5 concerns from spring practice..

#76
#76
If your wanting me to say he should be fired right now if this or that.... It's not gonna happen.

No one, though, gets a free pass forever. Results do matter.

Verdict is still out so I see no reason to plan on failure...
 
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#77
#77
A) not relevant imo. Every situation is different. And it won't be during the first full off season when you just got your first real crop of ol on campus the your staff recruited.... Who happen to be top 10 prospects... And the next crop looks like it could be pretty good too... Lol

B) never said that.

Future looks much brighter than the present. And I still think they'll be better this season. No where to go but up.

How is it not relevant that other coaching staffs are putting together functional offensive lines with "less talented" recruits, and Will Friend can't? Why is UT this nebulous place where coaches can't be expected to be good at the jobs they are hired to do?

So you prefer to refer to our olinemen as "chicken sh*t" instead of trash? Not sure which is worse, but OK, have it your way. Do you believe that every offensive linemen on the roster besides Trey Smith is uncoachable chicken sh*t?
 
#78
#78
How is it not relevant that other coaching staffs are putting together functional offensive lines with "less talented" recruits, and Will Friend can't? Why is UT this nebulous place where coaches can't be expected to be good at the jobs they are hired to do?

So you prefer to refer to our olinemen as "chicken sh*t" instead of trash? Not sure which is worse, but OK, have it your way. Do you believe that every offensive linemen on the roster besides Trey Smith is uncoachable chicken sh*t?
You're just making stuff up now.

It was an analogy not a literal translation...

I don't know what else to tell you.

You're ready to fire him in April for what might not happen by December.

I think that is.... Premature.
 
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#79
#79
You're just making stuff up now.

It was an analogy not a literal translation...

I don't know what else to tell you.

You're ready to fire him in April for what might not happen by December.

I think that is.... Premature.

How am I making anything up? That was your phrase, verbatim, how else is it supposed to be construed other than you believe that our oline roster is uncoachable, and untalented?

Yeah, if Will Friend can't put an oline on the field by the end of the season that can be trusted to consistently block someone on every play, then I don't believe that there's any reason to give him another year to not even be able to put a bare-minimum oline on the field.
 
#80
#80
How am I making anything up? That was your phrase, verbatim, how else is it supposed to be construed other than you believe that our oline roster is uncoachable, and untalented?

Yeah, if Will Friend can't put an oline on the field by the end of the season that can be trusted to consistently block someone on every play, then I don't believe that there's any reason to give him another year to not even be able to put a bare-minimum oline on the field.
Never too early to grab a torch and Pitchfork I guess....
 
#81
#81
just for the record, Riley Locklear 3* , 17....marcus tatum 3*, 16....Ryan Johnson 4*, 16...Nathan Niehaus, 3*, 16....K. Calbert, 3* , 17....Crosby, 4*, 17...these are our most experienced guys...none have been stellar. some are on their 3rd OL coach and 4th OC. that they may not be very good presently, isn't necessarily their fault. new s&c, new style of blocking, new scheme yada yada....

this is who is no longer on the roster, all of which would be starting/contributing veterans, and the guys above could be used for depth.
Boulware, 3*, transferred
Jack Jones, 4*, retired
Chance Hall, 3* Retired
Trey Smith, 5*, medical
Drew Richmond, 5*, transferred

you added Jamir Johnson, Jerome Carvin, and Brandon Kennedy last year.

you add Morris, Wright, Akproghene, Lampley this year.

i think it's totally fair to expect improvement from this bunch. it just depends on what you define as improvement...to not suck out loud? dunnow what your measure is.

but i'm just saying, with the youth and talent we have brought in, and look to be bringing in, the OL is going to get better and better. and i'm just not ready to say Friend should be fired this year IF this or that doesn't happen...

and i'm not really sure what would need to happen for him to make it out of your cross hairs.

it's april. there's absolutely NO reason to be discussin why we should fire Will Friend right now. none.

this year is the first year, in what seems like forever, we'll actually have 10 guys to play across the line.

but 2 or 3 of them are going to be true freshmen. really really talented true freshmen.

situationally, the OL just isn't very good....and it will take more than 1 season to get it right. there's a lot of context you're either ignoring or forgetting that would lead you to believe Friend should be fired...is there a path for that to happen? sure. there is for all the coaches.

just don't see the point in defining that today. carry on.
 
#82
#82
The only difference in the schedule this year from last is we don’t get a top 15-20 team like WVa as our toughest out of conference game. However, instead of only having 1 OOC team like last year that could beat us (WVa), we actually have 2 this year imo (BYU and UAB) although neither are as good as WVa was.

Beyond that, just like last year, we got Florida, Georgia, SCar, Mizzou, Ky, Vandy and Alabama. And just like last year when we played Auburn, we’ll be underdogs to another SECw team when we play a good, tough MissSt team.

I’m not seeing where the schedule is “nowhere close to last year”. It’s virtually identical imo.

Miss state won’t be nearly as good this year. Get off your negativity shtick. Between you and BOT, it’s the exact same thing every time. If we win 8 games will you promise to get lost?
 
#83
#83
Miss state won’t be nearly as good this year. Get off your negativity shtick. Between you and BOT, it’s the exact same thing every time. If we win 8 games will you promise to get lost?
GA, FL and BAma are probably all L's.

every other game on the schedule is varying degrees of a toss up.....7 or 8 wins is doable.

MSU loses a lot. QB, safety, DT, DE....and i think a WR? anyway....i actually like Thompson as their QB, and he's probably an upgrade from the pocket over NF. but that's a winnable game as well. glad we play them this year vs last year. that defense was nasty good.
 
#84
#84
I don't think that is fair statement considering the s__t storm UT has gone through the last ten years.
Why isn't it a fair statement? That team is the way it is because of the crap it went through the past decade. Butch contributed a lot to the downfall. He didn't know how to develop and recruited players that weren't fit for the sec. May be my opinion, but I think it's an accurate statement.
 
#85
#85
Why isn't it a fair statement? That team is the way it is because of the crap it went through the past decade. Butch contributed a lot to the downfall. He didn't know how to develop and recruited players that weren't fit for the sec. May be my opinion, but I think it's an accurate statement.
it's only unfair if you blame the players that came here under butch are the problem, or can't ever be meaningful contributors to this program....so i think the "can't wait til they're all gone" comment resonated more here than anything specifically about butch jones....

that said, there just aren't that many that are or have been or will be significant contributors...bituli, taylor, warrior, jennings, johnson, palmer, some of the OL....a couple other DB's....and Chandler.

there's some good players in there. but to your point, i'm not 100% certain how many of those kids would have been actively sought after by this staff.
 
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#86
#86
it's only unfair if you blame the players that came here under butch are the problem, or can't ever be meaningful contributors to this program....so i think the "can't wait til they're all gone" comment resonated more here than anything specifically about butch jones....

that said, there just aren't that many that are or have been or will be significant contributors...bituli, taylor, warrior, jennings, johnson, palmer, some of the OL....a couple other DB's....and Chandler.

there's some good players in there. but to your point, i'm not 100% certain how many of those kids would have been actively sought after by this staff.
I don't blame them and I hope they improve and prove me wrong, but the fact of the matter is I don't think we will be realisticly competing for the east until we have a full roster recruited by Pruitt and co.
 
#88
#88
fans have been told to be patient for so long that I’m afraid the one coach we have had that is actually worth giving some time isn’t really gonna get it
 
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#89
#89
well, you lost your best OL to a medical condition, 2 more retired from football all together, and 2 transferred. so you're left with...........the guys that weren't good enough to start for the last staff.

and you're scrambling to plug holes with Jucos and grad transfers.

i think i just closed that post off iwth it's fair to expect improvement.

i don't think it's fair to put quasai ultimatums on a coach that got a crappy hand dealt to him, and is still looking for new cards, a full year later.

and now, before year 2 is even started, before we even get the rest of the OL hual we just signed is no campus, you're telling everyone that if they're not better (by whatever measure you decide on) then coaching is the problem.

that's just not necessarily true.

and like i said, it's fair to expect improvement. i do. and if they're as bad as they were last year, then we have a lot of problems.

just be average, and that's probably worth a game, maybe two. and an average o line would seem like gigantic improvement imo.

just don't get the need to put an ultimatum on it, in April.

I agree with this post. The absolute best we can hope for with our OL this season is that it is what I'll term serviceable. No way getting around it's going to be likely two frosh will start. We recently saw UGA win a SEC title starting one true frosh and one RS frosh side by side on their OL, so the idea our two cannot deliver solid performances for no more reason than they're freshman does not compute for me. If we have a few busted plays, that's to be expected with youngsters. If we just flat out stink it up on the OL, similar to last season, that is unacceptable IMO.
 
#93
#93
Nope, 4 concerns from spring practice. 1. OL, 2. OL .3 1/2 OL, 4 1/2 DL, 4. DL. Argue about JG or any one else, right or wrong, don't care, but this league is largely defined by the lines. Sorry but history say we're not there yet. Not close.
 
#94
#94
Why isn't it a fair statement? That team is the way it is because of the crap it went through the past decade. Butch contributed a lot to the downfall. He didn't know how to develop and recruited players that weren't fit for the sec. May be my opinion, but I think it's an accurate statement.
My point. Is your point
 
#97
#97
In the spring game I saw the same issues our ol had last season. Busted assignments and soft.
The busts seemed to have two causes. Slow thinking and slow reaction.

If a lineman is slow, your screwed. It is almost impossible to make the feet quicker. They will wiff the quicker DL every time. The new young lineman will hopefully be quicker.

The thinking can be improved with experience. So the young guys need snaps.

We have a chance to get stronger and win in short yardage. Seems we mad a little progress on this in the spring game.


Friend may be a better recruiter than coach but we have ither. Coaches that can help coach the line.
 
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#98
#98
The Vols still don't have the horses on the Dline or the Oline to win against the best teams, it is what it is. Can someone step up, sure, but don't count on the Vols being competitive with Georgia, Alabama, Florida, LSU, Texas A&M or a few others.......Vanderbilt the jury is still out
Patience Patience Patience
 
#99
#99
How about "more manageable"? :)

Is UGA weaker because of them losing their OC?....................yes, can we beat them........I think so..............L
Is Vandy beatable with this team?...............yes
KY............well............yes
Mizzou beatable with this team..............yes
USC.........dang, they've had our number, but this team can beat that team.............yes
BYEU.............W
UAB..............W
Bama.............L
Florida...............50/50 game..............L
MSU............W
Georgia State...........W
Chattanooga............W

9 wins are there
Lol. 9 wins? No.

If you want to say “more manageable”, ok, whatever that means. But it equal more wins? Maybe 1 or 2.....or no more.
 
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7 is about the max I can see. Both lines are young and inexperienced. SEC play is tough on the front line. I'm not sold on JG either. He's a decent QB, but he doesn't feel the pressure, doesn't work through progressions quickly. I expect the year with about 58% completion.
 
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