#ByrdToDB

[jakez4ut]

That's easy. Carl as a freshman was stuck behind TD Woods, wasn't playing much, had 5 catches through 7 games. After getting torched by LSU's Tommy Hodson for 400+ yds passing, DC Doug Mathews begged for Carl to come over and play safety the last 5 games because they badly needed him to play there, needed his help.

According to Doug, they "promised" him he'd play both ways, but pretty much reneged, and he almost exclusively played safety the last 5 games....had 4 interceptions vs only 2 more catches at WR (had only 7 total catches as a freshman) the rest of the way. They also needed him to return kicks, which, as you pointed out, he also did.... like Byrd did a few times last year as well when Berry went down.

As far as the question you asked about Majors, the answer is yes. You got a talented guy that can play either position....where is he needed most for the good of the team? Majors and Mathews badly needed help at safety, so they moved Pickens over, the definition of pragmatic imo, that simple. I'm saying that equates to keeping Byrd at WR because WR is where he's most needed to help the team.

it's not like we have sure fire hits at CB either.....i don't know where he helps the most. i've kinda flip flopped on this...originally i was like you, keep him at WR. and there's a good case for it.

but, as you read about his skill sets at CB, you start to wonder....is 3-5 catches a game worth more than shutting down a side of the field on defense?

dunno the answer. do know having a kid like that on the team is a good problem to have.

 

[KBVol]

it's not like we have sure fire hits at CB either.....i don't know where he helps the most. i've kinda flip flopped on this...originally i was like you, keep him at WR. and there's a good case for it.

but, as you read about his skill sets at CB, you start to wonder....is 3-5 catches a game worth more than shutting down a side of the field on defense?

dunno the answer. do know having a kid like that on the team is a good problem to have.

Agree with pretty much all that. Will just add that Butch already did it once last year, made the determination that Byrd was more needed at WR even though he came in as a stud corner...with more proven depth at WR then than we have now.

We surely have no sure fire hits at corner or virtually anywhere else as far as that goes. But I think when you look at the and numbers of highly rated players at corner, who have played/have experience, and compare it similarly to the WR corps, there's little doubt why Butch will keep Byrd on offense.

 

[jakez4ut]

Agree with pretty much all that. Will just add that Butch already did it once last year, made the determination that Byrd was more needed at WR even though he came in as a stud corner...with more proven depth at WR then than we have now.

We surely have no sure fire hits at corner or virtually anywhere else as far as that goes. But I think when you look at the and numbers of highly rated players at corner, who have played/have experience, and compare it similarly to the WR corps, there's little doubt why Butch will keep Byrd on offense.

not to be argumentative, but not really. Jennings and Malone were looked at as the guys that needed to step up, but neither were proven, so to speak. the knock on Malone was not having lived up to the 5* billing, and Jennings was a qb transitioning (quite nicely as it may have been) to WR. our WR's were definitely a ? headed in to last year.

 

[KBVol]

not to be argumentative, but not really. Jennings and Malone were looked at as the guys that needed to step up, but neither were proven, so to speak. the knock on Malone was not having lived up to the 5* billing, and Jennings was a qb transitioning (quite nicely as it may have been) to WR. our WR's were definitely a ? headed in to last year.

I partially agree.

Recall that JJ started day one as a freshman, played a lot of football in 2015. They raved about him all Fall long before the season started. He didn't have a lot of catches in 2015 (hell, who did? Nobody, relatively speaking)but he had a lot of experience playing the position. There's certainly more to it than just catching passes.

Malone came into last season with a lot of experience his first 2 years, 54 career catches and over 600 yards. He was coming back as Dobbs' favorite target, was definitely the #1 or #2 WR coming in.

Then throw in Josh Smith in his 4th season in the program, and we came into the season with pretty good nucleus of 3 experienced WRs.

So fast forward to this year........we return JJ's 40 catches and an oft-injured Josh Smith coming off his worst season to date, less than 100 yards receiving last year. And after that, if you take Byrd out of the equation, you bring back no starts, very little experience and 9 total catches between 3 WRs (Callaway, George & Johnson) and that's it. We have talent and potential at WR and very little else.

And as we've all seen, learning how to play WR effectively at Tennessee under Butch Jones is evidently more difficult than running an ultra marathon, climbing Mt Everest and completing BUDS training all rolled into one.

 

[vol73]

We haven't had a great corner in a long time aside from Sutton. We need him on defense more. Mosely and Martin just aren't SEC caliber CB's. I think Callaway is going to be the real deal and Josh Smith was injured most of last year.
We are much thinner on defense and need all the help we can get. Butch should have already moved him to CB this spring IMHO.

 

[James K Folks]

If I was playing Tennessee, I'd want Byrd on offense.