Phil Steele's Projected SEC Order of Finish

I’m not Phil Steele but I see A&M being a big disappointment this year. They lost their QB most Wrs & 4/5 of their OL. I don’t see their defense being good enough to challenge.

A&M lost none of last years WR’s. They return Chase Lane (started), Ainias Smith (started), Caleb Chapman (started, got injured), and Hezekiah Jones (started). They also have 5 star RS fish Demond Demas, and several other talented receivers, as well as all-SEC TE Jalen Wydermeyer.

Losing Mond is addition by subtraction. He was seen in the same mold as Guarantano before last year. He had average accuracy, poor touch on his throws, and was not very elusive. King will be a big step up in terms of accuracy, touch, and athleticism. They’ve also recruited well on OL (several of this year’s OL played last year), and got Jahmir Johnson in the transfer portal.

They should be able to challenge for the West better this year - they have Bama at home.
 
A&M lost none of last years WR’s. They return Chase Lane (started), Ainias Smith (started), Caleb Chapman (started, got injured), and Hezekiah Jones (started). They also have 5 star RS fish Demond Demas, and several other talented receivers, as well as all-SEC TE Jalen Wydermeyer.

Losing Mond is addition by subtraction. He was seen in the same mold as Guarantano before last year. He had average accuracy, poor touch on his throws, and was not very elusive. King will be a big step up in terms of accuracy, touch, and athleticism. They’ve also recruited well on OL (several of this year’s OL played last year), and got Jahmir Johnson in the transfer portal.

They should be able to challenge for the West better this year - they have Bama at home.

You need to load up on the aggies then this season.
 
I don' think that conclusion can be made either way at this point. I would say the most certain guy UT lost who won't be replaced by either scheme or personnel is Gray. He does things in space that you don't teach.

I would almost say there was a downgrade with the two OL losses... except neither was truly dominant or consistent while playing for UT. Morris had talent but continued to miss assignments and get beaten in pass pro.

Agree. I hadn't thought that much about Shrout but you are right considering his arm and reasonably good athleticism.
Chandler regressed. IMO, Evans and Small are both at least as physically talented as he was.

Gray has elite potential. I didn't feel good about Brown even when he committed and signed. I don't think what made him a very good HS RB would have translated very well. We've seen guys like him before.
Like I mentioned above, Morris had yet to play like a 5*. I think Johnson may have been the bigger loss.
Gooch? Seriously? He was not going to contribute this year under either staff. He was a project that is far from irreplaceable.
I think they're a huge unknown. Lots of raw talent but no performance to judge or experience. I think the focus will be on Jones to start then shift to more gifted players as they get comfortable.
Agree. No crisis in any of this.
Henry T for Mitchell is probably pretty close. Peterson was widely considered a bust who was unlikely to get on the field. Crouch wasn't a very good LB... or else was poorly coached. We do not know where French was going to play if at all.

It is a position of concern but most of that comes down to how much flexibility the other guys have. How interchangeable can the Will and Mike LB's become? OurLads lists Banks, Mitchell, Page, Garland, Willis, Beasley, Harrison, and Joseph in a 4 deep at those two positions. If 4 of those guys are interchangeable and can play 90% of the minutes between them then it may not be bad at all. I know Monte is Monte... but I remember the no names UT plugged in at LB in 2009 while having a pretty good D overall.

Lawrence is in his 4th year out of HS and has never actually played, right? He may have all the physical talent in the world but I don't have much confidence in a guy who leaves his original choice, sits out, declines to play for his new team,.... and then is so unstable that he transfers again.

I like Buchanan and want to see something before believing in the other two. Right now, I'd call this a push at a position that was in reasonably good shape to start. If I could have one back here it would be Shamburger but academic casualties are what they are.
But the conversation was what we gained/lost in the portal. You're talking about Evans and Small, but we had already signed them. We could have had Evans, Small, Wright and Gray and Chandler.
OL may perform better due to scheme, but we lost 3 players to the portal and added zero.
LB you mention Banks and Mitchell and Page and Garland and Willis and Beasley and Harrison and Joseph. But all those players except Mitchell were already signed/enrolled.
The conversation was losses/gains from the portal, not returnees or signees that could make a difference.
And at most positons we lost much more than we gained.
 
But the conversation was what we gained/lost in the portal. You're talking about Evans and Small, but we had already signed them. We could have had Evans, Small, Wright and Gray and Chandler.
And... we don't. You still have to play with what you have. It makes no sense to wallow in what you don't have. Gray was probably a casualty of the investigation. Chandler's PT was already in decline.
OL may perform better due to scheme, but we lost 3 players to the portal and added zero.
UT has 13+ guys on the roster who signed scholarships to play OL. I don't think those were necessarily the guys you wanted to lose... but you can't carry 17-18 scholarship OL's.
LB you mention Banks and Mitchell and Page and Garland and Willis and Beasley and Harrison and Joseph. But all those players except Mitchell were already signed/enrolled.
And you continue to ignore what UT has because of what you see that they lost. Again, none of this except for dumping Pruitt and his toxic culture was desirable. But it happened. It makes no sense to cry over the guys who are gone or ignore the gains.
The conversation was losses/gains from the portal, not returnees or signees that could make a difference.
And at most positons we lost much more than we gained.
No. You don't get to limit the scope of the conversation arbitrarily to support your narrative. Again, UT lost some talented players but it isn't like they're going to field 22 walk ons... or even have the Sullins Bros starting on the OL. They started primarily because UT had 6 or 7 total OL's on the 2009 roster capable of actually playing AT ALL in the SEC.

UT may start a walkon this fall but he appears to be earning it. Ca Mays can play there. UT has a couple of scholarship guys who on "paper" look like better players.

We do not know how this is going to go. I mentioned in a different post that a good culture can act as a talent multiplier just like the poisonous culture under Pruitt suppressed talent. We do not know how any or all of these guys contributed to that bad culture. But often when a toxic teammate goes... or a culture shifts... guys you think have less ability become great performers.
 
PHIL STEELE
SEC West

  1. Alabama
  2. Texas A&M
  3. LSU
  4. Ole Miss
  5. Auburn
  6. Mississippi State
  7. Arkansas
SEC East
  1. Georgia
  2. Florida
  3. Kentucky
  4. Missouri
  5. South Carolina
  6. Tennessee
  7. Vanderbilt
Historically Phil has not been biased against us.
Way to step out there Phil, Bama and Georgia. He is actually not good at picking winners either.
 
Georgia is going to murder Florida this year. Florida is ranked 27 overall by Steele, they lost alot too, people don't realize, you've been psyched out by Jaws' nonsense. UGA will lose to Bama in the SEC championship game (again).

AP Poll has Gators at #13, Coaches Poll has them at #12, CFP says #7. SI has them at #14. Lindy's #12. They beat Georgia by 16 last year and lost to Bama in a barn-burner, 52-46.
So what inside info does Phil Steele have?
 
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PHIL STEELE
SEC West

  1. Alabama
  2. Texas A&M
  3. LSU
  4. Ole Miss
  5. Auburn
  6. Mississippi State
  7. Arkansas
SEC East
  1. Georgia
  2. Florida
  3. Kentucky
  4. Missouri
  5. South Carolina
  6. Tennessee
  7. Vanderbilt
Historically Phil has not been biased against us.

Man… UT sixth in the East 😞. Makes me sick. I was at the SEC Championship games in ‘97 and ‘98… great times! I hope Heupel leads the Vols back to respectability. The Volunteers deserve that!
 
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SEC East looks very weak to me this year. I dont expect very much out of Tennessee this year, but will be disappointed if we don't show well against the East.

We lost a s*** ton of players, had a terrible year, and coming off one of our worst rated recruited classes in a while YET Kentucky, Mizzou, and South Carolina would love to pull in the recruiting class we did

We are a better program than those schools. We have more talent than those schools. Now that we have an actual offensive mind of a coach, I trust we will at least outscore those schools even if our Defense let's them score alot.
 
I feel like I’m a fairly knowledgeable college football fan, but I don’t get Kentucky. Honest question, what am I missing with them?

Did they sign some whiz bang young QB, is the entire twi-deep defense back, entire offense, both? I don’t get it, I’ve seen reputable publications predicting them at 9-3.
They added talent via the transfer portal.. OL, WR, and LB. They already had a preseason All American left tackle. 2020 leading rusher returns. They have plenty of talent. New OC, ? at QB. They wont win the division, but two of what expects to be there three toughest games are at Kroger field (FL, LSU). September should be a cakewalk, and if they're still healthy come November, I could see 9-3 or better if they beat either FL or LSU.
 
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Ironic that you say that as I’m currently watching Florida murder Georgia on the SEC Network. That was a beat down, not as close as the 16-point margin of victory would indicate.

So Florida will be much improved on defense, Georgia will be slightly improved on offense (maybe). I know they think they have their savior at QB, but they think that literally about every guy that starts for them, until someone wrecks them (see Stetson Bennett vs Florida).

Georgia will have their usual good defense (although they weren’t very good vs Florida), and Florida will have their usual good offense.

I expect Florida to beat Georgia which will be Georgia’s second loss of the season. I’m expecting them to drop another game somewhere along the way and Georgia fans will begin calling for Bowl Cut’s scalp. He’s Mark Richt, only defensive-minded and less likable.
I disagree, but it should be a good game. I personally didnt think Bennet was the saviour last year, simply the best they could put on the field at the time. Dont know if Daniel's is the saviour either, but I think he'll have more playmakers around him than Bennet did last year.
 
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So in the East last year he overrated us by 2 spots and underrated Missouri by 3. The rest of the teams were on point or within 1 spot of where he predicted.

In the West he overrated LSU by 4 but everyone else was on point or within 1 spot of where he predicted.

So applying those odds from last year, there is a 78% chance (11/14) we will end up within 1 spot of where he has us ranked. Probably pretty close to that.

The thing I am really interested in is the 247 team talent composite rankings for 2021 when they come out. We were No. 15 last year. I think it's a given we go down, it's just a question of how far. If we've gotten more out of the Portal than we've lost as some contend we should rise though.

Does anyone seriously think we got more than we lost?

I personally think we have done well with the portal and it has mitigated the losses. However i think there is little doubt more talent left tham came in.


With that said; we had plenty of talent last year that was squandered by a dysfunctional coaching staff. And yet evem with that staff in place we beat two of the teams Steele has finishing ahead of us. I dont see how he came to those conclusions
 
Whose Phil Steele? Any relation to that guy Mel Kiper

I'll assume you are joking but he IS generally considered the best of the best when it comes to predictions and general college football knowledge...even if he does like to toot his own horn. His preseason mag is unparalleled.
 
I don't feel like arguing over whether Tennessee is 3rd best in the east (7th or 8th best overall in the SEC) or 6th best in the east. Honestly there's not much difference or reason to care. Who gives a flipin flip. We are gonna hella-suck this year the same way we hella-suck every time we have a first year head coach. Especially since half the defense bolted.

As a wise man once said, if you ain't first, you're last.

In my opinion if the program survives 2021 it's a "win".
 
I'll assume you are joking but he IS generally considered the best of the best when it comes to predictions and general college football knowledge...even if he does like to toot his own horn. His preseason mag is unparalleled.

His predictions for the SEC the last few seasons haven't been very accurate.
SEC football: Phil Steele’s predicted order of finish for 2020
Phil Steele’s projected order of finish for the 2019 SEC season
Phil Steele makes SEC predictions for 2018, names preseason All-SEC team
 
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