More change needed

#1
barney

barney

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#1
I was glad to see Heupel act decisively to upgrade the defensive coordinator as soon as the season ended but its not enough.

Chop and Inge have not worked out. Martinez is a great recruiter and has identified some good talent in the portal, but it is not clear at all that he is an effective position coach.

The special teams took an unambiguous step back since losing Ekeler to Nebraska. Inconsistent kicking likely cost us 2-3 losses, and other than the touchdown return in the bowl game, the return game was a liability for most of the season.

The defensive line was the worst I’ve seen in years at Tennessee. If that unit does not improve drastically next year, Garner and Tennessee should part ways. Garner may be the best d line coach in history, bet prior results do not guarantee future returns.

Strength and conditioning and nutrition are my biggest concerns with the program right now. Young players are not getting bigger or stronger. We are undersized across numerous position groups. Gmac who is going to be competing for a starting job next year has yet to gain any weight since arriving on campus 1 year ago.

If Heupel makes more changes this offseason I think it could by him more leeway next year if things get off to a rocky start but if we continue with the same problem coaches year after year I don’t think this fanbase will extend as much grace.
 
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#3
#3
barney said:
I was glad to see Heupel act decisively to upgrade the defensive coordinator as soon as the season ended but its not enough.

Chop and Inge have not worked out. Martinez is a great recruiter and has identified some good talent in the portal, but it is not clear at all that he is an effective position coach.

The special teams took an unambiguous step back since losing Ekeler to Nebraska. Inconsistent kicking likely cost us 2-3 losses, and other than the touchdown return in the bowl game, the return game was a liability for most of the season.

The defensive line was the worst I’ve seen in years at Tennessee. If that unit does not improve drastically next year, Garner and Tennessee should part ways. Garner may be the best d line coach in history, bet prior results do not guarantee future returns.

Strength and conditioning and nutrition are my biggest concerns with the program right now. Young players are not getting bigger or stronger. We are undersized across numerous position groups. Gmac who is going to be competing for a starting job next year has yet to gain any weight since arriving on campus 1 year ago.

If Heupel makes more changes this offseason I think it could by him more leeway next year if things get off to a rocky start but if we continue with the same problem coaches year after year I don’t think this fanbase will extend as much grace.
Click to expand...
All this has been posted a million times today.
 
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#4
#4
barney said:
I was glad to see Heupel act decisively to upgrade the defensive coordinator as soon as the season ended but its not enough.

Chop and Inge have not worked out. Martinez is a great recruiter and has identified some good talent in the portal, but it is not clear at all that he is an effective position coach.

The special teams took an unambiguous step back since losing Ekeler to Nebraska. Inconsistent kicking likely cost us 2-3 losses, and other than the touchdown return in the bowl game, the return game was a liability for most of the season.

The defensive line was the worst I’ve seen in years at Tennessee. If that unit does not improve drastically next year, Garner and Tennessee should part ways. Garner may be the best d line coach in history, bet prior results do not guarantee future returns.

Strength and conditioning and nutrition are my biggest concerns with the program right now. Young players are not getting bigger or stronger. We are undersized across numerous position groups. Gmac who is going to be competing for a starting job next year has yet to gain any weight since arriving on campus 1 year ago.

If Heupel makes more changes this offseason I think it could by him more leeway next year if things get off to a rocky start but if we continue with the same problem coaches year after year I don’t think this fanbase will extend as much grace.
Click to expand...
First, what about Redmond and Gibson? Redmond totaled 39 tackles, 10 pass breakups and three interceptions, sharing the SEC lead in passes defensed (13). Secondly, Evan Crabtree, who has been under Ekeler as an assistant, taught the kickers how to miss field goals? Rodney Garner—are you serious? You guys act like certain position coaches know a secret that the other assistant coaches do not know. They all know the same thing. So they have some secret drill? Coaches fire these guys to save their own ass.
 
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#5
#5
Hey I am a huge fan of and have faith in Rodney but this was not a superb defensive line in 2025. Of course that is about the toughest position to stockpile talent and Vols in 2024 had insane depth with a number of 6th year Covid players. A few solid linemen also left in the portal along with a number of quality secondary players. Vols definitely need to retain key kids in the Garner machine.

Rodney needs to reload and I have no doubt with assistance and inspiration from Knowles that he will do that. The whole defense needs a talent infusion and maybe bring back Chavis and Dan Brooks as auxiliary staff to evaluate portal talent and mentor linemen needing additional motivation.
 
#6
#6
barney said:
I was glad to see Heupel act decisively to upgrade the defensive coordinator as soon as the season ended but its not enough.

Chop and Inge have not worked out. Martinez is a great recruiter and has identified some good talent in the portal, but it is not clear at all that he is an effective position coach.

The special teams took an unambiguous step back since losing Ekeler to Nebraska. Inconsistent kicking likely cost us 2-3 losses, and other than the touchdown return in the bowl game, the return game was a liability for most of the season.

The defensive line was the worst I’ve seen in years at Tennessee. If that unit does not improve drastically next year, Garner and Tennessee should part ways. Garner may be the best d line coach in history, bet prior results do not guarantee future returns.

Strength and conditioning and nutrition are my biggest concerns with the program right now. Young players are not getting bigger or stronger. We are undersized across numerous position groups. Gmac who is going to be competing for a starting job next year has yet to gain any weight since arriving on campus 1 year ago.

If Heupel makes more changes this offseason I think it could by him more leeway next year if things get off to a rocky start but if we continue with the same problem coaches year after year I don’t think this fanbase will extend as much grace.
Click to expand...
Have you seen our db Ty Redmond? His coachs name is Martinez. Garner isn’t going anywhere. Coach Knowles will be adding his own assistant defensive coaches Soon. Have you been following this team?
 
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#7
#7
Martinez might have two CBs picked in the first round, I can't imagine getting rid of him. The safeties and the LBers have been the issues in pass coverage. The middle of the field is always wide open. That would be a Tim Banks/ William Inge problem. Inge has been a huge disappointment. He needs to go. Chop isn't a good coach per se, but he's here for recruiting. Upgrade if you can, but we still need recruiters.
 
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#8
#8
barney said:
I was glad to see Heupel act decisively to upgrade the defensive coordinator as soon as the season ended but its not enough.

Chop and Inge have not worked out. Martinez is a great recruiter and has identified some good talent in the portal, but it is not clear at all that he is an effective position coach.

The special teams took an unambiguous step back since losing Ekeler to Nebraska. Inconsistent kicking likely cost us 2-3 losses, and other than the touchdown return in the bowl game, the return game was a liability for most of the season.

The defensive line was the worst I’ve seen in years at Tennessee. If that unit does not improve drastically next year, Garner and Tennessee should part ways. Garner may be the best d line coach in history, bet prior results do not guarantee future returns.

Strength and conditioning and nutrition are my biggest concerns with the program right now. Young players are not getting bigger or stronger. We are undersized across numerous position groups. Gmac who is going to be competing for a starting job next year has yet to gain any weight since arriving on campus 1 year ago.

If Heupel makes more changes this offseason I think it could by him more leeway next year if things get off to a rocky start but if we continue with the same problem coaches year after year I don’t think this fanbase will extend as much grace.
Click to expand...
I'm thinking Heupel is a dead man walking
after next season. If we go 6-6 next year, Danny will to have to make some tough choices.
 
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#11
#11
The team needs TALENT! Make all the coaching changes you wish, but without Jimmy and Joe's with talent - it's going to be a long year.
 
#12
#12
"Strength and conditioning and nutrition are my biggest concerns with the program right now. Young players are not getting bigger or stronger. We are undersized across numerous position groups. Gmac who is going to be competing for a starting job next year has yet to gain any weight since arriving on campus 1 year ago"

I'm just glad they kept their shirts on this game.
Don't need to see all those man boobs and fat like we witnessed in Columbus Ohio last year.
 
#13
#13
barney said:
Gmac who is going to be competing for a starting job next year has yet to gain any weight since arriving on campus 1 year ago.
Click to expand...
At what point do we put that on the player and their commitment to the role?
 
#15
#15
Watching the defenses for the teams in the CFP playoffs has opened a lot of eyes to what type of defensive talent and schemes it takes to compete on that level and exactly how far Tennessee is from achieving that level of defensive discipline and focus. The secondary has been a problem since Heupel got here and he has shown little to no commitment to addressing the shortcomings in the secondary.

Hopefully, the new DC will be given full rein to build and assemble the necessary staff to at least be competitive with the better teams (teams with winning records) in the conference in 2026 showing improvement on the 30 points and 300 yards given up this season, including 30 points and 415 yards against a middle of the road Illinois team to be embarrassed in the Misery Shi77y Bowl, busing in and busing out.
 
#19
#19
I mean we’re really young but I agree strength and conditioning are suspect imo. Hell we’ve looked soft in the past as well. Everything else on defensive side of ball it’s just hard to know. People lose their damned minds on corners but as a position group they’re coached fundamentally well; nfl teams wouldn’t be always targeting our guys if not. Our defensive calls have been terrible at times though. (Last game was absolute ass bc everyone had opted out, not even gonna count that in the equation.)
 
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