London Vol
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Wasn’t it just cool to have football time in Tennessee again I find the eight months sooooo long between seasons. So lets have a glance at how the “new era” looked. Evaluating a game against somebody like Bowling Green is tough because if you win by 50 then its just a cupcake game, if you win by 5 then the sky immediately falls in. Most team areas showed promise and one area showed concern, but anyway here goes.
STARS OF THE NIGHT
The fans, what a great turnout for a Thursday night, against BGSU and with COVID19 still here, it also came over on screen as an amazing atmosphere. Tennessee fans ARE the best in the country.
QUARTERBACKS
I’m struggling here as I so want to be positive and I know I should be patient, but lets be fair there were a number concerns from last night. Yes, Milton has a cannon of an arm but remember a cannon, whilst being very explosive is also very inaccurate, sometimes it better to have the precision of a rifle. Milton started well with short passes and I was waiting for him to release the repertoire of the new dynamic playbook that we have all been told about, but it went into reverse. In the second half Milton’s only completion was a prayer not a pass and if that was intercepted, he would have figures of 0 for 11, 0 yards and 1 interception. I found myself calling for Bailey in the 4th quarter but I guess that would have only caused a quarterback controversy and Heupel clearly doesn’t want that, so it looks that he is going to sink or swim with Milton (does that remind you of a couple called Jeremy and Jarrett?). I was also baffled by the play calling, history shows that Heupel has a balanced attack, almost exactly 50/50 run and pass yet last night it was 64/24 73% run 27% pass, was that because the passing game was so out of sync or was it that he is holding back all the goodies for Pitt? I’m not going to panic yet but Milton will need a big improvement next week or the pressure will build for Bailey very quickly.
RUNNING BACKS
All the positive talk about Small and Evans were accurate, they were excellent, with both going over 100 yards and they had 5.3 and 7.5 yards a pop. I was also impressed with the blocking assignments from both. However, if I was Pitt would be stacking the box next week until Milton can prove he can pass successfully downfield, so don’t expect these numbers every week. One baffling point was that Pierce got carries in garbage time over Wright, Beckwith and Whitehead.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Was it Milton or was it the Wide Receivers? Well, what I did see was Milton regularly having an eternity to throw so I suspect it was his inability to “see the field” as opposed to the WRs getting open. I think Hyatt is wasted in "the slot" to do that role you need velcro hands and be an exact route runner, these are not Hyatt’s strengths. I think he can take the top of the defense with his elite speed and would have a much better chance of catching the overthrown deep balls rather that Tillman. But its day one so I’m going to trust that the new regime knows what they are doing.
TIGHT ENDS
Another area that was a victim of the lack of throwing but as like the Running Backs, the blocking helped create such great pass protection.
OFFENSIVE LINE
I know it was only BGSU but the O Line was promising. They allowed an amazing amount of time to throw as well as executing a number of exotic blocking assignments which helped the running game to rush for 331 yards. Mays and Wright looked slimmer, fitter and better than last year, Spraggins showed why he is one of the best 5 linemen. I hope Cooper is ok and does not have to carry an injury all year however Ollie Lane was a capable replacement
DEFENSIVE LINE
These were the stars of the show for me, restricting the opponents to 39 yards rushing and 24 of those was from the last play. I have thought for some while that actually the best signing was Rodney Garner and what a brilliant coaching job he has done already. Tremblay was a very pleasant surprise with Butler and Thomas also producing highlight moments. However the emergence of Simmons, Terry and Baron as sophomores (and if we get Nolen) we are set here for years.
LINEBACKERS
Mitchell did not record a tackle and at no time was I concerned about him, it just shows how dominant the Defensive Line was that there was rarely somebody to tackle. Banks typically charged around, however Beasley and Page didn’t show well for me, so in short, we have very little depth here.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
Advice to Taylor, smuggle a book onto the pitch for the rest of the season as very few passes are going to be coming your way (the good news is that you will receive a good draft pick in 6 months time).
Burrell had an up and down game but is still far better than George so we need him to continue to develop. That was the best I have seen Flowers and McCullough play and Jackson seemed to be always around the ball, it did highlight though that in a 4-2-5 scheme the Star position is pivotal so lets hope Jackson has a cracking season
KICKING
Brooks seemed to deliberately kick short so special teams can practice and McGrath was perfect including a 43 yarder, however I still don’t like Tennessee`s punt returner allowing the ball to bounce.
OVERALL
Vegas had us as at 33 and ½ point favorite’s and we won by 32 so this was hardly a bad night and there were plenty of reasons to be positive. As I said, most areas of the team showed promise, however the Quarterbacks performance must improve quickly and please open up the play book or my hopes of 7-5 or even 8-4 will quickly become 5-7 or even 4-8.
WELCOME BACK VOLS
STARS OF THE NIGHT
The fans, what a great turnout for a Thursday night, against BGSU and with COVID19 still here, it also came over on screen as an amazing atmosphere. Tennessee fans ARE the best in the country.
QUARTERBACKS
I’m struggling here as I so want to be positive and I know I should be patient, but lets be fair there were a number concerns from last night. Yes, Milton has a cannon of an arm but remember a cannon, whilst being very explosive is also very inaccurate, sometimes it better to have the precision of a rifle. Milton started well with short passes and I was waiting for him to release the repertoire of the new dynamic playbook that we have all been told about, but it went into reverse. In the second half Milton’s only completion was a prayer not a pass and if that was intercepted, he would have figures of 0 for 11, 0 yards and 1 interception. I found myself calling for Bailey in the 4th quarter but I guess that would have only caused a quarterback controversy and Heupel clearly doesn’t want that, so it looks that he is going to sink or swim with Milton (does that remind you of a couple called Jeremy and Jarrett?). I was also baffled by the play calling, history shows that Heupel has a balanced attack, almost exactly 50/50 run and pass yet last night it was 64/24 73% run 27% pass, was that because the passing game was so out of sync or was it that he is holding back all the goodies for Pitt? I’m not going to panic yet but Milton will need a big improvement next week or the pressure will build for Bailey very quickly.
RUNNING BACKS
All the positive talk about Small and Evans were accurate, they were excellent, with both going over 100 yards and they had 5.3 and 7.5 yards a pop. I was also impressed with the blocking assignments from both. However, if I was Pitt would be stacking the box next week until Milton can prove he can pass successfully downfield, so don’t expect these numbers every week. One baffling point was that Pierce got carries in garbage time over Wright, Beckwith and Whitehead.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Was it Milton or was it the Wide Receivers? Well, what I did see was Milton regularly having an eternity to throw so I suspect it was his inability to “see the field” as opposed to the WRs getting open. I think Hyatt is wasted in "the slot" to do that role you need velcro hands and be an exact route runner, these are not Hyatt’s strengths. I think he can take the top of the defense with his elite speed and would have a much better chance of catching the overthrown deep balls rather that Tillman. But its day one so I’m going to trust that the new regime knows what they are doing.
TIGHT ENDS
Another area that was a victim of the lack of throwing but as like the Running Backs, the blocking helped create such great pass protection.
OFFENSIVE LINE
I know it was only BGSU but the O Line was promising. They allowed an amazing amount of time to throw as well as executing a number of exotic blocking assignments which helped the running game to rush for 331 yards. Mays and Wright looked slimmer, fitter and better than last year, Spraggins showed why he is one of the best 5 linemen. I hope Cooper is ok and does not have to carry an injury all year however Ollie Lane was a capable replacement
DEFENSIVE LINE
These were the stars of the show for me, restricting the opponents to 39 yards rushing and 24 of those was from the last play. I have thought for some while that actually the best signing was Rodney Garner and what a brilliant coaching job he has done already. Tremblay was a very pleasant surprise with Butler and Thomas also producing highlight moments. However the emergence of Simmons, Terry and Baron as sophomores (and if we get Nolen) we are set here for years.
LINEBACKERS
Mitchell did not record a tackle and at no time was I concerned about him, it just shows how dominant the Defensive Line was that there was rarely somebody to tackle. Banks typically charged around, however Beasley and Page didn’t show well for me, so in short, we have very little depth here.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
Advice to Taylor, smuggle a book onto the pitch for the rest of the season as very few passes are going to be coming your way (the good news is that you will receive a good draft pick in 6 months time).
Burrell had an up and down game but is still far better than George so we need him to continue to develop. That was the best I have seen Flowers and McCullough play and Jackson seemed to be always around the ball, it did highlight though that in a 4-2-5 scheme the Star position is pivotal so lets hope Jackson has a cracking season
KICKING
Brooks seemed to deliberately kick short so special teams can practice and McGrath was perfect including a 43 yarder, however I still don’t like Tennessee`s punt returner allowing the ball to bounce.
OVERALL
Vegas had us as at 33 and ½ point favorite’s and we won by 32 so this was hardly a bad night and there were plenty of reasons to be positive. As I said, most areas of the team showed promise, however the Quarterbacks performance must improve quickly and please open up the play book or my hopes of 7-5 or even 8-4 will quickly become 5-7 or even 4-8.
WELCOME BACK VOLS
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