Vols backfield, DLine make PFF's top 10 returning SEC units

#1
Titans4Vols

Titans4Vols

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#1
3. Tennessee backfield

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better running back duo than Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara. Hurd graded out as one of the top rushers a year ago as the Vols’ leading ball-carrier, and Kamara was even more productive on a per-touch basis, ranking second to only Penn State’s Saquon Barkley in elusive rating among returning Power-5 backs, and second to only Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey in yards per pass route run. They are joined by Josh Dobbs, who ranks as one of the nation’s best running QBs after forcing a ridiculous 45 missed tackles as a runner last year, making the Vols’ running game one of the best in the country.
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10. Tennessee defensive line

It was difficult selecting just one defensive line for this last spot, as Auburn, Ole Miss and Arkansas all had a reasonable claim based off of their 2015 grades. But we went with the Vols here, in large part due to the presence of Derek Barnett. He enters the season with the highest 2015 grade among edge defenders, having played very well against the run and produced 10 sacks as a pass-rusher. Corey Vereen, the defensive end who will line up opposite Barnett, graded well in 2015, particularly as a rusher. The interior of the line is a little more of a question mark, with projected starters Danny O’Brien and Kendal Vickers having graded negatively last season. But there’s upside there in the form of Shy Tuttle (whose availability for the season’s start is in question due to last year’s season-ending injury) and Kahlil McKenzie, who were both good versus the run in limited snaps last season.
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Tennessee and Alabama are the only two teams to have more than 1 unit make the list.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/college-football-top-10-returning-units-in-the-sec/
 
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#2
#2
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#4
#4
Ha just realized they're ranking units as a whole not units by position. In that case 10th for our d line is phenomenal
 
#5
#5
Berry4Heisman14 said:
Hard for me to believe there's 9 D lines better than ours
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We're thin at D-tackle. OBrien and Vickers are average to below average. Tuttle is coming off a bad injury and no one knows when he'll be 100%. KMac is a sophomore who has great potential but didn't do much as a freshman. IMO, that's why. We're great at DE, not so much at DT.
 
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#7
#7
KBVol said:
We're thin at D-tackle. OBrien and Vickers are average to below average. Tuttle is coming off a bad injury and no one knows when he'll be 100%. KMac is a sophomore who has great potential but didn't do much as a freshman. IMO, that's why. We're great at DE, not so much at DT.
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I disagree. As the season progressed last season, especially after Tuttle's injury, both played well and improved. The experience gained last year will make them better and I think they will perform very well. Big McK will hit his stride and take a lot of pressure off whoever is playing beside them. Look for the DL to control the OL of our opponents.
 
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#8
#8
VOLINVONORE said:
I disagree. As the season progressed last season, especially after Tuttle's injury, both played well and improved. The experience gained last year will make them better and I think they will perform very well. Big McK will hit his stride and take a lot of pressure off whoever is playing beside them. Look for the DL to control the OL of our opponents.
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How many very good DTs do you think it takes to have a top SEC DL? Teams like Alabama, Florida and LSU who perennially have the best DLs in both the SEC and nation seem to think a rotation of 6-7, even 8 stud to very good DTs are necessary.

By my count we have this....

1. Danny OBrien....serviceable, will provide depth, not bad but not very good

2. Kendal Vickers.....converted defensive end.....ditto

3. KMac- ton of talent and potential, a little disappointing last year, still learning...should be great one day, not there yet, still gotta prove it.

4. Shy Tuttle- showed flashes last year early, then suffered what is proving to be a year long injury/rehab. We don't know when he'll be ready, when he'll be 100%. Were he healthy I'd say he's a great strength heading into the season....but right now he's not.

5. Quay Picou- small, quick, athletic true soph with little experience and no tackles yet.

6. Paul Bain- walkon

7. Alexis Johnson- currently serving indefinite suspension, on probation until October, can't be counted on at this point...and if he is reinstated, will be able to play in 2016 at an SEC level?

We essentially have two stud DTs, one of which is still trying to get back to 100% so that he can be ready for the start of the season. If you don't think that's thin then ok. We'll agree to disagree.
 
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#9
#9
KBVol said:
How many very good DTs do you think it takes to have a top SEC DL? Teams like Alabama, Florida and LSU who perennially have the best DLs in both the SEC and nation seem to think a rotation of 6-7, even 8 stud to very good DTs are necessary.

By my count we have this....

1. Danny OBrien....serviceable, will provide depth, not bad but not very good

2. Kendal Vickers.....converted defensive end.....ditto

3. KMac- ton of talent and potential, a little disappointing last year, still learning...should be great one day, not there yet, still gotta prove it.

4. Shy Tuttle- showed flashes last year early, then suffered what is proving to be a year long injury/rehab. We don't know when he'll be ready, when he'll be 100%. Were he healthy I'd say he's a great strength heading into the season....but right now he's not.

5. Quay Picou- small, quick, athletic true soph with little experience and no tackles yet.

6. Paul Bain- walkon

7. Alexis Johnson- currently serving indefinite suspension, on probation until October, can't be counted on at this point...and if he is reinstated, will be able to play in 2016 at an SEC level?

We essentially have two stud DTs, one of which is still trying to get back to 100% so that he can be ready for the start of the season. If you don't think that's thin then ok. We'll agree to disagree.
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How dare you wait until point 6 to list the Great One?
 
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#10
#10
Not that this totally alleviates the concern but Barnett, Kongbo, and Phillips can all play DT if need be. I think Barnett would be a legit player at DT. Phillips did so last year and was serviceable and I think he will improve this year. Kongbo is the wild card since we expect him to be good but cannot count on it definitely. All in all, I wish Tuttle was healthy and that Johnson was eligible but our DT depth has been putrid in the past and we are in a better spot this year that at any time since Fulmer's last couple years.
 
#12
#12
HuntlandVolinColo said:
I'm optimistic that our new walk-on Joey Cave will be a dependable cog. He has 4.9 speed which is pretty good for a 290 pound DT.
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Which furthers the point......when you're mentioning a walkon in any capacity when talking about a position group, for a potential championship team like team 120, you're "thin" at that group.
 
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#13
#13
KBVol said:
We're thin at D-tackle. OBrien and Vickers are average to below average. Tuttle is coming off a bad injury and no one knows when he'll be 100%. KMac is a sophomore who has great potential but didn't do much as a freshman. IMO, that's why. We're great at DE, not so much at DT.
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I'd like to see a variation of the nascar package the NY Giants used to get after the Patriots in the Super Bowl. 3rd and long could be fun if we could incorporate 4 DE from time to time. It could also mask some of our depth issues at DT and give our big boys a blow.
 
#14
#14
At over 280 pounds Kongbo will play plenty on the inside at DT especially in passing situations.
 
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#16
#16
HuntlandVolinColo said:
I'm optimistic that our new walk-on Joey Cave will be a dependable cog. He has 4.9 speed which is pretty good for a 290 pound DT.
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Joey Cave and Paul Bain. The second coming of John Henderson and Albert Haynesworth in my opinion. Wreaking havoc in the backfield
 
#17
#17
KBVol said:
How many very good DTs do you think it takes to have a top SEC DL? Teams like Alabama, Florida and LSU who perennially have the best DLs in both the SEC and nation seem to think a rotation of 6-7, even 8 stud to very good DTs are necessary.

By my count we have this....

1. Danny OBrien....serviceable, will provide depth, not bad but not very good

2. Kendal Vickers.....converted defensive end.....ditto

3. KMac- ton of talent and potential, a little disappointing last year, still learning...should be great one day, not there yet, still gotta prove it.

4. Shy Tuttle- showed flashes last year early, then suffered what is proving to be a year long injury/rehab. We don't know when he'll be ready, when he'll be 100%. Were he healthy I'd say he's a great strength heading into the season....but right now he's not.

5. Quay Picou- small, quick, athletic true soph with little experience and no tackles yet.

6. Paul Bain- walkon

7. Alexis Johnson- currently serving indefinite suspension, on probation until October, can't be counted on at this point...and if he is reinstated, will be able to play in 2016 at an SEC level?

We essentially have two stud DTs, one of which is still trying to get back to 100% so that he can be ready for the start of the season. If you don't think that's thin then ok. We'll agree to disagree.
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That's actually only true for Alabama next year.

Go look up Florida and LSU's d-line.

They're more anonymous than our d-line.

As long as Shy is 100% by Florida, we'll be fine.
 
#18
#18
Power T-Rev said:
Joey Cave and Paul Bain. The second coming of John Henderson and Albert Haynesworth in my opinion. Wreaking havoc in the backfield
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Bain cannot play. We dont have a backup waterboy to replace him. A hydrating engineer is much more important imo.
 
#20
#20
Tuttle was really coming on strong last year before the injury. Can't wait to see him back 100 percent. KMac was trying to play himself back into shape last year. I expect him to be much improved this year.
 
#21
#21
What's the old saying, to be successful in this league you need to be able to run the dive and stop the dive? Running game and dline are 2 good area's to be bragged on if that's the case.
 
#22
#22
By the way, Texas A&M also had two units make the list:
2) Defensive Line
8) Wideouts

as opposed to ours:

3) Backfield
10) Defensive Line
 
#23
#23
Interestingly, this same site has App's O-line in the top 10 returning O-lines as well.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/college-football-top-10-offensive-lines-in-notre-dame-stanford/

Quite honestly, I think our O-line is one of the best in the G5. I wouldn't necessarily put it in the top 10 when considered with P5 teams. Plus, we graduated our center last year. I'm not sure we've got an O-lineman who can read defenses like he did. We'll know a little more in a few weeks...
 
#24
#24
AppFan82 said:
Interestingly, this same site has App's O-line in the top 10 returning O-lines as well.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/college-football-top-10-offensive-lines-in-notre-dame-stanford/

Quite honestly, I think our O-line is one of the best in the G5. I wouldn't necessarily put it in the top 10 when considered with P5 teams. Plus, we graduated our center last year. I'm not sure we've got an O-lineman who can read defenses like he did. We'll know a little more in a few weeks...
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Won't be long and we will figure out what everybody is working with. I'm ready for it to get here. Will you be in Knox for the game?
 
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