I went down to Atlanta with some friends and we had a great time. I know a lot of our fans hate the neutral site games, but I've always enjoyed them. It's a chance to have fun in another city, interact with another fan base, and make a fun trip out of it. It's kind of akin to a bowl atmosphere. While this one was fun, it lacked a lot of the umph of some past neutral site trips. A) The Syracuse fan base didn't show up. At all. The announced attendance was 46,000 and Vol fans were at least 40,000 of those. B) The noon kickoff sucks. There isn't time to do anything. I would have loved to have visited the College Football Hall of Fame, but that was impossible with that kickoff time. The Charlotte trip last year was much better.
On to the game:
1) Obviously, we have to feel good about Aguilar and the offense coming out of that, while being a little concerned about the defense. Basically, the opposite of what we expected. I thought the substitution patterns on defense were a little odd, but maybe they're just testing personnel combos early in the season. Why was Ben Bolton the 4th LB? Where was Jordan Burns? Hurt? Harmon and Anes also played. Bolton and Anes were liabilities. Harmon missed a run fit to give up a chunk run, but later settled in and made some plays. It seemed like our defense gave up plays and scores when 3 things happened: 1) our backups were in, either due to injuries or the weird substitutions; 2) we gave up 4th down conversions (and long ones at that); 3) we played zone coverage. The zone coverage has to be better. We're really good in man. I'd like to see us play less zone, but you can't play 100% man.
2) Aguilar was really good, while also having plenty of things he can improve on. That's a great position to be in. He seemed to fix the high throw issues as the game went on. Something I'll mention...folks forget that Hooker had a tendency to sail throws high at times in 2021 and early 2022 because he ended up having such a great year. But it was a slight issue. It was fixed, obviously. Something about JA reminds me of HH. Similar runners. Their ball looks similar. Both can extend plays and keep their head about them. Both are leaders. I think we're really going to enjoy our season with Joey.
3) The oline looked good, especially with Sanders out. There was 1 snap issue and we were lucky not to lose the ball there. Perry whiffed on a pulling play on the goal line, but Lewis trucked the guy anyway. Otherwise, they played well. Aguilar had a clean pocket. There were plenty of running lanes. Sham will give us good depth when Sanders returns because I thought he looked good. I'd like to see one more Olineman develop into a good depth piece as the year goes on because being 7-8 deep is ideal. Bennett Warren would be the best candidate.
4) Jalen McMurray might've been the best player on the field. Boo Carter better get it in gear because JM played like a star Saturday. He sticks his nose in there and hits, in spite of being undersized (he reminded me a little of JJ McCleskey, and not just because of the #6). He was great in coverage, great rushing the QB on blitzes (caused the Telander INT), and was just an all around menace. Conversely, Boo missed a huge tackle on the QB that led to a score. Our CB situation, assuming none of the injuries are serious, is as good as its been in forever. McCoy and Gibson will likely be early draft entrees, but Hood and Redmond are future stars. I couldn't have been more impressed with Redmond in his first game. That kid just LOOKS like a future NFL high round pick. We're really good in the 2-deep at all 3 CB positions. As for Safety, Turrentine is solid, but not spectacular. He still tends to have a play or two where I wonder what he's doing. Farooq looked good to me. But we don't have the depth at Safety that we have at CB. Can't afford an injury there. Beasley didn't play well, IMO. And where was Sidney Walton? I thought he'd be the 4th CB. It was also strange that Wright got in at CB before Goree or one of the freshmen. But I guess this staff has never had a problem playing former walk-ons over recruited guys.
5) Yes, the WRs had some drops, but I actually liked what I saw from them. Staley was as good as we could have hoped. He's fast, he ran good routes, got separation, caught the ball, and showed he can do something with it. Matthews only had 2 catches, but he's quick. On his 2nd catch, he made two moves to make guys miss. He and Brazzell need to fix the drops, but they should. Game 1 usually sees WR drops (see Jeremiah Smith dropping bis 1st 2 targets Saturday). In fact, I think the glitches in the passing game (high throws, drops) will get ironed out more as these WRs get more acclimated to JA and vice-versa. Sometimes a high throw is a timing thing because the QB expected a deeper route or the WR expected the opposite. And a drop can also be a product of timing/discomfort. We saw less "glitches" as the game went on. I expect the same of the season.
6) How about these RBs? I did not expect that from Star Thomas. He doesn't look like the RB whose Duke film I watched when he signed. He's decisive. He's powerful. He runs possessed. I think he's our best RB and that's not a knock on Bishop or Lewis...both looked good. Lewis looks like a different RB. He's not dancing in the hole anymore. He's going to break some long runs this year. Bishop ran hard and sets up blocks well. It was good to FINALLY see the RBs catching passes too. Speaking of that...
7) The offensive creativity was nice to see. We ran some pistol sets. We ran more compact formations without the wide splits. We did different things out of 12 personnel than we have in the past (like the PA bomb to Staley with 2 TEs in the backfield). We threw to the RBs. Some of the route combos look new. It was refreshing. I think having a veteran/heady QB is making this possible.
8) Obviously, JA hitting the deep ball was something UT fans were all glad to see after the overthrows of the last 2 years. That was simply a gorgeous throw. He could have had another one to Matthews, but he underthrew it slightly, forcing Matthews to slow down and giving the DB a chance to catch up. But even on his missed deep balls, at least they weren't overthrown. He gave his WR a chance and also left open the possibility of PI (which was this case on the other one). This is why it's better to underthrow than to overthrow.
9) Some other positive developments: 1) Nathan Robinson. No one talked about him preseason. He looked really good. 2) Colton Hood. He looks like a star. When McCoy comes back, what do you do with him? Good problem to have. 3) Lance Heard. He's a different player. 4) Miles Kitselman: 2 catches, a TD and a one handed by the goal line. 5) I thought Tyree Weathersby and Jamal Wallace looked good. Not great, but good. Both will contribute. 6) Arion Carter is a stud and Edwin Spillman is that dude. He's a better LB than Telander, but the coaches seem to love JT. I'm not saying JT is bad, but man, Carter and Spillman together are so athletic. Best LB combo in a long time.
10) Some concerns: 1) The injuries. I hope none are serious. We can't be getting into our depth pieces this early in the season. Moi needs to be okay. If not, Dom Bailey may move inside for good, not just rabbits or situational (with West and Weathersby available at SDE, we have the luxury there). And we may need to rush Utley's and Campbell's development. 2) I wasn't impressed with Caleb Herring. He kept crashing the end and giving up the edge, allowing chunk runs. And he got no pass rush. Jordan Ross looked a lot better and should be the #2 LEO after Saturday. Hopefully, Herring just had a bad game. 3) Where was Ethan Davis? I did notice his blocking has improved, but why isn't he being targeted? Maybe this is something we'll see in bigger games? 4) Still too many penalties. 7 for 65 yards. A lot of sloppiness, especially after we got a big lead.
11) Why did the NCAA impose a new fake injury rule, then avoid enforcing it? This crap has to stop. It's not just about the integrity of the game, it's about watchability. We're letting college football turn into soccer. It slows the game to a crawl. We'll be in the middle of an exciting drive, then boom. Fake injury. Commercial. It's awful.
It'll be interesting to see who plays and in what order against ETSU. Will Jordan Burns play? Will Goree? What about the freshman DBs like Walton, Poteat, Merritt, and Lewis? I'd like to see the young Olinemen (Warren, Ginther, Anderson, Satterwhite) and DTs (Campbell, Utley, Dye) get in early. Will any of the guys who were injured Saturday play or do they just hold them out? I look forward to seeing the personnel decisions in that game.
Anyway, fun start to the season. With Alabama losing to Florida State (and their Ty Simpson-led offense looking like garbage), the "9-3 is the median" prognostications are edging closer to 10-2.
