Taylor, Kirkland, Bituli, Ignoit

#1
PulaskiVolFan

PulaskiVolFan

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#1
Johnson and JJ returning at LB. Add Harrison and Crouch to this group and things are starting to look up at the LB position I feel. I know we are still in on a couple of more LBs and hope we get em as this is our biggest need on defense I feel. You can't be a physical dominant defense without a bunch of big and fast grown men at the LB position.

Classy announcement by Taylor I thought.
 
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#7
#7
I still think Tennessee is a couple years away from really getting 3-4 personnel right. Johnson and Taylor are more 4-3 DEs.

Tennessee desperately needs speed and tackling skill at all LB positions. LBers were some of the worst tacklers on the team last season.
 
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#9
#9
IMO defensive line will be our achilles heel next season like Oline was this year. Pruitt put together a nearly amazing class coming off of a 5 and 7 season...but despite being in the running for several good "big eaters" on the Dline, we signed very little, and are losing a bunch. Shy tuttle, despite not showing up much on the stat sheets, will be sorely, sorely missed. Watch game tape, him and our walkon hero turned scholly man, The Paul Bain, were about all we had that could get any push at tackle this season. They are both gone now...we are gonna really struggle at tackle unless we get a Juco or some more committments from very highly rated, 300 plus pounders that can play well from day 1.

I am a sunshine pumper by trade, but to anyone who focuses on line play, as I do, this looks very, very shaky for next year. Our LB amd safeties will get beat to death if every tackle is made 5 to 7 yards downfield BC our Dline is getting beaten badly at the point of attack. We will be unable to stop the run...just like many times last season, and every single snap of Botchs last season.
 
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#12
#12
marcusluvsvols said:
IMO defensive line will be our achilles heel next season like Oline was this year. Pruitt put together a nearly amazing class coming off of a 5 and 7 season...but despite being in the running for several good "big eaters" on the Dline, we signed very little, and are losing a bunch. Shy tuttle, despite not showing up much on the stat sheets, will be sorely, sorely missed. Watch game tape, him and our walkon hero turned scholly man, The Paul Bain, were about all we had that could get any push at tackle this season. They are both gone now...we are gonna really struggle at tackle unless we get a Juco or some more committments from very highly rated, 300 plus pounders that can play well from day 1.

I am a sunshine pumper by trade, but to anyone who focuses on line play, as I do, this looks very, very shaky for next year. Our LB amd safeties will get beat to death if every tackle is made 5 to 7 yards downfield BC our Dline is getting beaten badly at the point of attack. We will be unable to stop the run...just like many times last season, and every single snap of Botchs last season.
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I am with you on this. It is our area of biggest concern. I think Puitt wil be working on this as much as possible. Sometimes though, when your area of biggest concern has a lot of graduates, that is not always a bad thing. Maybe it is what was needed. We willl see soon enough.
 
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#14
#14
Glad Taylor is coming back and I think it makes sense. An NFL team would pick him up if he declared for the draft (either late rounds or as an undrafted free agent), but if he could become more consistent, he could move up into the top 3 rounds for the 2020 draft and get much bigger money. He looked like a 1st team All-American at times, but disappeared at others.

The only real downside for him IMO is that he'll be playing behind a weaker D-line in all likelihood.
 
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#15
#15
marcusluvsvols said:
IMO defensive line will be our achilles heel next season like Oline was this year. Pruitt put together a nearly amazing class coming off of a 5 and 7 season...but despite being in the running for several good "big eaters" on the Dline, we signed very little, and are losing a bunch. Shy tuttle, despite not showing up much on the stat sheets, will be sorely, sorely missed. Watch game tape, him and our walkon hero turned scholly man, The Paul Bain, were about all we had that could get any push at tackle this season. They are both gone now...we are gonna really struggle at tackle unless we get a Juco or some more committments from very highly rated, 300 plus pounders that can play well from day 1.

I am a sunshine pumper by trade, but to anyone who focuses on line play, as I do, this looks very, very shaky for next year. Our LB amd safeties will get beat to death if every tackle is made 5 to 7 yards downfield BC our Dline is getting beaten badly at the point of attack. We will be unable to stop the run...just like many times last season, and every single snap of Botchs last season.
Click to expand...
I agree and just hope we don't solve our OL problems, only to be transferred over to DL. Trainwrecks on OL or DL basically dooms a season and assures occupancy in the "maybe we can get to a bowl" category in the SEC.
 
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#16
#16
marcusluvsvols said:
IMO defensive line will be our achilles heel next season like Oline was this year. Pruitt put together a nearly amazing class coming off of a 5 and 7 season...but despite being in the running for several good "big eaters" on the Dline, we signed very little, and are losing a bunch. Shy tuttle, despite not showing up much on the stat sheets, will be sorely, sorely missed. Watch game tape, him and our walkon hero turned scholly man, The Paul Bain, were about all we had that could get any push at tackle this season. They are both gone now...we are gonna really struggle at tackle unless we get a Juco or some more committments from very highly rated, 300 plus pounders that can play well from day 1.

I am a sunshine pumper by trade, but to anyone who focuses on line play, as I do, this looks very, very shaky for next year. Our LB amd safeties will get beat to death if every tackle is made 5 to 7 yards downfield BC our Dline is getting beaten badly at the point of attack. We will be unable to stop the run...just like many times last season, and every single snap of Botchs last season.
Click to expand...
DL is always a concern in the SEC. Generally the better lines consist of Sr laden players, not so much great players as they are few and far between at the DT and DE positions. It's definitely an area of concern but I just feel that LB play, especially MLB and Edge rushers, are the most important parts of a great defense. Nearly every dominant defense has always consisted of dominant MLB and great edge rushers. Great defensive linemen definitely contribute to strong defenses just not nearly as much as the LB unit I feel. Bottom line, we had best hope for big improvements in our entire front 7 or face similar results from the last 2 years.
 
#18
#18
marcusluvsvols said:
IMO defensive line will be our achilles heel next season like Oline was this year. Pruitt put together a nearly amazing class coming off of a 5 and 7 season...but despite being in the running for several good "big eaters" on the Dline, we signed very little, and are losing a bunch. Shy tuttle, despite not showing up much on the stat sheets, will be sorely, sorely missed. Watch game tape, him and our walkon hero turned scholly man, The Paul Bain, were about all we had that could get any push at tackle this season. They are both gone now...we are gonna really struggle at tackle unless we get a Juco or some more committments from very highly rated, 300 plus pounders that can play well from day 1.

I am a sunshine pumper by trade, but to anyone who focuses on line play, as I do, this looks very, very shaky for next year. Our LB amd safeties will get beat to death if every tackle is made 5 to 7 yards downfield BC our Dline is getting beaten badly at the point of attack. We will be unable to stop the run...just like many times last season, and every single snap of Botchs last season.
Click to expand...

I’m right there with you. Until we get the line play straightened out on both sides of the bill, it will be tough.
 
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#19
#19
Unless something unexpected happens I don't think we're getting any better on the D line this recruiting cycle. Until that happens it doesn't matter how good the LB's and DB's are.
 
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#21
#21
JazzMaster001 said:
Unless something unexpected happens I don't think we're getting any better on the D line this recruiting cycle. Until that happens it doesn't matter how good the LB's and DB's are.
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One last bit of hope is we land a transfer, graduate transfer or one with a waiver. Not sure the kid leaving Michigan from Georgia will get a waiver, but would love to land him regardless.
 
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