Vols playing Georgia Tech for one reason: Recruiting

The Vols are two weeks out from the season opener, a nationally televised contest against Georgia Tech in the brand new Mercedes Benz Dome in Atlanta.  And while having the national attention that comes with the game, especially as the only game on Labor Day evening, is attractive, many including myself have questioned the idea of playing a team like Tech at all.  From their unique triple option offense, preparation for which yields no down-the-road benefits, to their dangerous blocking schemes that put your defensive line at risk of injury, there are a lot of downsides to playing the Yellow Jackets.  So why play this game at all?

Three very important reasons: 1. Recruiting. 2. Recruiting.  3. Recruiting.

The state of Georgia is consistently one of the best in the country when it comes to producing high level talent, and for years the Vols have had a lot of success recruiting the Peach State.  Team 121 has fourteen scholarship players from the Peach State on the roster, and the Class of 2018 already boasts 5 commitments from Georgians, each of whom are big time prospects.

As part of the neutral site game, the Vols will be able to provide tickets (though not have contact with) to around 100 prospects and their families.  For the current class, it’s a chance to show your current committed players and their families what their future “home” looks like and to further solidify the positive feelings that led to those commitments.  With 2018 GA prospects the Vols are still recruiting, it’s a chance for Tennessee to show off in an unofficial capacity and get an extra “visit” from those players and then hopefully parlay that into at least one unofficial visit for a game in Neyland.  For prospects in the classes of 2019 and beyond, it’s a chance for Butch and Co. to kick off relationships with players and show them and their families what Tennessee Football is all about.

Below are the players I think the Vols will be targeting to get to The Dome:

Current 2018 commitments from Georgia

  • RB Anthony Grant (confirmed attendee)
  • RB LJ Dixon
  • WR Jatavious Harris
  • DL Jamarcus Chatman
  • S Trey Dean

2018 Uncommitted* Prospects

  • CB Jaycee Horn
  • DE Caleb Johnson
  • DE Andrew Johnson
  • DE Caleb Kelly
  • DE Richard Jibunor
  • DE Adam Anderson (a long shot, but he’s been to Knoxville this summer and is best friends with Chatman)

*I imagine the Vols will try to get guys committed elsewhere to come, like Azeez Ojulari (UGA), Caleb Tannor (UGA), and Tobe Umerah (Stanford).  Can’t hurt…

Horn and Jibunor are two players in particular who Tennessee is fighting very hard for, both of whom the Vols are in two-team races for, and both of whom are targeting September decisions.  If they can get those two to come for this game and then get at least an unofficial visit for a game in Neyland (Indiana State or UGA are the two home games in September) that would go a very long way.

Class of 2019

The Georgia class of 2019 is widely considered to be one of the best in the state in recent memory, and the Vols have already made inroads with a lot of top prospects.  In particular, elite players the Vols would love to see in the Dome are RB Derrian Brown (Anthony Grant’s teammate), WR Ramel Keyton, and S Joseph Charleston (the younger brother of current Tennessee baseball player Jay Charleston).  All of these prospects have been to Knoxville at least once and have a great deal of interest in Tennessee.

I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Tennessee do major outreach with some of the top local high school programs, even if the Vols aren’t currently in the running for their respective top players, as a way to engender goodwill with those coaches and administrators.  That’s another way to use this game as a long-term building block for recruiting in this state, and as we know Butch Jones never misses a chance to get a leg up in recruiting.

Bottom line: This is a huge opportunity to get your program in front of Atlanta-area prospects in a very unique way.  I expect there to be a Vol Walk like we saw last year in Bristol, to have about 75% of the stadium in Big Orange, and for the Vols to win convincingly against Tech.  It should be a great atmosphere and should pay dividends for the Vols with recruits in the current class as well as 2019 and beyond.  That’s why you play the game, now the Vols have to execute on and off the field.  I’m confident they will.

 

Report: Vols receiver Josh Smith suffers collarbone injury

Mike Griffith is reporting that Tennessee receiver Josh Smith suffered a collarbone injury in Sunday’s practice and will undergo more tests Monday.

Griffith cites an unnamed souorce in reporting this news, and there are few details. It looks like we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get confirmation and additional details about how severe the injury might be and how long he might be out.
Smith, who has had more than his share of injury troubles in the past, was competing for the starting gig at slot receiver, and it now looks like sophore Tyler Byrd is the favorite to start at that spot in two weeks against Georgia Tech.

Vols video roundup: Vols commit Cade Mays will make you LOL

This video of Vols’ 5-star offensive lineman commit for the Class of 2018 Cade Mays will make you laugh out loud. The hilarity begins around the :52 mark.

Jordan Bone’s Greatest Hits . . . so far

This is long, and so I haven’t watched the whole thing, but it’s 30 minutes of the Vols, so you know:

Not embeddable, but here’s GoVols247’s video of Butch Jones’ post-practice comments from yesterday evening.

Gameday Today: Is Georgia Tech worth it, Shawn Shamburger, and Eeyore tails all around

In today’s Vols link roundup, we wonder whether playing Georgia Tech is a good idea, celebrate with Shawn Shamburger, and catch up with Mike Gundy, who’s reportedly no longer 40.

Should we be playing Georgia Tech at all?

This should not be news to anyone except those who are just now emerging from their football hibernation, but the Vols opening opponent this year is Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets play that nasty cut-blocking, triple-option, hide-the-football style of offense that flummoxes opponents and is hard on the lower extremities of prized defensive linemen. Sure, history shows that having extra time to prepare makes it easier, and Dave Hart did us a favor by insisting that the Vols only play the Yellow Jackets in a season-opener, but there are perils afoot.

Joe Rexrode of USA Today/KNS says that maybe we shouldn’t be playing the game anyway. A few compelling quotes:

“. . . the question of whether this game was worth it will be asked 12 days later if the Vols don’t win at Florida. By necessity, Georgia Tech has taken up a chunk of the preseason time that would have been spent on global defensive construction.

“It’s a game you don’t play if you don’t have to play it. By the time camp ends and the Vols get to the start of their first game week on Aug. 28, Shoop said four days will have been spent solely on Georgia Tech. He’s sprinkling in looks from other teams on the schedule as well, as he always does, but the flexbone demands devotion.

“It is misdirection and cut blocks and deception and cut blocks and the occasional play-action bomb, followed by a few more cut blocks.

“The cut block is a big element, and we’ve worked a lot on that,” said Shoop, who can’t relish the idea of blockers diving at his guys’ knees all night, after losing so many of his key guys to injury in 2016.”

Um, yeah. What about all that? Folks will not only be embracing hindsight if the Vols don’t beat Florida, they’ll be asking questions immediately if we lose a d-tackle in the opener. And just how much time does it really take away from preparation for the SEC games that matter more?

I’m guessing, though, that four days in the grand scheme of things isn’t an over-investment in GT prep. It’s not that much more than a regular game-week prep, so four days doesn’t sound like “too much.” Plus, you can probably make up some ground the following week by transitioning immediately to Florida and assuming you’re already ready enough for Indiana State. If you can’t beat the Sycamores with a vanilla Florida game plan, you have bigger problems.

So, as long as nobody gets hurt, it’s probably fine.

Nobody get hurt, okay?

Shawn Shamburger

Flying side bump to freshman cornerback Shawn Shamburger, who had his black helmet stripe removed Wednesday evening. According to Micah Abernathy, he and fellow freshman Cheyenne Labruzza are both “always trying to get ahead of the older guys, so they’ll both be good.”

And there’s also this bit of news that has made me giddy this morning:

“In terms of Shawn Shamburger, he’s an individual who’s really stepped up in the last few practices,” Jones said. “He’s really made his presence known at the corner position. The other night, I really liked the way he filled in run support. We challenged him with some deep balls, and he was able to play the ball in the air and find the blind spot, which we talk about, with turning your head in coverage.“

Emphasis mine, because oh, how we longed for a DB to turn around last fall.

Quick Hits

 

Vols video roundup: Peyton, the Wolf bros, and John Kelly runs through noodles

Peyton, wearing that same Cutter & Buck polo he always wears on Rocky Top (hey, I have one, too; it’s a nice shirt), has some words of wisdom for the team:

The Wolf brothers enjoy a little air time on ESPN talking about Eli’s shiny new scholly:

Hey, look! It’s John Kelly running through a giant bowl of pasta in super slo-mo!

It’s also nice to see some practice by the d-line against that nasty cut-block stuff.

And more practice highlights from this afternoon, including the dreaded green rubberbands:

Brett Kendrick, Micah Abernathy, and Trevor Daniel talk to reporters after practice this afternoon:

Did you miss Derek Barnett’s third sack last night? Here ’tis:

Leading returning rusher Dedrick Mills dismissed from Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech announced this afternoon that it has dismissed leading Yellow Jackets rusher Dedrick Mills from the team for a violation of team rules.

Mills ran for 771 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, and was named to the preseason All-ACC team. He missed three games in 2016 due to two other suspensions for violations of unspecified team rules.

Georgia Tech did win all three games that Mills missed last season, but he figured to be a key cog in the crazy system this fall. According to ESPN, the other B-backs on the Yellow Jackets roster “have combined for just 14 career carries, 13 of which came from senior Brady Swilling, who was just awarded a scholarship this week after four years as a walk-on.” Of course, a B-back in the GT system is just one position of about 11 that might run the ball, but still.

As we and others have said on multiple occasions over the summer, the problem with playing Georgia Tech isn’t necessarily the talent but the system, and the loss of one player won’t change that. Still, losing one of your key guys this close to the opener has to be bad news for the Yellow Jackets.

Gameday Today: Blaming Dave Clawson never goes out of style

 

Hello Darkness, my old friend

One of the side benefits of having to endure all of the nonsense about Butch Jones actually thinking positive thoughts is that it has distracted us from the old habit of rehashing for the thousandth time the misery of the last decade. It’s kind of too bad that Dave Hooker didn’t post his Top 10 reasons for Tennessee’s slide over the past decade last year sometime, because it’s actually one of the better treatments of the issue even if it is, hopefully, old news. Me, I’m side-stepping the blame-game and just trying to identify the first domino to tip, which I believe was Fulmer’s hiring of Dave Clawson at the wrong time. Lots of action set in motion by that ill-fated decision.

Quick Hits

  • From the Knoxville News Sentinel, Dan Fleser has a piece rounding up all of the latest on the Vols’ new emphasis on toughness, and John Adams says Team 121 could use a bit of the 2007 team’s resourcefulness. Side note, KNS has like the messiest-coded pages on the internet. This has been a public service announcement.
  • SB Nation’s Bill Connelly ranks every SEC team using all of his fancy numbers, charts, and stuff. Spoiler: Tennessee is in “Tier 3” with six other teams, after a Tier 2 consisting of Auburn and LSU and Tier 1 consisting of the team you think is in Tier 1.
  • 247Sports has a nice feature on Jajuan Jennings, who they rank as No. 4 on their ongoing list of Tennessee’s most important players in 2017. And Scout, which is now showing up on 247‘s page, has a similarly nice feature on offensive lineman Marcus Tatum, who’s trying to work his way into significant playing time, largely by gaining weight. I didn’t follow it all the way to the end, but I think the article concludes with a slideshow documenting Tatum’s weight gain. Incidentally, my Facebook page shows basically the same thing.
  • Defensive tackle Kendal Vickers is making me cringe by admitting that “every D-lineman hates to be cut-blocked” when asked about the challenges of playing Georgia Tech. Are you worried about injuries to defensive tackles in the very first game of the season? Join the club!
  • Butch Jones has attached “Quarterback Leadership Cameras” to the QBs, and they record every single little thing they do so it can be subjected to criticism by the coaching staff later. Woo!
  • New punter commit Paxton Brooks says he “just felt like Tennessee was my home.” Missed opportunity to use “home sweet home” there, but that’ll come.
  • High five to hoopster Grant Williams, who lobbied John Currie to open Smokey’s Sports Grill in Anderson Training Center for summer sessions so the athletes didn’t have to bulk up on Gus’ Good Times Deli. I mean, Gus and his seasoned fries are partly responsible for some of the aforementioned images on my Facebook page, but I’m not an athlete and “offensive-lineman-shaped” does not equal “offensive lineman,” so good call, Currie.
  • If a lawn mower company is going to sponsor a bowl game played on artificial turf, it had better at least be named the “Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl.”

How does adding a scholarship punter impact the rest of the Class of 2018 for the Vols?

With the commitment of Under Armour All-American Punter Paxton Brooks, the Vols are now up to 21 public commitments. With numbers tight already and a lot of good players left on the board in mid-August, some might be surprised to see Tennessee use a scholarship on a punter. But there shouldn’t really be any surprise when you consider Butch Jones’s Beamer-esque focus on special teams and the success he’s had with punters in particular in his relatively short tenure at Tennessee.

While they don’t get the publicity of the Peyton Mannings and now Derek Barnetts, UT had FOUR of its former punters in the NFL last season – Dustin and Britton Colquitt, of course, along with the two Butch Jones alums in Michael Palardy (now in a training camp battle in Carolina) and Matt Darr (in his third season with Miami). Trevor Daniel will be a senior this season and is likely to continue the trend. Brooks will be competing with a handful of walk-ons starting in 2018 and will be given every chance to win the job right off the bat.

Ramifications on the 2018 Recruiting Class

With approximately four spots remaining in the 2018 class – barring attrition, of course – here are five takeaways we can glean from Butch deciding to bring on a punter.

1. No tight end in this class

Although things have been trending away from Tennessee with its top two (and arguably only) tight ends on the board in Tommy Tremble and James Mitchell, I think it’s safe to say that there won’t be another tight end in this class to go with current commitment Jacob Warren. And with the emergence of freshman Latrell Bumphus in fall camp as a future star to go with fellow projected 2018 roster tight ends Warren, Eli Wolf, Austin Pope, and James Brown (not to mention a rumored position change – odds are its freshman Princeton Fant, aka Jason Croom 2.0), the spot is in good hands.

2. Only one more receiver

It’s a virtual certainty that UT won’t have room for more than one wide receiver. While some have speculated that there was already just one spot left for a WR, there has also been speculation that UT could try to find room for two elite players. And with fellow South Floridians Shocky Jacques-Louis and Jeshaun Jones both really liking the Vols, that seemed like a possibility until last night. We’ll get into a comparison of those two prospects at another time, but suffice it to say that it is first-come, first-served at this point, because as of right now there just doesn’t appear to be room for both.

3. No second linebacker

This move also likely closes the door on taking a second linebacker in this class (cough*Cam Jones*cough).  As we wrote about just a few days before he committed, current Vols linebacker commitment Matthew Flint is an outstanding prospect and a great fit for what Tennessee wants at the position. And while Jones is a nice prospect in his own right, the numbers just aren’t going to work out for him, both in terms of availability in this class as well as need on the roster with a projected 10 linebackers in 2018.

4. There’s still room for OL Jerome Carvin and CB Jaycee Horn

One thing that hasn’t changed is that the Vols are all in on offensive lineman Jerome Carvin and cornerback Jaycee Horn. Barring something incredibly unforeseen, those two have spots in this class whenever they want them. Horn is expected to make a September decision while Carvin recently postponed his commitment – one that was supposed to take place on Wednesday and likely would have been good news for the Vols. Tennessee is trending with Horn and remains the heavy favorite for Carvin despite the delay in his public announcement. Interestingly, both also really like Alabama and while the Tide has heavily recruited them at this point, neither appear to be takes for Alabama.

5. There’s still room for one more defensive end

The other thing that hasn’t changed is Tennessee’s desire to add one more defensive end. With Azeez Ojulari committing to Georgia on Thursday and Adam Anderson continuing to look like a long shot, the Vols’ defensive end board doesn’t look any different than it did when we looked at it just over a week ago. And I’m still a big fan of high floor project/prospect Kayode Oladele, who recently set his official visit to Knoxville for the September 30 game against Georgia. What is also certain is that the Vols will need to continue to recruit JUCO stud Dorian Gerald, who is one of the jewels of the class and a plug-and-play rotation guy (at worst) in 2018. He’s going to take some other official visits, and home state South Carolina won’t give up on him until he sits in his first class in Ayres Hall in January, 2018.  My guess is that the same goes for the other out-of-state defensive line commitment Jamarcus Chatman. Therefore, Tennessee will continue to recruit a bunch of defensive ends and will likely expand the board during the season as more prospects emerge. I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Vols look to the JUCO ranks again if they can find another instant impact prospect, especially if a guy like Jonathan Kongbo has a big season and flirts with an early entry to the NFL.

Where do we set the bar for John Kelly?

Earlier this week Jimmy Hyams quoted some of Tennessee’s offensive linemen saying they wanted John Kelly to get 2,000 yards this season. Perhaps they’re unaware that no one at Tennessee has ever run for even 1,500 yards in a single season, but hey, aim high!

It’s not fair to Kelly to call his sophomore season a good news/bad news campaign. He is Exhibit A in the, “Just because they were playing behind someone great doesn’t mean they can’t be great,” argument for Team 121. It was no sin to be third team behind Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara in their final seasons in Knoxville. The “bad news” side of the equation is, when he did get his chances, most of Kelly’s productivity came against lesser competition:  only six carries in the first five games plus Alabama, none against Florida or Georgia. Most of his 630 yards last year came against Texas A&M, Nebraska, and the late October-November stretch that didn’t feature a Top 50 defense.

The good news is those 630 yards came on only 98 carries. That’s 6.43 yards per carry. And when you break out the media guide and compare that to what the leading running back has done at Tennessee since 1980, it’s very good news indeed:

Year Back Att Yds YPC
1993 Charlie Garner 159 1161 7.30
2006 LaMarcus Coker 108 696 6.44
2016 John Kelly 98 630 6.43
1994 James Stewart 170 1028 6.05
1992 Charlie Garner 154 928 6.03
1989 Chuck Webb 209 1236 5.91
1997 Jamal Lewis 232 1364 5.88
1983 Johnnie Jones 191 1116 5.84
1990 Tony Thompson 219 1261 5.76
2004 Gerald Riggs 193 1107 5.74

 

First of all, let’s all tip our cap to Charlie Garner’s 1993 campaign. You can make an argument that the ’93 Vols were Tennessee’s most dangerous team of the decade; put a future Pro Bowler like Garner in the backfield with the Heisman runner-up at quarterback, and you get fireworks.

LaMarcus Coker is an interesting comparison for John Kelly. Coker’s 2006 season came as part of a crowded backfield with Arian Foster and Montario Hardesty, and much of his success came against lesser opponents: 417 of his 696 yards came against Marshall, Memphis, and Vanderbilt; 176 of those yards on two runs. He was dismissed from the team the following season while still competing with Foster and Hardesty. But John Kelly has the lead back role all to himself this fall.

Having historically great numbers against below average competition is no guarantee. It’s what makes Kelly both so intriguing and so difficult to project this fall. As he and the line are chasing numbers, Tennessee’s single season rushing record can be had if he averages 113 yards per game. As the lead back in what should continue to be an up-tempo offense, that’s not out of the question. It’s strange to think about something like that just a year after being so sure we were going to see the career record fall to Jalen Hurd. School records aren’t a fair expectation, but it might not be an exaggeration.

What can we expect from John Kelly this fall? He’ll run hard and his linemen talk like they’ll genuinely enjoy blocking for him. That’s always a good sign. Maybe he’ll settle at solid and some of the Vols’ talented freshmen will get to make some hay as well. But there is at least the potential for something special in Tennessee’s backfield from #4.

Tennessee Recruiting: Vols Add Vital Piece to the 2018 Class in Punter Paxton Brooks

https://twitter.com/paxbrooks/status/898334177011023872

Thursday night’s Twitter announcement from West Columbia, South Carolina, punter Paxton Brooks that he’d committed to Tennessee may not have gotten you all hot and bothered.

Maybe it should have (at least in football terms, of course).

The 6’5″, 170-pound specialist chose the Vols over offers from North Carolina State, Wake Forest and Army. No, those aren’t the best football programs in the country, but Brooks is an Under Armour All-American, so he must be doing something right.

Brooks gives Tennessee a commit at a much-needed area of need with stud senior Trevor Daniel set to run out of eligibility and head to the NFL after 2017. Former Farragut punter Joe Doyle — himself another former Under Armour All-American — is a walk-on at UT with a high upside, but the Vols needed to make sure they had a viable player at a vital position.

If you don’t think so, fast forward to the 2:18 point of this video to recall Daniel’s punt against Georgia in 2015 — one of the pivotal plays in a crucial win.

Yeah, what were you saying again?

Tennessee head coach Butch Jones does a great job recruiting kickers, and while getting their commitments aren’t going to cause many to dance in the streets, they’re necessary. Brooks has the potential to be a good one.

When it comes to kickers, few services are more well-known than Kohl’s, who ranks him the second-best punter in the nation. The Vols moved on from the hiccup-quick commitment of Skyler DeLong, who pledged to UT before visiting — and ultimately flipping — to Alabama back earlier this summer.

“Ever since I came to campus for the first time, I fell in love with Tennessee,” Brooks told VolQuest’s Jesse Simonton and Austin Price.

That’s good news for UT, who needs Brooks to stick and be a stud. Here are some highlights from his junior year, where he hit 8-of-10 field goals and averaged 41 yards per punt.

https://twitter.com/paxbrooks/status/806480644784132100

Brooks will have some huge shoes to fill in big-booted Daniel, who went from walk-on to revelation in Knoxville following the resurgence of Michael Palardy and Matt Darr in their final two years at UT. Everybody knows about the Colquitts, and UT has done a very good job grabbing punters over the years. Maybe Brooks is the next in a long line of strong kickers.

With spots already at a premium to fill out this class, the Vols now have 21 pledges. It’s going to be interesting to see how they fill the remaining handful of spots. You have to think that cornerback Joe Horn and offensive lineman Jerome Carvin are two of the biggest targets remaining on the board. Beyond that, the Vols would almost certainly not turn away two pass-rushing defensive ends, and they’re targeting some big names. But they also would like to add a receiver or two, and that would put them over what presumably would be the 25 players they’re allotted.

Jones rarely has an issue with numbers and makes them work out, but with such a strong group of prospects in the fold, it’s going to be interesting to see who — if any — the Vols cut loose or try to convince to get creative to make the numbers work. Regardless, as Brooks’ tweet says, he’s got a full scholarship, which means he’ll take a spot in that class, if accurate.

Still, it’s always good to have a good punter.