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re: Tennessee showed improvement over last year.

Posted on 9/2/18 at 10:23 am to
Posted by Vols&Shaft83
Throbbing Member
Member since Dec 2012
70056 posts
Posted on 9/2/18 at 10:23 am to
quote:

Pruitt has a true rebuild on his hands.



A COMPLETE rebuild. Having 3 true freshmen in the secondary against Will Grier in their very first game was gonna be hard enough, but add in the fact that our defensive line is soft as baby shite and our linebackers are learning a new scheme, it's gonna be a tough year.


I think the secondary will improve, but I don't think the defensive line is fixable this year.


As far as the offensive line goes, the first quarter was literally the worst I've ever seen, then they settled down and actually looked good for a couple of drives. You could tell Kennedy hadn't played in a while, and he got his arse handed to him in the first quarter, but once he adjusted, he looked good. They'll end up being ok in a few weeks.


Gitmo did fine except for that high screen pass, cost us an easy touchdown. Didn't have any drops from the receivers, but we didn't take enough deep shots and we only targeted DWA ONCE all game (and he scored a touchdown).


I like what I saw from the running backs, but I'll reserve judgment until they face an SEC defense.


Our linebackers looked confused and were caught out of position several times. At least twice they were supposed to be in coverage and instead blitzed (which you can occasionally get away with if you're playing against an inexperienced QB, but Grier is anything but inexperienced and he killed us easily on both plays.

Several times we blitzed and didn't even get close to Grier, so either Grier recognized the blitz and made a blocking adjustment OR we blitzed the wrong gap. Probably both. Again, new scheme, mistakes are gonna happen early on, it's unfortunate that we faced a QB who knew exactly how to take advantage of our mental errors in our first game.

Most of that is fixable, but the defensive line is just soft, and I don't see it improving much until we get some players.


Posted by scrooster
Resident Ethicist
Member since Jul 2012
39793 posts
Posted on 9/2/18 at 10:24 am to
quote:

Tennessee showed improvement over last year.

Really?

How so?
Posted by David Ricky
Hailing From Parts Unknown
Member since Sep 2015
24835 posts
Posted on 9/2/18 at 10:28 am to
Switching to a 3-4 with 3 true freshmen in the secondary playing probably the best passing team VOLS will face all annum was not ideal
Posted by UncleFestersLegs
Member since Nov 2010
12094 posts
Posted on 9/2/18 at 10:48 am to
Grier was the difference. Vols couldn't stop him. Whether that was because of Grier or the Tennessee defense is hard to determine until they play other teams
Posted by Phat Phil
Krispy Kreme
Member since May 2010
7441 posts
Posted on 9/2/18 at 10:58 am to
Guarantano looked a lot better than I expected. I expected shite offense and decent defense. But the result was totally opposite. WVU had a lot of firepower with Heisman candidate at QB though.
Posted by Vols&Shaft83
Throbbing Member
Member since Dec 2012
70056 posts
Posted on 9/2/18 at 11:08 am to
quote:

Grier was the difference. Vols couldn't stop him. Whether that was because of Grier or the Tennessee defense is hard to determine until they play other teams



It was both. Grier is really good, but we helped him out a lot. No pressure on him at all, all game. This game was lost in the trenches, plain and simple.

Auburn, Georgia or Bama would have held them under 20 points easily.
Posted by dcbl
Good guys wear white hats.
Member since Sep 2013
30053 posts
Posted on 9/2/18 at 11:11 am to
Yesterday was discouraging, but I'm not ready to say that the Vols are screwed on this hire

I still think that 6 or 7 wins is doable and that is what I am hoping for

right now, Tennessee is last on my power ranking, but I won't be shocked if that changes as the season progresses
Posted by BigOrangeVols
Knoxville
Member since Jul 2015
3076 posts
Posted on 9/2/18 at 11:11 am to
I'm pretty happy with our skill positions. Offensive line is a major liability. Guarantano looked good as well. Defense was very meh but I think we'll look a lot better by the time we're playing UK/Mizzou/Vandy.
Posted by Vols&Shaft83
Throbbing Member
Member since Dec 2012
70056 posts
Posted on 9/2/18 at 12:05 pm to
quote:

I still think that 6 or 7 wins is doable and that is what I am hoping for



I don't think 6 wins is out of the question IF the LBs become familiar with the scheme, the DBs develop like I think they will, and the Offensive line gels like they did on that 2nd quarter drive.



The next 2 weeks are critical, we get 2 cupcakes before Murderer's Row and now is the time to work out the kinks and gain some confidence.
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