Reality of our Players

#51
#51
G8rh8r said:
I watched NW hang with OSU for an entire half based on heart and good coaching decisions. Sure they eventually were beaten by superior talent, but it was a heck of a game. When was the last time we played a heck of a game? Or even an intelligent game?
We may not have the talent to beat Bama, but we sure should be able to beat KY at home
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A 4-6 Kentucky team and a 3-7 Arkansas team whose coach is in Year 1.
 
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#53
#53
tabrams said:
On paper it all shld be so great... but we had. Bad QB, bad WRs, bad TEs, and one good small RB... even with a decent to good oline (and they aren’t good), you can’t play modern football like that...

Look at Florida for example... yea they lack RBs and maybe an average Oline... but awesome QB, incredible WR (Toney), incredible TE (Pittnan), and they are almost unstoppable....

We just don’t hv that kind of talent and experience yet... going to take. Few years imo
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i like how you bring up Florida and using the no talent excuse when they had Trask as a starting qb and he wasn’t even good enough to start for his high school team, now he’s out here being a heisman favorite. The difference there is like him or not, Mullen can actually coach up players.
 
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#54
#54
Roustabout said:
Our recruiting rankings would not affirm this. Our Oline ranking should have produced one of the best lines in UT history.

We have multiple four star QBs. The biggest talent deficiency is at TE and LB. I think we have good young talent at LB, but it didn’t get on the field much. We had 4 star Dlinemen all over the place.

This staff got nothing out of its talent. They had a bad your in S&C and even worse on teaching position basics.
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Too many only see recruiting rankings which are practically worthless, they are all about who is recruiting a player. We have had two and a half cycles of recruiting the right kind of players, for the first time in a decade. Next year we will have three quarters of an SEC caliber roster.
 
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#55
#55
Remy said:
THIS! I find my self shaking my head when I read a poster bemoan our lack of talent. Our OL did not lack talent, we had tons of it, mostly 5 stars with 4 stars sprinkled in yet we did not produce. In fairness the same was said about UK's and their's was not all that either. But we have SEC type talent pretty much at every position. You go down to the 2s and that may get sketchy. Our problem is NOT talent, we have it. Our problem is for whatever reason this coaching staff is not getting the performances out of them gtheir talent should be producing. That falls into the lap of the coaching staff, from the HC down. Now if the staff thinks the fault is elsewhere, they have to go, it's that simple.
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Our lack of talent is mostly in the senior and junior classes, it is particularly glaring in the senior class. Think about this, Alabubba will have ten plus go in the NFL draft, we will have one.
 
#56
#56
vol94 said:
We may lack elite talent but should not lose to KY nor Arkansas, regardless of any circumstance.

Also, Pruitt’s players should be playing by now. There are frosh and sophomores that played this yr as they are his recruits. There are other programs playing freshmen and soph QBs.
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Nobody wins in the SEC with primarily freshman and sophomores and that is where our best players are.
 
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#57
#57
jpope9 said:
i like how you bring up Florida and using the no talent excuse when they had Trask as a starting qb and he wasn’t even good enough to start for his high school team, now he’s out here being a heisman favorite. The difference there is like him or not, Mullen can actually coach up players.
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Uh, it’s not like Trask was sitting behind a bum in high school, he was playing behind D’Eriq King. People knew Trask was pretty good good coming out of high school. Florida wouldn’t have recruited him if he wasn’t.
 
#58
#58
jackcrevol said:
Pruitt will likely be a good head coach. He's got to learn imp lesson if not micromanaging. Also, he cant do it all.

We have good coaches on this staff but, if they routinely get cut off at the knees...it wont last long.

Tennessee isnt the place to learn on the job.
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Pruitt will actually most likely never be a HC again after he is eventually fired. He's shown zero qualities that are common to good head coaches, and has displayed several traits that are 100% detrimental to him ever becoming a good head coach.
 
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#59
#59
BeardedVol said:
Pruitt will actually most likely never be a HC again after he is eventually fired. He's shown zero qualities that are common to good head coaches, and has displayed several traits that are 100% detrimental to him ever becoming a good head coach.
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we would have said the same of Botch 3 years ago. But, he grabbed Supreme Leader Saban's coattails and landed Ark State job.
 
#60
#60
jackcrevol said:
we would have said the same of Botch 3 years ago. But, he grabbed Supreme Leader Saban's coattails and landed Ark State job.
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Butch, actually has the drive to be a HC, for better or worse, following Brian Kelly for a decade, and lucking into Josh Dobbs, kept him from destroying the perception that he can be a head coach in spite of giving UT its worst single season record in history.

Pruitt, has not had the luxury of following a HC who left him with a bunch of well-developed 5* players the way that he did when he was bouncing around from school to school every two seasons as a DC.

His full personality is on display, and the body of work he is creating here is professionally damning. He's a lifetime coordinator.
 
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#61
#61
Where were all the Pruitt haters after we beat Mizz and was on a 8 game winning streak. He is the same coach with the same team but I don't remember anyone saying fire him and Fulmer. I give up
trying to explain things to the I want what I want and I want it now crowd. Please tell me what COACH you think can come in here and have us playing for a SEC title next year? Do you really think that coach would take the job? I know many of you don't understand what it truly takes to become elite but time, talent, depth, and stability are just a few key ingredients.
 
#62
#62
Roustabout said:
Our recruiting rankings would not affirm this. Our Oline ranking should have produced one of the best lines in UT history.

We have multiple four star QBs. The biggest talent deficiency is at TE and LB. I think we have good young talent at LB, but it didn’t get on the field much. We had 4 star Dlinemen all over the place.

This staff got nothing out of its talent. They had a bad your in S&C and even worse on teaching position basics.
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I agree, here. This staff got nothing out of this bunch. No one was coached above their natural ability. Only those who were self-motivated even maximized their own talent.

In recruiting, you are going to have busts. Not every 4* and 5* kid is going to hit and perform at the level they were expected to meet. Whether it is poor evaluation, a lack of work ethic, or injury, I just refuse to believe that our team is wholly unlucky to the point that almost no one exceeded expectations under this staff.

All you have to do is look at other programs and see kids who had poor offer lists, or a lower ranking, some even walk-ons, and they grossly outperform their expectations because the coaches in place coached them up and made them better players beyond their natural talent. We have a starting LB who has world's of natural talent, but after two years is still as lost on the field as he was on day 1. We have a 5th year QB who looks worse in year 5 than he did as a freshman. Our OLine is stocked with top-shelf national talent, and they were awful at times, especially in pass-blocking.
 
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#63
#63
Vol524 said:
Where were all the Pruitt haters detractors after we beat Mizz and was on a 8 game winning streak. He is the same coach with the same team but I don't remember anyone saying fire him and Fulmer. I give up
trying to explain things to the I want what I want and I want it now crowd. Please tell me what COACH you think can come in here and have us playing for a SEC title next year? Do you really think that coach would take the job? I know many of you don't understand what it truly takes to become elite but time, talent, depth, and stability are just a few key ingredients.
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Probably telling you that squeaking by the scrubs of the SEC and barely beating a mediocre-at-best Indiana in a bowl game was not indicative of a competent HC on the rise, while you shoved your fingers in your ears and repeated "lalalala I can't hear you lalalala".
 
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#64
#64
jackcrevol said:
Pruitt will likely be a good head coach. He's got to learn imp lesson if not micromanaging. Also, he cant do it all.

We have good coaches on this staff but, if they routinely get cut off at the knees...it wont last long.

Tennessee isnt the place to learn on the job.
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Pruitt will not be a good or even serviceable head coach. Once he’s sent packing from the Hill he’ll never have another chance in the college ranks.
 
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#65
#65
Rickyvol77 said:
The biggest issue this year (and there were a few) is Pruitt being stubborn and sticking with JG....if Bailey and Shrout play from the first game, the season would likely look a lot different
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We might have beaten KY and that’s about it. Our defense has been terrible all year.
 
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#66
#66
rikberry31 said:
Too many only see recruiting rankings which are practically worthless, they are all about who is recruiting a player. We have had two and a half cycles of recruiting the right kind of players, for the first time in a decade. Next year we will have three quarters of an SEC caliber roster.
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Weak excuse.
 
#67
#67
rikberry31 said:
Our lack of talent is mostly in the senior and junior classes, it is particularly glaring in the senior class. Think about this, Alabubba will have ten plus go in the NFL draft, we will have one.
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Shows a complete lack of development.
 
#68
#68
Vol524 said:
Where were all the Pruitt haters after we beat Mizz and was on a 8 game winning streak. He is the same coach with the same team but I don't remember anyone saying fire him and Fulmer. I give up
trying to explain things to the I want what I want and I want it now crowd. Please tell me what COACH you think can come in here and have us playing for a SEC title next year? Do you really think that coach would take the job? I know many of you don't understand what it truly takes to become elite but time, talent, depth, and stability are just a few key ingredients.
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I was right here saying he was beating teams he should be beating and was lucky to win several of those games.
 
#69
#69
Vol524 said:
Where were all the Pruitt haters after we beat Mizz and was on a 8 game winning streak. He is the same coach with the same team but I don't remember anyone saying fire him and Fulmer. I give up
trying to explain things to the I want what I want and I want it now crowd. Please tell me what COACH you think can come in here and have us playing for a SEC title next year? Do you really think that coach would take the job? I know many of you don't understand what it truly takes to become elite but time, talent, depth, and stability are just a few key ingredients.
Click to expand...

How does this help your point, to point out he followed up an 8 game winning streak with a 3-7 season? Do you understand what regressing is?
 
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#70
#70
cncchris33 said:
I agree, here. This staff got nothing out of this bunch. No one was coached above their natural ability. Only those who were self-motivated even maximized their own talent.

In recruiting, you are going to have busts. Not every 4* and 5* kid is going to hit and perform at the level they were expected to meet. Whether it is poor evaluation, a lack of work ethic, or injury, I just refuse to believe that our team is wholly unlucky to the point that almost no one exceeded expectations under this staff.

All you have to do is look at other programs and see kids who had poor offer lists, or a lower ranking, some even walk-ons, and they grossly outperform their expectations because the coaches in place coached them up and made them better players beyond their natural talent. We have a starting LB who has world's of natural talent, but after two years is still as lost on the field as he was on day 1. We have a 5th year QB who looks worse in year 5 than he did as a freshman. Our OLine is stocked with top-shelf national talent, and they were awful at times, especially in pass-blocking.
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This.

So many are now trying to play the "Pruitt inherited the worst mess in history" card, but fail to talk about how we haven't seen this coach improve what he was given. To me, that's a huge indication that coaching up is not something he can do and that's a major problem for a guy tasked with rebuilding. So you can't just say "Oh he needs 5 years minimum" and assume he's going to just bring in top recruiting classes and everything is fine.
 
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#73
#73
rikberry31 said:
Too many only see recruiting rankings which are practically worthless, they are all about who is recruiting a player. We have had two and a half cycles of recruiting the right kind of players, for the first time in a decade. Next year we will have three quarters of an SEC caliber roster.
Click to expand...
So, when Bama is rated #1 every year, that’s worthless???
 
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