DiderotsGhost
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Ugly game, but here we go.
Grading Our Units
Special Teams: B. Few mistakes this game, but we seriously might have the best special teams in the nation.
Defense: B+. Played very well. Still filled with young talent, but I feel like this unit could be elite by 2020 or 2021. 3 turnovers against a very good offense, though, is encouraging. Even with some mistakes in pass coverage, 3 turnovers makes up for a lot of mistakes ... errr ... it would if the offense could move the ball.
Offense: F. Almost all of our problems were on offense. If the offense plays worth a crap, it's a close game at a bare minimum.
2005 all over again. This year is starting to feel a lot like 2005 to me. That season, we had a great defense, but couldn't win because our offense was so putrid. We went 5-6. It was the "first strike" against Fulmer that eventually led to his firing.
71 - 55. Number of plays the Gators ran versus number of plays we ran. Gives a better sense of how bad the offense was and why the D had an uphill struggle.
Quarterback
JG. His regression continues. JG was far from a "Hall of Famer" last season, but he wasn't anywhere near this bad. He's already thrown 4 INTs (more than all of last season); that's even worse when you consider the level of competition it's come against. However, that's not even the worst part.
Lack of leadership / out of sync. The most concerning thing about JG isn't his declining passing skills (as bad as that is) but his complete lack of leadership. The offense looks confused and out of sync with him on the field. It's like there's no communication at all.
The baffling. The most baffling thing about JG right now is that when he has good OL protection, he can't hit the broad side of a barn, but when a defender is about to obliterate him, he can somehow throw a perfect pass. Sort of reiterates the idea that his problems are more mental than mechanical. He may be the only QB I can ever remember who seems to play better "under pressure".
Maurer. Maurer is a true Freshmen QB who looks like a true Freshman QB. He was 4 for 11, threw an INT, and consistently underestimated the size and speed of Florida's defenders. Several of his passes were batted down because in his head, the D-lineman should be shorter. But the team at least looked like it knew what it was doing with Maurer on the field. For those saying Maurer played well, you're wrong; he played poorly, but the ways he "played poorly" at least look like they can be fixed with more experience. I continue to believe he was one of the most underrated prospects in the 2019 class, but it's going to take him some time to develop.
No good options. The most frustrating thing about VolNation right now is its persistent belief that Jeremy Pruitt has "gold" sitting on the bench right now, but is inexplicably sticking with JG. None of the options are good. We have a regressing 4th year QB, an INT-prone 2nd year QB, and a true Freshman who looks every bit like a true Freshman. Of the 3, Maurer has the most upside IMO, but it's going to be an ugly ride no matter who we go with.
The case for Shrout. Of the 3 QBs, Shrout "looks" the most like a legit SEC QB, but his issue thus far has been accuracy. He routinely lets passes sail on him, which is why he was an interception machine in high school. In his Senior year, he threw 29 TDs, but also 26 INTs. He's a flawed QB, but the case for Shrout is that the offense is so putrid right now, that at least Shrout probably hits Jennings / Callaway / Palmer / DWA for a few long TD passes; it's just that he also probably throws the ball to other team at some point. But very tough to win with a QB that can generate 0 points.
The case for Maurer. Of the 3 QBs, Maurer seems like he's the one most likely to evolve into a legit SEC QB. He has good leadership qualities, he's a good scrambler, good instincts, and he's unafraid. He's got to start realizing that the Florida Gators (and the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide, etc) do not have high school level defenders. He's throwing the ball too low, underestimating how quickly DBs can react, etc, etc, etc. But all that should be fixable with experience.
Stop blaming Pruitt; there's no easy solution. I'm not saying Pruitt doesn't deserve any blame this season, but the QB problems are not his fault.
2020: Wide Open Competition. Here's the good news. We add blue-chip recruit Harrison Bailey next season. We also get Maryland transfer QB Kasim Hill. Both Shrout and Maurer will improve. So while we have bad options this year, the coaches have been working hard to fix the situation. Unless JG gets his head together, we're going to have a new starting QB in 2020. But this year, may simply be a mess at QB.
My pick. All bad options, but I think I start JT Shrout against Georgia. Right now, none of the 3 QBs stand out. Shrout has already used his redshirt (unlike Maurer), and we're not beating Georgia anyway, so might as well try him out, let him make some mistakes, and see if he can gain control of this offense. What do we have to lose at this point?
The Rest of the Offense
O-line penalties. Not every issue on offense was JG's fault. The O-line penalties were excessive. We should not have that many penalties and this offense looks undisciplined right now. Some of that is Freshmen mistakes, but the coaching needs to be better on OL as well.
Miscommunication. While I'm putting the onus on JG to get communication right, all of the offense deserves some blame.
The Jennings Drop. Jennings is our best player on offense, but even he had a bad day out there. Jennings has bailed JG out of a few INTs this season, but one of JG's INTs should have been a touchdown this game. Jennings should have caught that ball; it was perfectly thrown.
Overall. No one played great on offense, but QB feels like the biggest problem right now. The rest of the offense seemed to get more in sync when Maurer was out there, which says something to me.
Tyson Helton was underrated. I said this all last season, but Helton was much better than given credit for. He basically took the worst offense and worst O-line in the P5 conferences and made it serviceable enough to win 5 games, and almost 6 games (South Carolina) against one of the toughest schedules in the nation. He also managed to make JG look reasonably good in the process.
Defense
Played well. Some people are blaming the defense, but I saw a very good performance out there against an elite offensive coach. First off, offense has 4 turnovers that helped create some of those 34 points.
3 turnovers; should've been 4. We took the ball away from Florida 3 times and it would've been 4 if not for a defender's foot slightly gracing out of bounds line.
Goal line stand was bad call by refs. I rewatched Florida's TD score at the end of the half a few times, and it looks to me like his knee was down before crossing the goal line. Bad call by the refs, but it didn't really make a difference in a 34-3 blowout.
17 points on 71 plays. Get rid of the points off of turnovers (10 points) and the bad goal line call and the Vols D gave up 17 points to a good Gator offense. Even more amazing when you consider that the Gators ran 71 plays due to our own offensive ineptitude.
3.5 yards per carry. This is a very good stat for our D. We held Florida to 3.5 ypc.
Could be elite in 2020 or 2021. I don't know the direction of the offense, but the main reason I have some confidence in Pruitt is that I think this D has the potential to be elite in 2020 or 2021. So long as Pruitt can continue recruiting at a high level, add some top-notch DL, we will have an extremely good D the next 2 seasons.
Big Picture
Overreaction. All the "FAHR PRUITT!" crap needs to die down. We suck right now, but I can see major progress on defense. We need a QB badly. We'll have a much better situation at QB in 2020.
Pruitt needs to channel Butch's salesmanship. Look ... I don't like Butch Jones ... but the sales job he did in 2013 and 2014 was almost certainly needed. Butch was a mediocre football coach, but he knew how to inspire people. Pruitt needs to continue selling these recruits on turning around this program and the opportunity to play early, because those opportunities are going to be available. He can not put his head down and think "all hope is lost". This offense can be fixed next year with a new QB.
We always expected to lose to Florida. Feel like the "END OF THE WORLD" vibe on VN is more the result of losing to Georgia State and BYU. We always expected to lose to Florida this year. Even the crazy "9-3" prediction people had us losing to Florida. Suddenly, people convince themselves that Florida was a "crap team" rather than an top 10 team. Get used to it; we're probably getting clobbered by Bama and Georgia.
Judge progress by the end stretch. We got to look at how we play against Miss State, South Carolina, Vandy, and Kentucky to see where we really are. Florida + Georgia + Bama don't tell us much that we didn't already know.
Play Shrout for Georgia. I don't think Pruitt will do it, but the odds of beating Georgia are so low, I think I'd risk starting Shrout against Georgia. If he fails, no biggie. You got your Freshman QB some valuable experience.
Keep on 'cruiting. It's the only way to succeed.
No matter what, I will always be a Tennessee Vols fan!
GBO!
Grading Our Units
Special Teams: B. Few mistakes this game, but we seriously might have the best special teams in the nation.
Defense: B+. Played very well. Still filled with young talent, but I feel like this unit could be elite by 2020 or 2021. 3 turnovers against a very good offense, though, is encouraging. Even with some mistakes in pass coverage, 3 turnovers makes up for a lot of mistakes ... errr ... it would if the offense could move the ball.
Offense: F. Almost all of our problems were on offense. If the offense plays worth a crap, it's a close game at a bare minimum.
2005 all over again. This year is starting to feel a lot like 2005 to me. That season, we had a great defense, but couldn't win because our offense was so putrid. We went 5-6. It was the "first strike" against Fulmer that eventually led to his firing.
71 - 55. Number of plays the Gators ran versus number of plays we ran. Gives a better sense of how bad the offense was and why the D had an uphill struggle.
Quarterback
JG. His regression continues. JG was far from a "Hall of Famer" last season, but he wasn't anywhere near this bad. He's already thrown 4 INTs (more than all of last season); that's even worse when you consider the level of competition it's come against. However, that's not even the worst part.
Lack of leadership / out of sync. The most concerning thing about JG isn't his declining passing skills (as bad as that is) but his complete lack of leadership. The offense looks confused and out of sync with him on the field. It's like there's no communication at all.
The baffling. The most baffling thing about JG right now is that when he has good OL protection, he can't hit the broad side of a barn, but when a defender is about to obliterate him, he can somehow throw a perfect pass. Sort of reiterates the idea that his problems are more mental than mechanical. He may be the only QB I can ever remember who seems to play better "under pressure".
Maurer. Maurer is a true Freshmen QB who looks like a true Freshman QB. He was 4 for 11, threw an INT, and consistently underestimated the size and speed of Florida's defenders. Several of his passes were batted down because in his head, the D-lineman should be shorter. But the team at least looked like it knew what it was doing with Maurer on the field. For those saying Maurer played well, you're wrong; he played poorly, but the ways he "played poorly" at least look like they can be fixed with more experience. I continue to believe he was one of the most underrated prospects in the 2019 class, but it's going to take him some time to develop.
No good options. The most frustrating thing about VolNation right now is its persistent belief that Jeremy Pruitt has "gold" sitting on the bench right now, but is inexplicably sticking with JG. None of the options are good. We have a regressing 4th year QB, an INT-prone 2nd year QB, and a true Freshman who looks every bit like a true Freshman. Of the 3, Maurer has the most upside IMO, but it's going to be an ugly ride no matter who we go with.
The case for Shrout. Of the 3 QBs, Shrout "looks" the most like a legit SEC QB, but his issue thus far has been accuracy. He routinely lets passes sail on him, which is why he was an interception machine in high school. In his Senior year, he threw 29 TDs, but also 26 INTs. He's a flawed QB, but the case for Shrout is that the offense is so putrid right now, that at least Shrout probably hits Jennings / Callaway / Palmer / DWA for a few long TD passes; it's just that he also probably throws the ball to other team at some point. But very tough to win with a QB that can generate 0 points.
The case for Maurer. Of the 3 QBs, Maurer seems like he's the one most likely to evolve into a legit SEC QB. He has good leadership qualities, he's a good scrambler, good instincts, and he's unafraid. He's got to start realizing that the Florida Gators (and the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide, etc) do not have high school level defenders. He's throwing the ball too low, underestimating how quickly DBs can react, etc, etc, etc. But all that should be fixable with experience.
Stop blaming Pruitt; there's no easy solution. I'm not saying Pruitt doesn't deserve any blame this season, but the QB problems are not his fault.
2020: Wide Open Competition. Here's the good news. We add blue-chip recruit Harrison Bailey next season. We also get Maryland transfer QB Kasim Hill. Both Shrout and Maurer will improve. So while we have bad options this year, the coaches have been working hard to fix the situation. Unless JG gets his head together, we're going to have a new starting QB in 2020. But this year, may simply be a mess at QB.
My pick. All bad options, but I think I start JT Shrout against Georgia. Right now, none of the 3 QBs stand out. Shrout has already used his redshirt (unlike Maurer), and we're not beating Georgia anyway, so might as well try him out, let him make some mistakes, and see if he can gain control of this offense. What do we have to lose at this point?
The Rest of the Offense
O-line penalties. Not every issue on offense was JG's fault. The O-line penalties were excessive. We should not have that many penalties and this offense looks undisciplined right now. Some of that is Freshmen mistakes, but the coaching needs to be better on OL as well.
Miscommunication. While I'm putting the onus on JG to get communication right, all of the offense deserves some blame.
The Jennings Drop. Jennings is our best player on offense, but even he had a bad day out there. Jennings has bailed JG out of a few INTs this season, but one of JG's INTs should have been a touchdown this game. Jennings should have caught that ball; it was perfectly thrown.
Overall. No one played great on offense, but QB feels like the biggest problem right now. The rest of the offense seemed to get more in sync when Maurer was out there, which says something to me.
Tyson Helton was underrated. I said this all last season, but Helton was much better than given credit for. He basically took the worst offense and worst O-line in the P5 conferences and made it serviceable enough to win 5 games, and almost 6 games (South Carolina) against one of the toughest schedules in the nation. He also managed to make JG look reasonably good in the process.
Defense
Played well. Some people are blaming the defense, but I saw a very good performance out there against an elite offensive coach. First off, offense has 4 turnovers that helped create some of those 34 points.
3 turnovers; should've been 4. We took the ball away from Florida 3 times and it would've been 4 if not for a defender's foot slightly gracing out of bounds line.
Goal line stand was bad call by refs. I rewatched Florida's TD score at the end of the half a few times, and it looks to me like his knee was down before crossing the goal line. Bad call by the refs, but it didn't really make a difference in a 34-3 blowout.
17 points on 71 plays. Get rid of the points off of turnovers (10 points) and the bad goal line call and the Vols D gave up 17 points to a good Gator offense. Even more amazing when you consider that the Gators ran 71 plays due to our own offensive ineptitude.
3.5 yards per carry. This is a very good stat for our D. We held Florida to 3.5 ypc.
Could be elite in 2020 or 2021. I don't know the direction of the offense, but the main reason I have some confidence in Pruitt is that I think this D has the potential to be elite in 2020 or 2021. So long as Pruitt can continue recruiting at a high level, add some top-notch DL, we will have an extremely good D the next 2 seasons.
Big Picture
Overreaction. All the "FAHR PRUITT!" crap needs to die down. We suck right now, but I can see major progress on defense. We need a QB badly. We'll have a much better situation at QB in 2020.
Pruitt needs to channel Butch's salesmanship. Look ... I don't like Butch Jones ... but the sales job he did in 2013 and 2014 was almost certainly needed. Butch was a mediocre football coach, but he knew how to inspire people. Pruitt needs to continue selling these recruits on turning around this program and the opportunity to play early, because those opportunities are going to be available. He can not put his head down and think "all hope is lost". This offense can be fixed next year with a new QB.
We always expected to lose to Florida. Feel like the "END OF THE WORLD" vibe on VN is more the result of losing to Georgia State and BYU. We always expected to lose to Florida this year. Even the crazy "9-3" prediction people had us losing to Florida. Suddenly, people convince themselves that Florida was a "crap team" rather than an top 10 team. Get used to it; we're probably getting clobbered by Bama and Georgia.
Judge progress by the end stretch. We got to look at how we play against Miss State, South Carolina, Vandy, and Kentucky to see where we really are. Florida + Georgia + Bama don't tell us much that we didn't already know.
Play Shrout for Georgia. I don't think Pruitt will do it, but the odds of beating Georgia are so low, I think I'd risk starting Shrout against Georgia. If he fails, no biggie. You got your Freshman QB some valuable experience.
Keep on 'cruiting. It's the only way to succeed.
No matter what, I will always be a Tennessee Vols fan!
GBO!
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