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Strengths, Weaknesses, and Unknowns
Topic Started: Aug 30 2014, 01:18 PM (28 Views)
*OrangeRev
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Tree hug'n, bleed'n heart, lazy luv'n, global warm'n token liberal

Like so many people wisely note, you really don't know what you have with a team until you see them on the field. Vandy fans thought their team was better. Cock fans thought their team was better. And (so far), Ohio State ... what's with that?

Heading into tomorrow's game, here's where I think the Vols are sitting ...

Strengths
  • Worley may be average, but he is competent and he has sufficient experience.
  • Wide receivers ... probably our biggest strength
  • Conditioning. I can't recall reporters so giddy about the team's strength approaching this year.
  • Running backs are going to be good. I just don't see any way (other than injury) that this group doesn't make us proud.
  • Team unity and motivation are very strong with this group. Jones and the staff do a marvelous job of creating team cohesion. Has it ever been this strong?
  • Team leadership also seems to be very strong. Players are gathering together independent of coaches, and mutually enforcing discipline. This is one of the reasons why Pig is back.
  • I'm cautiously putting our LB corps in this category because I believe that Johnson alone puts them here. JRM, Bates, Weathered and sometimes Maggitt (when he's not at DE) feels like a solid group.

Unknowns
  • We still don't know if our coaches are good game-day coaches. I think they are, and I hope they are ... but it is still an unknown to me.
  • The O-line is young, and our tackles are actually guards. Everyone seems to think they will be OK, but I just don't know. After watching this morning's Penn State game (and the sieve that they have for an offensive line), I'm highly nervous. If we see Worley scrambling a lot, getting hurried, and getting sacked then it might be a long season.
  • Everyone says that our safeties and corners are faster, and that Coleman is more naturally a nickel back. OK. But, 3 of the 5 were in there starting last year and one other is either a true freshman or a walk-on.
  • It is hard to imagine our tight-end play being worse, but when the top three TE's are two true freshmen and a walk-on ... well ... this is a big unknown.
  • Our DE's were horrid last year at pass rushing. Supposedly they are now re-tooled and much faster. Show me.
  • Devrin Young was decent at returning punts and KO's but apparently Sutton is much better at punt returns ... Evan Berry joins Young on Kickoff returns. Too much newness to feel confident, but I am leaning toward a strength so long as Sutton doesn't return the Vols to the fumbling we had a few years ago. I really miss CP in this role. Wow, he was exciting to watch.

Weaknesses
  • Our defensive tackles are small. Period. They are not going to be miraculously good ... what's even more problematic is that we don't have any depth there. Even if the 3-4 guys in our rotation demonstrate talent, they coiuld likely be gassed by the 4th quarter.
  • We are at our first game and both our placekickers are so inconsistent that neither can be named a starter. At this point, all kicks further out than the 30-yard line are going to be a nail-biter ... or a decision to pooch-kick.




Edited by OrangeRev, Aug 30 2014, 01:21 PM.
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