Speed and Talent not the problem against WVU

[ILOVEMYBIGVOLS]

I'm sure I'm in the minority here,but I think this team can still turn out to be pretty good as the season progresses. The o-line will do nothing but improve every week. I think the big question is will the d-line ever turn into the force it needs to be. ( y'all can rest easy now that I've gave you my internet coaching expert analysis)

 

[BLUTickbusdriver]

Guys,

We are slow...you saw it, I saw it. A middle of the pack Big 12 team ran circles around our guys in almost every position. I hope we can overcome this somehow but it’s probably going to take 3 years. When we start playing the much faster SEC I dont see us competing...you can’t teach speed.

 

[rdk4121]

Have to disagree with the OP re speed. Speed was missing in our defense. The DB’s will not acquire speed. This could be a long season.
On the other side, both sides of the ball should show improvements as they become more familiar with the system.
Be patient.

I don't think Taylor or Thompson, possibly even Flowers, are slow, but they are certainly inexperienced. It is certainly a mix of both technique and speed being issues, but having bad technique can make you look really slow. The only person I think is truly slow that plays is Buchanan, and maybe Abernathy as well.

 

[Vol Main]

Before Saturday I thought his name was Nigel Warrior. Boy was I wrong. I hope he just had a bad game but I thought he had Eric Berry ability waiting to come out. I guess it was more John Perry talent. He was my waiter at Shoneys.

I remember Warrior being penalized in the past, for hammering ball carriers. Against WVU, he played like his spring wasn't wound up enough. I wondered if I were imagining the change. He did not look like the same player to me.

 

[photovol]

It's not unusual for Volnation to be terrible analysts... but

Defense. Was UGA a slow and untalented team 2 years ago when they got drubbed by Ole Miss 45-14 and almost got beat by Nichols State 26-24? They looked worse against Ole Miss than UT did vs. WVU and yet those players went to the Natty last year. Look, being out of position and running in the wrong direction makes you look 4 steps slower than the guy who is running full speed in the right direction. Unfortunately WVU is a pretty tough offense to play when learning a new scheme with young players. Additionally, If anyone watched the Pruitt show replays, UTs d-line should have sacked Grier 2 or 3 more times in the first half alone (despite being held). But Grier has that Dobbs-like wet noodle escapability that few QBs have the instincts to pull off.

Offense. Did anyone think our WRs, QB, or running back looked like they lacked Talent or Speed? I actually thought the WRs looked like grown men amongst boys, JG threw lasers perfectly and had plenty of time to throw outside of the first drives. And as far as the Oline, when they did the right thing, they got more push than they did any game last year... But as Pruitt Said in his show: it's a new scheme and Trey Smith, Chance Hall, Brandon Kennedy, and Jamir Johnson had their first real practices with 30 days ago and were shuffling positions the whole time. My guess is Will Friend will be able to get them blocking the right people a little more before UF with 17 practices and 2 full games coming up. He also wasn't too high on Tim Jordan breaking tackles because he said he was missing big A Gap holes that would have prevented him from having to break tackles in the backfield.

Summary. There is middle of the pack SEC talent on this team... Maybe even a little better. And as fans we should expect improved play by game 4 because of repetitions in the same position on the same scheme (SOMETHING THAT NEVER HAPPENED LAST 2 SEASONS WITH BUTCH). Unfortunately... As UGA showed in their first season with Smart... It can take more than a couple games to know a system enough to play instinctually on the field.

You just said: "Speed and talent not the problem against WV"
Now, that's a dumb statement to begin with, did you watch the game?
Speed and talent were the exact reason we lost to WV, save 1 or 2 players, the Vols were out classed talent wise across the board.
Let's not start making excuses again, they just sound lame, it is what it is....Own it!

 

[rusty11]

Guys,

We are slow...you saw it, I saw it. A middle of the pack Big 12 team ran circles around our guys in almost every position. I hope we can overcome this somehow but it’s probably going to take 3 years. When we start playing the much faster SEC I dont see us competing...you can’t teach speed.

Who knows how slow or fast they are. Anybody know their 40 times? I would imagine they are pretty good. However, if you have 2 players that are the same speed and one gets by the other that is not at full speed then there's no way a player of equal speed is going to catch up. So, the receiver who goes by a DB is not gonna get caught. If you play tight, you've got to bump them off the line and then you've got to match speed and run with them. They got out of position, or perhaps they forgot this wasn't high school and they could not catch up if they got behind!

 

[OrangeFrog]

It's not unusual for Volnation to be terrible analysts... but

Defense. Was UGA a slow and untalented team 2 years ago when they got drubbed by Ole Miss 45-14 and almost got beat by Nichols State 26-24? They looked worse against Ole Miss than UT did vs. WVU and yet those players went to the Natty last year. Look, being out of position and running in the wrong direction makes you look 4 steps slower than the guy who is running full speed in the right direction. Unfortunately WVU is a pretty tough offense to play when learning a new scheme with young players. Additionally, If anyone watched the Pruitt show replays, UTs d-line should have sacked Grier 2 or 3 more times in the first half alone (despite being held). But Grier has that Dobbs-like wet noodle escapability that few QBs have the instincts to pull off.

Offense. Did anyone think our WRs, QB, or running back looked like they lacked Talent or Speed? I actually thought the WRs looked like grown men amongst boys, JG threw lasers perfectly and had plenty of time to throw outside of the first drives. And as far as the Oline, when they did the right thing, they got more push than they did any game last year... But as Pruitt Said in his show: it's a new scheme and Trey Smith, Chance Hall, Brandon Kennedy, and Jamir Johnson had their first real practices with 30 days ago and were shuffling positions the whole time. My guess is Will Friend will be able to get them blocking the right people a little more before UF with 17 practices and 2 full games coming up. He also wasn't too high on Tim Jordan breaking tackles because he said he was missing big A Gap holes that would have prevented him from having to break tackles in the backfield.

Summary. There is middle of the pack SEC talent on this team... Maybe even a little better. And as fans we should expect improved play by game 4 because of repetitions in the same position on the same scheme (SOMETHING THAT NEVER HAPPENED LAST 2 SEASONS WITH BUTCH). Unfortunately... As UGA showed in their first season with Smart... It can take more than a couple games to know a system enough to play instinctually on the field.

Problem is...people aren't interested in logic. Heaven forbid we give the coach some time. I mean....he's had almost a whole month with some of these kids.

 

[smashmouth105]

It's not unusual for Volnation to be terrible analysts... but

Defense. Was UGA a slow and untalented team 2 years ago when they got drubbed by Ole Miss 45-14 and almost got beat by Nichols State 26-24? They looked worse against Ole Miss than UT did vs. WVU and yet those players went to the Natty last year. Look, being out of position and running in the wrong direction makes you look 4 steps slower than the guy who is running full speed in the right direction. Unfortunately WVU is a pretty tough offense to play when learning a new scheme with young players. Additionally, If anyone watched the Pruitt show replays, UTs d-line should have sacked Grier 2 or 3 more times in the first half alone (despite being held). But Grier has that Dobbs-like wet noodle escapability that few QBs have the instincts to pull off.

Offense. Did anyone think our WRs, QB, or running back looked like they lacked Talent or Speed? I actually thought the WRs looked like grown men amongst boys, JG threw lasers perfectly and had plenty of time to throw outside of the first drives. And as far as the Oline, when they did the right thing, they got more push than they did any game last year... But as Pruitt Said in his show: it's a new scheme and Trey Smith, Chance Hall, Brandon Kennedy, and Jamir Johnson had their first real practices with 30 days ago and were shuffling positions the whole time. My guess is Will Friend will be able to get them blocking the right people a little more before UF with 17 practices and 2 full games coming up. He also wasn't too high on Tim Jordan breaking tackles because he said he was missing big A Gap holes that would have prevented him from having to break tackles in the backfield.

Summary. There is middle of the pack SEC talent on this team... Maybe even a little better. And as fans we should expect improved play by game 4 because of repetitions in the same position on the same scheme (SOMETHING THAT NEVER HAPPENED LAST 2 SEASONS WITH BUTCH). Unfortunately... As UGA showed in their first season with Smart... It can take more than a couple games to know a system enough to play instinctually on the field.

You make great points. I think people always assume the scheme in any game is always flawlessly executed and thus criticism on the players is common. It's a hard pill to swallow, but having a new scheme will always need some time to grow and mature into maximum efficacy. Tyson Helton's offense with Darnold last year was obviously way better because they knew the system and this players had been working that system, some of them, for four years. This is just going to take time. Pruitt can't fix everything in an off season. I'd much rather get waxed by a talented West Virginia team than murdered on national television by LSU because we're over hyped.

 

[jarnol32]

Guys,

We are slow...you saw it, I saw it. A middle of the pack Big 12 team ran circles around our guys in almost every position. I hope we can overcome this somehow but it’s probably going to take 3 years. When we start playing the much faster SEC I dont see us competing...you can’t teach speed.

Wv is not a middle of the pack big 12 team. They will probably finish 2nd to Oklahoma. However I agree that our defense looked not only very slow, but small. Not a good combination.

 

[DiderotsGhost]

I largely agree with OP. Mistakes are what killed us, not "speed". In fact, the plays our defense destroyed West Virginia on were largely outside runs where our faster defenders hammered them.

What killed us:
* Mistakes on offensive line: missed assignments, miscommunication, missed blocks, etc
* Mistakes in secondary: DBs guessing wrong and letting the WR get behind them (vs Sills in particular)

From a physical standpoint, speed wasn't an issue, but power was. On run plays, WV's D-line was beating our O-line consistently. But the "we're slow" argument is a lazy one. I've rewatched a lot of the "bad plays" in slow-motion and we weren't getting beat because we lacked speed. We got beat because our guys made big mental mistakes. When guys are running the wrong way, they look slower.

 

[GrizzlyVol]

This team will get better as the season goes, I'm not saying we have talent at every position but this team does have talent out there. I thought some players played good some went MIA like normal. Learning a new system makes you look a bit slow because they're doing more thinking than reacting. But believe what you all want everyone has their own opinion. All I know is the revolving door at head coach has to stop and turning on everyone we have will never get us back to where we want. And no I didn't want to keep Dooley or Butch they should've never been hired but I'd keep Fulmer any day of the week

 

[eVOLve]

I think the DBs just reacted slow instead of actually “being slow”. I think it comes down to trusting their instincts and understanding what the coaches are teaching them. I’m intrigued to see how much they develop over the next few weeks.

 

[Pacer92]

I'm sure I'm in the minority here,but I think this team can still turn out to be pretty good as the season progresses. The o-line will do nothing but improve every week. I think the big question is will the d-line ever turn into the force it needs to be. ( y'all can rest easy now that I've gave you my internet coaching expert analysis)

I agree. I’m not worried about the O-line...we will work out the kinks there. D-line is a big concern of mine...developing Kingston Harris, Greg Emerson, Matthew Butler and Emmit Gooden are a must...