Late Kick Josh has been talking Vols a lot lately

#3
#3
I like what he is saying for the most part... But i dont believe we are a few years behind UF as far as roster goes, if we secure this upcoming class the case can be made we are equal in terms of overall talent...i maybe wrong but just my two cents

Mullen inherited a 4 win roster just like Pruitt and both have had similarly rated recruiting classes. The difference has been UF has had better significantly better QB play and Pruitt was outcoached
 
#4
#4
I like what he is saying for the most part... But i dont believe we are a few years behind UF as far as roster goes, if we secure this upcoming class the case can be made we are equal in terms of overall talent...i maybe wrong but just my two cents
I think he just tries to judge a team on the merits and when it comes to TN, we have not been good enough to make bold predictions. In other words, the potential is getting there but we need to see some proof. So yeah, it will take a couple of more years before UT is a true dominant powerhouse that is on the level of Alabama. It is coming though. It is coming my friends.
 
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#5
#5
Mullen inherited a 4 win roster just like Pruitt and both have had similarly rated recruiting classes. The difference has been UF has had better significantly better QB play and Pruitt was outcoached
This. And that needs to change. I also think their coach is part of the reason for that significantly better QB play.
 
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#8
#8
Tennessee will REMAIN behind FLORIDA...UNTIL Tennessee gets FLORIDA OUT OF THEIR HEAD! Which has cost MANY of the Ls over the last 30 years!

Troof!


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#10
#10
Mullin inherited 12 draft picks last two years...how many Pruitt inherit?

What caused the curbstompings the last 2 years was much more from bad QB play, turnovers, not prepared/our-coached, and clock management than talent disparity. UK has less talent than we do and they've played UF far better than we have the past 2 years.
 
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#11
#11
It really is a mental thing with Florida. Florida owns us the way we own Kentucky.

Hope your doing well DD

I think this "mental thing" has to do with UF having better coaching. The only time we've won 2 in a row in the last 30 years was Zook against Fulmer....Every other time in the past 30 or so years, they've had the better coach..
 
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#13
#13
I think that you are significantly underemphasizing the value and the difference in QB play. I said it at the time and I will say it again - keeping all the coaches the same, you switch the two starting quarterbacks last year and Tennessee beats Florida. It's unfortunate, it's also unfortunate that Florida lost their starting qb at the start of the season, because their backup was dramatically better than the original starter. Is that great coaching by Florida, well no. Was it great recruiting by their current staff ? Well no. More like blind squirrel nut activity. If he had been our backup and if JG went down with an injury .... again we would have beaten Florida.

Qb play drives the engine and dictates the success of the offense, with it, you put up points and keep defenses off balance, without it you are just not very good and barely beat inferior teams in bowl games. Right now, I like our staff better than Florida's, including the head coach. Right before your eyes we are moving past the Mississippi States, Kentuckys, and now the South Carolinas and the Auburns. I am starting to set my sights on Florida - other than qb - I don't think their talent is better than ours. We might have to get to a season where the offense is led by a different qb - but we are not as far away as you think.
 
#14
#14
Mullen inherited a 4 win roster just like Pruitt and both have had similarly rated recruiting classes. The difference has been UF has had better significantly better QB play and Pruitt was outcoached
I get what you're saying...even though we all liked Mac on the FL sidelines, we all knew he wasn't a long term guy...but he had just won back to back SEC E championships, so they at least had some recent banners to tout.

Looking at the numbers for the four previous years before Mullen started and Pruitt started, UF had just ONE more win than UT...but looking deeper at SEC slate, FL won 20 and UT won 12 . In my opinion, it boils down to UF not losing a ton of talented defections when guys got on campus, UT being totally decimated on the OL and largely DL. Mullen's also a pretty good coach with HC years under his belt, where Pruitt was first time HC, and had to come into all our dysfunction...Mullen's weird, and not sure his personality would have meshed at UT coming in right after Butch...but he would have been UT's coach if Chip Kelly didn't take the UCLA job.
 
#15
#15
Mullen inherited a 4 win roster just like Pruitt and both have had similarly rated recruiting classes. The difference has been UF has had better significantly better QB play and Pruitt was outcoached
But the overall talent, mindset, and QB play was never close to Florida. Coupled with they actually having a S&C program vs Butch Jones not having one, CJP inherited a worse program than Dan Mullen.
 
#16
#16
I think that you are significantly underemphasizing the value and the difference in QB play. I said it at the time and I will say it again - keeping all the coaches the same, you switch the two starting quarterbacks last year and Tennessee beats Florida. It's unfortunate, it's also unfortunate that Florida lost their starting qb at the start of the season, because their backup was dramatically better than the original starter. Is that great coaching by Florida, well no. Was it great recruiting by their current staff ? Well no. More like blind squirrel nut activity. If he had been our backup and if JG went down with an injury .... again we would have beaten Florida.

Qb play drives the engine and dictates the success of the offense, with it, you put up points and keep defenses off balance, without it you are just not very good and barely beat inferior teams in bowl games. Right now, I like our staff better than Florida's, including the head coach. Right before your eyes we are moving past the Mississippi States, Kentuckys, and now the South Carolinas and the Auburns. I am starting to set my sights on Florida - other than qb - I don't think their talent is better than ours. We might have to get to a season where the offense is led by a different qb - but we are not as far away as you think.
I agree with you but to think we passed Auburn is dumb. We got lucky beating them a couple years ago. Don't let that fool you in thinking we are better than them. Hell they beat Bama more in the last 15 years than us. Are we getting closer to passing them sure I'd agree with that.
 
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#17
#17
I agree with you but to think we passed Auburn is dumb. We got lucky beating them a couple years ago. Don't let that fool you in thinking we are better than them. Hell they beat Bama more in the last 15 years than us. Are we getting closer to passing them sure I'd agree with that.
We are passing them as we speak. Look at our recruiting rankings vs. theirs - look at who we are in on - vs. them.
We are pretty comparable today - next season likely better than them imo.
 
#18
#18
I listened to the whole thing and he is right to worry about us - not necessarily today but long term. Mullen is a good coach with a good staff for game day coaching and training players. What LKJ rightly sees with alarm is, Pruitt is a good coach with a good staff as well. All other things being equal, the winner long term is going to be the one who recruits better talent. Considering Florida's natural advantages, Mullen has not been as great of a recruiter as they need while Pruitt is clearly building a recruiting behemoth - and unlike Butch, people like LKJ know its not gimmicky just selling playtime, its a whole staff who knows how to recognize talent, get in on them early and sell our program.

To see Pruitt building that is reassuring as we have been lacking sufficient depth in jimmies and joes. Pruitt and Ansley are unquestionably getting the defense going and Chaney is starting to have a frightening OLine to work with. Once we have a QB we are going to do well. It all starts with recruiting though.

We all knew Pruitt could coach D and that he personally was a fantastic recruiter. We didnt know when he was hired how he would do at HC building a program that could coach and recruit. I think it is pretty clear he is well on his way and making those opponents who understand what they are seeing very nervous
 
#19
#19
I like what he is saying for the most part... But i dont believe we are a few years behind UF as far as roster goes, if we secure this upcoming class the case can be made we are equal in terms of overall talent...i maybe wrong but just my two cents

For many many years we have been just behind or way behind Fla. in OVERALL talent. For lack of a better term, they have "cherry picked" the Fla. talent over the guys we have been able to pull from the state. (along with Fla. St. and Miami and lately some other in-state schools). This is not to say the guys we've gotten were not good. But maybe a little less good than Fla.'s "picks" Same goes for other states that we work in, like Bama, LSU, Texas, Ohio, Calif., the list goes on. Not saying we don't get guys that aren't really good, but without top notch development, physical and mental, our guys will nearly always be a 1/2 step behind the Fla's, Bama's and lately the Ga.'s. Now on the bright side, our present staff looks to be able to fill the bill, they put us even with everybody on this front and maybe a little ahead on the recruiting front. GO VOLS!!
 
#21
#21
Hope your doing well DD

I think this "mental thing" has to do with UF having better coaching. The only time we've won 2 in a row in the last 30 years was Zook against Fulmer....Every other time in the past 30 or so years, they've had the better coach..

Better players make better coaches. More to the point, the really good QB's make really good coaches. (case in point LSU) Late last year the Bama god started to look more like a fallen angel than the best ever. Clem's wonder looks less than "god in waiting" when his QB is less than great. What I'm saying is "the best players make the best coaches". Then you have Dan Mullen, think he is not near the top of the pile? Look what he accomplished in the Miss. boondocks. Give the man his due, he's good. Let's hope we keep recruiting better than he can......
 
#22
#22
I call BS on this.

Which part is wrong?

Both teams won 4 games in 2017 (I know UF was slightly more talented but they had just lost at home by double digits to UK)

Recruiting rankings (per Rivals) are very similar for 2018-2020.

QB play: In 18 and 19, their QBs had 6 TDs and 2 TOs. Ours had 0 TD and 6 TOs both years.

Coaching: In 2018, UF lost at home by double digits to Kentucky (a team we curbstomped later in the season) and then a couple of weeks later, they go on the road and beat us by 26 and that has nothing to do with coaching? (And yes, Pruitt outcoached Stoops like crazy)
 
#23
#23
Better players make better coaches. More to the point, the really good QB's make really good coaches. (case in point LSU) Late last year the Bama god started to look more like a fallen angel than the best ever. Clem's wonder looks less than "god in waiting" when his QB is less than great. What I'm saying is "the best players make the best coaches". Then you have Dan Mullen, think he is not near the top of the pile? Look what he accomplished in the Miss. boondocks. Give the man his due, he's good. Let's hope we keep recruiting better than he can......

The final score in 2019 was 34-3. One team was QB'ed by the #1 (and consensus top 3) dual threat upperclassman QB and the other was QB'ed by a guy making first college start and a HS backup QB his last 3 yrs in HS. Wanna guess which team had which player?
 
#24
#24
You keep making the best case for qb play trumping coaching when comparing Florida to Tennessee in 2019. JG if ranked today would obviously not be a highly ranked duel threat QB. I think you can make a good case that he is not even a highly ranked single threat QB. Florida's qb goes through his progressions faster and cleaner, delivers it quicker, makes better decision and is far more accurate. He is more of a duel threat. He has a better feel for pressure and is just a far more natural quarterback. JG playing in NJ was just highly, highly overrated. It's not his fault. He has flaws with a slow release and slow decision making which causes him and our offense issues. To his credit, he has had game where he played better than he did against Florida, but he has also had games where he didn't. If we switched qbs with Florida our predicted wins for the season would flip flop with them.
 

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