Recruiting Forum Football Talk [RIP 9.3.2019]

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#127,226
#127,226
Blake25p said:
Wouldn’t say best, definitely most talented.
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Reason I say best is because of the combination of talent, experience and depth. Not sure there’s another position with all 3. I mean people are talking about DKj having his starting job taken and he’s started over 30 games
 
#127,227
#127,227
Freak said:
Even with a slew of walk-ons, the offensive line is clearly shorthanded. With the “main group,” there was almost as many guys observing practice (Chance Hall, Trey Smith, Tanner Antonutti and Brandon Kennedy, who is limited just six months off ACL surgery) as those participating.
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@Freak - I'm just curious who you were quoting in the above. I mean we already knew that Hall and Antonutti had RETIRED from football. We knew that Trey is out indefinitely and not expected by many fans to ever return. We also knew that Kennedy would be coming back from injury (Pruitt said he could have played today if we had a game).

This is how I would have written that:

On the offensive line today, apart from Trey Smith, 11 of the other 12 currently enrolled scholarship linemen went through practice, though Kennedy was limited. Pruitt said he’s ready to go and could play if there were a game today but the staff was going to be deliberately slow about bringing him up to speed. Apparently early enrollee Chris Akporoghene did not participate today but Pruitt said he would be back in a couple days. No reason was given for his absence. The 12 scholarship linemen currently on campus will be joined in June by Wright, Lampley, and McBride bringing the offensive line numbers up to 15 (not including Smith) heading into fall camp. Given Pruitt’s stated goal of having 18 scholarship offensive linemen that leaves 3 openings (assuming Smith never returns) yet to be filled.

It may be worth noting that in the limited games last season where the offensive line drew relative praise, the key linemen for those games, Tatum, J. Johnson, R. Johnson, Carvin, and Niehaus, were all full go in practice today and looked bigger, stronger, and more mature. Pruitt, in post practice comments, reminded everyone that the offensive line is a developmental position group that takes at least 3 years for a player, particularly undersized players, to grow into their positions. He seemed optimistic about the size growth of his guys and pointed to the fact that he now has players in their 3rd or going into their 4th year. Overall, a much better situation for the offensive line this spring as opposed to last year but obviously the rebuilding still has at least one more recruiting cycle to go to reach Pruitt-Level strength.
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#127,231
#127,231
Catbone said:
Crazy to think we had 3 OL that would have played this year have to retire from football last season.
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I'm skeptical they all actually had to. I do think they were asked/it was suggested they retire. Pruitt's hand is a bit forced having to push so many out. Can't just take a scholly, so he has to get creative.
 
#127,233
#127,233
War room

With practice No. 1 under their belt, Jeremy Pruitt’s second team is, as expected, far ahead of where they were a year ago. With an understanding of the defensive system and much of the offensive concepts already in place, not to mention consistency in the weight room with the same S&C staff for the second straight year, the learning curve is not what it was last spring when no one knew what to really expect heading into spring practice.

“There’s definitely a lot of carry over defensively from last fall,” Pruitt said.

“We have a lot of guys who are back, so you could obviously see a comfort zone there. I thought that our offense did a really good job today. It was probably the first time all year that we finished practice early. The offense sets the tempo for the practice, so I thought that was really positive.

“We were better today than we were last year because mostly everybody on the team has been through the system one time, as opposed to last year when nobody knew the system. So now, there’s probably ten guys that are here for the first time, and at least the other guys have an idea of what they’re supposed to do. Last year, nobody knew what to do. So, it obviously should be better.”

Tennessee is much healthier than it was last spring, too, with just a handful of guys out or limited. Darrin Kirkland Jr. (more below) was noticeably absent, but the rest of Tennessee’s injury report is rather minor. Tyus Fields, Kurott Garland, JJ Peterson, currently limited but not out, and Chris Akporoghene are all expected to be participants at some point this spring. Pruitt also said that Brandon Kennedy, who projects to be the team’s starting center in 2019, would be full-go if this were game week but the team will take it slow with the former Alabama grad transfer this spring.

Several guys are clearly bigger than a year ago, as Marcus Tatum, Riley Locklear and Nathan Neihaus have all gained more than 20 pounds this offseason. On Thursday, it wasn’t surprising to see Wayna Morris work mainly at left tackle. He will be a fixture there all spring, taking as many reps as he can get. It will not be a surprise to anyone if Morris is the starting left tackle come August and the season opener.

Two others guys who have put on added muscle and thickness are Alontae Taylor and Trevon Flowers. Both needed the last couple of months in the weight room and from all accounts, have put themselves in much better shape.

The news of Darin Kirkland missing spring practice drew plenty of reaction from the GQ and creates some speculation about his future with his problematic knee. At this point, that’s all it is, speculation. Kirkland is with the trainers, trying to strengthen knee but rumors have swirled for awhile that Kirkland may have played his last game at Tennessee.
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-VQ
 
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#127,240
#127,240
HankHill said:
LB. especially if you count Taylor as a sub DE.
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Wow bad take. Huge influx of talent to a position that returns all of its starters (minus Kongbo ). LB is unproven but we have experience, talent, and depth.

DL is head and shoulders the biggest question mark/weakness on this football team. No proven players, no experience, and no depth.
 
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#127,241
#127,241
VOLuptuousBOOMS said:
Wow bad take. Huge influx of talent to a position that returns all of its starters (minus Kongbo ). LB is unproven but we have experience, talent, and depth.

DL is head and shoulders the biggest question mark/weakness on this football team. No proven players, no experience, and no depth.
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Disagree with you. I’m mainly talking about returning players Bc no one really knows about the incoming freshman yet.

The only LB that actually played well last year was Taylor and he’s basically a DE. Our LBs in coverage were some of the worst I’ve ever seen.
 
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#127,242
#127,242
HankHill said:
Disagree with you. I’m mainly talking about returning players Bc no one really knows about the incoming freshman yet.

The only LB that actually played well last year was Taylor and he’s basically a DE. Our LBs in coverage were some of the worst I’ve ever seen.
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What did you see from our returning DL that makes you more confident in them over our LB corps?
 
#127,246
#127,246
nicksjuzunk said:
It pays to not be a prima donna when a team owns your rights
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Deal apparently is off. Strange rappaport would run with a story like that and people are now acting like it wasn't close. Makes me think AB said he wouldn't report or sign a deal. Steelers going to have tough time trading him it appears. I'd just make his butt sit
 
#127,248
#127,248
HankHill said:
Well i count Taylor in that category Bc of our defensive structure. A true Edge player like
DT to me is just a glorified DE.

Total unit rankings for me would be:

Secondary
WR/TE
RB
DL
QB
OL
LB
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DT is an OLB. You can call him a DE, but he isn't a DE. He is part of the LB corps. A true edge player in our defense is an OLB. He is coached by Rumph, not Rocker.

What did you see from our returning DL (players that are coached by rocker) that puts them above LB and OL.
 
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#127,249
#127,249
Nashvegas31 said:
Time to move on. Ignont gave just as good of snaps for us last yr. Tootoo coming in along with a possible Reid resurgence and who knows what we get from JJ and Crouch at the position. All of those guys have higher ceilings
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I sort of feel for the guy. He got Butch'd, just like most of those kids. Looked good early and then failed to progress one bit and stayed injured.
 
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