Should we consider this a Prep year?

#1
goooooovols

goooooovols

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#1
I’ve got a question... if we are being honest, even the most optimistic fan should see us losing the rest of our games besides Charlotte unless we see drastic improvement. Why not start preparing for next year (think “the process” like 76ers), throw Shrout out there, all of our young guys, recruit with the promise for guys to come in and start and focus on being competitive again in 2020?
 
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#5
#5
I think we need to leave JG out there since he is just a sophomore and needs to get experience. I would be open to playing anyone and everybody on the OL to see if we have anybody that can play and how many players we need to replace there by next season. I would be open to someone else be OC because the guy we got seems to have the offense totally confused and incapable of any fundamentals. He seems to call plays that the defense has already determined are coming. We get an OL, stop the turnovers, find an OC that can do the job were at least 50 percent better immediately.
 
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#6
#6
goooooovols said:
I’ve got a question... if we are being honest, even the most optimistic fan should see us losing the rest of our games besides Charlotte unless we see drastic improvement. Why not start preparing for next year (think “the process” like 76ers), throw Shrout out there, all of our young guys, recruit with the promise for guys to come in and start and focus on being competitive again in 2020?
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in some respects, i think that's what will happen. i don't think you burn his red shirt though. JG is gonna be here next year most likely, and he will have the opportunity to get better and experience is a great teacher.

i do think we should play shrout some, but not so much to burn the RS.

i think this roster is a wreck in a lot of ways, and it's going to probalby going to be year 4 before we see positive evidence of the overhaul. this '19 class will likely be Jr's before it really turns around. the S&C required to rebuild this thing just won't happen in a year or two....so depth will be an issue for next couple years, and we'll have to rely on incoming classess to contribute early and often.
 
#8
#8
I guess the only saving grace is that Kentucky, Vandy, Missouri lose a lot after this year so that will help our cause for next but those coaches have developed consistency over the last few years that have them competitive regardless of talent (speaks to coaching) not sure I see that here but let’s hope
 
#9
#9
goooooovols said:
I’ve got a question... if we are being honest, even the most optimistic fan should see us losing the rest of our games besides Charlotte unless we see drastic improvement. Why not start preparing for next year (think “the process” like 76ers), throw Shrout out there, all of our young guys, recruit with the promise for guys to come in and start and focus on being competitive again in 2020?
Click to expand...

More like a decade..
 
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#10
#10
I never thought this year would see a whole lot of success. The OL is hot garbage. The playcalling is pedestrian. The secondary is too inconsistent as is the pass rush. These are all things we mostly knew before the first game.

I did however, and still do, expect to be better than this. There is not one simple answer, other than these kids and coaches are going to have to drastically improve, in every single phase of the game, or else be the worst UT team in history.

Its Groundhog day all over again imo. A 3 win season is the only difference from last years team.
 
#12
#12
My preseason prediction this year was 5 wins. Obviously that was overly optimistic. But my main concerns were more about improvement than the overall W-L record. We're right where I thought we'd be record-wise.

My hopes were that we'd see progress this year. You know, maybe lose to UGA by 17 instead of 41. Make guys like Richmond decent...not magically a 1st round draft pick, but serviceable. I'd hoped to see us come out well prepared and maybe fade depth took over.

Right now I see nothing to hang our hats on.

Last year, with all the injuries, dysfunction, interim coach, and a doofus like Butch at the helm we darn near won 7 games.

UF threw the hail Mary to win, KY was a very close game but I can't recall the details off hand. Seems like we had first and goal inside the 3 to end the game vs SC.

I know everyone says we have no talent but I'm not buying that we should be this bad. These games mentioned above from last season- I don't think we'll even be within striking distance this year.
 
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#13
#13
goooooovols said:
I’ve got a question... if we are being honest, even the most optimistic fan should see us losing the rest of our games besides Charlotte unless we see drastic improvement. Why not start preparing for next year (think “the process” like 76ers), throw Shrout out there, all of our young guys, recruit with the promise for guys to come in and start and focus on being competitive again in 2020?
Click to expand...

I agree we should be playing for next year. But we can't put Shrout out there. It will ruin the kid behind this O line. A redshirt year is the best way for him to prepare this year. There is no need to get him beat up during the meat of the SEC schedule and burn his redshirt. Play him the last four games maybe. But, not before that.
 
#14
#14
JCHateSteve said:
I agree we should be playing for next year. But we can't put Shrout out there. It will ruin the kid behind this O line. A redshirt year is the best way for him to prepare this year. There is no need to get him beat up during the meat of the SEC schedule and burn his redshirt. Play him the last four games maybe. But, not before that.
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Games like ETSU and UTEP should be used to take advantage if the 4 game redshirt rule. Guys like Shrout should have take a few live snaps, even just to hand off. That's why I was so upset we came out and farted around for so long.

I dunno, with this line we may play Jancek before the season is over
 
#15
#15
goooooovols said:
I’ve got a question... if we are being honest, even the most optimistic fan should see us losing the rest of our games besides Charlotte unless we see drastic improvement. Why not start preparing for next year (think “the process” like 76ers), throw Shrout out there, all of our young guys, recruit with the promise for guys to come in and start and focus on being competitive again in 2020?
Click to expand...

Pruitt has roughly 20-25 of his own guys. The rest of the roster he inherited and are guys that are mostly apathetic caused by Butch and Co.

There are some guys who are gonna be playmakers but that is like 2-3 guys.

Pruitt’s guys are freshmen. The rest of the roster is having to learn a new staff, culture, playbook after being in another system. Every player on our team is basically a freshmen learning a new system.

It sucks, but there are a lot of guys who have to get out of the team via graduation (which means a year or so) or transfer. In all honesty, Pruitt wouldn’t have recruited half these guys if he could start the year with a new slate of 0 players on the team and he could recruit up to 85 guys.

So basically, this will take time. We have an excellent defensive staff and offense will have growing pains as players and coaches. I may be detached, but I realize that this will take time. No coach can survive here if they fall victim to the instant gratification culture and I hope Pruitt blocks that out.

The people calling for Pruitt’s ouster are morons plain and simple. Pruitt has a track record of developing players. That’s the one thing Butch couldn’t do for the most part. I still stand my opinion that Pruitt needs to recruit (rankings wise) as well or Better than Butch did. If he does, talent will be injected to the program and Pruitt WILL DEVELOP said talent. As long as he improves in the W/L column starting next year, I have no beef. Ideally, I would love to be 6-6 this year but that is a reach.

I have a sense of calm with Pruitt that I didn’t have with butch or dools. Maybe it’s because Pruitt admits that the situation he walked into isn’t great. However, his work speaks for itself and he knows it’s a marathon. I get a completely different vibe with him vs Butch and to me it’s refreshing.

Flame on
 
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#16
#16
MurphyVol said:
Games like ETSU and UTEP should be used to take advantage if the 4 game redshirt rule. Guys like Shrout should have take a few live snaps, even just to hand off. That's why I was so upset we came out and farted around for so long.

I dunno, with this line we may play Jancek before the season is over
Click to expand...

That's a good way to destroy any kind of continuity. It might help Shrout, but it hurts the rest of the offense. If your going to switch to Shrout, you need to stick with him. If your going to just give him hand offs in garbage time, we can do that while we're getting blown out in our last 3 games. If you want to play him for next year, start him in the Charlotte game and ride with him from there.
 
#17
#17
goooooovols said:
I’ve got a question... if we are being honest, even the most optimistic fan should see us losing the rest of our games besides Charlotte unless we see drastic improvement. Why not start preparing for next year (think “the process” like 76ers), throw Shrout out there, all of our young guys, recruit with the promise for guys to come in and start and focus on being competitive again in 2020?
Click to expand...
So you are saying this is year zero?
 
#18
#18
JMSqb11 said:
Pruitt has roughly 20-25 of his own guys. The rest of the roster he inherited and are guys that are mostly apathetic caused by Butch and Co.

There are some guys who are gonna be playmakers but that is like 2-3 guys.

Pruitt’s guys are freshmen. The rest of the roster is having to learn a new staff, culture, playbook after being in another system. Every player on our team is basically a freshmen learning a new system.

It sucks, but there are a lot of guys who have to get out of the team via graduation (which means a year or so) or transfer. In all honesty, Pruitt wouldn’t have recruited half these guys if he could start the year with a new slate of 0 players on the team and he could recruit up to 85 guys.

So basically, this will take time. We have an excellent defensive staff and offense will have growing pains as players and coaches. I may be detached, but I realize that this will take time. No coach can survive here if they fall victim to the instant gratification culture and I hope Pruitt blocks that out.

The people calling for Pruitt’s ouster are morons plain and simple. Pruitt has a track record of developing players. That’s the one thing Butch couldn’t do for the most part. I still stand my opinion that Pruitt needs to recruit (rankings wise) as well or Better than Butch did. If he does, talent will be injected to the program and Pruitt WILL DEVELOP said talent. As long as he improves in the W/L column starting next year, I have no beef. Ideally, I would love to be 6-6 this year but that is a reach.

I have a sense of calm with Pruitt that I didn’t have with butch or dools. Maybe it’s because Pruitt admits that the situation he walked into isn’t great. However, his work speaks for itself and he knows it’s a marathon. I get a completely different vibe with him vs Butch and to me it’s refreshing.

Flame on
Click to expand...
that's all very rational. and i agree with it.

i'm just really, really tired of losing. is it written somewhere that we're not allowed to win some games that matter to us fans during the rebuild?

i mean seriously. Dan Mullen inherited a not so good FL team yet they can waltz in to Neyland stadium and we'll gift wrap a W for them. and it's not the first time that's happened with FL.

why is always US that curls up and shrinks in the moment?

that FL team is not very good. they'll lose 5 games this year. i'm not sure we win a conf game. again.

so, while i agree with your post, i'm left still wondering where is the hope in what we saw last night? seems i've been saying this for a very long time, but at some point............RESULTS ARE NEEDED. as a fan that's been going thru this for a decade, i see no reason to just belive it's going to happen in a few years. we said that a few years ago, and here we are. still a few years away.

this just isnt' fun. at all. i remembere UT football being fun, even when we weren't championship contenders. we were at least freaking competitive. i'm just sick of this.
 
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#19
#19
goooooovols said:
I’ve got a question... if we are being honest, even the most optimistic fan should see us losing the rest of our games besides Charlotte unless we see drastic improvement. Why not start preparing for next year (think “the process” like 76ers), throw Shrout out there, all of our young guys, recruit with the promise for guys to come in and start and focus on being competitive again in 2020?
Click to expand...

Bad idea. Some upperclassmen would quit like Hurd, it cause division in the locker room, etc.
 
#21
#21
This is an audition year.
Friend and Helton should be judged on what improvements they can make with what they have to work with.
Friend, especially, has been dealt a short deck admittedly.
As for recruiting, every coach on our staff should be told our TOP PRIORITY is off line. Whether current commitments, grad or juco transfers, walkons, etc.
yes, we have other problem areas galore....however, the OLINE problem is PRIORITY NUMBER ONE.
Fix it or turn Neyland into a monster truck venue.
 
#22
#22
goooooovols said:
I’ve got a question... if we are being honest, even the most optimistic fan should see us losing the rest of our games besides Charlotte unless we see drastic improvement. Why not start preparing for next year (think “the process” like 76ers), throw Shrout out there, all of our young guys, recruit with the promise for guys to come in and start and focus on being competitive again in 2020?
Click to expand...

Yes, this is another 5 year building program
After 5 seasons, Pruitt will leave for another program. We will have a couple of losing seasons and three winning programs while he is here
 
#23
#23
JCHateSteve said:
That's a good way to destroy any kind of continuity. It might help Shrout, but it hurts the rest of the offense. If your going to switch to Shrout, you need to stick with him. If your going to just give him hand offs in garbage time, we can do that while we're getting blown out in our last 3 games. If you want to play him for next year, start him in the Charlotte game and ride with him from there.
Click to expand...
What I'm saying is you should be up 50 in ETSU by the half and have played all QBs. H
 
#25
#25
I will say JG impressed me last night with his toughness, boy did he take a beating, he won't be out there the whole year if that keeps up. Don't think targets like Harrison Bailey didn't take note of the Custer at Little Bighorn situation Helton and Pruitt put JG in last night.
 
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