stands up but have more work to do. I have 80 acres surrounded by other fields, pasture, and brush. The closest house is a mile or more. My farm is 18 acres active corn/beans, 24 acres CRP, and the rest in a creek bed and brush. We're set up well to hunt about 2/3's of it.

Hunting shows feature the county my farm is in often.
 
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#184
#184
sjt18 said:
I posted a response to someone else above.

I suspected it for a long time just based on Chaney's past and the verbal and non-verbal responses of all three when asked about JG or the QB position. Pruitt throwing Chaney under the bus over the play call is a sign IMO. But now there are also people in a position to know things that are indicating the same thing.

And frankly, every HC that you would even want makes the final call on who his QB will be. I think Pruitt did that in January '19 when he pushed all in on JG's development. Unlike any other position, he named him the starter without even a hint of a competition.

Every "sign" I would need to suspect it is there. And while even reliable inside sources are not infallible... and can also have biases or perceptions that aren't correct.... I am convinced this is true.
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I see your points and have seen them myself. JG has endured himself to Pruitt. Pruitt needs to learn to love these kids but also do what is best for TN football on Saturdays. I do think you are right and Hill transferring was the writing on the wall.

I liked the offensive game plan we had against USC. However you can see that JG over throwing those passes has forced a change in the offense. This added limitation has been identified by our opponents.
 
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#185
#185
PlanetVolunteer said:
Why would he do that?
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I'm not being a smart aleck... but because he's the HC.

Every worthwhile HC is going to reserve the final decision on who plays the most important position on the field. His job and maybe even his career depend on that choice. If you were faced with that kind of choice, I think you'd want to make the call for yourself right or wrong, wouldn't you?

I trust the managers who work under me. I delegate a lot of stuff and trust them to do it right. But there are some decisions that I have to make. QB is one that belongs to the HC. Hopefully he listens to his staff and particularly a guy like Chaney... but in the end they play who he chooses.
 
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#186
#186
sjt18 said:
Pruitt has forced Chaney and Weinke to work with and play JG. I do not believe either would have chosen JG if given an actual choice.

They have been limited as to how much they were able to prepare the others. They had to put time into JG hoping to make him successful.
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Based on what, exactly?
 
#188
#188
sjt18 said:
I'm not being a smart aleck... but because he's the HC.

Every worthwhile HC is going to reserve the final decision on who plays the most important position on the field. His job and maybe even his career depend on that choice. If you were faced with that kind of choice, I think you'd want to make the call for yourself right or wrong, wouldn't you?

I trust the managers who work under me. I delegate a lot of stuff and trust them to do it right. But there are some decisions that I have to make. QB is one that belongs to the HC. Hopefully he listens to his staff and particularly a guy like Chaney... but in the end they play who he chooses.
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I understand that.

I just want to know what his reasoning was for being all in on JG.

Because he believed JG could be the straight up game manager that doesn't make serious mistakes this year? To ensure we win all the winnable games?

Bailey a true freshman and Maurers questionable study habits and being injury prone last year was too risky i guess.
 
#190
#190
sjt18 said:
Define salvageable.
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Finding your QB going forward and getting him to a place where we are finishing the year playing better football on that side of the ball. Which gives us a head start on next season as well.

I don't like putting win numbers out there in such cases (especially given the unknown of how covid will play a part going forward) but it would look something like 5-5 or 6-4.
 
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#191
#191
PlanetVolunteer said:
I understand that.

I just want to know what his reasoning was for being all in on JG.
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My take. It is January 19 and you have JG and Shrout returning with Maurer signed. You know that Shrout is a long way from being able to handle the playbook. You don't quite know what you have with Maurer or how quickly he will catch on.

Then... you have JG. He has arm talent. He's endured and has a lot of the qualities you want in a QB. You think at that point that your shortest, surest path to having good QB play is JG. You talk yourself into believing that what's wrong can be improved. You hire a noted OC and QB guru and tell him your plan. Chaney doesn't know any of the players at that point. So what's he to say?

I fault Pruitt for NONE of that. It was a reasonable plan that didn't work. Where I fault him is for not realizing that the JG he saw against GSU, BYU, UF, VU, IU, etc... is who he is. He's not going to give you consistent Mizzou performances. He's not going to give you a performance like that against a top shelf D.

Because he believed JG could be the straight up game manager that doesn't make serious mistakes this year? To ensure we win all the winnable games?

Bailey a true freshman and Maurers questionable study habits and being injury prone last year was too risky i guess.
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I won't claim to know what might have been had Covid not interfered. I think both of those guys could have used the reps to get caught up with JG in game management.

FWIW, I think Pruitt still believes you can win championships with a "game manager". I believe and the facts suggest that era is gone.
 
#192
#192
sjt18 said:
I posted two responses to the same question above. I think you can find them on page 7. You can check the response immediately before your post too.
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But where is the evidence that Chaney and Weinke want to start someone else and Pruitt is forcing JG on them?
 
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#193
#193
TNHopeful505 said:
As I said in another thread, we are like the dolphins. They were who they were with fitz, and knew where he could take them. They made a change for tua to see if he could get them to the next level. We need to make a change. We know where JG can get us. We need to make a change.
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That seems like an insult to Fitz, he was actually playing well.
 
#194
#194
VolsSportsFan said:
That seems like an insult to Fitz, he was actually playing well.
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And yet they were 3-3. It's not an insult. Fitz is not gonna be a guy who takes you to the playoffs. Inconsistent play and turnovers wont get you there. He was playing well. He may come back in. Hate that he lost his mom. I'm sure it is hard to focus with that on your heart.
 
#195
#195
miket4god said:
But where is the evidence that Chaney and Weinke want to start someone else and Pruitt is forcing JG on them?
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Like I said, I suspected it based on having followed Chaney's career and comparing his previous QB's to JG.

I won't fault you for not believing a random guy on a social media but I have information that came to me privately. I can't reveal where it came from without violating trust.
 
#196
#196
sjt18 said:
My take. It is January 19 and you have JG and Shrout returning with Maurer signed. You know that Shrout is a long way from being able to handle the playbook. You don't quite know what you have with Maurer or how quickly he will catch on.

Then... you have JG. He has arm talent. He's endured and has a lot of the qualities you want in a QB. You think at that point that your shortest, surest path to having good QB play is JG. You talk yourself into believing that what's wrong can be improved. You hire a noted OC and QB guru and tell him your plan. Chaney doesn't know any of the players at that point. So what's he to say?

I fault Pruitt for NONE of that. It was a reasonable plan that didn't work. Where I fault him is for not realizing that the JG he saw against GSU, BYU, UF, VU, IU, etc... is who he is. He's not going to give you consistent Mizzou performances. He's not going to give you a performance like that against a top shelf D.


I won't claim to know what might have been had Covid not interfered. I think both of those guys could have used the reps to get caught up with JG in game management.

FWIW, I think Pruitt still believes you can win championships with a "game manager". I believe and the facts suggest that era is gone.
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I certainly hope he doesn't believe that... he often talks about wanting to be more aggressive on offense and sometimes we are when the QB isn't atrocious. I think maybe the game manager stuff is just a symptom of the weird situation we are in with the QB's we have. Just wanted to make sure we were respectable without any major hiccups on offense with a "safe" JG. Even though he's been disastrous most of the time. Blinded by those 5 star practices a bit too I would guess.

I reckon with the back ups being as up in the air as they are it was the only circumstance that could keep JG on the field.

Why we didn't go after a transfer QB over the last couple years, especially coming into this year is very odd.

Turns out Pruitt made the right call for about 2 and a half games.
 
#197
#197
TNHopeful505 said:
And yet they were 3-3. It's not an insult. Fitz is not gonna be a guy who takes you to the playoffs. Inconsistent play and turnovers wont get you there. He was playing well. He may come back in. Hate that he lost his mom. I'm sure it is hard to focus with that on your heart.
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When he's on, Fitz is a good-to-very-good game manager. They are betting that Tua will be transformational.
 
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#199
#199
PlanetVolunteer said:
I certainly hope he doesn't believe that... he often talks about wanting to be more aggressive on offense and sometimes we are when the QB isn't atrocious. I think maybe the game manager stuff is just a symptom of the weird situation we are in with the QB's we have. Just wanted to make sure we were respectable without any major hiccups on offense with a "safe" JG. Even though he's been disastrous most of the time. Blinded by those 5 star practices a bit too I would guess.

I reckon with the back ups being as up in the air as they are it was the only circumstance that could keep JG on the field.

Why we didn't go after a transfer QB over the last couple years, especially coming into this year is very odd.

Turns out Pruitt made the right call for about 2 and a half games.
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I think he committed so fully to JG and sympathizes with him so much that he just wasn't willing to give up.

You cannot simultaneously tolerate much less support starting JG and talk about being aggressive on O. Those are mutually exclusive things. On his very, very best day... risks and aggression are not in him. IMHO, his picks are a direct function of trying to make him play more aggressive and faster.

I don't think he did make the right call. There were issues that UT was able to cover and compensate for. JG was terrible throwing the ball beyond 10 yards. UGA just "broke the code".... and UK used the same idea.
 
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#200
#200
sjt18 said:
I posted a response to someone else above.

I suspected it for a long time just based on Chaney's past and the verbal and non-verbal responses of all three when asked about JG or the QB position. Pruitt throwing Chaney under the bus over the play call is a sign IMO. But now there are also people in a position to know things that are indicating the same thing.

And frankly, every HC that you would even want makes the final call on who his QB will be. I think Pruitt did that in January '19 when he pushed all in on JG's development. Unlike any other position, he named him the starter without even a hint of a competition.

Every "sign" I would need to suspect it is there. And while even reliable inside sources are not infallible... and can also have biases or perceptions that aren't correct.... I am convinced this is true.
Click to expand...

I see your points and have seen them myself. JG has endured himself to Pruitt. Pruitt needs to learn to love these kids but also do what is best for TN football on Saturdays. I do think you are right and Hill transferring was the writing on the wall.

I liked the offensive game plan we had against USC. However you can see that JG over throwing those passes has forced a change in the offense. This added limitation has been identified by our opponents.
 
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