Gameday on Rocky Top

What Brendon Harris’s Commitment Means for the Vols

A year after Tennessee head coach Butch Jones struggled to keep instate players at home, he’s racking up on the trail in the Volunteer State in the 2018 cycle.

That trend continued Friday with the pledge of 4-star Chattanooga [Baylor School] safety Brendon Harris, who is an elite defensive back coveted by top teams in the country such as Clemson, Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State. In the end, he cited “loyalty” as a reason for committing to the Vols.

https://twitter.com/harrisbrendon2/status/865600481913053185

Harris is 6’1″, 205 pounds and hits like a linebacker. He’s super-intelligent and is also fast and very good in coverage. On 247Sports, he’s the 151st-rated overall player in the country and in the top 70 on Rivals. Though he’s not quite a can’t-miss star, he’s close, and he comes from a program in Chattanooga that has been very good to the Vols in the past. His defensive coordinator with the Red Raiders is former UT great Eric Westmoreland.

Harris is the sixth pledge for the Vols from Tennessee in an ’18 class that is loaded within state borders, joining 5-star lineman Cade Mays, 4-star receiver Alontae Taylor, 4-star defensive tackle Brant Lawless, 3-star offensive lineman Ollie Lane and 3-star safety Shatar McClay. Major targets such as 4-star defensive end Greg Emerson, 4-star running back Master Teague, 4-star offensive lineman Jerome Carvin, 3-star tight end Jacob Warren and 3-star linebacker Cam Jones, among others, remain on the board. It could be a year where the Vols wind up with 12-14 Tennessee boys to fill out a class.

This is huge news for Jones, who obviously has pushed the right buttons repairing any rocky relationships with prospects with these new assistant coaching hires. Tommy Thigpen still has a presence instate, but the additions of Walt Wells and Charlton Warren are paying dividends. Harris developed a relationship with Warren that was big for the Vols. Though Clemson and Ohio State were pushing Harris hard, he is a Tennessee boy who wanted to play for his home state.

That’s the message Jones is selling, and kids are listening. Last year, that wasn’t the case. Thus far, the only Volunteer State prospects that Tennessee desperately wanted and haven’t landed are offensive lineman Max Wray (Ohio State) and 4-star defensive end Jordan Davis of Memphis. The Vols are still trying hard to flip Davis, and he’s visited Knoxville recently, despite being firm to the Crimson Tide. Though getting Teague over Georgia and Auburn may be a battle, UT is heavy favorites for its other top instate targets.

On the field, this is a major win for Warren, who needs to revamp the secondary. The Vols should be able to find some playmakers among rookies Shawn Shamburger, Cheyenne Labruzza and Terrell Bailey at cornerback from the ’17 class. Then, Maleik Gray is an elite safety prospect, and Theo Jackson looks like a safety all the way, too. Add Harris into the fray along with Gray, Jackson and rising sophomore Nigel Warrior, and Tennessee looks extremely athletic on the back end.

Maybe with Willie Martinez gone, those guys may actually develop. The Vols paid Warren big money to get him away from North Carolina, and are banking on that.

As for today’s pledge, Harris is massive on many different levels. Right now, Tennessee remains extremely hot in recruiting, even though it lost Jashaun Corbin earlier this week. The Vols have a lot of momentum, and they should keep it going.

Post-Spring Projections: Tennessee Wide Receivers

Let’s continue the series with a look at the Tennessee wide receivers depth chart exiting spring with a prediction of what to expect this September.

Spring practice — like most all the springs before of the Butch Jones era — didn’t tell us much. But after what we saw and read, we can make some prognostications about what we may see, or at least expect to see, once fall practice starts. So, over the course of the next couple of weeks, I’m going to break down position-by-position what we saw, what we read and what I’ve heard about to project who’s gonna play where come opening weekend against Georgia Tech.

We’ll continue this series with our look at the Wide Receivers.

WIDE RECEIVERS

When you think of Tennessee wide receivers, the first thing that may come to your mind is a lanky, sleek route-runner who is graceful with the football. All that is nice, but when I think of building my perfect receiver, I can just point in the direction of Tennessee’s No. 15.

Jauan Jennings.

Yep. He may not be the fastest wide receiver on the team, but UT’s 6’3″, 205-pound junior pass-catcher is plenty big, he’s uber-tough and he’s an alpha dog. He’s the type of guy who’ll go up for a football, and he’d rather slit your throat than let you come down with his football. He wants to gain yards; he wants to score touchdowns; and nobody works harder doing it. If Tennessee’s offense is going to reach its pinnacle in 2017, it needs to get Jennings the football.

You know Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano know that. Jennings is good, and he’s mean. His new coach, Kevin Beard, knows just how good he is, too, telling former Chattanooga Times Free Press [and current GoVols247] reporter Patrick Brown:

“I’m trying to get him to understand that we’re going to do big things,” Beard said. “I’m excited to work with him and just working on him being a leader and working on being the leader that we need him to be. He is a championship football player, and he can help bring the whole team to that level just by walking and talking. Then when he gets out there to play, it takes care of itself.

“I’m just trying to get him to understand that this team is going to go as far as he’s going to take us.”

Those are heavy words, but, in essence, they’re true. Behind John Kelly, Jennings is the most irreplaceable player on UT’s offense. The Vols must have him playing at his absolute highest, most-freakish level to win big in ’17. You can go ahead and write his name in Sharpie in the starting lineup.

Plus, Jennings will always be know for catching the Dobbs-nail boot Hail Mary to beat Georgia. Oh, and this against Jalen “Teez” Tabor to help UT beat Florida.

https://twitter.com/AndrewHamrick16/status/781111055405625344

Oh, and after that catch against Georgia, when asked where it ranked, Jennings said, “Probably second, behind burning Tabor.”

Savage.

[ess_grid alias=”grt-2017-promo-grid”]

Who’s after Jennings?

But the Vols need more than just Jennings in 2017. There’s a lot of talent, but there simply aren’t a lot of proven playmakers. Though it would have benefited both UT and Josh Malone for him to return for his senior season, it’s hard to fault the Nashville native, who was picked by Cincinnati in the fourth round of the NFL draft and just signed a four-year deal worth $3 million. With him gone, Tennessee needs to find some guys for the quarterbacks to bombard.

Also, kind of a forgotten man who’d really help Tennessee this year but transferred to Colorado State instead is Preston Williams, a former 5-star receiver who didn’t mesh well with former Vols receivers coach Zach Azzanni and transferred early in the season a year ago. The Vols really could have used him in 2017. But the cupboard isn’t bare.

It’s time for senior Josh Smith to finally be consistent. After a horrendous freshman year, it appeared that his sophomore season would be a breakout campaign before he got hurt and missed the rest of the year. The past two years have been underwhelming, and as a junior in ’16, he wound up with just 13 catches for 97 yards. Is he even a starter? He’s certainly capable, but Smith must do better than that, and he’s shown no consistency in a career that’s been halted by injuries, too.

The better bets for UT’s breakout, complimentary receivers could come in the form of a quartet of second-year players. Sophomore Marquez Callaway certainly looks the part. At 6’2″, 190 pounds, the Warner Robins, Georgia, native is smooth and sturdy, and he looked super-athletic during a 62-yard punt return for a touchdown last year against Tennessee Tech. He never really got worked into the receiver rotation, but he wound up with a solid spring, and the Vols are going to depend on him this year.

Tyler Byrd’s best position may well be cornerback, and while it’s puzzling UT isn’t playing him there, the sophomore has the ability to be a quality receiver, too. He was raw in 2016, but the playing time he earned could be invaluable. The 6’0″, 195-pound athlete caught 15 passes for 209 yards, and Tennessee tried to get him loose in space. It didn’t happen often, but Byrd has the wiggle you want for a slot receiver. He also had 63 rushing yards and averaged more than 26 yards per kickoff return. If he could somehow get to 500 receiving yards as a sophomore, it probably means the Vols passing game is just fine.

The third of the quartet is a wild card, but he sure is a blazing fast one. Late in the 2016 recruiting class, the Vols snagged a surprise commitment in speedy receiver Latrell Williams, getting him to flip from Miami on national signing day. Williams redshirted in ’16 after battling some nagging injuries, and he looked like a potential electrifying athlete this spring who really could help the Vols. He, too, is far from a finished product, but the ability is there.

“…[T]he one thing he’s learning is how to control that speed,” Beard told Wes Rucker of GoVols247. “A lot of times, fast guys, they try to do everything fast. But they’re out of control, ultimately. So he’s learning how to control his speed and keep his toes under his shoulders. He’s coming along really good.”

Finally, keeping the Florida trend of UT receivers recruited by Larry Scott is Brandon Johnson, the nephew of former Cincinnati Bengals great Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson. The 6’2″, 180-pound sophomore had seven catches for 93 yards a season ago, and he hit a bit of a wall. But he also showed ability, and he’s a great route-runner who could wind up really helping UT.

Senior Jeff George could be a red-zone weapon with his 6’6″ height, and though he never really lived up to the initial strong spring he had, it’s not too late for him to be a jump-ball guy inside the 20. Let’s face it: Last year, when the Vols needed touchdowns, there was no better weapon on the roster than Dobbs on a keeper with his magnificent freelancing ability. Also, they changed it up some and gave Alvin Kamara a lot of bubble screens that he took to the goal line as well.

This year, those options aren’t around. So, George could find himself on the field with Jennings in scoring situations.

What about the new guys?

The Vols also did a quality job recruiting receivers, and though Oak Ridge’s Tee Higgins [who committed to Clemson] could have pushed UT’s class over the edge, the guys the Vols did bring in will help if they can just get them on campus. Probably the best of the bunch, Mississippi pass-catcher Jordan Murphy, has yet to qualify, and he’s really the only one in the class who could have a hard time getting in. There’s still a good chance he’ll make it to Knoxville, but he isn’t a guarantee as of yet. If he makes it, he’s got the opportunity to step right in and get reps.

Perhaps the most under-the-radar player who has the opportunity for an excellent freshman campaign is Florida freshman Josh Palmer, who came down to the Sunshine State from his native Ontario, Canada, to get noticed. It worked. He was committed to Syracuse until late in the game when the Vols, Michigan, Florida and others offered. He chose UT, and he could be one of the biggest coups of the class. “Air Canada” is 6’2″, 200 pounds and is extremely fast. He is a difference-maker who’ll score some touchdowns for UT in ’17. Finally, another Florida product [the UT receiving corps is full of them] is fast freshman Jacquez Jones, and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of impact he makes as a freshman.

So, if you’re scoring at home, there are two trends here.

The Vols have an absolute ton of players from Florida, and new offensive coordinator Larry Scott recruited a lot of them, so he’s familiar with them and, hopefully for UT, he’ll know how to use them.
The vast majority of the guys are freshmen or sophomores who have little or no experience. That doesn’t bode well for UT, but who knows what these guys are going to do when given an opportunity? They have the ability to shine, and some guys need to emerge for the young quarterbacks.

Prediction

WR1: Jauan Jennings, Jeff George, Jordan Murphy
Slot: Tyler Byrd, Josh Smith, Latrell Williams, Jacquez Jones
WR3: Marquez Callaway, Brandon Johnson, Josh Palmer

Prior posts in this series

Post-Spring Projections: Running Backs

Post-Spring Projections: Quarterbacks

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)

Pre-order Gameday on Rocky Top 2017 now!

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.

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:

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.

GAMEDAY ON ROCKY TOP 2017 PRESEASON ANNUAL NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

Gameday on Rocky Top 2017 hits the newsstands all over the state of Tennessee (and select locations in neighboring states) on Friday, June 2, but as a Gameday on Rocky Top reader, you can get it before then, and with free shipping to boot.

Pre-order Gameday on Rocky Top 2017 online, and we’ll ship it the day after we get it from the printer (which we expect to be Friday, 5/26/17), Plus, you’ll get FREE SHIPPING (a savings of $4.95). So basically, you’ll have it delivered right to your door for the same price you’d pay at the grocery store, plus, if you order before Monday, 5/29/16, you’ll likely have it in your hands before it even shows up on the newsstands.

Free shipping will show up as an option automatically as long as you have the magazine in your cart.

Gameday on Rocky Top 2017 will only be available on newsstands in Tennessee and in limited areas in neighboring states, so if you live outside those areas, order online. And heck, even if you live in Tennessee, order online anyway this week and get it early.

We had an awesome time writing the annual this year. As always happens, the longer we spent working on it, the more we discovered reasons to be excited for the season. New position coaches, more talent than we think, an offensive line that is as experienced, talented, and deep as we’ve seen in a long time, plus an earlier bye week all makes us hopeful for this fall.

Here’s the Table of Contents for this year’s edition:

2017 TENNESSEE VOLS

5 Position Previews
By Joel Hollingsworth
Next man up

22 2017 Roster

23 The Quarterback Battle
By Brad Shepard
Coaching staff in no hurry to name a leader

25 The Vols Staff Overhaul
By Brad Shepard
Coaching for chemistry

29 The Outside Zone
By Seth Price
New coordinator, same system

31 Class of ’17
By Brad Shepard
Designed to fill needs, the new class is high-potential

41 Team Talent Rankings
By Joel Hollingsworth
The Vols become contenders in 2017

2016 IN PERSPECTIVE

45 The 2016 Vols
By Will Shelton
Sweet and Bitter

THE ROAD AHEAD

57 Expectations in Context
By Will Shelton
Comparing Jones to his non-Saban contemporaries

61 Scouting the Competition
By Joel Hollingsworth
An in-depth look at all of the Vols’ 2017 opponents

67 Tennessee 2017 Schedule

81 Check Those Emotions
By John Pennington
Facts show Jones has earned more time

83 Preseason All-SEC Team
By the Gameday on Rocky Top 2017 Staff
Our list of the best SEC players heading into 2017

85 Top 25
By the Gameday on Rocky Top 2017 Staff
Our preseason favorites for 2017

ORANGE-HUED HISTORY

93 A Chaotic 2007
By Will Shelton
Remembering a season of highs and lows

The Importance of the Tennessee Vols Having 2018 QB Recruiting Already Wrapped Up

With the Tennessee Vols no longer recruiting quarterbacks this cycle, it goes without saying that landing two blue-chippers in one class when you’re only going to have three scholarship QBs (max) on the roster this coming season is a big deal. Importantly, as QBs are often the face of a recruiting class when it comes to peer recruiting, having two (one on each coast) should be beneficial as well. I expect both QBs to be active on the phones with offensive line and skill position players, and Penix in particular to work his home area hard for the Vols. On that note, with the deep Florida ties already on staff in Scott and Beard to go with the 12 total players from the Sunshine State in the 2016 and 2017 classes, Penix can be a pied piper of sorts moving forward down there. CB Jordan Miner, OT John Campbell, and WR Jacob Copeland (the biggest swing of the bunch) are three big time FL prospects who are getting a lot of attention from the staff and will be ones to watch between now and February 2018.

Additionally, while of course continuing to a) recruit both Penix and Martinez to ensure they don’t stray, and b) low-key keeping tabs on other QBs in case that does in fact happen, the Vols and Canales can concentrate their QB-recruiting focus on the 2019 class. Even better, Canales can do that NOW while he’s on the road evaluating, while other schools still working on their 2018 QB are preoccupied. Canales will also be able to devote some time to pitching in with prospects at other positions instead of having to focus strictly on QBs.

So as you can see there are multiple reasons to be very happy with the Vols already sewn up the QB position for this class. Almost as importantly, relative to its two top rivals in the SEC East, UF and UGA, the Vols are in a great spot with the 2018 QB class.

UGA: It must be noted that UGA has not only Jacob Eason for two more seasons (for better or, hopefully, worse), they also have a 5-star early enrollee from the 2017 class in Jake Fromm already on campus. However, they are absolutely trying to sign one and potentially two in 2018, and so far they have struck out (Side note: Can. You. Imagine. what Vol fans would be doing if UT had lost instate QBs the caliber of Emory Jones, Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, and Jarren Williams? Would Neyland be a pile of rubble? Would 3 new sports talk radio stations opened in Knoxville to serve the uproar? The mind boggles). They are still trying with Fields and not giving up on Williams, but Williams has recently recommitted to UK. UGA will end up with at least one QB in this class, but at this point it seems like a long shot that their QB class will be the equal of UT’s.

UF: The Gators are nowhere near in as good of a position as UGA or even the Vols. Their current 2018 roster consists of Felipe Franks (bust of a freshman year followed by a half-decent spring); Kyle Trask (never started in H.S., poor redshirt season; couldn’t beat out Franks this spring before suffering a relatively major injury); and early 2017 enrollee Jake Allen (smallish, fairly disappointing senior season, nondescript spring). They NEED a bluechipper in this class but they are running out of options. UF also continues to try with Fields despite his PSU commitment, and they’ll also likely keep after Jarren Williams despite his recommitment to UK. After that it gets as perilous as it does for UGA. At this point it looks like UT will take another large step ahead of UF at the game’s most important position.

So here we sit in mid-May and the Vols have two big time QBs wrapped up, while its two biggest SEC East rivals are in a bad spot at the moment. With as much recruiting momentum as the Vols have right now, this might be the best thing about the class so far.

Gameday Today: Vols not resisting the sweat-talk

Football

Breaking News Flash: Butch Jones inherited an “absolute total mess” at Tennessee. Seriously, though, this is VFL Phillip Fulmer speaking truth, but doing so publicly, going on the record with his opinion that he thinks Jones is doing fine.

Vols’ defensive tackle Kendal Vickers is not making excuses for the defensive line this season, tight end Jakob Johnson is not taking his degree for granted, and new cornerback Terrell Bailey is not resisting his transition from sweet-talk to sweat-talk.

And finally, new quarterbacks coach Mike Canales is winning hearts and minds, giving up his seat on a flight so a mom could get home to see her kid play in his baseball game. The kid even hit a home run. So did Canales.

The new guy at Rocky Top Talk has made a list of the five defensive guys that are the most indispensable (and one for the offense as well), which looks quite reasonable.

Recruiting

Tennessee is in the running for Harold Joiner, the No. 3 running back in the Class of 2018, and Owen Pappoe, the No. 1 outside linebacker and No. 4 prospect overall in the Class of 2019. These would be big gets for a program on a bit of a roll lately.

Baseball

Sigh. Tennessee baseball got swept by Kentucky, moving the team to 26-22 overall and 7-18 in the SEC, which even hurts to type.

Miscellaneous fun stuff

Vols’ sprinter Christian Coleman won the 100-meter dash with one shoe untied behind his back. Or something like that. And Vols wide receiver commit Jatavious Harris won three Georgia state titles this weekend.