Saying the unsayable.....

[UtahVol]

Hurd may be underrated. Given that Tennessee has an average passing game, the DC seem to be focusing on stopping Hurd and Kamara and daring Dobbs to beat them. Look, is he Jamal Lewis. Probably not. But he may be the best we've had since Lewis.

 

[bkbasketball]

Man, STFU! With the BS he was dealt last night, 4ypc was an amazing feat. You can never compare one RB to another when one had an Oline and QB with a passing game and the other doesn't. How discouraging do you think it is to get a handoff into a defender 90% of the time too? And when a RB runs laterally, and defenders are running vertically, how do you think that usually works out?

How about we line Jalen up in the I formation, but we never pass out of that formation? Or maybe, we'll run a read-option when the QB never passes the ball (well) reads, pulls it and runs?

Guess he should have went to OSU or another better team, right? Staying home and trying to help TN and people start threads like this? Lol. Let him smash next week and you'll be swinging from his sack again, right? Cause now he's garbage now, right? Y'all are sad.

I'm with you buddy. Drag em. Jalen Hurd gives his all for Tennessee.

 

[kiddiedoc]

Once again:Terrible OL play, no threat to stretch the field, and this stop/start offensive scheme are hurting him. When he gets the ball with a head of steam, he's much more dangerous.

 

[BigOrangeTrain]

Once again:Terrible OL play, no threat to stretch the field, and this stop/start offensive scheme are hurting him. When he gets the ball with a head of steam, he's much more dangerous.

Totally agree. When viewed next to Stephens and Henry, the OL differences loom huge. So does the offensive playcalling and coaching. I love Henry and Stephens but I think Hurd is just as good. He has not ran behind what would be considered a good SEC caliber OL since he has been here. Its actually pretty sad.

 

[gr82batnvol]

I'm going to get torched for saying it outloud, but Hurd isn't the "beast" we say he is. Is he good. Yeah. Has he gotten a ton of yards over his career? yes. But that is unremarkable considering that we have a QB who can't throw the ball so almost every play is run. Does he have some highlight reel runs? yes. But considering how many carries he's had......"even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while". He has no breakaway speed. He is missing that 4th gear that lets him get further than 20 yds down field before getting tracked down (and not usually by one guy. Usually half the defense is dragging him down from behind after he's already blown by them). He also goes down at the first sign of contact and falls forward for 3 more yards. That is the biggest concern to me. He either blasts through the line untouched for the first 3 yards or someone touches him and he falls. I don't think this is a knee jerk reaction to last nights game. I've thought this for the last 2 years. I can't help but feel like he's and excellent player playing the wrong position.

I believe you'll think otherwise by seasons end. There were some major breakdowns on the oline last night. Hurd is better when he can hit his stride. They'll clean it up and I bet he is in a different place by mid season.

 

[Volfreak1964]

Oh well just another 100 yard game oh my God!

 

[FearAVolunteer]

Man, STFU! With the BS he was dealt last night, 4ypc was an amazing feat. You can never compare one RB to another when one had an Oline and QB with a passing game and the other doesn't. How discouraging do you think it is to get a handoff into a defender 90% of the time too? And when a RB runs laterally, and defenders are running vertically, how do you think that usually works out?

How about we line Jalen up in the I formation, but we never pass out of that formation? Or maybe, we'll run a read-option when the QB never passes the ball (well) reads, pulls it and runs?

Guess he should have went to OSU or another better team, right? Staying home and trying to help TN and people start threads like this? Lol. Let him smash next week and you'll be swinging from his sack again, right? Cause he's garbage now, right? Y'all are sad.

I seriously wish I could like this 54224534545643 more times! I was late to this thread party but after the first page I was ready to post these exact same words. A lotta butt hurt around this placelol:

 

[Aday25]

After hundreds of carries, he's got just two runs over 30 yards, and ZERO over 50 yards. That says it all.

Mr "3 yards and a cloud of dust."

Sounds a lot like Eddie George to me. I'll take it. Hurd is a bruiser and doesn't have great top end speed. But he punishes people.

 

[sjt18]

Put an O line in front of him that is hungry and good and you would see he is a horse IMO.

Unless you can talk Jones into changing his offensive philosophy and techniques the OL is taught.... You're seeing what you're getting. UT's OL tried to play their techniques. ASU's quick DL's ran around them and made plays.

 

[chuck0303]

I haven't heard more about Dobbs and if he got hurt on that last play, but playing it safe caused us to need him to put the game on his shoulders. He needed to run enough to where the D couldn't just focus on Hurd and not have to put himself in last second heroics mode.

Ok, probably going to get flamed for this too but the closer the game the more Dobbs gets to play. If the game gets out of hand then the second teamers get more snaps. Not necessarily in this game but in many games last year it often looked to me that he wanted the game to be closer. Maybe it's just me being cynical, but I want to see this team put teams away early and get the other guys some more game time experience.

 

[chuck0303]

Yes he does. First guy usually gets him, especially if he's going laterally and/or in the open field. There was a thread started last week entitled "Hurd vs Henry".....he's nowhere near Travis Henry's league. For that matter, I'd take the Appy State RB over Hurd based on what I saw last night.

Good blocking makes a runner look good. App State defenders were also clogging the lanes going back to how our O-line performed. To the O-lines credit the App State guys are no rookies bu t you still have to win the battles in the trenches. Hard for runners to gain yards with no holes.

 

[chuck0303]

You aren't going to beat competent defenses--much less good defenses--when they know what you are going to do. Everybody knows we're going to run Hurd--it's a /guarantee/ that he's getting the ball on either first or second down. DeBord's play calling was TERRIBLE last night. Kamara should be much more involved in the offense--he hardly touched the ball in the first three quarters. We have mix things up. How many times did we throw to Smith? We have weapons and need to use all of them. You also don't really want to run your star player into the ground in the first freakin' game--28 carries was way too many. It is a long season--use your weapons and spread the ball around. I've never liked this offense, to be candid. It's nice when Dobbs is running and making good decisions, but today's spread offenses are predicated on putting defenders on their heels with misdirection and getting guys like Kamara the ball in space.

Very well said. When the D knows what you are likely to do just the way you are lined up is a tell and that is not good. It sure seems to me that we are way too predictable. If coaches are too afraid of opening up the playbook then they need to get a job elsewhere. I want to see the Spurrier mentality of beat us if you think you can. Of course, with no, or little, confidence in the passing game how far can we go being mostly one-dimensional too. Like you said, mix the plays up; did we even have one jet sweep play last night? I didn't see any reverses that I recall.

 

[chuck0303]

Hurd looks really good when he runs angry. All the best backs run with a noticeable intensity. Far too often Jalen runs like a scat back and not like a 240 lb. wrecking ball.

I'd be angry too if there's no hole to run through.

 

[chuck0303]

Good question. The O-line just got manhandled last night.
If I was a Vol opponent, I would stack the line, bring up the corners and safeties to cover the short routes and make Dobbs beat me passing.

Do I hear an echo--been saying that all the time? I'd make Dobbs beat you through the air and chances are he's not going to be able to do it--INT written all over it.

 

[chuck0303]

What's incredible is that this thread doesn't exist if Dobbs throws for 4 TD's last night.

Putting this on Hurd is dumb. Hurd is a terrific back with 3 years of O-lines that are mediocre at best. There MAY be 5 backs in the country with stats like his given the hand he was dealt.

Kamara is great, but let's lose Hurd for the season and see how "mediocre" he is.

Everyone is just butthurt over the close loss. Apply some cream, give it a few days, we'll be fine. Hurd is a stud. He's one of the best backs in UT history, which is saying a lot considering he has no O-line and shares carries with another RB and his QB.

Completely agree. Please tell me in what game Dobbs is going to complete 4 TDs through the air? I certainly want to tune in. I hate to be the negative nancy but I just do not have confidence in his passing.

 

[chuck0303]

Can't blame Hurd. He ran great last year. If Butch doesn't run Dobbs then there is no reason to start Dobbs. Dormady can hand off and I believe we would find that he's a better passer.

Ding, ding, ding! Hallejuah! Someone else recognized the obvious. If you're not going to use Dobbs running ability, why put him in the game? You need to keep teams off-balance. If Dobbs is not running, it's either going to be a Hurd run or a pass behind the line to the flat. If it's a pass downfield all you have to do is protect the first 15 yards, how difficult is that? Keep Dobbs in the pocket; game over. It's disgusting.

 

[chuck0303]

Hurd may be underrated. Given that Tennessee has an average passing game, the DC seem to be focusing on stopping Hurd and Kamara and daring Dobbs to beat them. Look, is he Jamal Lewis. Probably not. But he may be the best we've had since Lewis.

Until proven otherwise, our passing game is well below average.

 

[LotteryPick]

Those speaking against Hurd, do you all not remember what he was doing against NW when Dobbs went under center and Hurd had a lead blocker? He was gashing them.

The play calling is clearly not catered to his strength as a running back.

 

[vavolfan6]

I will agree that Hurd isn't everything he is hyped up to be (Heisman candidate, top 5 back) but he still is very good. Yet, to his defense, the play calling is obvious. Hurd has to run play after play, while the defense stacks the box and prepares for a run play. Debord isn't even deceptive in his play calling and refuses to switch it up or add some QB run options in. Everyone on offense is being either under utilized or mismanaged. That is on Debord.

 

[tallyho]

I'm going to get torched for saying it outloud, but Hurd isn't the "beast" we say he is. Is he good. Yeah. Has he gotten a ton of yards over his career? yes. But that is unremarkable considering that we have a QB who can't throw the ball so almost every play is run. Does he have some highlight reel runs? yes. But considering how many carries he's had......"even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while". He has no breakaway speed. He is missing that 4th gear that lets him get further than 20 yds down field before getting tracked down (and not usually by one guy. Usually half the defense is dragging him down from behind after he's already blown by them). He also goes down at the first sign of contact and falls forward for 3 more yards. That is the biggest concern to me. He either blasts through the line untouched for the first 3 yards or someone touches him and he falls. I don't think this is a knee jerk reaction to last nights game. I've thought this for the last 2 years. I can't help but feel like he's and excellent player playing the wrong position.

He is also 240lbs so he is more like a tall FB power runner not a TB with speed like a Henry or Stephens. Kamara is the speed back.

 

[tallyho]

Based on its play against Tennessee, App St. is a better team than Vanderbilt, Kentucky, South Carolina, Missouri, and Northwestern. And why are we holding back our offense....everybody already has seen all the types of plays DeBord has in the book last year. Just run the offense and forget about whether you are going to show others a new play. Hopefully, The Battle at Bristol will show the real Vols team to the rest of the world.

 

[PrattvilleVol]

Hurd is a beast with zero vision. He commits and if you are in the way you'll get trucked. I saw way too many opportunities for him to cut back and roll. He hasn't been taught to do that. That's on CBJ.