Is Chris Donald that bad at LB?

#31
#31
he obviously has issues, be it speed, effort or attitude. I trust the coaches to make the right decision.
 
#32
#32
Playing him at LB wouldn't make sense if he has learned Monte's scheme at DE. This late in the season--even 2-3 weeks ago--wouldn't have been enough time to make the move back to LB and learn Monte's scheme enough to be effective at the position. CD has played a lot on special teams and has seen some game action. Hopefully next season will be the year he "breaks out" and proves to be worthy of all the acclaim coming out of HS.
 
#33
#33
Isn't this the guy that was supposed to be the next comming of Al Wilson?
 
#34
#34
Voltillyafall said:
CD was highly overrated. Great kid, looked good his junior year against AA competition. Old staff felt they had to take him to retain foothold in West Tennessee recruiting.

If he hadn't been in West Tennessee, UT would not have signed him.
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AA competition had nothing to do with it, Chad Clifton, Patrick Willis, Justin Harrell, Jabari Greer are all in the NFL right now after playing that same West Tn. competition in high school.

Chris Donald is the only one who really knows what his problem is. He has the size and speed but something else is missing.
 
#36
#36
Huntingdon plays some of the better teams in West TN every year, West TN ball is pretty much run, run, and run again. My guess is CD can't get his head right in the passing game, but that's just speculation. It could be that the light bulb just hasn't turned on, when he roughed the punter (against Bama maybe?) and gave them a first down you could see how down on himself he was on the sideline. Looked to me like he just lacked confidence, a little fire maybe.
 
#37
#37
MD1MD11 said:
AA competition had nothing to do with it, Chad Clifton, Patrick Willis, Justin Harrell, Jabari Greer are all in the NFL right now after playing that same West Tn. competition in high school.

Chris Donald is the only one who really knows what his problem is. He has the size and speed but something else is missing.
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You are correct that AA competition had nothing to do with it. What I meant to say, but did not, was that AA competition can deceive the person who is evaluating the talent.

I saw Chad first starting in Middle School in Martin. I saw Martin, when Clifton was in high school, on the 5 yard line, ready to score, and the Martin QB threw an interception and Chad chased the DB down from behind. Unbelieveable for an offensive tackle. I saw Patrick at Bruceton, told the old staff over and over about him, and couldn't beleive that they didn't make a harder run at him in recruiting. In response to evol, WILLIS was closer to the second coming of Al Wilson, who was the best high school athlete I have ever seen. Again, just a bad evaluation of talent with regard to Willis.. Jabari was a great athlete at South Side, and that's all he really was at Tennessee...a track star, not a football player. He learned to be a DB in the NFL.

So, the old staff whiffed on Willis, and never taught Jabari how to play football...

Chris has great stright line speed. Yes, he is bigger and stronger than Reviez, etc. However, he has no explosion, no jump. Against AA competition, the evaluator should have noticed that. The game is simply too fast for Donald at this level. Due to his lack of explosion, he has to anticipate where to be instead of being able to explode at the last minute and be at the right place...he's like a hitter with a slow bat, and he has to start his bat too soon to hit the fastball (he anticipates it) but he looks bad when his anticipation is wrong--when the change-up comes. Same with Chris.

The former staff--and most other people--didn't evaluate him correctly. Playing against AA competition may have fooled the evaluator was my point.

He plays special teams...you run hard, stay in your lane, and hit somebody hard if they are in your area. That's where Chris will stay.
 
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#38
#38
Did anyone else recruit Donald hard, or was he all vol all the time?
What i'm getting at is, we're we the only one that missed on him?
 
#39
#39
amauto said:
Did anyone else recruit Donald hard, or was he all vol all the time?
What i'm getting at is, we're we the only one that missed on him?
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Absolutely. We were finalists with Notre Dame and Alabama. He was the #1 recruit in Tennessee, in the top #25 in the country.

Someone once told me that there is always a simple answer to a complex question, and its always dead wrong. This applies to CD...an earlier poster questioned whether the light bulb ever came on playing the passing game. That certaily was a problem, along with what I mentioned, and other problems...no simple answer.

But, to answer your question, he fooled everybody. He was supposed to be a Vol all along, and the staff cooled on him (properly) his senior year. But, if anyone else got him, it would have looked like we lost one from our back yard.
 
#40
#40
Voltillyafall said:
You are correct that AA competition had nothing to do with it. What I meant to say, but did not, was that AA competition can deceive the person who is evaluating the talent.

I saw Chad first starting in Middle School in Martin. I saw Martin, when Clifton was in high school, on the 5 yard line, ready to score, and the Martin QB threw an interception and Chad chased the DB down from behind. Unbelieveable for an offensive tackle. I saw Patrick at Bruceton, told the old staff over and over about him, and couldn't beleive that they didn't make a harder run at him in recruiting. In response to evol, WILLIS was closer to the second coming of Al Wilson, who was the best high school athlete I have ever seen. Again, just a bad evaluation of talent with regard to Willis.. Jabari was a great athlete at South Side, and that's all he really was at Tennessee...a track star, not a football player. He learned to be a DB in the NFL.

So, the old staff whiffed on Willis, and never taught Jabari how to play football...

Chris has great stright line speed. Yes, he is bigger and stronger than Reviez, etc. However, he has no explosion, no jump. Against AA competition, the evaluator should have noticed that. The game is simply too fast for Donald at this level. Due to his lack of explosion, he has to anticipate where to be instead of being able to explode at the last minute and be at the right place...he's like a hitter with a slow bat, and he has to start his bat too soon to hit the fastball (he anticipates it) but he looks bad when his anticipation is wrong--when the change-up comes. Same with Chris.

The former staff--and most other people--didn't evaluate him correctly. Playing against AA competition may have fooled the evaluator was my point.

He plays special teams...you run hard, stay in your lane, and hit somebody hard if they are in your area. That's where Chris will stay.
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Good post.
 
#42
#42
chavisut said:
Came down to us and Notre Dame. Irish were pushing very hard for him.
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Exactly the same thing happened with Al Wilson. He had committed to Tennessee, but took a trip to Notre Dame. He told me that after getting the tour, he was taken into the locker room...they had his locker ready, with an "Al Wilson" nameplate on it, his Notre Dame jersey with his name on it hanging in the locker....he had to tell himself :no:
 
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#43
#43
Voltillyafall said:
Exactly the same thing happened with Al Wilson. He had committed to Tennessee, but took a trip to Notre Dame. He told me that after getting the tour, he was taken into the locker room...they had his locker ready, with an "Al Wilson" nameplate on it, his Notre Dame jersey with his name on it hanging in the locker....he had to tell himself :no:
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it would be hard to imagine UT football in the 90's without Al
 
#45
#45
True...no Al Wilson, no 1998.

Thread was about evaluating talent...its relevant to Al. He took off about 50% of the plays in high school. Absolutely lazy.

Also, Al got "hurt" practically every game. At least once a game, he would lay on the field, the game would be stopped, and he would have to be "helped" off the field.

I remember making the comment that he was a great athlete, but he would never make it at UT pulling that crap. I said if he didn't get a heart transplant, he'd never make it at Tennessee.

NOBODY who saw Al at UT only would have ever thought that he was that way in high school...he needed a heart transplant in high school, yet he was the heart of the 1998 Vols. Just goes to show how difficult talent evaluations can be.
 
#46
#46
Voltillyafall said:
You are correct that AA competition had nothing to do with it. What I meant to say, but did not, was that AA competition can deceive the person who is evaluating the talent.

I saw Chad first starting in Middle School in Martin. I saw Martin, when Clifton was in high school, on the 5 yard line, ready to score, and the Martin QB threw an interception and Chad chased the DB down from behind. Unbelieveable for an offensive tackle. I saw Patrick at Bruceton, told the old staff over and over about him, and couldn't beleive that they didn't make a harder run at him in recruiting. In response to evol, WILLIS was closer to the second coming of Al Wilson, who was the best high school athlete I have ever seen. Again, just a bad evaluation of talent with regard to Willis.. Jabari was a great athlete at South Side, and that's all he really was at Tennessee...a track star, not a football player. He learned to be a DB in the NFL.

So, the old staff whiffed on Willis, and never taught Jabari how to play football...

Chris has great stright line speed. Yes, he is bigger and stronger than Reviez, etc. However, he has no explosion, no jump. Against AA competition, the evaluator should have noticed that. The game is simply too fast for Donald at this level. Due to his lack of explosion, he has to anticipate where to be instead of being able to explode at the last minute and be at the right place...he's like a hitter with a slow bat, and he has to start his bat too soon to hit the fastball (he anticipates it) but he looks bad when his anticipation is wrong--when the change-up comes. Same with Chris.

The former staff--and most other people--didn't evaluate him correctly. Playing against AA competition may have fooled the evaluator was my point.

He plays special teams...you run hard, stay in your lane, and hit somebody hard if they are in your area. That's where Chris will stay.
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Interesting post, I think a lot of football is instincts and quick reactions, as you mentioned. You don't have time to think, the play will be over.

Sounds like his lateral speed is an issue, not his straight ahead speed. Most people in this category do end up being moved to DE or DT if they are big enough.

Also when he moved to DE, UT had a real need there last year. They had trouble recruiting players for the DL especially DT.
 
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#50
#50
Chris Donald is just not an SEC talent. It happens. Look at Harrison Smith. Same thing. He's starting but he's terrible and makes up one half of the worst safety duo in the country.
 
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