Things some of us may be overlooking. Long post. RATED O (Optimism)

[VolNilla Ice]

This upcoming season Is first with 4 classes of obviously upgraded overall depth, bewilderingly lacking when Butch arrived. Now these guys are practicing against much better talent, iron sharpens iron as they say.

If Rock gets the S&C excelling again, these guys that have been here have young fast talent nipping at their heels. The PWO list is impressive on paper. There should be some good competitive dynamics taking place with this team and these last two classes, while not credited by services quite as much(not that I buy into stars), will be broken in by some highly ranked and talented upperclassmen.

Unfortunately tons of great leadership gone, but losing JRM and Sutton early allowed them to mold some leadership in next and future years upper classmen. Also, Dropped a few "ME first" guys to the teams benefit.

Several years since we have had the ol QB battle and I LOVE all 3 of the QBS even tho nobody mentions Sheriron...this is going to be an interesting spring Vol fans. Guarantano is a faster and more accurate player than Dobbs at this stage and Dormady is a Blake Bortles type player, really like him as well. Blast away but I like the staff changes and if the rumors on OL and DL coaches are true, they will be upgrades as well. Sorry so long to the 2 ppl that skipped to the bottom to see this apology! Lol
GO VOLS!

 

[OneVolNation]

I love it man. Rated O is a unique twist and got my attention.

You're exactly right. It will be fun to watch this team gel and take shape. I'm excited to see how the new coaches and changes help everyone elevate to new levels of play.

 

[81Orange]

I like our QB options but faster than Dobbs? No. I think any of the three can become the starter. Any chance Jones is another Dobbs? With this much time to study the system you would think QD is ready to lead. Then JG has the physical skills to be great. Could be a hard choice for CBJ.
If Jones ends up at the 3 spot do we move him to the field an where?

 

[VOLINVONORE]

I like our QB options but faster than Dobbs? No. I think any of the three can become the starter. Any chance Jones is another Dobbs? With this much time to study the system you would think QD is ready to lead. Then JG has the physical skills to be great. Could be a hard choice for CBJ.
If Jones ends up at the 3 spot do we move him to the field an where?

In a two man race, I think JG beats Dobbs. I think that last year, Dobbs could break more tackles than JG because of his age and superior strength. I don't think JG will be sacked as often as Dobbs, for two reasons; JG will have a better OL and will throw the ball away rather than taking the sack. No experience on to determine if JG can take better care of the ball and not fumble as much as Dobbs did.

 

[Grudenator]

It will be an interesting season this year that's for sure but as far as roster talent evaluation, I'm not sure if this years is much or at all better than last years. There is more depth which will help. The QB battle is extremely exciting. I like Gman and Dormady a lot but I think Gman takes the helm which makes me feel bad for Dormady because he is a pretty solid looking QB just in the wrong system. Ahhhh can it be September already?!

 

[Hacksaw]

Wait just a gawl durn minute here.

Are you telling us that you intend to wait for the season to start before you give up all hope?

What a concept!

 

[Remy]

Wait just a gawl durn minute here.

Are you telling us that you intend to wait for the season to start before you give up all hope?

What a concept!

<blue font> CANCEL THE SEASON!!!

Lol, you have some here at VN that haven't proposed that BUT, it's their only option after bad mouthing the staff, kids, kids we recruit, etc etc etc. 121 will have big question marks attached to it before the season starts, but no more and in some cases like UGA & UF, less. UGA could not figure out who on their roster last year could make the 3 OL seniors sit down, they were not there. That means and it has been mentioned, 3 heralded freshman OLs could start on the UGA OL. Want to bet how great that will turn out? UF, 7 gone from their starting defense and do they have a legit QB on their roster that has taken an SEC snap, which is no worse than us, could be a true freshman which IS worse than us. There is reason not to quit before taking the field in 2017 VOLs and I for one will take a wait and see attitude, I'm not writing these kids or the staff off during the off season.

 

[orangeluvr]

JG has the potential to be the next Football Johnny, ya never know. :thumbsup:

 

[Grudenator]

JG has the potential to be the next Football Johnny, ya never know. :thumbsup:

Without the cocaine and shrooms of course.

 

[savannahfan]

This upcoming season Is first with 4 classes of obviously upgraded overall depth, bewilderingly lacking when Butch arrived. Now these guys are practicing against much better talent, iron sharpens iron as they say.

If Rock gets the S&C excelling again, these guys that have been here have young fast talent nipping at their heels. The PWO list is impressive on paper. There should be some good competitive dynamics taking place with this team and these last two classes, while not credited by services quite as much(not that I buy into stars), will be broken in by some highly ranked and talented upperclassmen.

Unfortunately tons of great leadership gone, but losing JRM and Sutton early allowed them to mold some leadership in next and future years upper classmen. Also, Dropped a few "ME first" guys to the teams benefit.

Several years since we have had the ol QB battle and I LOVE all 3 of the QBS even tho nobody mentions Sheriron...this is going to be an interesting spring Vol fans. Guarantano is a faster and more accurate player than Dobbs at this stage and Dormady is a Blake Bortles type player, really like him as well. Blast away but I like the staff changes and if the rumors on OL and DL coaches are true, they will be upgrades as well. Sorry so long to the 2 ppl that skipped to the bottom to see this apology! Lol
GO VOLS!

Really great post!!! Good insight all around if what you say about players is based on fact and not just what you hope. I give you the benefit of known facts on your part. Still, love post.

 

[savannahfan]

In a two man race, I think JG beats Dobbs. I think that last year, Dobbs could break more tackles than JG because of his age and superior strength. I don't think JG will be sacked as often as Dobbs, for two reasons; JG will have a better OL and will throw the ball away rather than taking the sack. No experience on to determine if JG can take better care of the ball and not fumble as much as Dobbs did.

For some reason I don't remember Dobbs fumbling that much. Guess I was just so impressed by the guy overall, I just overlook fumbles. I was frustrated by his passing thou.

 

[Wildasamink16]

This upcoming season Is first with 4 classes of obviously upgraded overall depth, bewilderingly lacking when Butch arrived. Now these guys are practicing against much better talent, iron sharpens iron as they say.

If Rock gets the S&C excelling again, these guys that have been here have young fast talent nipping at their heels. The PWO list is impressive on paper. There should be some good competitive dynamics taking place with this team and these last two classes, while not credited by services quite as much(not that I buy into stars), will be broken in by some highly ranked and talented upperclassmen.

Unfortunately tons of great leadership gone, but losing JRM and Sutton early allowed them to mold some leadership in next and future years upper classmen. Also, Dropped a few "ME first" guys to the teams benefit.

Several years since we have had the ol QB battle and I LOVE all 3 of the QBS even tho nobody mentions Sheriron...this is going to be an interesting spring Vol fans. Guarantano is a faster and more accurate player than Dobbs at this stage and Dormady is a Blake Bortles type player, really like him as well. Blast away but I like the staff changes and if the rumors on OL and DL coaches are true, they will be upgrades as well. Sorry so long to the 2 ppl that skipped to the bottom to see this apology! Lol
GO VOLS!

Oh yes! I have more optimism this year than ever for all Of the above

 

[Behr]

Wait just a gawl durn minute here.

Are you telling us that you intend to wait for the season to start before you give up all hope?

What a concept!

Come on man, they don't need an invitation. You could have at least waited til they posted first. And they would have.

 

[njvols]

Great thread. Legit discussion on how good our team can be this year w/o typical insertions of negative banter. Fwiw, I think if we get back to minimizing penalties , generally mistake free football and good qb play, will be in good shape.

 

[Coachmike17]

Great thread. Legit discussion on how good our team can be this year w/o typical insertions of negative banter. Fwiw, I think if we get back to minimizing penalties , generally mistake free football and good qb play, will be in good shape.

And if we score more points than the other team each game I predict we win. Sorry, couldn't help it. Pumped up for Super Bowl!

 

[tennesseeduke]

In a two man race, I think JG beats Dobbs. I think that last year, Dobbs could break more tackles than JG because of his age and superior strength. I don't think JG will be sacked as often as Dobbs, for two reasons; JG will have a better OL and will throw the ball away rather than taking the sack. No experience on to determine if JG can take better care of the ball and not fumble as much as Dobbs did.

FYI...it's not about speed, it's about field presence and elusiveness. Dobbs had both. If JG has those intangibles then he can be great.

:loco:

Tennesseeduke

 

[I_Bleed_Orange77]

Great thread. Legit discussion on how good our team can be this year w/o typical insertions of negative banter. Fwiw, I think if we get back to minimizing penalties , generally mistake free football and good qb play, will be in good shape.

Oh it's coming, the clowns like catbone and count can't resist being Debbie downers.

 

[Biopsyman]

New QB means early season struggles

 

[81Orange]

Nothing would help more than dependable OL play. We need a solid run game to be in 3rd and short. The young QBs could look really good if they can focus on the secondary and receivers. They won't look good looking at the DL.

 

[jakez4ut]

i'm trying to be more optimistic this off season. but for me, that really means taking a little bit of a longer view. i think a lot of the changes to the staff are good. i think the qb situation is good. i think our O line has a chance to be the strength of the offense. and i think there's no place to go but up on defense.

all that said, we are going thru a ton of transition this off season...replacing some very key elements to the past two years' successes, not to mention their leadership. new qb, new oc, new qb coach, dl coach, db coach, s&c coach and likely o line coach. replacing 2 stud DE's, 2 LB's, all sec caliber db, #1 and 2 rb's, #1 WR....

again, longer view, i think there are positives. i don't know that all of it will come together in 7-8 months to translate in to championship contending season this year.

but i do like what i see for the future, and i think there's a big opportunity in this next recruiting cycle to take advantage of a deep in state class.

i don't see any of it though impacting this up coming season so positively that it turns in to 2-3 extra wins over what i expect today.

 

[hohenfelsvol]

I am looking forward to what the new guys who need to step it up will be able to do against talented teams. I also hope to see Hoke's coaching improve defensive play. We shall see. Going to be a long off season, as usual.

 

[Catbone]

10-2 minimum

 

[jakez4ut]

10-2 minimum

If we have a 10-2 season this year, I'd say "wake up, you've been dreaming"

 

[edyeary]

A whole lot of backups got some snaps this year that they normally would not have gotten. Bound to be a good thing in the long run.

 

[volfannbama]

I am looking forward to what the new guys who need to step it up will be able to do against talented teams. I also hope to see Hoke's coaching improve defensive play. We shall see. Going to be a long off season, as usual.

Hasnt Wells been assisting with the oline?