Can we now put the youth excuse to bed?

[McDad]

I don't know the answer to this question but I wonder who was the youngest team (rosters wise including depth and not just starters) that won a national championship in college football....

Alabama claimed a National Title in 1775 when men were fighting the Revolutionary War and they fielded a team of 4 year olds.

 

[walkenvol]

Without doubt, Ut was a young team overall in 2014. Several on VN appear to want to carry that mantra into 2015. Will that still be a fair opinion? A player only gets 4 seasons - at what point are they no longer considered young?





I dont know...maybe when the majority of your team is Juniors and Seniors?

I don't know of a team that is made up of a majority of Juniors and Seniors. There is attrition every year. By your logic we will never have a team not considered young.

 

[Pride85]

Be prepared, Butch will continue talking about our youth next year.

He stated facts, but never used it as an excuse. He still expected success, even if it was a bit unrealistic. If you don't think the team was young, I don't know what you consider experienced. Young but talented is at least better than young and not talented.

 

[walkenvol]

Youth still matter on the OL and DL... It's where the men play

Did you happen to notice the original thread? We're not young at all on the OL and DL. Only freshmen who will see playing time there will have to be freaks like Burnett was last season.

 

[walkenvol]

Yes, we will still be young because we will be playing a lot of true freshmen again. However, it's not a complaint if you win. It's something you celebrate because you're winning AND you're team will be in tact for several more years.

I'd be surprised if we play any more freshmen in 2015 than any of the other top recruiting teams. Only the young freaks will make the field which is the same at Bama and the other top programs.

 

[Pride85]

I don't know of a team that is made up of a majority of Juniors and Seniors. There is attrition every year. By your logic we will never have a team not considered young.

I think you need to look at most of the other rosters in the top 25 and see what percentage of their active rosters, with any significant playing time, are juniors and seniors. You don't see many teams that start almost exclusively freshmen and sophomores very many times. Again, it is a matter of the players that are actively on the field and contributing during the games that is being discussed, not the total roster. Just because a team has freshmen and sophomores on the team, it does not mean that they are forced to carry the load as starters.

 

[volfannga]

I believe the answer is yes as long as we, the fans, do not expect a SEC or national championship from freshmen and sophomores. I think that is just unrealistic. However, I do expect we will be competitive with a chance to win each and every game. I do not expect it next year because of the lack of depth which showed up in the 4th quarter of the bowl game.

It was a great win but let's not fool ourselves into thinking we demolished an elite team. FSU should be proof positive that wins do not 100% correlate to being a great team.

Could see 8-4 being a good season next year, 10-2 if we get a few breaks and no major injuries, but 6-6 if we don't get the breaks and have a few key injuries.

 

[walkenvol]

The musings of an impatient fan. When we get to the point where we are no longer depending on true freshmen, we will not be young. We are depending on two frosh dt's, at the very least inexperienced offensive tackles, freshman or RS freshman mlb, and our depth chart period will be littered with true freshmen. We need to get to the point where redshirt everyone except bonafide 5 stars.

I'm not impatient as I've been following along closely for 40+ years.

The programs that recruit in the top 10 don't redshirt everybody except the 5*'s. The top 4* and 5* players are prepared and want to play, not sit. I'm not going to do the research, but look at the top recruits at Bama, Auburn, and LSU and see how few of them red shirt.

 

[walkenvol]

As he should. We have 18 year old players playing against Bama 25 year old players.

Bama started a true freshman at LT along with several other pre-junior players. Top talent won't wait 3 years to see the field and they don't have to. With the advanced training available to high school athletes, players arrive more prepared then ever.

BTW, you can't name one 25 year old player at Bama. Maybe at Iowa or Boise, but they would have already been recruited over or moved onto the NFL at Bama before reaching 25.

 

[fade route]

Bama has had several five star busts. We will not know about a single prospect until they arrive......including Mckenzie.

Truth.

 

[walkenvol]

I think you need to look at most of the other rosters in the top 25 and see what percentage of their active rosters, with any significant playing time, are juniors and seniors.

Feel free to do so....I did the research for our team and posted it proving IMHO that we won't be young next season.

Look at who's been winning the Heisman prior to this season....not 4 and 5 year players recently.

 

[GBO-Bartlett]

Feel free to do so....I did the research for our team and posted it proving IMHO that we won't be young next season.

Look at who's been winning the Heisman prior to this season....not 4 and 5 year players recently.

Your hypothesis is faulty. Change young to non freshmen. Your reasoning leads to garbage in..garbage out...data is data and can be used to verified any and all right or wrong.... i will bet you a case of beer that the tv commentators next yr still call Tenn a young team...

 

[agVOL90]

If you find yourself playing Freshmen simply because they are that good instead of because they simply are who you have then you are no longer hampered by youth. We will still be playing freshmen because they happen to be not our best option but instead our option next season. We will be better,, we will compete for the East but we will not feature a majority of our starters with a Jr or Sr next to their name. When we can have that then we are no longer a young team.

 

[scvolfan7]

You guys are unbelievable. Look at the attrition from the 2012 class. No one is left from it. Those who are aren't good. 2013 is an alright class so far. 2014 class will be sophomores and they will make up most of the roster. 2015 will be the depth. To me that is youth. Not inexperience. Still youth. So yes this is still a young roster.

 

[volroadwarrior]

Most of the starters will have at least one year of playing and weight room time. Many of the recruits will play and the depth players of the team will be young. We will still be a young team until 2014 kids are juniors. We still will have 18-19 year olds playing against 21-22 year olds. They will be talented but still young. Problem is that the competition-AL, GA, OK and more will have and have had great recruiting classes for several years instead of just 2. It comes down to 2015 should be a 8 to 9 win season and 2016 is the year we can be realistic to expect championships.

 

[madbamahater]

UT wont go 11-1 due to their youth, so not entirely, but if they dont go 8-4 then I think we start questioning Butch (the way the East is down).

I disagree. I think 8-4 is the benchmark for this 2015 team (with the bowl game going either way). I see anywhere from 7-5 to 9-3 happening. I am putting my money on 8-4 and I think 9-3 or better will be very exceptionally great.

6-6 and I will raise my eyebrows. 7-5 and a bowl win to finish 8-5 is very feasable, reasonable and acceptable...

 

[volroadwarrior]

Feel free to do so....I did the research for our team and posted it proving IMHO that we won't be young next season.

Look at who's been winning the Heisman prior to this season....not 4 and 5 year players recently.

So, what is your agenda? What are you trying to prove? Are you trying to be optimistic? Do you want to put the coaching staff on the hot seat? Anyone can conclude whatever they want from any analysis they do to prove what they want to, but it may not be true.

If you look at the 1 to 3 deep on next year's team vs the what are the player's ages vs our top competitors, I believe you will still find we will be much younger than the others.

 

[pastorvol]

It seems you are confusing excuses with the reality of the situation. The reality of the 2014 team is that they are young....many who are freshmen. To expect them to play at a junior or senior level is unrealistic, it isn't an excuse. I believe we will see further improvement in team performance as these kids continue to mature and enhance their skills.

 

[508mikey]

problem might be any really good Jrs might leave for the NFL

 

[QuickSmurf]

Some of you just look for reasons to criticize Butch.

 

[Remy]

Beattie sucked up to Fournette at LSU before he ever took an SEC snap (still does on a UT board every chance he gets) and downplays McKenzie, a kid that sat out his senior year of hs due to transfer rules, was invited to every all star game in the world, rated in the top 10 of all recruits nationally by every rating service around, could play fball at any school in the US, and troll/clown doubts him. Beyotch please!

 

[volroadwarrior]

problem might be any really good Jrs might leave for the NFL

This is true and is the reason you need to keep the pipeline filled with good players like the best teams do. Jones has said he looks to the day when he has several redshirt juniors and seniors on the roster. That is to key to success and the reason to be optimistic about 2016 and beyond. He can continue to bring in 4 and 5 star players to keep the pipeline full while managing the 85 player roster to maintain a core of experienced players.

 

[checkerboards09]

I disagree. I think 8-4 is the benchmark for this 2015 team (with the bowl game going either way). I see anywhere from 7-5 to 9-3 happening. I am putting my money on 8-4 and I think 9-3 or better will be very exceptionally great.

6-6 and I will raise my eyebrows. 7-5 and a bowl win to finish 8-5 is very feasable, reasonable and acceptable...

7-5 is accepting mediocrity in year 3 with this roster. One game improvement year by year is a ridiculously slow process.

 

[walkenvol]

So, what is your agenda? What are you trying to prove?

I have no agenda. I like CBJ and the direction the program appears to be headed.

I'm attempting to debate whether UT should still be considered "young" next season. I believe I've provided enough data to support my belief that "young" should not be an excuse for performance or lack there of in 2015. No one attempting to argue the other side has provided any data - only opinions that my data is not valid.

There's turnover on every roster every season. From my observation (I'm not interested in doing the research to pull the data together), the top recruiting SEC schools all start their fair share of fresh and soph talented players. Age alone doesn't equate to quality but it does typically improve the quality.

Barnett and Hurd could have started for most any team in the country. TKjr would have started for several SEC teams and only didn't at UT due to 2 returning junior starters at safety. Coleman and Mosely weren't ready to start IMHO and I'm undecided on Roberson.

In this incoming class KMac will be ready to start the minute he steps on campus. Hopefully 1 or 2 others will demand immediate playing time. I'd expect Bama, Auburn, GA, and LSU to also have a hand full of true freshmen demanding playing time also. The way CBJ is recruiting we should see several 3 to 4 year starters in each class.

 

[tenninohio]

Be prepared, Butch will continue talking about our youth next year.

well, as long as we don't have to hear about how many 17 year olds we have playing???? FTR, none this season.

..but "youth" is always the default button when coaches answer questions. It's the coaching equivalent of "valley speak"....."you know"....