Improvement under Pruitt

#1
DiderotsGhost

DiderotsGhost

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#1
Still 2 more games to go, but this is pretty interesting. I took a glance at ESPN's team efficiency ratings over the past few years. While our W-L loss record has only inched upward, more advanced stats show a significant improvement under Pruitt on defense and special teams. Offense still needs a lot of work, though.

Offensive Efficiency
2017: 99th
2018: 84th
2019: 83th

Defensive Efficiency
2017: 71st
2018: 49th
2019: 37th

Special Teams Efficiency
2017: 70th
2018: 49th
2019: 10th

Overall
2017: 90th
2018: 67th
2019: 45th

The only area we still haven't improved our rank significantly is offense, but on the metric itself, we improved from a 41.7 in 2018 to 44.3 this year, which suggests that while we have improved a bit, other teams also improved and it ends up being a wash. Still, that's the area to eyeball for the next few seasons, because our defensive improvement has been amazing considering our depth issues on that side of the ball. If we can find get the offense to be more consistent, we could actually have ourselves a good football team.
 
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#6
#6
Translate to many more Ws than Ls and we can ALL celebrate REAL improvements. Good statistics, though. Thanks for compiling.
in the end Ws, Division, Conference & National Championships are what matter.
 
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#8
#8
BVS won't allow me to pass out cautionary shades to protect us from our bright future😎* but.......,

With the exception of one stop (and I think that was 1st year jump at Purdue w/Brees) Chaney has shown to marginally improve his team's offense his 1st year, and take a big jump his 2nd year.

Pruitt has never actually had to build/recruit an elite(Top-10) defense, (he's coached a plenty elite D's from inherited talent), but all metrics seem to indicate he's well on his way.
How Much Talent Will Pruitt Need for a Top-10 Defense?

Basically at all Pruitt's stops, he's been able to field elite D's with seven or eight 4/5* recruits in his starting line-up. The other 3/4 being 3*'s and even with a 2*recruit in the starting lineup once if I recall accurately.

Another interesting aspect is that previously having fielded all those Top-10 D's, he's never had to utilize more than 2-3 of his own recruits(ala, Redshirt or True Freshman) his 1st two years as Defensive Coordinator, while fielding those Top-10 D's.

So while having to utilize more underclassmen in his starting defense than he has ever had to before, Pruitt is still markedly improving our defense.

I don't think we'll quite have an elite Top-10 defense next year but by his incremental improvement we could very well have a really good Top-25 defense next year.








* GAWAGA STATE!!!😭
 
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#11
#11
It'll be interesting to see what Chaney can do next year, or maybe the next, when he has a roster full of the types he likes.

The "chemistry" of an offensive staff has a lot of moving parts, and much like an internal combustion engine, they all have to be working in harmony in order to realize the full potential of the engine. Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Clemson are recent examples of how it can work when it's all working right. Talent is the fuel, but the parts have to fit, and they have to mesh well in order to get max horsepower.

Chaney has been around for a long time. He has a wealth of experience. As I said, it will be interesting to see just how good this offense can be under Pruitt / Chaney / the "O" staff. As an aside, I watched Harrison Bailey play in the GHSA playoffs last night. He's legit. Might need a year to come on line, but when he does, he'll be a winner.

Go Vols.
 
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#12
#12
MemphisVol77 said:
With the exception of one stop (and I think that was 1st year jump at Purdue w/Brees) Chaney has shown to marginally improve his team's offense his 1st year, and take a big jump his 2nd year.
Click to expand...

And it feels like we've already seen a bunch of improvement in the offense in the last 6 games. It was just the first 4 games that were miserable. Be interesting to see this broken out a bit more. But given that, I wouldn't be surprised to see a jump next year. That said, we do lose Callaway, Jennings, and maybe Trey Smith, so that part worries me.

So while having to utilize more underclassmen in his starting defense than he has ever had to before, Pruitt is still markedly improving our defense.
Click to expand...

I think this is key. On the surface, our D should probably not have improved this year given how many underclassmen we've had to play, and yet it's improved quite significantly all the same. Pruitt is a miracle worker on D!

Just a question if we can ever figure out the offense. We've seen shades of it working this season against South Carolina, Georgia (in the 1st half), and part of the Miss State game, but it's never been consistent.
 
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#13
#13
BeecherVol said:
Interesting numbers.

Need some more depth and consistency at QB.
Click to expand...

I think we'll see better QB play next season, but I'm concerned about losing Jennings, given that he's been like 60% of our offense this year. Callaway is a big loss, too, but Jennings just wills his way to victory like few players I've ever seen. Can't replace that.
 
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#14
#14
DiderotsGhost said:
I wouldn't be surprised to see a jump next year. That said, we do lose Callaway, Jennings, and maybe Trey Smith, so that part worries me.

Just a question if we can ever figure out the offense. We've seen shades of it working this season against South Carolina, Georgia (in the 1st half), and part of the Miss State game, but it's never been consistent.
Click to expand...
I'm predicting another off-season of cornbread with our OL getting stronger and more developed will lead to a big run increase in our run/pass ratio.

Less RPO, more play action. Success running off-tackle against the SEC big meanies like we had against BYU.

If Kennedy applies then actually gets a 6th year and Trey comes back then
-CORNBREAD!!!!-

We might actually execute a screen to the RB if we throw to our RB's chest at less than 100mph.....

I haven't seen it discussed much but Chandler seems to have lost a little bit of burst on his first step to me. Is it just me or has anyone else seen it?
 
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#16
#16
DiderotsGhost said:
I think we'll see better QB play next season, but I'm concerned about losing Jennings, given that he's been like 60% of our offense this year. Callaway is a big loss, too, but Jennings just wills his way to victory like few players I've ever seen. Can't replace that.
Click to expand...
Yeah.
Sucks we cant link up good consistent QB play with those 2.

I didnt think we ever got to see either of those guys best for more than a game or 2 here and there.
 
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#17
#17
MemphisVol77 said:
I'm predicting another off-season of cornbread with our OL getting stronger and more developed will lead to a big run increase in our run/pass ratio.

Less RPO, more play action. Success running off-tackle against the SEC big meanies like we had against BYU.

If Kennedy applies then actually gets a 6th year and Trey comes back then
-CORNBREAD!!!!-

We might actually execute a screen to the RB if we throw to our RB's chest at less than 100mph.....

I haven't seen it discussed much but Chandler seems to have lost a little bit of burst on his first step to me. Is it just me or has anyone else seen it?
Click to expand...

I agree that the run game is going to be key next year. As much as people complain about QB struggles, our rushing attack has been much less effective than our passing attack. We have one of the worst rushing offenses in the SEC. I'm not even 100% sure of the problem. Certainly, the O-line is part of it, but we also don't really have an elite RB.

You might be right about Chandler. Thought he could maybe take a big step forward this year, but feels like he's still the good but not quite great RB he was last season.

We'll have to see on Trey and Kennedy. Big losses, but I feel like we're at least in a better position to replace them now (not that you can ever replace Trey).
 
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#18
#18
volroadwarrior said:
Does an 83 rating playing against SEC defenses mean more than against weaker conferences?
Click to expand...
South Carolina is the only P5(SEC teams are the only P5 teams we've played) team our offense scored more than 20 against \o/.

We average 15.6 offensive points per game against the SEC/P5.

We average 30.25 offensive points per game against G5 teams.
(I just did quick division in my head, might not be 100% accurate).
I won't try and claim it means we're actually good, but it means something......
 
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#24
#24
MemphisVol77 said:
I'm predicting another off-season of cornbread with our OL getting stronger and more developed will lead to a big run increase in our run/pass ratio.

Less RPO, more play action. Success running off-tackle against the SEC big meanies like we had against BYU.

If Kennedy applies then actually gets a 6th year and Trey comes back then
-CORNBREAD!!!!-

We might actually execute a screen to the RB if we throw to our RB's chest at less than 100mph.....

I haven't seen it discussed much but Chandler seems to have lost a little bit of burst on his first step to me. Is it just me or has anyone else seen it?
Click to expand...

Chandler definitely seems less explosive to me as well this season.
 
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