Recruiting Forum: Football Talk XV

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People said you couldn't judge the last staff either.

The last staff provided plenty of more reasons to judge. For example, I doubt we have 7 assistants leave after the Vandy game this year.

Dooley clearly lost control of the program. Those of us who defended him were really just hoping he was the guy, because we knew if he failed it would be another 3+ years till we were relevant. And we were right.
 
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I'm a strong defender of and champion for Butch. And I don't agree with jave a whole lot of times. But I agree with him here. I didn't like holding the timeouts and running the clock out before half.

We hadn't moved the ball a ton to sustain drives but we had moved it some and we didn't need to go the whole field. We only needed about 35 yards or so to give medley a shot at it.

The first down call was ok to get the clock moving. And letting the clock run to under 40 was fine before snapping 2nd down. But what would have been wrong with play action right there on 2nd and taking a shot on a 20+ yard pass. And if it's not there throw it away?

Didn't like completely giving up on the first half personally

+1

I get that our offense was having troubles, and that there was the potential for huge momentum swing against us heading into half; however, if we score on that possession, then the momentum swings our way.

"If at first the game - or the breaks - go against you, don't let up... put on more steam."

Gen. Neyland agrees too.
 
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I agree, it definitely wouldn't be a walk in the park to scheme around bad o-line play. I guess I would just expect something different from a guy who has been an OC for a while now.

Croom is one of my favorite players. I just want to see him run through a DB and just leave him on the ground. Kid can do it.

Yeah I get that feeling about Pig, too. But, the kid is fast. His quickness is his weapon yet he tries to bulldoze through peeps lol. Can we give that to Croom?

It would be nice to see them throw something really different in there offensively. Every time I think that, I remember the struggling o-line.

Croom is a lot more physical than he was last year. I'd be OK with all of our receivers trying to be as physical as Pig. Kid brings it.
 
I agree 100%. I kept telling my wife that in between yelling at my TV Saturday night. Can't wait until we are relying on redshirt juniors and seniors (like Mizzou) rather than true freshmen and sophomores.

...That day won't be here any time soon, though, if we keep running off our coaching staffs.

This is why I think Finebaum is right with his 2016 prediction of UT being back. I don't see the OL getting much improved from this year. Do I expect them to improve? Yes. How much is the question. Next year's O should be good. Returning everybody except for Gilliam will pay dividends. The D will be losing AJ, but I honestly think that we will find someone else that will be able to fill his shoes as the captain of the defense (Maggitt).

It just scares me that the OL could be another problem next year.
 
The last staff provided plenty of more reasons to judge. For example, I doubt we have 7 assistants leave after the Vandy game this year.

Dooley clearly lost control of the program. Those of us who defended him were really just hoping he was the guy, because we knew if he failed it would be another 3+ years till we were relevant. And we were right.

The first couple of years for any staff are kind of hard to tell. You get glimpses. The really telling moment was that loss to Kentucky for Dooley.

But he didn't get fired there so everyone was looking at a potentially stellar offense coming out of the summer. The hype on Patterson was crazy high. At that point, fans knew Dooley had 2012 to show something, anything. The NC State game had people wondering if maybe a corner had been turned. Then came half number two of the Florida game...
 
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It's easy to say something is a mistake with the benefit of hindsight. But Coach Jones made the calls he thought gave us the best chance to win in the moment. Calls either work or they don't. Just because a play doesn't work, doesn't automatically mean it was the wrong call. There are many more variables at play.

People griping on the coaching staff are blowing my mind right now. We were out muscled all game long and hung around because we were the better coached team in my opinion.

Missouri was killing themselves with careless penalties, while we were playing smart, disciplined football for the majority of the game. Our special teams were consistently special. That is a sign of a well coached team. We did the little things right. The little things were the only thing that kept us in the game going into the 4th quarter. Our offense certainly wasn't the reason.

Our offensive line didn't regress. Missouri's defensive line was determined to take away Dobbs legs and they were successful doing so. They deserve a ton of credit. Their defense was every bit as disruptive as Ole Miss's was when we played them. This is the game that should help us all understand why Butch wanted to redshirt Dobbs. He is not yet ready as a QB to beat you with his arm alone. Teams are going to continue forcing him to try to win games through the air. He has such great potential though and he'll learn from this game. Our incredibly deep pool of receivers don't seem quite as deep once North and Josh Smith are gone. The only game we have had North, Smith and Pearson all healthy together for a full game was Utah State.

I know this isn't the popular opinion around here but I thought Bajakian's play calling was perfectly fine. At times it felt like we were overwhelmed with pressure and then boom we would hit a play for 15 yards. Those plays kept us breathing in times where it felt like the game could easily spiral out of control, Our offensive formations are extremely interesting to me. There are so many ways we can confuse defenses. We have a really unique blend of deception and power. Defenses are going to have their hands full the next couple of years with Dobbs running things.

We have seen plenty of evidence that this coaching staff can develop talent (JRM, Dobbs, Worley, Josh Smith, AJ Johnson, Sutton, etc...). I seen no reason why this offensive line in particular wouldn't take an enormous step forward next season. They have had invaluable reps that will serve them all well the next year or two. Hopefully Blair can come in and finally be what we need him to be and maybe turn this unit into a strength of next years team.

To me, this game was about Missouri's strength against our weakness. Their defensive line being able to consistently get pressure on Dobbs without having to blitz gave them the ability to take his running game away and also make it really tough to throw down field. This game could have gotten ugly. But I thought our team was again resilient (becoming a Butch Jones trend) and fought for 4 quarters against a really good team.

The future is really bright for this team. I'm still proud of how we played. Let's go to Nashville and whoop that trick and get to a bowl game.

Go big orange.
 
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This is why I think Finebaum is right with his 2016 prediction of UT being back. I don't see the OL getting much improved from this year. Do I expect them to improve? Yes. How much is the question. Next year's O should be good. Returning everybody except for Gilliam will pay dividends. The D will be losing AJ, but I honestly think that we will find someone else that will be able to fill his shoes as the captain of the defense (Maggitt).

It just scares me that the OL could be another problem next year.

Look at it this way. This OL was able to play withing a possession of several teams and within a couple of possessions of a couple more. If they improve even a little, it could, could, be enough to squeak those out. If they improve a lot, well...
 
It isn't a black and white thing. If we have plenty of time and we don't start with a negative play that gets us behind in our downs schedule, then the offense has some options. When we lost a chunk on 1st down, that basically means the rest of that series will be one dimensional (passing) which, given our Offensive line struggles, posed enough of a danger that he made a decision that it wasn't worth the risk of a turnover .

Quoted because I think it's being overlooked.
 
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It would be nice to see them throw something really different in there offensively. Every time I think that, I remember the struggling o-line.

Croom is a lot more physical than he was last year. I'd be OK with all of our receivers trying to be as physical as Pig. Kid brings it.

I love me some slants. Been calling for them all year. They work a lot of the time when we run them. When they don't work it is because the WR dropped the ball or (like in the Mizzou game) the DB just runs into our WR and a penalty is not called.

Agreed. Someone needs to slap him in the face before each game to get him pissed lol (like that one DL from UT who's name is escaping me right now).

Man, could you think...a WR that is Croom and Pig put together? 6'5" and shifty at 235lbs and as quick as Pig? That's a nice order for a WR.
 
I love me some slants. Been calling for them all year. They work a lot of the time when we run them. When they don't work it is because the WR dropped the ball or (like in the Mizzou game) the DB just runs into our WR and a penalty is not called.

Agreed. Someone needs to slap him in the face before each game to get him pissed lol (like that one DL from UT who's name is escaping me right now).

Man, could you think...a WR that is Croom and Pig put together? 6'5" and shifty at 235lbs and as quick as Pig? That's a nice order for a WR.

The wide receiver you described is Cordarelle Patterson.

John Henderson is the DL you're thinking about. I love this video.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4cXZGkRMCY[/youtube]

Edit: Thanks, zhangliao04.
 
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Look at it this way. This OL was able to play withing a possession of several teams and within a couple of possessions of a couple more. If they improve even a little, it could, could, be enough to squeak those out. If they improve a lot, well...

All I want for Christmas is an improved O-Line. An improved O-Line. An improved O-Line. All I want for Christmas is an improved O-Liiiiiiine. So I could say "And down goes Bama and Florida!!!"
 
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What I was saying was I am tired of those having to be the case. I understand where we are, but we have been down so long and every year seems to bring up different "excuses", if you know what I mean. It is like trying to get out of a hole and every time you try you just slip right back into the hole. You get tired of it eventually.

Meant no personal attack towards you or anything with either post.

See, herein lies the problem. There were no excuses for Dooley's last year. He had one if the most prolific offenses in school history, and we won 5 games. He sucked. There were no excuses- that is why he is gone. But people want to lump his 3 years in with Butch's 2 years and say that we have been using the excuses for so long. It's not fair to Butch. We had to hit the reset button when he was hired. Butch would have won more games with the talent that Dooley had in year 3. Don't understand why people keep saying that it's been so long. Part of that "so long" isn't here. This program is progressing in many ways. Sure, it's slow and frustrating. But we can either keep *****ing about it or be excited that our program will be loaded with talent and will get back to winning big football games.
 
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The wide receiver yo described is Cordarelle Patterson.

John Henderson is the DL you're thinking about. I love this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4cXZGkRMCY

Edit: How do you embed the video?

Use [ youtube][/youtube] except without the space I left in the first brackets between "[" and "y"

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4cXZGkRMCY[/youtube]
 
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We get to a bowl game this yr and it'll what I expectf. I think we will be in contention for sec east next yr.

We were a couple plays away from being in contention this year. Our roster has as much potential talent (young players with meaningful experience) moving ahead as anyone in the country.

I'd say we'll no doubt be right in the thick of things next year.
 
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Ha ha - well, glad someone enjoys my posts. VN is a nice diversion for me, as I'm sure it is for everyone else.

I'd like Notre Dame as well. If I'm not mistaken I think we still have the best winning % against them all time among teams they've played multiple times. I think we can keep that going this year.

Belk Bowl makes sense. It's in a fertile recruiting ground and we will have just played in Nashville, while also playing in Nashville to start next fall.

Clemson also would be fun. I've enjoyed needling the Clemson fans in my family these past few years by pointing out that we have done as well or better than them when playing common opponents (e.g., UGA, USCe, NC State), despite the fact that we are in one of the worst stretches of our program's history. Beating them soundly head to head would be icing on the cake.


I was just about to post the same thing as the following post to this one says. I always enjoy reading your posts.

I know everyone is gonna have a diff opinion about things and that's fine but you seem to always get the bigger picture on things overall as far as where this program actually is rt now, why things may not be as easy as some assume, and where we're headed despite criticism of coaching or whatever else at times, imo.

:salute:
 
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All I want for Christmas is an improved O-Line. An improved O-Line. An improved O-Line. All I want for Christmas is an improved O-Liiiiiiine. So I could say "And down goes Bama and Florida!!!"

You have been naughty, and must wait till next year! :nono:
 
We were a couple plays away from being in contention this year. Our roster has as much potential talent (young players with meaningful experience) moving ahead as anyone in the country.

I'd say we'll no doubt be right in the thick of things next year.

I totally agree. Just a few points away from having a great record. I thought we would be 5-7 to 6-6 in the reg season. So far my expectations have been met. I expected one of the wins to be Vandy, so we better get that part done this weekend.
 
We get to a bowl game this yr and it'll what I expectf. I think we will be in contention for sec east next yr.


SC -

I'm getting closer to figuring out who you are. Haha. I know where you go to church now. Because I talked to the brother of the girl who lane Kiffin gave the visor to.

I talked to him at the Union Heights Fall Festival Saturday. My mom is a teacher there
 
SC -

I'm getting closer to figuring out who you are. Haha. I know where you go to church now. Because I talked to the brother of the girl who lane Kiffin gave the visor to.

I talked to him at the Union Heights Fall Festival Saturday. My mom is a teacher there

My mom use to be the 4 the grade teacher there. Ha limit it down for you. That being said my lunch break is about over.
 
My mom use to be the 4 the grade teacher there. Ha limit it down for you. That being said my lunch break is about over.


That should just about do it. Ha. She was probably my 4th grade teacher, as my mom was my 3rd grade teacher.

If that is your mom that I'm thinking of, my wife actually had our bridal shower/tea at your house

#VNfamily
 
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