Utah State, Arkansas State, Florida, UTC, UK and Vandy are wins imo. Missouri and South Carolina are 50/50 games imo. I think they'll follow up a UF win with a complete stinker against Ole Miss (20+ point loss). I can see 7 regular season wins, playing Oklahoma close in a loss and then I don't know who Tennessee draws in a bowl game.
I think Tennessee will be a lot faster on defense but also young and dumb. The offense will be a lot different. The WRs get a talent upgrade in Malone, Pearson and Wharton plus Jenkins will be healthy. There are actually two TEs on the roster worth a damn in Helms and Wolf (Bransiel could redshirt next season), Lane and Pickett and Hurd at TB and all the QBs being in the system for a year. The OL won't be near as talented, but they will be a year into the system. Keeping Blair healthy is a must there.
We need the OL to be a "surprise" next year. Not necessarily world beaters but serviceable at each position. If this happens they will be better than last year on offense IMO as long as one of the QBs can progress and take the job and run with it. Defense who knows. I think your right that they will be faster which is something thats been lacking for a while. As others have said I have no faith in Janceck so that doesn't help matters much.
Right now, I think Tennessee has 4 OL on the roster that can play SEC ball in Kerbyson, Weisman, Crowder and Jackson and Crowder is borderline. Blair has to be a good LT and either Thomas or Weisman have to become legit SEC starters. There isn't any quality depth there but there are some bodies that may become serviceable too. I don't know about Raulerson, but he's a true freshman. He needs to not start immediately.
I can't be overly optimistic when we're going to be so reliant on freshmen next year, even if a lot of them made it in for spring ball. Now, do I think this team might be ok by November? Most definitely, but we're going to take some very big lumps early on.
The big lumps will come in Norman, Oxford and against Bama at home I believe. I don't see UGA being very good next season (but I fully expect a loss) and UF is a dumpster fire. I don't know how well South Carolina will reload or if Spurrier even cares at this point. The biggest question to me is how well the QBs play in the spring and how quick the OL gels. Freshmen WRs and RBs make huge impacts all the time. The D, unfortunately, isn't going to be very good regardless of how talented it is with Jancek over there.
If they look terrible, they'll probably be terrible. If they look great, there's still a chance they'll be terrible. What I mean about spring ball is, do they physically have the arm strength to get the ball where it needs to go and how well do they look in live action. Worley doesn't, Dobbs is questionable but I believe can be an above average QB and Ferguson is an unknown.
Yeah. I just remember Bray went about 5 for 30 a couple springs ago. But it's more about the eye test than numbers in the spring.
I don't think they'll be all that great, I just think Tennessee will have a game where they can't tie their shoes, much less beat an average opponent. It's expected when the majority of the two deep are freshmen.
Weather was pretty crappy all around as I recall. Looked like there wasn't a whole lot of give a crap that day.
