Spring Ball 2021

[DULL_BOY]

We have some great talent on this roster. This staff has no idea how to put it together on the field. Need some higher IQ offensive coaches on this staff. The SEC has become a video game scoring league. Averaging 20 points a game will not get us going in the right direction at all.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

A great majority of us are still waiting to see if Pruitt is truly getting another year.

I don't think so; I think the majority of us have accepted he is in fact coming back and there is a very vocal minority trying to keep the faith that he won't be.

If I'm wrong, great, but I've seen no evidence that a head coaching change is happening.

 

[LittleVol]

I don't think so; I think the majority of us have accepted he is in fact coming back and there is a very vocal minority trying to keep the faith that he won't be.

If I'm wrong, great, but I've seen no evidence that a head coaching change is happening.

There was poll very recently asking plainly if Pruitt needs to be fired.

77 percent said emphatically, "Yes".

I did this thread with the open end possibility that he does stay.
It was about the team regardless of situation. I don't appreciate you trying to sidetrack it.

 

[Volgolfer1618]

If we add the right transfers this could be a really good season. There’s talent in a lot of places but we have some key needs (edge rusher, DBs, QB)

We need to pick that portal clean.

 

[Volgolfer1618]

I don't think so; I think the majority of us have accepted he is in fact coming back and there is a very vocal minority trying to keep the faith that he won't be.

If I'm wrong, great, but I've seen no evidence that a head coaching change is happening.

Same.

 

[Volgolfer1618]

Who is in charge of Strength and Conditioning? Seems like a good place to start in upgrading staff since the S & C guys lay the foundation for Spring ball. Yes, I have heard most of the rumors about who can hire due to NCAA investigation, Pruitt’s status, state hiring freezes and the like.

I thought we had a good s&c coach.

 

[Vol8188]

We need to pick that portal clean.

1-2 of the right guys could be all it takes. Imagine if we added JT Daniels to this team, or an elite corner

 

[Volgolfer1618]

We need corners and speed in the secondary. I think a couple of linebackers would be a plus too

 

[Border Vol]

Bring on Spring Ball at least Jeremy Pruitt doesn't turn the O&W game into a Carnival like Butch Jones did!

 

[LittleVol]

1-2 of the right guys could be all it takes. Imagine if we added JT Daniels to this team, or an elite corner

We really need somebody to emerge as a threat off the edge.
Even more than QB.

I don't know if there is anyone out there in the portal.

The Brooks kid, Barron and Joseph all need to help next year. Eason has a lot of ability.
Roman Harrison got a ton snaps and his effectiveness was minimal...he was new to the position completely as a freshman but was much better than this season. I'm wondering if it's coaching...

That 3-4 edge guy needs to have about 35+ tackles and 15+ QB pressures and 6 sacks to really contribute. Because our DBs can make plays with just a little pass rush help.

 

[VolsRule]

without total vaccinations, spring ball will likely be canceled again.

 

[LittleVol]

without total vaccinations, spring ball will likely be canceled again.

Which leads to two more questions.
1) Will they be available for Student- Athletes by then?

2) Will it be mandatory to take the vaccine?

Because there hasn't been a long turnaround time to see side effects from it.

I don't see how they could cancel being that we just played a whole season of football. It's like taking steps back...

 

[BLUTickbusdriver]

Speed kills or lack there of! We see how AL and OSU use it on Offense. Well, the same can be said about defense we need more speed in our secondary and our edge rushers. We’ve been way too slow for a few years in these areas and it’s killing us. Hopefully we find a solution in the off season. GBO!

 

[LittleVol]

Speed kills or lack there of! We see how AL and OSU use it on Offense. Well, the same can be said about defense we need more speed in our secondary and our edge rushers. We’ve been way too slow for a few years in these areas and it’s killing us. Hopefully we find a solution in the off season. GBO!

We have talent on the edge. It's just young.

Really looking forward to progession of Joseph and Barron. And Eason.
Just give those kids as many reps as they can handle.

Brooks could start as a true freshman. It was huge getting him to sign.

 

[BLUTickbusdriver]

We have talent on the edge. It's just young.

Really looking forward to progession of Joseph and Barron. And Eason.
Just give those kids as many reps as they can handle.

Brooks could start as a true freshman. It was huge getting him to sign.

I hope our strength and conditioning guys bust our kids backsides this off season! We need em stronger and much, much faster!!

 

[Vol423]

A great majority of us are still waiting to see if Pruitt is truly getting another year. Regardless of that, there is still a football team that is going to have a critical off-season. A couple of huge positives too personnel wise to look at.

QB: We're going to have Bailey and Maurer for 2021. That's huge. Throw in a talented Kaden Salter and the QB room feels fresh again. Now the big question is will there be a true QB competition. Edit: I forgot about the Maurer credit card thing.

RB: More power is on the way. Cody Brown at 230. Evans at 220. Beckwith at 235 all 3 with speed and hands. Gray will certainly be the guy if he's on the team still but look for more power in the backfield.

WR/TE: Jalin Hyatt in year 2 should be able to back the safties out of the box. Velus will be the number 2 guy. Wideman and Tillman have go get it ability. Princeton Fant is getting better and better. Legit recieving TE threat.

OL: Friend is GONE. Wanya, and Darnell in year 3. Mays boys on the inside. Carvin, and Kalberht are big guys that have played a lot. I think we improve here with the QB consistency and the added power Rbs.

Defense:

Bruh...i don't know.

So comment if you are excited still about spring ball.
What will you be looking for?
Do you think a bigtime transfer is coming to Knoxville?
If Jeremy lets Chaney have complete control, do you see this team having a good spring.
If no Maurer, who will be the 3rd QB?
Any position changes??
Who are you most excited to see this spring?

I see that we're continuing the annual Volnation offseason tradition of looking at a roster of players that just got their butts absolutely whipped by every team that we played with a pulse (and some that didn't even have a pulse - I'm looking at you, Kentucky), and then projecting that team to be good next year.

 

[FBtime]

without total vaccinations, spring ball will likely be canceled again.

So we can somehow manage to get in an entire season of college football with teams traveling to play other teams but we can't do a spring practice where teams stay in one place the entire time? Sure...makes sense.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

There was poll very recently asking plainly if Pruitt needs to be fired.

77 percent said emphatically, "Yes".

I did this thread with the open end possibility that he does stay.
It was about the team regardless of situation. I don't appreciate you trying to sidetrack it.

I didn't side track anything; I responded to what you posted. It's a discussion board and I'm discussing what you posted.

Also a poll asking should he be fired doesn't equal "A great majority of us are still waiting to see if Pruitt is truly getting another year". A majority can think he should be fired but also accept that he's not going to be.

 

[LittleVol]

I see that we're continuing the annual Volnation offseason tradition of looking at a roster of players that just got their butts absolutely whipped by every team that we played with a pulse (and some that didn't even have a pulse - I'm looking at you, Kentucky), and then projecting that team to be good next year.

We were a better team the last 3 games of the season.

It's hard to tell because we played two top 5 teams and then a terrible Vanderbilt team.

We have the 3rd most talented roster in the East imo.

And we didn't use it effectively.

 

[FalconVol77]

. Have some patience he’s still learning on the job.

Not sure how serious you are, but that’s a problem. You don’t “learn on the job” at Tennessee.

 

[VOLfrombama]

Burrell played in minimal snaps. Kenneth George was a corner not a safety. I think you’re thinking of Jackson who also is older and played majority of the year. Again you’re disregarding kivon bennet and Deandre Johnson both OLB. Flowers has played in almost two seasons worth and been in the program for three years. Your trying to fit a narrative out of sub packages. Our starters were OLD. Our depth was young but when your Juniors and Seniors played as bad as the freshmen that is a problem. Outside of 2 1/2 games our starters weren’t getting worn down and getting beat because experience... they were getting beat by not executing basic defensive principles in the middle of the field.

Key played all over the place, not just safety. He played a lot at corner, especially when we were in dime packages. He also played in all 10 games.
Burrell started multiple games so that means he started over those upperclassman you’re trying to give all the credit and blame to.
George only played in 8 games. Burrell played in 8 but key played in 10.
I won’t argue that the upperclassmen sucked, but they certainly didn’t play the entire time and shared a lot of snaps with young folks. 2 senior OLBs, one of which was booted 7 games into the season. The rest were sophs and freshman. When you have an old team, that many underclassmen dont play that much

 

[LittleVol]

I didn't side track anything; I responded to what you posted. It's a discussion board and I'm discussing what you posted.

Also a poll asking should he be fired doesn't equal "A great majority of us are still waiting to see if Pruitt is truly getting another year". A majority can think he should be fired but also accept that he's not going to be.

So what about the team? Your thoughts on them going into spring...

 

[LittleVol]

QBs is obvisouly going to be a big point of discussion

RBs I think Gray will be #1 but I think Evans with be the #2

WRs will be better I think. Hopefully seeing how Ohio St and Bama use their WR's speed, I think they utilize Hyatt, Jones, Calloway better than last year

TEs are going to be rough again, maybe Campbell can come in and bring more of a pass catching option

OL I still think can be great in the SEC with right coaching, and we are hopefully in that process now

DL will be stronger and getting most if not all guys back will help, especially with depth

LBs hopefully will work in the weight room along with pass coverage

DBs need a refresher, hopefully someone like Rucker or Lawrence can push these guys in competition more

Nice response

 

[UTwick]

I thought we had a good s&c coach.

Name? Scoured the official UT sports website and found no S & C coach(es) listed. Seems like OL didn’t show many gains despite a good lineup on paper.

 

[Sarms58]

I hope to see some of our youth move into the front 7...

Omari Thomas and Dominic Bailey are both true freshmen who have the size and athleticism to be a force at DT...Morven Josephine and Tyler Barron are both true freshmen - not sure if they lineup as DE or OLB but both made some plays this year....and we signed three 4 star ILB (Whitehead, Eason and French) that should be ready to see more playing time...that’s seven men from the 2020 class who should be competing for playing time this spring and next fall...

Dylan Brooks, KaTron Evans and Aaron Willis could also be in the mix for playing time in the front 7 next fall - not sure if any are early enrollees...

Of course we also have some upperclassmen who are solid players with great effort but I just believe our front 7 - especially the front 3 - needs more talent.