Will Rick Barnes Adapt His Offensive Philosophy Next Season?

The Ringer has a really interesting piece about how while there are very few future NBA players in the Final Four, all four teams are running NBA systems (i.e., spreading the floor with virtually all five players on the court as three-point threats).  It speaks to a few things about the future of college basketball (the NBA is already there) in which positional versatility is incredibly valued while at the same time true back to the basket big men are ever rarer.  All of these are germane to a discussion about the immediate future of the Tennessee Basketball program:

Should Tennessee Zig While Others Zag?

On the one hand, one could make a strong case that Tennessee’s physicality inside with Grant Williams, Derrick Walker, Admiral Schofield (if the opposing defense puts a smaller defender on him), and potentially even Yves Pons given his physique, is the one competitive advantage the Vols might have against most every opponent regardless of relative talent.  And that when the rest of the country is playing small ball, with either UK/Duke/UNC-type NBA talent or not, Tennessee should instead lean on its biggest asset – size and physicality – to win games and go deep into March.  A sort of reprise of the Memphis Grizzlies’ Grit n Grind style where the Grizzlies parlayed the size, brute force, and defensive tenacity of Marc Gasol/Zach Randolph/Tony Allen into a stretch of deep playoff runs when everyone else was talking about how floor-bound big men were a thing of the past and the only way to win was to shoot 50 three-pointers a game.  That was basically Tennessee’s formula this past season and they won 26 games and an SEC Championship and will return just about all of the talent + experience next season.  It would be very fair for Rick Barnes to say let’s do it again, just a little better, right?

Or Should Tennessee Evolve?

On the other hand, the article presents a compelling reason for Tennessee to if not change its philosophy (you can be physical and play great defense no matter what your offensive style is) then at least augment it on the offensive end to get better.

The author states: “The point isn’t that their offenses ensured deep runs in the NCAA tournament. It’s that a more progressive style of play gave them a chance against more talented teams.”  No matter who Tennessee adds in the late signing period to fill its (current) one spot on the roster, the Vols will not be among the most talented 15-20 teams in the country based on NBA potential if not also other metrics.  However, the team is good enough to likely be at worst a Preseason Top 15 team and a strong contender for yet another very high seed in the NCAA Tournament.  Therefore, it would behoove Coach Barnes to both make sure that a worse/less talented team doesn’t use a more optimized offensive strategy to pull an upset while at the same time giving Tennessee its best chance to win against more talented teams. As if to drive home the point for Tennessee, the author very specifically calls out the fact that Tennessee took twice as many long 2s as Loyola did in its one-point 2nd round loss – illustrating that it was offensive philosophy and not talent that won that game for the Sister Jeans.

The article strongly bolsters the case presented here and here that what many of Tennessee’s returning roster – both starters and bench players – can do for their respective games in the offseason is improve their 3-point shooting:

Imagine a team where neither Grant Williams nor Kyle Alexander are solely dependent on post scoring but instead have added respectable and even reliable three-point shooting to their respective repertoires; Jordan Bone is deadeye with an open look that comes from great ball movement from the perimeter as well as inside-out passing; Yves Pons has continued to develop his three point shooting; and both Jalen Johnson  and Zach Kent have earned minutes on the defensive end such that their strong shooting is on the floor…and all of these are in combination with the already deadly shooting of Admiral Schofield, Lamonte Turner, and Jordan Bowden.  That’s a team that is nearly impossible to defend and can adapt to any kind of defense thrown at it regardless of the relative talent on the floor.

Judgement: Make that Change

The first scenario is interesting, more comfortable, and therefore probably easier to lean on if you’re Rick Barnes.  The man has won a ton of games and played in 23 NCAA Tournaments – he’s clearly very good at what he does.  However, in the end I think it’s pretty clear that in order for the Vols to take the next step – unless they’re going to start landing one and done type NBA players and can simply outman everyone, which is extremely unlikely – they’re going to have to adapt their offensive scheme to start spacing the floor better and shooting more threes.  The good news is twofold: Barnes is both incredibly smart and strategic – witness how he handled this team all season – and he has the players with the potential to do this with some simple offseason skill development that requires neither a full overhaul of the existing roster nor anyone completely retooling their game.  It will be fascinating to watch and see what kind of changes Barnes looks to make with his veteran roster so that the Vols are dancing much further into March of 2019 than they were in 2018.

Gameday Today: Special ICY(&I)MI edition

The end of a couple of long seasons is a fine time to catch your breath and maybe focus on a few things you’ve been neglecting for a bit too long. There will be no condemnation here because that’s exactly what we’ve been doing for the past week. For me, I devoted a day or two to digesting the Loyola-Chicago loss and then became a fan of the team, rooting them on to the Final Four. I’m hoping they win the whole thing. I’ve also been attending to some other business matters in much need of such attention and working on getting our annual magazine on pace to get to the printer on time in late April.

All that is to explain why this is a special ICYMI edition of our usually-more-regular Vols link dump. Mostly, it’s because I would have otherwise missed it, but I’m guessing that many of you might be in the same boat. So, let’s catch up together.

The Vols’ coaching search FOIA data dump

Yeah. This was big, and there’s a lot to process, but one of the best articles on the subject is this one from Celina Summers. Celina, by the way, has contributed an article on the topic to our magazine this year as well. She does a great job, and we’re happy to have her contributing this year.

Say Goodbye to Basketball

Rick Barnes had his post-season debriefing with the media a couple of days ago and said mostly what you’d expect him to say, but it’s still refreshing:

And no, we’re not being picked to finish 13th in the SEC next season. We already being picked first:

Say Hello to Football

The smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips sticking their beautiful noses into the sky.

And guys running around in shoulder pads and shorts to the glorious noise of whistles and shouts:

And all of it happening under the no-nonsense leadership of Jeremy Pruitt:

Pruitt is either (a) not big on praise, or (b) lacking much to praise, as sweet nothings from the lips of the head coach are pretty sparse these days. He sounds like he’s in full-on evaluation mode, and he’s not yet drawn any conclusions about anything.

You can, however, begin to discern what is especially important to him from the few words he does utter:

“The first thing we talked about is that we want to become a team, we think that’s important for us,” Pruitt said. “We want to learn how to practice, we want to see how much knowledge we retain at each individual position and we want to see who the competitors are, we want to see who handles adversity.”

So, we didn’t know how to practice, we’re having to re-teach them everything, and we’re not sure yet which ones have the mental fortitude to do what we’re asking. Whew. Okay.

There’s also this bit that I found particularly interesting:

“Sometimes you get beat because the other guy’s better than you, and sometimes you get beat because maybe you don’t execute it the right way,” Pruitt said. “If the other team beats us because they’re better than us, that’s one thing, but when you make mental errors, which we made a lot of mental errors out there today. We were not very focused in the meetings and didn’t take what we went over in meetings to the field. That probably contributed to some of it.”

Most of our recent football-related pain has come in the form of Tennessee losing to teams that were not better, so woo for the focus on jettisoning those first. I think most of us will be happy only losing to better teams. That has to be first, and only after that do you get to actually being the best team every week.

But while we’re not getting any opinions from the head man yet, we do have some actual news. Four players are being tested at new positions: running back Carlin Fils-aime at cornerback, tight end Princeton Fant at running back, defensive lineman Ja’Quain Blakely at tight end, and wide receiver Tyler Byrd at defensive back. Pruitt’s not sure whether any of the experiments are going to work.

Also, Quay Picou has left the program, but the absences of Darrin Kirkland Jr. and Tim Jordan are nothing to worry over, as Kirkland is recovering from a knee procedure and Jordan is recovering from appendix surgery.

And finally, the defensive-minded Pruitt was “ticked off” after practice yesterday, and it made him openly wonder about his defensive bias. Statements like that are likely to cause fans to experience anxiety borne of watching other former defensive coordinators who suddenly found themselves in head coaching gigs running feeble offenses out onto the field and hoping to win every game 3-0.

Fortunately, Pruitt seems to be aware of this potential blind spot and has not only assembled an offensive staff he trusts but has also enlisted help from John Lilly, who’s been hired as executive assistant to the head coach. Check this out:

“The first thing John does is he’s here to help me,” Pruitt said. “I think it’s clear that I want to be involved on the defensive side from a daily organization standpoint, but at the same time, we’re not going to do anything our program that I’m not aware about, that it don’t go through me.
“Now, what I don’t want to do is come in there and ask the offensive staff a million questions. ‘Why you doing this? Why you doing that?’ You’ve got a guy that can explain to me a little bit about what’s going on, so I can eliminate some of the questions.”

So, maybe Lilly is less an executive assistant and more a “Liaison to the Offense.”

Looking Ahead to 2018-2019 II: 2017-18 Bench Can Take 2018-19 Team to Next Level

Looking at Tennessee’s projected roster for the 2018-2019 basketball season, it is truly striking how young the team is and therefore how much improvement can be expected. Further illustrating that fact is that all but one of the returning bench players were freshmen (true or redshirt), this past season and two of them will in fact be redshirt sophomores. After looking at what the Vols’ starters, along with the SEC Sixth Man of the Year, can do to improve their games during the offseason, it’s time to take a look at what we might expect from each of the returning bench players after an offseason of development

Derrick Walker

Walker emerged as an integral piece of this past season’s team, showing outstanding court awareness and passing ability to go with a soft touch around the rim and a physicality that matched up with his brawny physique.  However, he struggled mightily on the defensive end against Loyola, where his lack of foot speed and overall conditioning were weaknesses that the Ramblers exploited time and again.  That said, in that same game he showed some skills that make you think he’s got All-SEC potential down the line – tenaciously fighting for multiple offensive rebounds using his motor and bulk and making a midrange jumper that showed off his nice shooting stroke.  An offseason of physical development will likely turn up a much different looking Walker come November – stronger yet leaner and with an improved ability to much more effectively hedge against ball screens out on the perimeter.

Yves Pons

Pons came to Tennessee as a very raw but very tantalizing prospect with uber-athleticism and decent-looking shot.  After getting barely spot minutes for most of the season, he slowly worked his way firmly into the rotation to the point where he was often the first non-guard off the bench for the latter part of February and all of March.   He was physical on the defensive end and used his length, athleticism, and physicality to be able to defend multiple positions. He also expanded his offensive game, going 2-3 on 3-pointers (his one miss being an ill-advised shot against Loyola) and going from instantly passing the ball when he got it on the wing to slashing to the basket in an attempt to make things happen. The play that showed what he can be next season with a full offseason in Knoxville occurred against Wright State when he drove the baseline and made an up and under layup where he made it look like he was playing on an 8-foot goal – he just looked like a beast, and one who was finally figuring things out.  If he can become a legitimate threat to get to the rim from the wing while at the same time honing his three point shot he’ll get more and more minutes at both the 3 and 4 spots

John Fulkerson

Fulkerson has had an up and down season following missing almost a full year of basketball and strength and conditioning after his injury but continued to get minutes deep into the season.  He played quite a bit during Tennessee’s run to the SEC Tournament championship game and then got 15 strong minutes in the Vols big opening game win over Wright State in the NCAA Tournament.  During that stretch Fulkerson displayed the kind of skills that Barnes has liked about him since he camped with the Vols before his senior season of high school: nonstop hustle and a willingness to crash the boards along with some raw but developable post moves.  However, when forced into more than spot duty with Kyle Alexander out against Loyola, Fulkerson’s lack of bulk and overall offensive game was exploited.  He’ll need to fully dedicate himself in the weight room in the offseason to be ready for the rigor of post play at the kind of level Tennessee wants to be playing, while at the same time continuing to hone his post moves to make him a viable if last resort option on the offensive end

Jalen Johnson

Jalen Johnson, the #147 ranked player in his class, came to Tennessee with a rep as a good three-point shooter with explosive leaping ability. Johnson worked to earn some playing time later in the season and showed flashes of the athleticism and shooting that has the staff very excited about his future. He’ll need to continue to get stronger so that he’s not as easily knocked off his spot on dribble drives and at the same time continue to earn Barnes’s trust on the defensive end.  He’s got one of the best combinations of athleticism and length on the team though, so it’s imperative that he start to put it together in order for him to be able to get on the court

Zach Kent

Kent, like Jalen Johnson the season before, was a strategic redshirt for Coach Barnes this past season.  He was ranked in the Top 175 in his class and earned offers over the course of his recruitment from Indiana, Maryland, Notre Dame and Oregon among others.  Kent will bring a skill set that is unique to the team: A 6’11, ~235 lb player with range to 25 feet, Kent will give Barnes tons of options in terms of who he can pair him with – that kind of shooting threat from a PF/C will make teams think twice about double-teaming Grant Williams and Tennessee’s other big men in the paint.  After a year in the weight room Kent should be able to at least hold his own in the post on defense and on the boards, and his ability to spread the floor will open things up inside not just for Volunteer post players but also driving lanes for Tennessee’s slashers

Chris Darrington

Darrington has a real chance to fill in for James Daniel III should Tennessee not fill its last roster spot with a Guard.  A JUCO College All-American, he’s got great length and uses it well on the defensive end.  Darrington came in with a rep as a scorer/shooter, and actually led the team in scoring on the preseason European trip (14.3 points per game over the 3 games).  He subsequently missed most of the preseason with an injury that threw him off, but he came back and played quite well, and quite a bit, earlier in the season – he had 10 assists against both High Point and Mercer.  He also enjoyed his most productive game in Tennessee’s win over Lipscomb (12/9/17), as his 11 points, five assists and three rebounds were all season-highs, and he averaged 13 minutes a game over first 10 OOC games (with a high of 20 against Lipscomb), then 9 and 11 against Arkansas and Auburn.  After that his play fell off and subsequently his minutes did as well.  Likely not coincidentally that happened around the same time as the untimely death of one of his best friends from back home, which threw him into a funk mentally.  Tennessee is searching for another Guard in the 2018 class and hoping it is someone dynamic who can complement what they already have on the roster in Bone/Turner/Bowden.  Regardless of who they add though, Darrington will have a chance to move on from a disappointing individual season and carve out a meaningful role on next season’s team

The Vols will be hoping to add more player to the roster to fill James Daniels III’s spot.  Whether that is a high school player or a graduate transfer remains to be seen, as is whether that player is a Guard or Forward.  What is really exciting though is that no matter who else is added there are already six players on the roster behind the top 6 that together bring a combination of experience, skill, and unique talent to the team, and are just scratching the surface of their games.

Looking Ahead to 2018-2019 I: One Area of Improvement for the Starters

After observing a personal 24-hour rule and mourning not only the actual season-ending loss to Loyola but the missed opportunity it represented, it’s time to look at next season’s roster and forecast how the team can get better to make a run at a repeat SEC Championship and a deeper run in the NCAA Tournament.  As we’ve discussed here, there is at ton of upside to the team based on the fact that there is a lot of talent on the team and a large majority of it is still very young and has a lot of development ahead of it.  There’s also the possibility of adding another player to the roster to take the place of the departing James Daniel III – either a freshman (hopefully the more than likely NBA-bound SG Anfernee Simons) or another grad transfer – that we’ll discuss in more depth soon.  Right now let’s talk about the front end of the returning rotation, meaning the (all 5!) starters and the SEC Sixth Man of the Year, and look at the one main are of improvement each of them can make:

Grant Williams

The reigning SEC Player of the Year will only be a Junior and as one would expect has a pretty solid all-around game.  He’s a brute inside, has nice touch on his midrange jumper (though he misses too many bunnies for my liking), and has great court awareness and does a good job of finding the open man when he’s double teamed.  All that said, the one weapon he could add to his arsenal that could make him much more difficult to defend – and at the same time make the team much harder to stop – is a dependable three-point shot.  Specifically, the top of the key three (think Yaten Maten and how deadly he was from that spot), either within the halfcourt offense or trailing on a secondary break.  The good news is that he already displays good form on his jumpshot and shoots a relatively high percentage from the free throw line.  Not only that, but it’s easy to forget that although he only took 25 three-pointers this season – and made a very poor 3 of them for an ugly 12% (frankly I don’t remember him taking even that many) – he was a more than respectable 12/32 his freshman year, good for 37.5%, most of them coming from the top of the key.  Point being, he has the capability, and though I respect his willingness to play to his strengths inside and at the same time let the better three point shooters take them if he can add this to his game it would make him virtually unstoppable

Admiral Schofield

One could pretty easily make the case that Schofield was the MVP of this past season’s team, and that was before we saw what happened when he left the Loyola game with his second foul five minutes into the game after his 11 points pushed the Vols to a 15-6 early lead. Schofield was a revelation this season, expanding his game to become both a bully inside as well as a very dependable 3-point shooter.  He also added a face-up midrange jumpshot to his arsenal.  You know that no one is going to work on his game harder than Admiral, and after his famous 1000-three pointers per day this past offseason led to his performance from behind the line this season one can be assured he’s going to do the same before next season.  So what can he add to his game to take it to another level?  My take would be that if he can clean up handle to make his slashing game smoother and more effective he would be near impossible to stop at the college level and make himself into a legitimate NBA prospect as a 3 and D slasher who can defend a handful of positions

Jordan Bone

The subject of a lot of frustration to fans and coaches alike due to his inconsistency, Bone had a really good March overall (ask Arkansas in particular) and showed more than a few glimpses of what he can become with some reachable improvement.  Bone is probably one of two guys on the current team (along with Jordan Bowden – see below) who has the physical ability to be an effective one-on-one player that can get to the rim and score when Barnes’s half-court offense doesn’t generate a good look for someone.  He’s so quick and fast that there aren’t many college basketball players who can stay in front of him.  He also somewhat quietly developed a both a pretty solid three-point shot and midrange pullup jumper.  Getting himself to where open three pointers automatic (he’s not going to take contested threes unless it’s the end of the shot clock) and at the same time developing the mentality that he can’t be stopped getting to the rim – and bulking up a bit to be able to finish better through contact – is how Jordan can make tangible improvement.  Finally, Bone has the physical ability to become a defensive stopper/difference maker – simply a guy who cannot be driven by and also as someone who causes turnovers regularly.  The adage about how guard play determines winners in March is uttered ad nauseum for a reason, and Bone is the guy on the team whose improvement is directly linked to that, which is why I’ve taken some liberties with the number of areas of improvement for him

Jordan Bowden

Bowden brings a lot to the court, including solid defense and excellent rebounding for his position.  He was also one of the best three-point shooters in the country throughout the entire out of conference slate; unfortunately, that touch left him for much of the SEC season and even into March.  That said, he did make a couple of threes in the NCAA Tournament, including a huge corner three during Tennessee’s furious late-game comeback against Loyola, and I am operating under the assumption that he can get himself to a solid 40%+ shooter from deep with another offseason of work and development.  Where his game can take another step is in the halfcourt, tightening up his handle and, maybe importantly, developing an attacking mentality, such that when he catches the ball either on the wing or in the paint off of a curl, he’s looking to get to the rim and finish.  He must get stronger and quicker to do that, but the ability is clearly there, and with the threat of the catch and shoot three pointer in the opponent’s scouting report he should be able to easily get a first step on his defender on his way to the basket.

Kyle Alexander

Oh how Kyle was missed on Saturday against Loyola. While his offense can be hit or miss, the rim protection he brings to the table is simply unmatched by the backup big men on the team.  Without Alexander at the back of the defense Tennessee’s wings had to help on drives, which led to multiple kick-out three pointers.  The good news is that Kyle will be back to anchor the defense once again, likely with more size and explosiveness after another offseason of physical development.  And while he’s most often the 5th option on offense, if he can become a consistent shooter that would give Tennessee that many more options on offense.  Frankly, if Kyle wants to be an NBA player he would be wise to follow Admiral’s lead and work on his three point shot.  Thin 6’11 rim protectors are valuable in the NBA, but guys who fit that profile who are also at least reasonable threats from three are not only where the NBA is headed but really where it is already.  It was a long time ago, but don’t forget that Tennessee doesn’t beat Purdue without Alexander’s late-game three pointer that helped send it into overtime.  He’s got a nice stroke, which shows up from the free throw stripe, so it’s not beyond the realm of possibility.  I’m not sure that’s where Barnes will want Kyle to go, but imagine an offense that has 5 three-point shooters on the floor with Bone/Bowden as true drive threats…to me that’s enticing and entirely possible

Lamonte Turner

Mr. Big Shot earned that nickname all season long, making game-changing and even game-winning shots throughout the year and into March.  Later in the season he also started taking the ball to the rim, mostly in transition with the idea of making a play by wither scoring or getting to the foul line.  His aggressiveness and fearlessness are unmatched and are a big part of why this past season was so successful.  Turner’s development will come from improving his overall quickness to improve on both ends of the floor, allowing him to drive past defenders in the halfcourt on offense and better stay in front of his man on defense (a real weakness, in my opinion). Additionally, Turner, a natural scorer in a PG body, needs to improve his post passing and overall awareness about when and how to get the ball into guys like Williams and his fellow big men

There is obviously tons of improvement that Tennessee’s 5+1 can make between Saturday’s heartbreaking end to the season and the beginning of what should be the most hyped and anticipated Volunteer basketball season in at least 10 years.  That’s what makes the future of the program so bright and Tennessee fans so excited about what Coach Barnes has going on in Knoxville.  Next up we’ll take a look at the remainder of the roster and what each of them can do with their games to take the team to the next level.

Tennessee Spring Has Sprung: 5 Intriguing Vols Storylines to Watch

The Jeremy Pruitt era officially began Tuesday as the Tennessee Volunteers took to the practice field for the first of 15 spring practices. Coming off the program’s worst year in history and a winless slate in the SEC, hope is all we have.

Hope of improvement. Hope of development and actual coaching. And hope that some new blood injected in the program will produce enough wins to get back to bowl eligibility.

After back-to-back 9-4 seasons under Butch Jones, 2017 spiraled out of control. Now, the Vols appear in shambles from a roster standpoint, in worse shape, arguably, than they were when Jones took over for Derek Dooley.

This is the early 1980s all over again.

But, we have to start somewhere, don’t we? You aren’t going to beat Georgia and Alabama for recruits until you prove you can win football games. The Vols can’t do that this spring, but they can take steps toward being a better team. There are miles and miles to go before we play.

Let’s take a look at five things to watch as we embark on the spring.

 

Can Jarrett Guarantano get separation?

Throughout the miserable end of the 2017 football season, Tennessee’s talented redshirt freshman quarterback showed flashes of growth. What’s he going to do once a real quarterbacks coach gets a hold of him now that Tyson Helton is in town?

There’s a reason why Guarantano was the nation’s top-rated dual-threat quarterback according to the 247Sports composite rankings in the 2016 class. The only questions are will he ever get to prove it behind an adequate offensive line, and how will his skill set fit within the framework of this pro-style offense?

Experts said that during his high school days, Guarantano was a pass-first quarterback, and he never proved to be the type of freelancing runner Joshua Dobbs was, anyway. There’s nothing wrong with being able run a little when the pocket collapses, but quarterbacks have to be able to throw the deep ball and the intermediate routes consistently. Guarantano needs to prove he can, or he won’t be the guy.

Keller Chryst is standing over there, watching, and he didn’t transfer from Stanford for his final season to stand on the sideline. He’s coming in to start, and Guarantano will have a battle on his hands once Chryst gets on campus. JG likely won’t have an issue beating out Will McBride, who seems like a poor fit for this scheme, but Chryst is a different story.

Last year, Guarantano’s major issues dealt with timing and accuracy. He struggled being on the same page with his receivers, and the internal clocks quarterbacks need to keep them from getting drive-killing sacks didn’t exist. A lot of that is because of a lack of maturity, but he’ll get lapped if he doesn’t pick it up quickly.

Chryst is right there waiting, JT Shrout is a talented freshman who might be the future, and this staff is going to go after elite signal-callers every year. In other words, Guarantano had better embrace the competition this spring, assert himself as the definitive guy right now and get a head start on Chryst.

If he does that, it’ll be big for his future and, more importantly, for Tennessee’s present.

 

Position changes steal the spotlight

One of the things we always stayed frustrated about during the Jones era was maximizing the potential of the roster. Sometimes, it was elite prospects not getting any better. At others, it was players we thought fit better at other positions who were locked at places where they were either buried on the depth chart or couldn’t reach their potential.

The perfect example of this, of course, is Tyler Byrd. The South Florida product flipped from Miami on National Signing Day’s eve two years ago, and we all waited to see whether he’d be a safety or a cornerback on the next level. Basically everybody who was anybody recruited him to play defense.

Yet, he’s been wasting away on the second- or third-string at wide receiver during his first two years.

This spring, he’s getting a crack at cornerback, and that’s an exciting development. Also, his best friend and high school teammate, Carlin Fils-aime, is getting the opportunity to play corner as well. He showed flashes at running back a season ago, but he was going to be buried on the depth chart there, especially with Michigan State graduate transfer Madre London coming in. With Ty Chandler, Tim Jordan, Trey Coleman and Jeremy Banks on the roster, CFA wouldn’t going to be a factor. Why not put him somewhere where he can? I like it.

When Latrell Bumphus committed to Tennessee over a bunch of nice offers, it was unclear whether he’d play tight end or defensive end. Though some schools (like Jeremy Pruitt at Alabama) was recruiting him to play defensive end, the Vols let him start on offense. Now, Bumphus has grown to nearly 280 pounds, and he is getting a look as a 3-4 defensive end. With his speed and explosion, he’s at least worth a look at a position of need.

An exciting development that transpired today was the news that this coaching staff is high on Princeton Fant, a player who was an afterthought in last year’s class after an injury-riddled senior season. He came in as a wide receiver, moved to tight end, was thought to be able to play linebacker, and nobody was sure where he was going to play or if he was. Pruitt and Co. are giving him a seven-practice look at running back. That’s an intriguing thought considering Fant is a nice-looking athlete who is around 6’2″, 220 pounds. Those guys don’t grow on trees, and if he develops a knack for the position, he’s got four years left to grow.

Ja’Quain Blakely, who was a linebacker under Jones, is moving over to tight end to get a look there. Also — even though this was to be expected — some players who were defensive ends will drop back and play outside “Jack” linebacker in a 3-4. The perfect player for that position is Darrell Taylor, but Austin Smith is another guy who can get a look there.

 

Talent rejuvenation

So, who is going to flourish under Pruitt?

Aren’t you sick of the days of guys like Kahlil McKenzie, Todd Kelly Jr. and Jonathan Kongbo coming in as highly coveted recruits and never getting any better? Thanks, Butch. Hopefully, those days are over. UT’s coaching staff has been lauded by virtually everybody as being an experienced, excellent group of developers.

Some candidates to come out of the woodwork and reach their potential are Taylor and Kongbo. I think we could see both of those guys come through and be dependable players in 2018. Though Nigel Warrior arguably was Tennessee’s best player a season ago, he could blossom and be the defensive leader this year.

As for guys who’ve not really done much who could thrive? Receivers Jacquez Jones and LaTrell Williams are a duo of guys with speed and ability who could turn heads and develop under receivers coach David Johnson. Both of those guys are same type of player as Memphis stud Anthony Miller, who Johnson helped from a lightly-recruited no-star to a guy who’ll assuredly get drafted this year.

The Vols desperately need a couple of offensive linemen to step up, and with such a slim group out there this spring, it’s a great opportunity for freshmen Jerome Carvin and Ollie Lane as well as redshirt freshman Riley Locklear. I like their potential, and at least one (and probably two) of them will be rotational players in ’18.

Defensively, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about redshirt freshman Theo Jackson and junior Marquill Osborne. One of those guys never got the chance to blossom under Jackson, and Osborne — who was heavily recruited by Clemson, Ohio State and others — hasn’t reached his potential. Can he be a playmaker for the Vols? He’s got the talent to be.

 

Passing the test

Having a vertical passing attack is a nice theory. If the Vols can do that, it’ll open some things up on offense and give UT an element it never really had under Jones.

But you can’t pass the football if you don’t have anybody who can catch it.

It’s massive news for the Vols that Jauan Jennings is back (for now) and even though he is out for this spring battling injuries, he’s got the potential to be one of the top receivers in the SEC if he can stay healthy and keep his head on straight. But UT needs more than just him.

We’ve already mentioned Jones and Williams as a couple of possible breakout stars. But UT has other players who are capable of doing nice things with the ball in their hands. Rising junior Brandon Johnson led the team with 482 receiving yards a season ago, and everybody knows how good Marquez Callaway can be if he consistently gets open and can get the ball. He doesn’t always get separation, and he and Guarantano wasn’t on the same page a season ago, but if they can get there, this receiving corps has a lot of potential.

Just think of Jennings, Callaway and Johnson as a trio if they live up to their potential. That would give UT a backup corps of Jones, Williams, and we haven’t even mentioned Josh Palmer, who proved to be the Vols best receiver at getting open a season ago, even if he struggled to catch the ball consistently.

Jordan Murphy has some potential too, and the redshirt freshman will get a chance to prove it this spring. We also haven’t mentioned Alontae Taylor, who may well be Tennessee’s top offensive recruit from the ’18 class, and he’s on campus ready to try to crack the two-deep rotation. Cedric Tillman will get here this summer, so that’s another possibility in the rotation.

This is an exciting group to watch, and, yes, they were terrible a season ago. But they will get great coaching from Williams, and in this offense, a few of them could shine. That starts this spring.

Where do the defensive pieces fit?

Finally, we all want to know where everybody is going to fit as the Vols transition to a 3-4 base package.

As I’ve mentioned, Taylor and Smith will drop back and be outside linebackers who’ll get after the quarterback. JUCO transfer Jordan Allen, who certainly looks the part in pictures after coming in from San Francisco in the early signing period, will battle for a starting outside ‘backer position, as well.

The Vols already have a great middle linebacker in Darrin Kirkland Jr., but he’s yet to prove he can stay healthy. There’s a big opportunity for Alabama sophomore Will Ignont, who belongs in the section above regarding breakout players. He’s a big, fast linebacker who looks like he belongs on the Crimson Tide roster, and he’ll get the opportunity to win a spot at inside ‘backer as well. Don’t forget about Daniel Bituli, who was one of Tennessee’s biggest playmakers a season ago. He’ll have a shot to win a spot, too.

It’s going to be interesting to see who plays the all-important “Star” position in Pruitt’s defense, which was so dynamic during Pruitt’s days with the Tide. Theo Jackson and Osborne could get looks there, and Jackson seems like a perfect fit for that spot. Shawn Shamburger could wind up being a guy who gets a look there, too. He’s simply too good to keep off the field, and if he doesn’t play at that spot, he will at cornerback.

Opportunities abound, and it’s going to be interesting to see where guys like Kongbo and Kyle Phillips fit on the defensive front, too. How about Alexis Johnson? He and Shy Tuttle look like they’ll be nose guards in this scheme, but are they big enough? Can Eric Crosby be conditioned enough to make a difference inside? Is Matthew Butler going to break the rotation at defensive end?

A lot of these questions need to be answered, and we’ll start finding them out during spring.

Gameday Today: VFL Pro Day roundup

Yesterday was Pro Day on Rocky Top, and several former Vols football players were in action hoping to improve their NFL Draft stock.

Rashaan Gaulden

Rashaan Gaulden, of course, had to answer for probably the 100th time a question about his double-bird to the Alabama fan section last season and had what I consider to be a nearly perfect answer:

“It’s just, you know, I’m a very passionate guy when I step on the field,” Gaulden said. “I hate Alabama, and that’s just how it is. But at the same time, I’ve got to know that there’s no place in sports for that kind of thing to happen.”
“I obviously don’t want to be remembered that way at Tennessee,” he said. “I feel like I made a lot of plays and different things like that, so that’s not how I want to be remembered, but I’m gonna have to live with it. But I’ve definitely matured since then.”

More from Gaulden:

John Kelly

John Kelly had an important, if somewhat ambiguously-defined, answer for what he wanted to put up as his 40-time:

“Something that’s not slow,” he said, smiling.

More from Kelly:

Evan Berry

Now that kick return specialist Evan Berry is his own man, he’s decided to take matters into his own hands and put himself on offense:

“I was planning on doing both [offense and defense],” Berry said after his workout. “But then around mid-January, I decided that I just wanted to put all my focus into one thing and do that to the best of my ability without having to worry about two things at one time. I just chose one. Life is too short, and I chose what I really felt comfortable with and what I really wanted to do. That’s how I narrowed it down. I was pretty much determined to do it.”

More from Berry:

Kahlil McKenzie

Not to be outdone, defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie also put in some time on the offensive side of the ball:

“A couple of coaches asked me if I’d be willing to do the drills,” McKenzie said after finishing his Pro Day workout at the Anderson Training Center, “and I told them it’s good with me, so I just went out there and did some of the O-line drills.
“That’s the first time I’ve been asked to do an offensive line type of stuff. (NFL Scouting) Combine, I did strictly D-line things. I get questions all the time sometimes about offensive line stuff, but you know, you just kind of focus on what you’re getting asked to do.”

More from McKenzie:

Trevor Daniel

And we’ve heard all of the legends about punter Trevor Daniel’s freakish athleticism (for a punter), but he says it’s doing nothing for him with the NFL Scouts:

“It doesn’t mean anything, honestly,” he said. “I just did it to do it. They’ll tell you they don’t really care that I got 23 reps on the bench. That doesn’t matter. They just want you to kick good.”

More from Daniel:

Other guys

More select quotes from the players can be found here.

Current standings in the GRT 2018 Bracket Contest

Whew, that was an exhausting weekend, both for the Vols and their fans, as well as for anyone who filled out a bracket.

Here are the standings in the Gameday on Rocky Top 2018 Bracket Tourney Pool after the first weekend:

 

Oof. There’s a whole lotta Tennessee in those finals columns, and you have to get a ways down the list to Harley and Chase to find someone with a viable champion. The way things are going, however, we’re going to have a Final Four of Loyola-Chicago, Florida State, West Virginia, and Syracuse, so everyone will be humbled in the end. Woo.

Whatever you do, don’t look at the path to the Final Four from the Vols’ old bracket. The top four seeds are all gone, and the five seed is a hated rival in blue who must contend only with, at best, a nine and a seven before the Elite Eight. And in that round, both the one and two seeds are already gone. Like I said, oof.

Loyola-Chicago Gets the Bounce, Beats Tennessee 63-62

When you play close games, you put your heart out there to be broken. We can argue about the match-up and whether this game should have been this close, but too much of that does a disservice to Loyola-Chicago, both their season and their performance today. This was a good team, and they played like one today.

Tennessee, also a good team, didn’t play particularly poorly. The Vols shot 45.5% from the floor, a not-terrible 36% from three, and only turned it over seven times. But the Vols were taken out of their flow in a couple of ways. Admiral Schofield looked like he would write himself into the first page of Tennessee basketball lore in the first five minutes, but foul trouble hampered him the rest of the day. The Vols, healthy all year, didn’t have Kyle Alexander today. Tennessee blocked only two shots, only the fifth time in 35 games they had less than three on the year. Six offensive rebounds was tied for the second-fewest of the year. They did get some flashes of promise from Derrick Walker.

But I think more than anything, Tennessee couldn’t do what it needed to do to disrupt what Loyola wanted to do. The Vols only shot six free throws (and only made three of them), erasing what could have been one of their biggest advantages over the Ramblers. The lack of free throw opportunities is one of the consequences of taking so many threes. And, especially without Alexander and with Schofield in foul trouble, Tennessee’s defense couldn’t consistently stop Loyola’s offense, which was as good as advertised. The Ramblers shot 50% from the field and 40% from the arc; the Vols couldn’t pull away from them defensively and weren’t productive enough offensively to do the same. And that’s how you get a game decided on the final possession. Grant Williams made a play I’m not sure Loyola could have stopped. Clayton Custer got a bounce on a tough shot there’s nothing Tennessee could do to stop. And the Vols fall by one.

Perspective is elusive when your heart is broken, of course. For me, the pain isn’t because Loyola was an 11 seed; we knew those guys were better than that coming in. There is pain from the lost opportunity with the one seed out in this region after Virginia’s loss, but we also shouldn’t pretend the Vols were one bounce from punching their ticket to San Antonio. Cincinnati is still alive and well. And in the clear-path department, we’ve actually seen better/worse:  the 2000 squad went to the Sweet 16 as the highest seed left in the region, but lost to North Carolina as an eight seed. When we catch our breath, we might find this isn’t the very worst of anything.

But it was a bad bounce for the good guys, and it always hurts in March. There will also be time to look forward to next year and get excited about everyone but James Daniel coming back, and rightfully so.

But don’t forget to look back, too. This team will be SEC Champions forever. They changed the direction and narrative of Tennessee’s basketball program in a single year. And they gave us the best season we’ve seen from the revenue-producing sports in this athletic department in eight years.

For today, it hurts. But for all they were this year, and all they’ll have a chance to be tomorrow, we are grateful.

Go Vols.

March Madness: Tennessee vs. Loyola-Chicago TV channel and tip time

The Vols take on the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers this evening at 6:10 p.m. ET. The game is on TNT, and a win will advance Tennessee to the Sweet 16.

While you’re waiting, check out our game preview, and have a listen to Will discussing the game with Sports 180‘s Josh and Will:

Game info

Go Vols!

Gameday Today: Vols March Madness Game 1 roundup

Survive

Tennessee didn’t just survive and advance in the NCAA Tournament yesterday, they absolutely throttled Wright State.

Pressure? What pressure? No, they are the ones who pressure. And they’ve traded their fancy handshakes for an all-business attitude copped from the 1996 Chicago Bulls.

Highlights of the smothering:

And we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t single out this play because it’s so, so good:

What did the SEC Network folks have to say? Good things, as you might expect:

Also check out this collection of photos from UTSports and this quote from Rick Barnes — now a finalist for national coach of the year — about the “talent” of hard work.

Tennesse wasn’t the only SEC team to have a good day yesterday. The conference went 4-0, and now the pressure is on Texas A&M, Arkansas, Auburn, and Missouri to uphold the good name of the group of institutions formerly known primarily for football.

Advance

So, who’s next for the Vols? The Loyola-Chicago Ramblers, who beat Miami with some flair:


The game isn’t until tomorrow at 6:10 p.m. ET on TNT, but we’re already being ever-so-politely trash-talked by a nonagenerian chaplain: