Areas of concern looking ahead

Discussion in 'Vols Football' started by lylsmorr, Dec 31, 2021.

  1. lylsmorr

    lylsmorr Super Moderator

    I hate to harp on the same things repeatedly, but I don't know how one off-season fixes all of the depth issues for this squad. OL, DL, LB, CB and safety are baaaaaaaaad.

    Scheme overcame the OL play, but they were not good at all against the better teams. Ole Miss rushed 3 all night and still got pressure. I never feel confident that freshmen can come in and contribute year 1 on the OL, so I don't think Nichols/Clipper/Reddick/Grant will be contributors for a year or two. Even with Mincey, I feel like we need another 2 capable bodies on the OL if Calbert comes back. 3 if not.

    Jeremy Banks played hard this season but is still not there. Instincts are lacking and because of that he still gets pushed around on some plays. Just a bit too late to the plays. Aaron Beasley did not play well all season. After Mitchell went down, the linebacker play got way worse. LB corps needs about 2 bodies capable of immediate contribution this offseason.

    I really don't think I've ever seen a worse group of collective starting DBs than this one. Jackson and Alontae played well all season, but the rest were that bad. McCullough, Flowers and Burrell actively cost UT multiple drives and points by busted coverages or being that bad in coverage. DBs need 4 immediately capable bodies this offseason to replace Theo and Alontae plus replace all the chaff. Desmond coming in is helpful.

    DL will be nice to have Elijah back next season. Getting Verse to add to Young and Baron would be huge. Ideally Omari has a great offseason and contributes more next year, but I think we still need 2 DTs that can affect the line of scrimmage.
     
  2. Ssmiff

    Ssmiff Went to the White House...Again

    Feel bad for Burrell. Really, he was right there all night in coverage it seems. Most of his penalties wouldn't be in the sec title game or nfl game with both guys hands on each other, especially as a wr slows his route down.
    We need instinct back there and anticipation. Nobody back there looks capable and poor Rucker looked like the slowest player on the team, not the fastest
     
  3. DC Vol

    DC Vol Contributor

    Concern issues for me:

    * Hooker starts game like an All-American but ends it looking rather average.

    * OL

    * Entire Defense.

    * All-or-nothing offensive strategy
     
  4. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    There is something to discuss regarding that last point. We do seem to be swinging for the fences a lot, when consistency/high probability plays were needed frequently in short yardage. That's very fixable.
     
    TDVol1989 likes this.
  5. yont sum iss?

    yont sum iss? Contributor

    The possession at the end of regulation was just awful. Getting into comfortable FG range was basically a gimme and we treated it like a 12 year old playing PlayStation.
     
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  6. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    Hard disagree here. Once we got to midfield, we threw two deep shots that were wide open and tried underneath plays twice that resulted in a total of 10 yards (3 on a scramble). We didn't ignore the underneath stuff, we just didn't have a lot of guys open. We did have guys open on the deep shots. So throw to the open guys. That we missed the throws doesn't mean they were bad decisions.
     
  7. Ssmiff

    Ssmiff Went to the White House...Again

    Throwing deep into double coverage woulda been dumb. Throwing to a wide ass open wr is always the right decision.
     
    A-Smith and DC Vol like this.
  8. Ssmiff

    Ssmiff Went to the White House...Again

    How did Hookers stats end up as far as single season for UT qbs? 31/3 td/int. More rushing yards than all but Dobbs I assume.
    Historic season for him as far as numbers
     
  9. SGMVols

    SGMVols Contributor

    We played UGA and Bama better than their playoff opponents did, so there’s that.
     
    Volokie likes this.
  10. HCKevinSteele

    HCKevinSteele Well-Known Member

    Obviously no small feat given the roster, but plenty of SEC teams did the same. Good seasons from Cincinnati and Michigan no doubt, but they aren’t any better than the top 5-6 SEC teams and on an off day could get smacked by SEC teams outside the top 6.
     
  11. CardinalVol

    CardinalVol Uncultured, non-diverse mod

    Gotta hit the transfer portal for some of these needs.
     
    Unimane and chavisut like this.
  12. A-Smith

    A-Smith Chieftain

    A lot of teams played Bama better than we did.
     
  13. Tar Volon

    Tar Volon Me Blog @RockyTopTalk.com

    Not many hit them deep like we did. Also not many totally fell apart on defense like we did (although I think there’s reason for that).
     
    Volokie likes this.
  14. VOLinDAWGland

    VOLinDAWGland Contributor

    It will look different when we get more Jimmy's and Joe's
     
  15. NYY

    NYY Super Moderator

    Clock management.
     
    chavisut, lylsmorr and NorrisAlan like this.
  16. NorrisAlan

    NorrisAlan Founder of the Mike Honcho Fan Club

    This seems to be a plague everywhere these days, too.
     
    A-Smith and NYY like this.
  17. lylsmorr

    lylsmorr Super Moderator

    Heupel himself mentioned that was his fault at the press conference. If only he had repeated Kentucky before halftime
     
    Memtownvol likes this.
  18. JohnnyQuickkick

    JohnnyQuickkick Calcio correspondent

    Probably recruit some high school kids too
     
  19. Ssmiff

    Ssmiff Went to the White House...Again

    I didnt see that. Man I like him. Seems to mostly say and do the right thing. Most genuine coach we've had since Majors.
     
  20. Volgrad98

    Volgrad98 Contributor

    Just love seeing this. Sure I have concerns but I think we are in good hands.

     
    10SEvols and Savage Orange like this.

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