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Have your season expectations changed?
Topic Started: Sep 6 2009, 12:33 PM (1,431 Views)
GregAmsler
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warthog
Sep 7 2009, 10:58 PM
With the depth issues we have at LB and offensive line expecting more than 8 wins from this team is unfair to the coaching staff and players.

Having said that I am very encoraged with team discipline, conditioning and motivation. It has been YEARS since I have watched a Tennessee team play with the passion that this team played with Saturday. I am also very impressed with the play calling, how the selection of plays kept WKU on their heels all game long. And was most impressed when B Brown was pulled after the 30 yard or so gain and coach Gran got dead into his ass for running out of bounds. We have missing this kind of coaching for 16 years. We may not see any more wins this year......but 2-3 years of this coaching staffs recruits and I am certain we can expect championship football in Knoxville.


Just my 2 cents worth.
One thing that has me "expecting" a little more (and I don't want to be unfair to this staff...we DID go 5-7 last year, so if we only win 7 or 8 games, I still think they've done a good job) is that talent seems to be developing...and developing quickly with this new staff. That's not something we've been used to recently. Under the previous regime, you could tell if a guy was talented when he got on campus, but then his development was minimal after that over the next 4 years. So he was either talented or he wasn't. It was just a matter of the time it took for him to "learn the system" before he got on the field.

But look how quickly this staff is devloping talent. Chris Scott has gone from dud to stud. The Sullins brothers...former walk ons...now both quality linemen. Coach Kiffin said Cody was the 2nd best lineman on the field Saturday behind Scott. Richard and McClendon are now reaching their potential. Pope has finally started to develop (I don't think he ever would have under the previous staff). And it's not just at Oline. The devlopment of the freshmen has been well documented. Hardesty looks better. Crompton and Stephens are different players. Brandon Warren is better. Stocker is better. The fullbacks are better. Hell, everyone is better.

So what I'm getting to is this: yes, we should be concerned about a lack of depth in the Oline. However, just because we didn't come into fall camp with depth at OLine doesn't mean we don't have it now or won't have it as the season wears on. Why? Because this staff can DEVELOP depth. It's a novel concept for some of us as UT fans because the previous staff didn't develop talent. You had what you had and that's what you went to war with. We have a good (maybe VERY good, we'll see) starting 5 of Scott, Richard, Sullins, McClendon, and Shaw. But we may have some good backups in Douglas, Thomas, Pope, Brimfield, other Sullins, Revis, and Schofield. We don't know...but what I do know is that there's a good chance these coaches can develop these guys into solid players...and they may have already done so.

If we have 7-8 solid olinemen, we're in great shape. How many teams have more than 6 or 7 KNOWN quantities on the Oline anyway? Not many...if any.

So an injury or two along the Oline may hurt us. But it may not. I doubt it'll kill us like some think it would. Alabama was very thin in the oline last season, but they managed to avoid injuries for the most part. Let's hope that happens for UT. But even if it doesn't, I'm not sure we won't have a good replacement to step in because of this staff's good work.
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*TennesseeTuxedo
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After reading this thread, I have to agree in that it is not so much that expectations have changed. What has occurred is that a new belief, hope, and vision of the program's future has been given to fans.
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*TennesseeTuxedo
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Here we are 4-4 heading down the stretch.

Has anything thing changed your expectations?

Where do you see this program now?

Where do you honestly see the program going in the near future (1-2 years)
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