Phil Steele has Tennessee's schedule as 10th toughest in the SEC and 44th nationally. No excuses, Butch
Let me educate you on how many excuses we have. We have a new OC. A new QB. A new RB. A new AD. A new WR coach. Our team is 1/4 freshman and none of the team was a senior last year.
Got over 20 new athletes on the team. Can't expect success with that kind of turnover. No one else faces that challenge.
No one on this team has ever competed for a college championship before. Ow, ow, ow, too real. I just hurt my own feelings.
Shows how much the east sucks when you have Bama and LSU on the schedule from the west and you dont crack the top 5 in the conference.
"Do you realize that none of my players has more than 3 years experience? No one is older than 23 years old. You have to temper expectations with that kind of youth."
Now that he is gone Josh Dobbs is the most essential player ever. Nevermind that we spent half his career trying to make him 3rd or 4th on the depth chart and the other half trying to get him not to do the things at which he excels.
They'll just open a new drawer full of excuses. They are all over the Butch's office. Never hurts to have a backup plan.
"He was a critical player that excelled in the throw game and the run game. Considered the greatest dual threat quarterback of all-time amongst the coaches in my text message group."
"coach, are you saying you lost to vandy with the best dual threat of all time?" "He didn't make his reads. Josh is a real smart kid but he can't read defenses as well as we'd like sometimes." "Coach, why can't your senior in aeronautical engineering read defenses?" *purplification initiated
"We didn't get to red shirt him two years and he didn't get hurt his junior year for the medical we wanted for him. He just wasn't ready."