Author Archives: Joel Hollingsworth

Gameday Today: Butch Jones, “classic over-explainer”

Gameday Today nods its head at the suggestion that Butch Jones is a “classic over-explainer,” loves new punters and old defensive ends, and wonders how many coaches will carry bullhorns on the sidelines this fall.

Butch Jones, Pitchforks, and Kum Ba Yah: An epilogue

Another national columnist weighs in, as USA Today’s Dan Wolken discusses Jones and his somewhat fragile relationship with a portion of the Tennessee fan base. Particularly interesting is Wolken’s suggestion that “you’re losing if you’re explaining, no matter how much you’re winning,” and his description of Jones as a “classic over-explainer.” It would seem that one of new athletic director John Currie’s main priorities is going to be managing “the disconnect between the real progress Tennessee has made under Jones and the toxic assessment of him that swirls around the social media sphere.” Well, that and deciding how best to undo the Lady Vols brand mess.

Local guy Mike Griffith says in a bit of a throwaway comment that UT is actively limiting access to Jones and encouraging less discussion about football, presumably as part of a strategy to give Jones the time he needs this fall to let his performance speak for itself.

In not unrelated news, Jones and his staff will be in Chattanooga this Saturday to attend the Big Orange Caravan, which has been remade into a “low-cost, family-friendly deal, where if your kid runs around a little bit, you don’t have to keep them quiet the whole time.” That sounds like more of a tailgate party than a star chamber for the head coach, and I’m all for it. As long as they actually make it to the Tri Cities.

Recruiting

Tennessee got a commitment yesterday from the nation’s top-ranked punter, Skyler DeLong. Tennessee’s class currently ranks ninth in the nation, according to 247Sports.

Congrats to Tennessee quarterback commit Adrian Martinez, who was recently named an Under Armour All-American.

Tennessee extended several new offers to recruits yesterday, including linebacker Caleb Kelly, defensive end/linebacker Andrew Johnson, Top 50 defensive end Nathan Pickering, and offensive lineman Harry Miller. 

VFLs

Congratulations to VFL Derek Barnett for signing a four-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles. No word on the details yet, but Spotrac had projected it to be nearly $13M.

Miscellaneous fun stuff

SEC head of football officials Steve Shaw has apparently said (via quote on Twitter, thus the crazy grammar) that “coaches coming onto the field to argue calls will get automatic 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty.” Who’s your pick for the first coach to start carrying a bullhorn on the sideline?

Tennessee barely snuck in to the Sporting News’ Preseason Top 25, at the 25th spot. SEC East teams ahead of them are Georgia (No. 10) and Florida (No. 15). So, Tennessee just has to beat them, and they’ll be in the Top 10, no problem.

RTT suggests that the mere presence of Chip Kelly is going to give athletic directors all over the country itchy trigger fingers this fall. That’s probably right.

If you can’t wait for the new roster to be updated, 247Sports has a 28-click list of jersey numbers for the Vols’ newcomers.

Gameday Today: Kum ba yah, giving Butch Jones the benefit of the doubt

Swords are beaten back into plowshares as people start to give irrepressible optimist Butch Jones the benefit of the doubt, John Adams remains confused, and Tennessee goes all in with Nike and experiments with parking passes. All that, plus hoops news and speedster Christian Coleman in Gameday Today.

And then everyone puts down their pitchforks

So yesterday, it was all outrage all the time, but today, everyone seems to have taken their happy pills. CBS’ Dennis Dodd makes the case that can only be made by an outsider, that Butch Jones is actually underrated. If you read only one thing today, read that.

But wait! There’s more! All for Tennessee says that Jones was actually right when he said that the Vols have competed for championships. And even Dave Hooker has come to the conclusion that Jones is just an irrepressible optimist, and isn’t that what you want in a head coach anyway, even if it makes fans roll their eyes?

Football

In other football news, Brad makes his projections for the Tennessee offensive line this fall. I’m with him mostly, but I think Coleman Thomas will start at center and that Jashon Robertson will go back to left guard, meaning the tackle spots are a three-way competition between Brett Kendrick, Drew Richmond, and Trey Smith. If I’m right, Brad’s shaving his head.

John Adams is confused about Tennessee’s preseason rankings. He has valid points, but it’s pretty easy pickings. They are preseason rankings, and nobody knows anything, so inconsistencies aren’t exactly smoking guns.

Dave Hart apparently extended (and improved, they say) Tennessee’s contract with Nike before he left. So the Vols will be with the swoosh through the end of the 2025-26 season. I’ve typed three things here and am settling on, “No comment.”

And Tennessee is experimenting with a new way for season ticket holders to get their parking passes and assignments. Haven’t tried it yet, myself, but okay. What they really need to do is figure out how to teleport me from the Tri Cities into section XX5 with a short stop at Strawberry Plains, because that would be lovely.

Basketball

New hoops players Zach Kent and Derrick Walker have arrived on campus, and Chris Darrington and James Daniel III plan to get here this week still. Yves Pons won’t show up until later, as he’s playing for France in the FIBA national team tournament.

Also, the SEC has announced conference opponents for the upcoming season. The Vols will play Georgia, Kentucky, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt both home and away. In addition, they’ll play Auburn, Florida, LSU, and Texas A&M at home and Arkansas, Mississippi State, and Missouri away.

The TFP has an interesting article on former Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin, who did a good job of honestly answering questions about his time at Tennessee while also being diplomatic about it. 

Miscellaneous other fun stuff

Vols track and field phenom Christian Coleman has been named the SEC Outdoor Runner of the Year. Not surprising for a guy who hasn’t lost a race yet this season. And be sure not to miss Mike Griffith’s excellent extended feature on Coleman at SEC Country.

Uh-oh. Peyton Manning is playing golf with Urban Meyer. Your pitchfork is leaning up against the wall in the corner.

Behind the paywalls

Looking for a reason to splurge for a subscription to 247 Sports? Here are two:

 

Gameday Today: ALL THE OUTRAGE OF THE DAY IN A SINGLE POST

Gameday Today rounds up the outrage of the day, including Butch Jones believing he’s making progress, Josh Dobbs wearing the colors of his new home, Vegas believing in Kentucky, and declining to cut off our South Florida nose to spite Lane Kiffin’s face.

Outrageous!

The SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Florida are underway, and so reporters are asking questions and coaches are opening their mouths and saying stuff that makes people MAD ONLINE:

“It’s a journey and it’s a process,” Butch Jones told reporters Tuesday. “I’m very, very grateful to all the players and staff that have really brought Tennessee football back. We still have so much to do, and it’s all about winning championships. But the first element that goes into winning championships is contending to win championships on a consistent basis, and our program has done that.”

The man said that we’ve taken a step, and OH THE HORROR AND OUTRAGE OF AGGRIEVED TWITTERERS! 

And the fire’s just beginning to burn. Because lo, Josh Dobbs is wearing a Penguins jersey! And the Tennessee-Kentucky line is a pick ’em! (This according to a motel in Vegas that apparently can’t afford a PDF scanner.) And Butch Jones has the audacity to believe that attending a Lane Kiffin satellite camp in South Florida isn’t awkward! I could spit!

I am OUTRAGED! INCENSED! MORTIFIED BY WORDS AND LAUNDRY AND STUFF! Mike Griffith, sir, why aren’t you mad? Do you hate America?

Football

Twenty-one members of the 2017 class reported to campus yesterday. With the five guys who enrolled in the spring and graduate transfer Shaq Wiggins also on campus and set to enroll Thursday, that leaves only receivers Jacquez Jones and Jordan Murphy on a delayed schedule. The team meets today and starts work with strength and conditioning coach Rock Gullickson tomorrow. Power up, boys!

Josh Smith and Todd Kelly Jr are having a workout party at D1 Sports Training and YOU’RE INVITED! You’ll have to have one of those Instagram thingies, though, because that article doesn’t say when or where, and you’ll have to track Smith and Kelly down by stalking them online.

Class of 2019 4-star receiver Kendrell Scurry has de-committed from Tennessee, and as far as I can tell, no one has used the word “scurry” to describe it, which is a terrible shame and a dereliction of duty for journalists and bloggers everywhere.

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Miscellaneous fun stuff

Tennessee athletic director John Currie will continue to explore neutral-site games. I’ve loved those games against Oklahoma and Virginia Tech, but I do wonder whether ramping up your non-conference slate might somehow be making it more difficult to win the SEC East. 

Butch Jones is hinting that there are some shenanigans going on behind the curtain when it comes to graduate transfers. He’s all for letting graduates transfer with eligibility remaining, but thinks the NCAA and the conferences need to be careful about how they go about allowing it. That sounds reasonable, but I’m sure that we can find something outrageous if we look long enough.

CBS has ranked the SEC by difficulty of schedule and slotted Tennessee as having the third-easiest slate of the entire conference. Hey, I’m on record as loving where the bye week is this year, but it hardly makes up for drawing both Alabama and LSU from the West.

Tennessee-Florida is set for 3:30 p.m. on CBS, as it should be.

We’re no fans of slideshows, but we’re such fans of great moments against the Florida Gators that we will gladly click ten times for all the feels on this one.

 

Gameday Today: Settlement agreements, 71% off! Today only!

Gameday Today leads off with an offer nobody wants, but at a bigly discount. Also, talking about the season, Larry Scott’s contract, softball, and who is this Travis Kelce guy?

Football

Tennessee receiver Josh Smith’s roommate, Kennedy Foster, wants to file a $3M lawsuit against Smith for allegedly beating him up, but he’s reportedly offering a 71% discount if he can pay, like, today, man. Hurry! Offer expires soon! (Yes, this smells like the backseat of the Grumpy Old Men car to me.)

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You know it’s the summer doldrums when sites start asking questions like What if basketball was football? Lay it on me, I’m famished. (And the answer, of course, without having to wear out your mouse button clicking through the morsels, is that Tennessee would beat Iowa State on the football field.)

Wes Rucker identifies the two most important swing games for Tennessee’s 2017 season. Hint: They rhyme with Skullfrogs and Waiters. 

Tennessee offensive coordinator Larry Scott got a $280k salary increase and a contract extension when he was promoted from his position as tight ends coach. He’ll be making $650k for the next two years, and his contract runs out at the end of February, 2019. Typing that out makes me wonder. When was the last time a college coach’s contract simply expired at the end of its term?

Tight end commitment Jacob Warren recently told The Swain Event that he wants to model his game after Travis Kelce. Who is this Travis Kelce, you ask? He’s a tight end (duh, I know) for the Kansas City Chiefs and was first-team All-Pro last season. But what’s the connection? Kelce played for Butch Jones at Cincinnati from 2010-12, and he was a third-round draft pick in 2013. So that’s why Jones has been whispering his name into Warren’s ear. Me, I’d shout “JASON WITTEN!”, but I don’t know either of them personally, so volume and brand awareness is all I have.

Softball

Tennessee lost its last two games against Texas A&M and came up just one win shy of making the Women’s College World Series. Mike Griffith puts it all in perspective, saying the team overachieved this season and is poised for something special in the immediate future.

 

 

Gameday Today: Vols Tight Ends and the Ninja Persuader Dad Power

Football

Who knew that promoting your tight ends coach to offensive coordinator would ignite a sudden interest in the tight end position? Seriously, I go on vacation for a week and suddenly everyone’s talking about tight ends. The current roster is looking pretty good, as is the incoming crop of tight end recruits, including local guy Jacob Warren, who sounds like a mature young man who’s made a careful and considered choice to follow in his father’s footsteps by playing at Tennessee, all without any undue pressure from his father. More likely, his dad has unlocked the Ninja Persuader Dad Power that steers your kids in the right direction without them knowing it. Dad High Five.
 
Speaking of new recruits, the 2018 class, which is already looking good in May, could begin to look outstanding in June. And SEC Country has an interesting theory on how Tennessee has refined its recruiting pitch to in-state prospects, asking them to consider life back home after they’ve played for a rival out-of-state.
 
One of the guys who’s buying in is kicker Brent Cimaglia, the nation’s No. 4 kicker in the 2017 class from Franklin, Tennessee, who’s ready to go, like right now.
 
We said this a lot in our magazine, but we’ll keep saying it because it’s true: Tennessee’s offensive line is experienced, deep, and talented. 
 
There is no easing in to the 2017 season, with Tennessee  a meager three-point favorite over Georgia Tech. I’ll take “meager favorite” over “underdog” any day, but three points is making for a nervous summer.
 
Butch Jones is extolling the virtues and early results of his new strength and conditioning coach Rock Gullickson while simultaneously playing the expectations game by telling us all not to expect the hire to reduce injuries this fall. Last year’s injuries, he says, were all in the “freak” category, and there was no pattern suggesting any correlation between the injuries and last year’s strength and conditioning program. Which, of course, begs the question: Why the change then, coach? Expect someone at the upcoming Big Orange Caravan to ask. And then expect to hear Jones say the exact same thing with no new information. But there’ll be food.

Softball

The No. 8 Tennessee softball team beat No. 9 Texas A&M last night 8-1 and is one win away from advancing to the Women’s College World Series. They can clinch their spot with another win against the Aggies tonight at 5:00. ESPN2 has the broadcast.
 

Basketball

Rocky Top Talk looks at the incoming class of basketball recruits and predicts that they’re going to be a fun group to watch.

Miscellaneous fun stuff

 
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What to expect from Bob Shoop’s defense in 2017

Earlier today, we looked at the numbers and concluded that Bob Shoop’s defense in 2016 was not as bad as Sal Sunseri’s 2012 defense. That’s not to say that it wasn’t bad, though. It was. Bad enough to put Butch Jones on the Screaming Pundits’ 2017 Hot Seat Watch List, and bad enough to spur Jones into shaking up his coaching staff in the offseason.

But what is a realistic expectation of improvement for a defense that . . . struggled . . . last season, bless its heart?

To answer that, we went to the spreadsheets to determine what happened, if anything, between Sunseri’s 2012 defense and the 2013 defense fielded by Jones’ first defensive coordinator, John Jancek.

John Jancek’s improvement in 2013 over Sal Sunseri’s 2012

What did we find when we compared 2012 to 2013? A bag full of mixed nuts, some of them tasty, honey-roasted and sea-salted almonds, and some of them lone and wrinkled peanuts retrieved from the men’s room floor.

You’ll recall from our earlier post that Sunseri’s 2012 defense was “not good” in three defensive categories (48-56), “bad” in four other categories (85-86), and “terrible” in five more (98-115). That’s what Jancek inherited. Welcome to Rocky Top, coach!

How did Jancek do in his first season? He somehow made a miracle turnaround in Red Zone Defense, improving to No. 11 from No. 115. He also dramatically improved the team’s pass defense. Under Sunseri, the team ranked No. 111 in Passing Yards Allowed and No. 86 in Passing Efficiency Defense, and Jancek improved those rankings to No. 27 and No. 58, respectively. The team was also much better in defending on first downs and better in Scoring and Total Defense.

Those are the almonds.

Unfortunately, Jancek’s 2013 defense was still “terrible” in five categories (90-117), “bad” in two more (78-83), and “not good” in three others (40-58). Jancek made little to no improvement with regard to sacks and rushing defense, and the defense actually got worse against the run, in TFLs, and on third and fourth downs.


Click here to view full spreadsheet

 

What gets measured, gets managed

(Or, fixing things without breaking others)
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The most interesting thing about all of this, though, is that Jancek fixed what was broken and broke what wasn’t. He improved in 2013 the worst things about 2012, some of them dramatically so. (See the Red Zone and Pass Defense discussed above.)

At the same time, though, other areas got worse. TFLs went from No. 48 to No. 90, and Third Down Conversion Pct Defense went from No. 50 to No. 91.

Overall, though, one could say that Jancek was able to make some degree of improvement over Sunseri’s historically bad defense. What he focused on got better, but those gains were somewhat diminished by other areas getting worse.

What to expect from Bob Shoop’s defense this fall

So what does all of this mean for Team 121 and Bob Shoop’s defense this season? It’s reasonable to expect Shoop to fix what was wrong last year. The real test is what happens to the rest of the defense while he’s focused on the warts.

The biggest areas of concern from last season are first downs, rushing defense, and the defense of long pass plays. Expect Shoop and his new position coaches to focus first on those areas, and expect the team to be better at those things.

But they need to make sure they don’t break something else in the process. They need to focus on first downs without losing their edge on third and fourth downs. They need to focus on improving their ability to stop the run without absolutely falling apart in pass defense. Basically, they need a tweaker who will shift the proper amount of focus to areas of need without completely diverting attention from things they already do well. And if, as many of us suspect, most of the problem last year was attributable to injuries, then just keeping everyone healthy could make a dramatic difference.

Bottom line, it’s reasonable to expect that Bob Shoop’s defense will improve in 2017. If he does it especially well, he could even improve it significantly by fixing last year’s problems without creating new ones this year.

 

Was Bob Shoop’s 2016 defense historically bad?

While reading something the other day, I ran across a throwaway comment about Bob Shoop’s 2016 defense being “historically bad.” It triggered a double-take, because that was a phrase I used a lot back in 2012 to describe Sal Sunseri’s defense, but I don’t recall using it at all last season (although I did use some others). What had prevented me from using that phrase last season? Was it because, as bad as it was, it wasn’t as bad as 2012, or was it really that bad and I just didn’t realize it because Josh Dobbs occupied my full attention?

Was Bob Shoop’s 2016 defense as bad as Sal Sunseri’s 2012 defense?

The short answer is no, I don’t think so. It was bad, yeah, but not historically so unless you want to cherry pick the data.

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Sal Sunseri’s 2012

Sunseri’s defense in 2012 did absolutely nothing well. The highest it ranked in official NCAA defensive rankings was 48th, in tackles for loss. Also in the not-good-but-not-terrible range was third down defense and interceptions. The team ranked 50th and 56th, respectively, in those categories.

After that, things went into the pit quickly. Four separate defensive categories were in the 85-86 range. Five more were in the HIDE YOUR EYES range of 98-115. The winner of the raspberry award was Red Zone Defense, which ranked 115th. But Passing Yards Allowed and both Total and Scoring Defense were also U-G-L-Y.

Bob Shoop’s 2016

The 2016 defense piloted by first-year Tennessee defensive coordinator Bob Shoop was, on the whole, much more diverse in its rankings. They were actually really good on fourth downs and TFLs, thanks primarily to Derek Barnett. They were in the not-good-but-not-terrible range in four to seven categories, depending on how wide you want to define that range. The defense was actually terrible in only three categories: Total Defense (which, yeah, that one’s kind of important), Rushing Defense (ditto!), and First Downs Defense.

The Comparison

So how does Bob Shoop’s 2016 actually compare to Sal Sunseri’s 2012? Shoop was much, much better in at least one category and much better in another six categories. Note that even where he was much better, he was still mostly in the “not good” range. And the defense last year was basically just as bad as 2012 in three categories and actually worse and into Terrible Land in two categories (Rushing Defense and First Downs Defense). 

So, if you are predisposed to characterize Shoop’s first season on Rocky Top as historically bad, you can point to 2-5 defensive categories to support that argument. But on the whole, it actually wasn’t as bad last year as it was in 2012, even without the balm of the 2016 offense to soothe the pain. The defense really struggled in some key areas and could be called “just as bad” as Sunseri in a few places, but Shoop managed to be mostly better and to actually do some things well. And he did it under some less-than-ideal circumstances due to a viral injury bug.

Here are the numbers, in case you want to characterize them yourself:


Click here to view the full size chart

Stay tuned, because next we’ll look at how much, if any, the defense improved in 2013 after Sunseri left. Whatever we find should help us set some realistic expectations for improvement of the defense in Shoop’s second year.

Gameday Today: Decommits have the worst, only-mostly-dead phones

Recruiting

So yeah, 3-star running back Jashaun Corbin decommitted from Tennessee. I have just two pieces of advice for you, young man, after seeing this:
 Corbin
Charge your phone and switch to Verizon.
But seriously, what do you do after a guy like that decommits? You figure out who else is on the board. And then you remind everyone about the 4-star quarterback we just got and how he could help woo a bunch of other players in his neck of the woods. And you also don’t give up on him.

Football

I roll my eyes every time I read a quote from Butch Jones with the phrase “talk about” in it. Dude loves to talk about talking about stuff. But I digress.
Jones is now talking about talking about team chemistry, which he believes they have now, and about his decision to promote Larry Scott to offensive coordinator:
“But in terms of the promotion, that was kind of a very, very easy choice. I was able to evaluate him for a full year and what he brought to the offensive staff in terms of the dynamics of really managing personalities, being part of his staff and also his input on game day, his input throughout the course of the week and his relationship with the players.”
That there’s pretty good spin. “I hired him after a grueling, year-long interview process” sounds much better than, “Well, he was standing right there when Mike left.”
(This is a joke. I’m digging Larry Scott.)

Big Orange Caravan

The BOC must be all vamped out, because Tennessee is revamping the thing this summer. It’s apparently going to supplement the “look and feel” of the “traditional caravan” (dust and camel dung?) with some “new, fan-friendly elements.”
Hmm. What could those fan-friendly elements be, you ask? Music. A prize wheel, whatever that is. Smokey will be there (the mascot costume, I’m guessing). A photo booth with a Neyland Stadium backdrop, cornhole, a social media station, free popcorn, face painting, and more. I’m hoping the “and more” includes funnel cake, because they’re only one step away from a full-on carnival, and who doesn’t love the carnival? The Big Orange Carnival. Somebody get the USPTO on the phone.
The first stop is at the First Tennessee Pavilion in Chattanooga on Saturday, June 3 from 12:30-2:30 Eastern Time. They then go to the Expo Center at Agricenter International/West Pavilion (most awkward name ever?) in Memphis on Sunday, June 11 from 6:00-8:00 Central Time. Then it’s off to Nashville, where they’ll take over The Barn at Sycamore Farms on Monday, July 10, also from 6:00-8:00 Central.
They are actually planning something for the Tri Cities, but they don’t have the details yet because we’re the black sheep of the state, apparently. They’ll probably decide to set up a card table in a Pal’s parking lot or something. Which, as long as Pal’s is within walking distance, I’m good.

Miscellaneous fun stuff

The Football Writers Association of America has awarded Tennessee’s athletic media relations staff the “Super 11” tag as one of the best FBS sports information departments last year. High five to them.
Our friends at GoVols247 are running an awesome special, and if you’re going to pay for Vols content, get Gameday on Rocky Top 2017 first, and then go save $100 on a year’s worth of GoVols247.

Tennessee baseball coach Dave Serrano to resign

Tennessee Vols baseball coach Dave Serrano informed Athletic Director John Currie on Wednesday that he has decided to resign at the end of the season.

Serrano’s accomplishments as baseball coach at Tennessee include overseeing an improvement in the graduation success rate of his players and the highest-ever multi-year APR score for the baseball team. He’s also coached 14 players who were eventually selected in the MLB Draft and signed six consecutive Top 20 recruiting classes.

Unfortunately, Serrano was never able to achieve the same kind of success in the win/loss column at Tennessee that he had at other stops. In his 13-year head coaching career, he has a 446-229-1 record, and yet his record on Rocky Top is only 157-160.

Serrano will continue to coach the remainder of this season, including any postseason tournaments for which the team might qualify. When he leaves, assistant coach Larry Simcox will take over as interim while the program searches for Serrano’s replacement.

QB Meetings with Erik Ainge: What do they look for in pre-game film study?

The latest episode of Quarterback Meetings with Erik Ainge provides a glimpse into what kind of stuff the team is looking for in pre-game film study. This one focuses on how two linebackers play the “interior receivers,” i.e., the tight end and the running back.

According to Ainge, what the ‘backers should do is “combo” the interior receivers, which sounds a lot like “switching” in basketball defense. If two offensive players go different directions and cross each other in the process, it creates a problem for defensive players playing them man-to-man because they are already lined up incorrectly and with all of that crossing, there’s bound to be a traffic jam. But if they “combo” and essentially hand off their guy to their teammate, they’ll each be closer to the guy they have to defend and won’t have to avoid each other in defending their respective guys.

In this video, you’ll see that the linebackers don’t “combo” and thus both the tight end and the running back are open. The running back goes left to the flat while the tight end lined up on the left goes right, and the linebackers are just out of position the entire time.