What areas care we hurting in? Offense/Defense

#1
volfan2024

volfan2024

“Wanna play ball scarecrow “
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#1
Qb is strong . What about line both sides, receivers , d-backs. I know eventually we’ll be exposed if there is a glaring weakness?Punter/kicker? Depth? Appreciate any feedback.
 
#10
#10
Brave Volunteer said:
DB by far is the most suspect. Lack of depth and experience at the position. Our outside rush is going to have to really help them out.
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I am going to hard disagree on DB being a lack of depth as the issue. We legitimately have 11 guys that could play there. Experience is pretty good as well, as at least 3 (Burrell, McCullough, and Flowers) of them are multi year starters, plus another possible starter (Wesley Walker) started several games at his previous school. Plus, several of the other guys vying for playing time (Turnage, McDonald, Hadden, Slaughter, and Dee Williams), are at least juniors. Plus there's a couple high ceiling guys like Charles, Rucker, and Turrentine that could easily see time this year.

You could argue certainly against our top end talent, but it is easily one of the deepest units on our roster as far as bodies and experience. I personally think they'll be improved this year.
 
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#12
#12
utfantilidie said:
Qb is strong . What about line both sides, receivers , d-backs. I know eventually we’ll be exposed if there is a glaring weakness?Punter/kicker? Depth? Appreciate any feedback.
Click to expand...
D-Line is actually pretty deep this year. We have Thomas, Eason, Terry, Garland, Bailey, and Simmons inside that look to be legit. At end you have Young, Baron, Harrison, and Bumphus that have a ton of experience and good talent.

O-Line returns 4 starters, it truly is just whatever we get out of our LT between Crawford and Mincey. Decent depth I guess, but still a little worrisome.

Receivers should be fine with Bru being eligible. Tillman is a stud, Hyatt could be the breakout WR in the SEC this year. Plenty of guys like Merrill, Calloway, Holiday, and Keyton that can give us good depth. I'll be interested to see if any of the freshman get any meaningful playing time, particularly Squirrel.

TE should be good, I like the top end talent, but not a lot of depth. Warren and Fant are very good SEC TEs at this point, but if either one of them go down, that's going to be putting a lot on guys like Rohrer and Campbell.

RB depth is a concern, but I love the talent of the group. Small is routinely underrated on the board. He's a very good SEC back. Wright could be even better possibly. Going to be relying on two freshman all year which is never ideal. Some have mentioned short yardage, which is certainly a concern, but Small is tough and JWT is a bigger back that could be used in those situations, he's also just a freshman though.

LB brings everyone back, it's just time for the to step up. Seems like Mitchell has turned it on. If he puts it together, it raises the ceiling of that group by a lot.

DBs are super deep and have plenty of experience. Kind of the same as the LBs, it is time for them to step up. There's enough depth at essentially every position that if someone is not playing well, they don't have to see the field. I look a Burrell mainly, as he's a guy the looks like he could be an NFL CB, but he just has to actually prove it on the field. No shortage of options behind him like there has been in the past.

All the same specialists are back, so no real concern there. Already know what we have at QB like you mentioned.
 
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#15
#15
DBs.

It really just comes down to the DBs. And specifically, cornerbacks. Think our safeties are going to do just fine.

We have plenty of depth and experience among the corners, just need lockdown level of talent to emerge from one, or ideally two, of them. We need to be able to reliably--reliably--take away the other team's top receiver. If we could blanket the second-best as well, that would be awesome. But at least one.

I have hopes for Burrell. Yes, he often lacked situational awareness last season. Didn't seem to have a feel for when to turn and find the ball. But his speed and quickness were there; he was usually (not always, but usually) on the receiver's hip, just didn't have the awareness to find the ball before it arrived. If he can take that last step, he could be the next guru of the position.

Or maybe it will be another of the lads. Just hope it's someone (or two).

We find studs to fill Alontae and Theo's shoes, and this could be an amazing season.

Go Vols!


p.s. Small, Wright, and a quickly-learning Sampson are plenty of depth for RB. If we need a bruiser for a particular play, can always send Jeremy Banks in. He has done it before.
 
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#16
#16
rdk4121 said:
I am going to hard disagree on DB being a lack of depth as the issue. We legitimately have 11 guys that could play there. Experience is pretty good as well, as at least 3 (Burrell, McCullough, and Flowers) of them are multi year starters, plus another possible starter (Wesley Walker) started several games at his previous school. Plus, several of the other guys vying for playing time (Turnage, McDonald, Hadden, Slaughter, and Dee Williams), are at least juniors. Plus there's a couple high ceiling guys like Charles, Rucker, and Turrentine that could easily see time this year.

You could argue certainly against our top end talent, but it is easily one of the deepest units on our roster as far as bodies and experience. I personally think they'll be improved this year.
Click to expand...
Excellent insight
 
#17
#17
VFL-82-JP said:
DBs.

It really just comes down to the DBs. And specifically, cornerbacks. Think our safeties are going to do just fine.

We have plenty of depth and experience among the corners, just need lockdown level of talent to emerge from one, or ideally two, of them. We need to be able to reliably--reliably--take away the other team's top receiver. If we could blanket the second-best as well, that would be awesome. But at least one.

I have hopes for Burrell. Yes, he often lacked situational awareness last season. Didn't seem to have a feel for when to turn and find the ball. But his speed and quickness were there; he was usually (not always, but usually) on the receiver's hip, just didn't have the awareness to find the ball before it arrived. If he can take that last step, he could be the next guru of the position.

Or maybe it will be another of the lads. Just hope it's someone (or two).

We find studs to fill Alontae and Theo's shoes, and this could be an amazing season.

Go Vols!


p.s. Small, Wright, and a quickly-learning Sampson are plenty of depth for RB. If we need a bruiser for a particular play, can always send Jeremy Banks in. He has done it before.
Click to expand...
Excellent
 
#18
#18
rdk4121 said:
D-Line is actually pretty deep this year. We have Thomas, Eason, Terry, Garland, Bailey, and Simmons inside that look to be legit. At end you have Young, Baron, Harrison, and Bumphus that have a ton of experience and good talent.

O-Line returns 4 starters, it truly is just whatever we get out of our LT between Crawford and Mincey. Decent depth I guess, but still a little worrisome.

Receivers should be fine with Bru being eligible. Tillman is a stud, Hyatt could be the breakout WR in the SEC this year. Plenty of guys like Merrill, Calloway, Holiday, and Keyton that can give us good depth. I'll be interested to see if any of the freshman get any meaningful playing time, particularly Squirrel.

TE should be good, I like the top end talent, but not a lot of depth. Warren and Fant are very good SEC TEs at this point, but if either one of them go down, that's going to be putting a lot on guys like Rohrer and Campbell.

RB depth is a concern, but I love the talent of the group. Small is routinely underrated on the board. He's a very good SEC back. Wright could be even better possibly. Going to be relying on two freshman all year which is never ideal. Some have mentioned short yardage, which is certainly a concern, but Small is tough and JWT is a bigger back that could be used in those situations, he's also just a freshman though.

LB brings everyone back, it's just time for the to step up. Seems like Mitchell has turned it on. If he puts it together, it raises the ceiling of that group by a lot.

DBs are super deep and have plenty of experience. Kind of the same as the LBs, it is time for them to step up. There's enough depth at essentially every position that if someone is not playing well, they don't have to see the field. I look a Burrell mainly, as he's a guy the looks like he could be an NFL CB, but he just has to actually prove it on the field. No shortage of options behind him like there has been in the past.

All the same specialists are back, so no real concern there. Already know what we have at QB like you mentioned.
Click to expand...
Excellent
 
#19
#19
rdk4121 said:
D-Line is actually pretty deep this year. We have Thomas, Eason, Terry, Garland, Bailey, and Simmons inside that look to be legit. At end you have Young, Baron, Harrison, and Bumphus that have a ton of experience and good talent.

O-Line returns 4 starters, it truly is just whatever we get out of our LT between Crawford and Mincey. Decent depth I guess, but still a little worrisome.

Receivers should be fine with Bru being eligible. Tillman is a stud, Hyatt could be the breakout WR in the SEC this year. Plenty of guys like Merrill, Calloway, Holiday, and Keyton that can give us good depth. I'll be interested to see if any of the freshman get any meaningful playing time, particularly Squirrel.

TE should be good, I like the top end talent, but not a lot of depth. Warren and Fant are very good SEC TEs at this point, but if either one of them go down, that's going to be putting a lot on guys like Rohrer and Campbell.

RB depth is a concern, but I love the talent of the group. Small is routinely underrated on the board. He's a very good SEC back. Wright could be even better possibly. Going to be relying on two freshman all year which is never ideal. Some have mentioned short yardage, which is certainly a concern, but Small is tough and JWT is a bigger back that could be used in those situations, he's also just a freshman though.

LB brings everyone back, it's just time for the to step up. Seems like Mitchell has turned it on. If he puts it together, it raises the ceiling of that group by a lot.

DBs are super deep and have plenty of experience. Kind of the same as the LBs, it is time for them to step up. There's enough depth at essentially every position that if someone is not playing well, they don't have to see the field. I look a Burrell mainly, as he's a guy the looks like he could be an NFL CB, but he just has to actually prove it on the field. No shortage of options behind him like there has been in the past.

All the same specialists are back, so no real concern there. Already know what we have at QB like you mentioned.
Click to expand...
Insightful
 
#24
#24
rdk4121 said:
RB depth is a concern, but I love the talent of the group. Small is routinely underrated on the board. He's a very good SEC back. Wright could be even better possibly. Going to be relying on two freshman all year which is never ideal. Some have mentioned short yardage, which is certainly a concern, but Small is tough and JWT is a bigger back that could be used in those situations, he's also just a freshman though.
Click to expand...

Good write-up, thanks for it.

Just one question, about the bolded part. Jabari Small is a junior, and Jaylen Wright is a sophomore. What two freshmen were you talking about us relying on?
 
#25
#25
utfantilidie said:
Qb is strong . What about line both sides, receivers , d-backs. I know eventually we’ll be exposed if there is a glaring weakness?Punter/kicker? Depth? Appreciate any feedback.
Click to expand...
Everywhere. We have some very good starters but as good as they are they have a tendency to get a little winded after 50 plays. Think help is on the way.
 
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