London Vol
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Like the rest of the world England has been in the grip of the COVID 19 pandemic. At first we were concerned to hear of it, then the pandemic seemed to get worse and worse, if fact we started believe that there was no end to how bad it could get. But finally the vaccine arrived and things are now slowly getting better each day. Now, we are still apprehensive that another wave may hit us because of the bad experience of the pandemic so far but maybe just maybe we are finally bouncing back and the worst is over.
Now I do not think it is accurate to compare a global pandemic to the fortunes of a College Football Team and my condolences to anyone who has been affected personally or financially by COVID 19 but the pattern is eerily similar. Tennessee have tumbled from disaster to disaster. A coach who wears orange trousers (conceded 770 yards to Troy), a builder who is a champion of life (then posted 3 wins in a season, the least wins in a season for over 100 years) and a guy who wears his face mask under his chin (broke Jones record for least number of wins in a season only 2 years later). Hardly surprising that we can no longer attract the likes of Simpson, Horn or even a 3 star Dustin Wade (he chose Kentucky!!) in recruitment. Finally we manage to report ourselves to the NCAA when they weren’t even looking at us. But like the vaccine “The Hype” has arrived and nervously I’m becoming a believer that we have stopped the slide and are on the way back. Below I have listed some of the reasons why.
Buying In
Watching the Orange and White (and Grey) game yesterday the thing that struck me the most was how much the players seem to have brought in to the major overhaul of the system. Given only 15 practices it was amazing how quickly they knew what the play was and who was meant to do what, I’m so used to watching our offense waiting an eternity for the call to come in. There was also lots of camaraderie on display between the players (anyone remember JD sulking when Dormardy was quarterback). In one word the players looked happy.
Quarterbacks
No doubt all eyes were on the quarterback situation. Unfortunately the quarterback is disproportionally important in the game (5 quarterbacks will probably go in the top 10 of the NFL Draft this week), so they get their own section. For me it finished, 1st Bailey, 2nd Maurer and 3rd Hooker. Bailey was the clear winner for me, he repeatedly dropped passes on a dime, remember last year he completed just over 70% of his passes so we knew he was very accurate but could he improve his release time? and can he hit the deep ball? Well he answered both questions successfully yesterday. Now I know people will say it was against poor defending but I have watched Wilson, Fields and Lance being judged on throwing against NO defenders for the NFL Draft so in the end you are accurate or not and this kid is. Maurer, credit to him he has improved and it would be more than acceptable for him to be the backup to Bailey, but like with any gunslinger, you never know when he can implode, so keep your valium pills handy if his number gets called. Hooker, he is not bad but in this list somebody must come 3rd. My main concern is his arm strength? The way we are going to play this season we will need to score quickly and often (I expect to need my calculator not my fingers to keep the score) and a running quarterback will take too long to score. p.s JD Shrout would have had a field day in this offense and whilst we must move on from the past, you couldn’t make it up that Guarantano threw a pick into triple coverage on his 1st throw for Washington State.
Nice Surprises
Considering how thin the roster was yesterday and many players that I had not heard of, we actually look quite stacked on the Offense. Davis at left tackle really might be the find of season and especially if Calbert’s knee has gone again. The whole Offensive line looked impressive and motivated. At running back Small confirmed that he will be a fair replacement for Gray and Chandler and Beckwith and Wright has different skills to bring to the table, we will be just fine here. I like the number of the wide receivers we have butI would still like to shout out to Tillman whom continues to over perform. Whilst the Defense may have caused concern yesterday I was impressed with the Cornerbacks, I have long been a fan of Taylor but Burrell showed how much he has improved with the play of the day with his pick 6. Remember if we score heavily it will mean the opponents will need to abandon the running game and then ball hawks like yesterday will come into play.
Transfer Portal
I know I’m a cup half full rather than a cup half empty guy but I must concede that all the transfers have left some rather big holes in the Roster. College football has changed in the last 12 months and the Transfer Portal can work in our favour as much as against us. There will be a number of quality players at Georgia, Alabama etc who are not getting playing time and stars at the lower level so good choices can be a great way of overcoming lack of success in recruitment (see above), just look at Mayfield, Burrow, Fields to name just three. This is the reason why I have not highlighted the issues at Linebacker as I think the starters in September are not even on campus yet.
Overall
I must confess that I wanted Kiffin last year and I was not exactly euphoric with the choice of Josh Huepel. I was assured by a booster that he was the right man and each day I am believing more and more that the booster was right and I was wrong.
Please feel free to comment.
Go Vols
Now I do not think it is accurate to compare a global pandemic to the fortunes of a College Football Team and my condolences to anyone who has been affected personally or financially by COVID 19 but the pattern is eerily similar. Tennessee have tumbled from disaster to disaster. A coach who wears orange trousers (conceded 770 yards to Troy), a builder who is a champion of life (then posted 3 wins in a season, the least wins in a season for over 100 years) and a guy who wears his face mask under his chin (broke Jones record for least number of wins in a season only 2 years later). Hardly surprising that we can no longer attract the likes of Simpson, Horn or even a 3 star Dustin Wade (he chose Kentucky!!) in recruitment. Finally we manage to report ourselves to the NCAA when they weren’t even looking at us. But like the vaccine “The Hype” has arrived and nervously I’m becoming a believer that we have stopped the slide and are on the way back. Below I have listed some of the reasons why.
Buying In
Watching the Orange and White (and Grey) game yesterday the thing that struck me the most was how much the players seem to have brought in to the major overhaul of the system. Given only 15 practices it was amazing how quickly they knew what the play was and who was meant to do what, I’m so used to watching our offense waiting an eternity for the call to come in. There was also lots of camaraderie on display between the players (anyone remember JD sulking when Dormardy was quarterback). In one word the players looked happy.
Quarterbacks
No doubt all eyes were on the quarterback situation. Unfortunately the quarterback is disproportionally important in the game (5 quarterbacks will probably go in the top 10 of the NFL Draft this week), so they get their own section. For me it finished, 1st Bailey, 2nd Maurer and 3rd Hooker. Bailey was the clear winner for me, he repeatedly dropped passes on a dime, remember last year he completed just over 70% of his passes so we knew he was very accurate but could he improve his release time? and can he hit the deep ball? Well he answered both questions successfully yesterday. Now I know people will say it was against poor defending but I have watched Wilson, Fields and Lance being judged on throwing against NO defenders for the NFL Draft so in the end you are accurate or not and this kid is. Maurer, credit to him he has improved and it would be more than acceptable for him to be the backup to Bailey, but like with any gunslinger, you never know when he can implode, so keep your valium pills handy if his number gets called. Hooker, he is not bad but in this list somebody must come 3rd. My main concern is his arm strength? The way we are going to play this season we will need to score quickly and often (I expect to need my calculator not my fingers to keep the score) and a running quarterback will take too long to score. p.s JD Shrout would have had a field day in this offense and whilst we must move on from the past, you couldn’t make it up that Guarantano threw a pick into triple coverage on his 1st throw for Washington State.
Nice Surprises
Considering how thin the roster was yesterday and many players that I had not heard of, we actually look quite stacked on the Offense. Davis at left tackle really might be the find of season and especially if Calbert’s knee has gone again. The whole Offensive line looked impressive and motivated. At running back Small confirmed that he will be a fair replacement for Gray and Chandler and Beckwith and Wright has different skills to bring to the table, we will be just fine here. I like the number of the wide receivers we have butI would still like to shout out to Tillman whom continues to over perform. Whilst the Defense may have caused concern yesterday I was impressed with the Cornerbacks, I have long been a fan of Taylor but Burrell showed how much he has improved with the play of the day with his pick 6. Remember if we score heavily it will mean the opponents will need to abandon the running game and then ball hawks like yesterday will come into play.
Transfer Portal
I know I’m a cup half full rather than a cup half empty guy but I must concede that all the transfers have left some rather big holes in the Roster. College football has changed in the last 12 months and the Transfer Portal can work in our favour as much as against us. There will be a number of quality players at Georgia, Alabama etc who are not getting playing time and stars at the lower level so good choices can be a great way of overcoming lack of success in recruitment (see above), just look at Mayfield, Burrow, Fields to name just three. This is the reason why I have not highlighted the issues at Linebacker as I think the starters in September are not even on campus yet.
Overall
I must confess that I wanted Kiffin last year and I was not exactly euphoric with the choice of Josh Huepel. I was assured by a booster that he was the right man and each day I am believing more and more that the booster was right and I was wrong.
Please feel free to comment.
Go Vols
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