Offense Lagging Behind Defense

[sjt18]

They "aren't" the third best D in the nation since several of the guys who were on that D are gone.QUOTE]

I thought that we had 8 returning starters on defense?

I count only 7 (Bolden, Willingham, Ayers, Wilson) plus the Vols lost Fisher.

Two of them happened to be in the areas of most need. Ayers was by far the best DE on the team. Bolden played his best football. Fisher was a 1 "b" starter and was the only other DT to get much PT. Those 3 guys accounted for about half UT's DL tackles.

Wilson led the team in tackles.

 

[mkil5]

I count only 7 (Bolden, Willingham, Ayers, Wilson) plus the Vols lost Fisher.

Two of them happened to be in the areas of most need. Ayers was by far the best DE on the team. Bolden played his best football. Fisher was a 1 "b" starter and was the only other DT to get much PT. Those 3 guys accounted for about half UT's DL tackles.

Wilson led the team in tackles.

We also lost Nevin McKenzie and Adam Myers-White. Not huge, but they are out of eligibility.

 

[sjt18]

How many guys are they going to rotate at DT? How much drop off will there be between the 1's and the 2's?
Linebacker is a question mark too i would think. We know rico can play, but who else is going to step up?

My only commentary is concerning the talent. I like that they moved Brimfield back to DT... that might help. The move of a very good DE, Brown, has the scent of desperation to it. I'm personally rooting for Hughes as a true Cinderella story... but let's be honest, that's a fairy tale for a reason... it happens almost exclusively in the imagination.

OTOH, I think UT has really good talent at LB with McCoy, Donald, Frazier, Thompson, Lathers, etc. Plus I like the talent they signed this year. A little disappointed maybe that NMT is working at FB. Had a lot of hopes for him at LB.

Yeah, they weren't as good as their stats last year, but they didn't let many teams in the endzone, even the better ones didn't get many scores. Another wasted defense by a putrid offense. 2005 all over again, no qb, no offense= bad record.

Offense was bad... but as someone mentioned earlier, the defense played some pretty rotten opposing O's. I'm not trying to put them down... just stay realistic.

 

[sjt18]

We also lost Nevin McKenzie and Adam Myers-White. Not huge, but they are out of eligibility.

Actually that is pretty big. They shared an OLB spot as starters and had several tackles between them.

... 53 and 26 respectively.

 

[TXA&M07]

Cartervol nailed it. Well said sir.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

WTH has happened to Denarius Moore? All I've heard is how impressive Gerald Jones has been this spring. However I really thought Moore would be an explosive, breakout player this year. He's practically been invisible this spring!

 

[utvolpj]

WTH has happened to Denarius Moore? All I've heard is how impressive Gerald Jones has been this spring. However I really thought Moore would be an explosive, breakout player this year. He's practically been invisible this spring!

It's because this staff won't play the younger guys in place of their favorites.


Wait...well.... Austin Rogers sucks!

 

[KB5252]

Didn't we have this same post last year, and the year before?

 

[Abeachvol]

cmon, i luv our D but the #3 ranking was a bit inflated

 

[TNshadetree]

The #3 defense is the same sort of statistic as when our offensive line was touted as being great because Ainge never got sacked.
It had a lot more to do with Ainge throwing out of bounds anytime anyone got near him. You have to take a hard look at statistics some times to see what the root cause is.