Gameday Today: Injury situation “not so hotsy-totsy,” but at least nerds are in charge of the spring game

Except for the Orange and White “Game,” spring practice is in the books for Tennessee. So how did it go?
 
Well, defensive end Deandre Johnson is having a really good spring, according to defensive coordinator Bob Shoop. His opinion counts,  you know. And he thinks that cornerback Justin Martin has “really stepped up” and that safety Nigel Warrior had a “good spring overall, no question.” On his “Not Favorite Things” list? The injury situation plaguing his defensive unit, which he says is “not so hotsy-totsy.”
 
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, new quarterbacks coach Mike Canales has for some reason decided to strike fear into the hearts of Vols fans everywhere with three seemingly benign but totally frightening words: “Sure. Why not.” That came in response to a question asked about the possibility of running a two-quarterback system.
 
So practice officially concludes with the Orange and White “Game” tomorrow, and they must have granted some nerds access to the network passwords or something because someone’s posted an article with all of the rules for scoring points, points that don’t matter and that nobody cares about. You think I’m joking, but first on the list is this:
 
  • Get D+D objective: 1 point

See? You think that’s “down and distance,” but it’s actually Dungeons and Dragons.

So what’s everyone hoping to see tomorrow besides clouds moving on and sunshine poking through? Dave Hooker at Gridiron Now has a list of six mostly hipster defensive players to watch plus a bonus Prilosec ad smack in the middle of the content that is HUGE and making me concerned about that BBQ I ate for lunch. Will at Rocky Top Talk is looking for the second receiver, and second (and maybe third) linebacker, and whether Butch Jones will be naming captains again this year. On the captains question, I wonder whether doing so last year during spring practice had anything to do with the Jalen Hurd drama that manifested itself to fans later that fall, and without any actual knowledge whatsoever, I’m guessing it did and that Jones won’t do it again. But I’m basing that on absolutely nothing. Huh! War!

 
And finally, Jimmy Hyams has an interesting piece reporting the details of Tennessee’s non-conference game contracts. There’s some good information in there, but my favorite bit, just because I found it amusing, is that Peach Bowl, Inc. (a party to the agreement relating to the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game against Georgia Tech) “strongly urges both schools to begin ticket sales for this game as early as possible in 2017, but absolutely no later than March 1” and conclude sales by June 14. In response to that watertight language, Tennessee has announced plans to put tickets on sale to donors on May 16 and will open it up to everyone else in July. Resistance, not all that futile after all, at least in response to mere strong urgings.

Report: Alvin Kamara scores high, Leonard Fournette and Dalvin Cook low on Wonderlic

Alvin Kamara scored a 24 on his Wonderlic test, the highest among running back prospects, while Dalvin Cook and Leonard Fournette each scored 11.

Source: Report: Alvin Kamara scores high, Leonard Fournette and Dalvin Cook low on Wonderlic

There are so many jokes here:

  • Our running back is twice as smart as yours.
  • Our running back is smarter then LSU’s and FSU’s put together.
  • Alvin Kamara is as smart as a quarterback.

Shall I go on?

Tennessee Focusing on the Future of its Quarterbacks Along with Present

Much of the talk around spring practice has centered on Tennessee’s quarterbacks battle as Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano vie to replace Joshua Dobbs as the Volunteers’ signal-caller of the future.

But just as intriguing of a storyline as camp comes to a close is who the Vols will tab as the quarterback in their 2018 recruiting class.

After swinging and missing on Hunter Johnson and other high-profile targets a season ago, UT settled on Will McBride, who chose the Vols following a late offer after he was all set to enroll mid-term with Memphis.

There hasn’t been that much talk about McBride this spring, as expected, because he’s probably swimming in learning all the vernacular and nuances that come from studying playbooks and making calls for a college team. No matter how good you are in high school, that learning curve is sharp for the vast majority of players. McBride may wind up being a star, but his thin offer sheet and limited experience make that a huge question mark.

So, with UT coach Butch Jones wanting to take a quarterback each year and considering there was a gamble taken at recruiting the position in the ’17 class, that makes this year’s quarterback prospect an important undertaking. With the Orange & White Game set to commence tomorrow, Tennessee is expected to host a few of its targets at the position.

With new quarterbacks coach Mike Canales now calling the shots, the “big board” at the position has changed. Would UT love to get back in on former top targets and Georgia prospects Emory Jones (Ohio State commit) and Justin Fields (Penn State commit) and become major players for those two? Most likely. They’ve got elite ceilings as dual-threat quarterbacks with big arms and fast feet. But as far as uncommitted prospects go, this week has been big for Tennessee’s future recruiting the offensive leader.

After hosting 4-star California signal-caller Brevin White earlier this week—a visit that put the Vols “high on the list” for the pledge of the player, according to 247Sports’ Ryan Callahan—UT will host several other prospects at the position this weekend.

Perhaps the most lauded of the bunch is 4-star California Bears commitment Adrian Martinez, who may just be at the top of UT’s current board that includes uncommitted players. Martinez is blessed with great arm strength, and he isn’t a statue in the pocket, either. He has seemed to be feeling the Vols since they extended an offer, and though other teams such as Alabama have swooped in with offers since then, Martinez is making the cross-country trip from Cali to visit Knoxville this weekend. Most importantly for UT, he isn’t going anywhere else. That means he’s coming to SEC Country and only taking in the Neyland Stadium atmosphere.

Considering all the turnover the Bears coaching staff has experienced over the past year, that can’t be a bad development for UT.

Martinez isn’t the only gunslinger coming to Knoxville from the West, either. Fresh off getting an offer from the Georgia Bulldogs, 3-star quarterback Cammon Cooper (of Utah) is also going to be in Knoxville. He’s more of a traditional dropback passer, but that may not be such a unique development. Ever since Larry Scott took over as offensive coordinator and Canales joined the fray as UT’s quarterbacks coach, the Vols seem more interested in pro-style passers than they were with the previous regime.

The Vols reportedly practiced more under center this spring after running out of the shotgun the vast majority of the time during Dobbs’ tenure under former offensive coordinator Mike DeBord. Does that signify a regime change? Not necessarily, especially if redshirt freshman Guarantano wins the job. But it also could prove that UT is going to be more diverse from a schematic standpoint under Scott, especially in short-yardage situations.

Still, if you want a dual-threat quarterback prospect to whet your appetite, Tennessee hosted several of them this spring, and the Vols are getting another visit this weekend from Michael Penix of Tampa Bay (Florida) Tech, who fits that mold. The 6’2″, 182-pounder is a player who 247Sports’ Crystal Ball believes will wind up in Knoxville. With Tennessee potentially taking two quarterbacks in this year’s class, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that he could pull the trigger for the Vols this weekend if he indeed is a take. He likes UT that much.

So, there hasn’t been that much movement on the recruiting front just yet, and everybody wants a quarterback around which to build your class. With so many prospects coming this weekend and with players at the position traditionally deciding to choose their schools early, could this be the weekend the Vols land a signal-caller for the 2018 class?

That remains to be seen. But it’s definitely something else to watch along with tomorrow’s Orange & White spring finale.

 

Gameday Today: On players becoming bullies and Caravans becoming Corollas

Football

That quarterback competition between Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano? It’s still a competition and probably will be for much longer than you want it to be. Meanwhile, Trey Smith is looking like he’s well on his way to becoming only the fifth true freshman to start a season opener on the Tennessee offensive line, which by the way, is intentionally conditioning itself to be a bully this season. I am generally anti-bullying thanks to a guy named Brad Smith (maybe not his real name) who will forever be an extremely huge and mean sixth-grader in my mind, but I like my offensive linemen to push people around, and if a little attitude helps them in that task, I am all for it.
 
Oh, look. The Big Orange Caravan is apparently downsizing to a couple of Corollas with car magnets and car flags road tripping to Nashville, Memphis, and Chattanooga with an old school foldable paper map. Tri Cities, y’all are out of luck, and they don’t care how much money you spend at the Strawberry Plains exit every Football Saturday.
 
A bit of good news, that game that Tennessee is supposed to play against Georgia Tech at the new Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta to open the season? It’s going to be held at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. And the odds of the retractable roof just outright falling off and squishing both teams in the middle of the second quarter diminishes just a little more every day!
 

NFL Draft

Yeah, Jon Gruden says that Josh Dobbs is a “great sleeper” in this year’s NFL Draft. I don’t think he means that he has great sleep technique, which is something Derek Dooley might have meant. And speaking of Dobbs, Todd McShay thinks he could even sneak into the first round of the NFL Draft. That thing I said about McShay over-thinking things? Never mind. Oh, and Tennessee defensive end Darrell Taylor is getting all crunk just watching all of the attention Derek Barnett is getting.
 

Recruiting

Two of Tennessee’s commitments for the 2018 recruiting class are in the ESPN 300: 4-star offensive tackle Cade Mays and 4-star receiver Alontae Taylor. And in hoops recruiting, wing Yves Pons and power forward Derrick Walker both got bumps in the final Top 247 rankings for the Class of 2017.
 
And finally, the Vols have offered 4-star defensive end Cameron Latu from Salt Lake City.

NFL Draft analysts are overthinking Derek Barnett

Listening to NFL Draft experts discuss former Tennessee Vol defensive end Derek Barnett is like taking a college seminar entitled “Case Studies in Overthinking Things.” No offense to Todd McShay — because he’s saying great things about Barnett — but he’s also a pretty good example of the overthinking on Barnett. In one breath, he notes that Barnett had 52 tackles for loss and 33 sacks, one more than Reggie White’s record of 32. In the next, he’s fretting over Barnett’s NFL Combine and Tennessee Pro Day results, troubled over not being able to reconcile the two sets of data.

Dude, you’re thinking too much. The Combine and Pro Days are meant to help teams gather data to allow them to form an educated opinion about what a player might be able to do. It’s not a perfect metaphor, but let’s think about it in legal terms and call it circumstantial evidence. You look at the data and you think, “Yeah, I think this guy is X.” Or, “All of this stuff makes it look like this guy is X.” Or even, “I know beyond a reasonable doubt that this guy is X.” You can make a decision on circumstantial evidence; we do it all of the time. If the data makes you believe enough to act, then go ahead and act.

But if you actually see the guy do X, well, then you have absolute proof. A smoking gun, you might say. Actual knowledge. And it should go without saying, but actual knowledge is better than circumstantial evidence. If you know something to be true, and if the circumstantial evidence confuses you because it leads to a different conclusion, then there’s something wrong with your circumstantial evidence, not with your knowledge.

 

And yeah, I know that they use the Combine and Pro Days to help determine whether college production will translate to the NFL. I get it.

But I’ll take 33 sacks over a 40 time or a vertical leap any day. It ain’t 40 yards to the quarterback, folks, and he’s not straight up in the air, either. Those things are designed to tell you whether your guy can sack the quarterback. So let me save you the trouble: Derek Barnett can sack the quarterback. I’ve seen it. And so have you.

 

Joshua Dobbs’ Stock Taking Off Prior to Next Week’s Draft

Former Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs has never halfway done anything.

From the moment he decided to play football at a young age, he was all-in. He was good enough at baseball to play collegiately. If there was a club to be in during high school, Dobbs was a member. Volunteer work? How about every week. Impacting lives? Countless people in countless ways, including kids that are afflicted by life-altering issues.

He is outspoken about an alopecia condition that affects him and many others, and he became best buds with a Knoxville-area kid battling cancer. Oh, and maybe you’ve heard of his scholastic achievements, majoring in aerospace engineering at Tennessee while absorbing the phonebook-sized playbook that comes with every SEC starting signal-caller gig.

So, why should you be surprised Dobbs is suddenly becoming one of the surging prospects leading up to next week’s draft? It’s just Dobbs going out and seizing the opportunity to fulfill his dream of playing on the next level.

Doubters gonna doubt. Dobbs gonna shed ’em like would-be tacklers. Rinse, repeat. Same thing that happened during his entire Tennessee career.

Many want to talk about him being the next Dak Prescott. I’ve uttered that he has that ability myself, and even Jon Gruden compared the two in the latest episode of Gruden’s QB Camp, according to WATE reporter Emily Proud: “I saw something special in Dak Prescott last year and, I’m not saying I’m always right, but I see it in [Josh Dobbs] too,” Proud tweeted, quoting Gruden.

That’s high praise for Dobbs, comparing him to a player who took the NFL by storm in 2016, usurping All-Pro Tony Romo following an injury and causing Dallas to move away from the Romo era. As a matter of fact, it may be too high. Why can’t Dobbs just be Dobbs? He’s improved every year, and with some actual coaching at the position, he can certainly play on the next level. At what level? Let him prove that.

We always get caught up in comparing Amateur Player X to Professional Player Y, just like we compare High School Player X to College Player Y. It’s unhealthy, and it’s irrational. Dobbs can pave his own way, as he’s proven the past several months.

After his Tennessee career dwindled, many pro scouts were talking about Dobbs switching positions on the next level after latching onto a team with a free-agent contract because he almost certainly wouldn’t be drafted. Then, he crept into a few [worthless] mock drafts as a late-round pick as his name began to float out there as a potential sleeper.

After a quality Senior Bowl outing where he completed 12-of-15 passes for 104 yards and an interception, he saw his name move into the fifth round of some mocks. Dobbs then looked great at the NFL Combine and at UT’s Pro Day, he had what Tennessee director of player personnel Bob Welton, a former NFL scout, told Mike Griffith was the best workout for NFL scouts he’s ever seen.

Is that hyperbole? Maybe. Welton is a close friend of Butch Jones, after all. But maybe it wasn’t too far off.

Like everything else in his life, Dobbs’ pro day was self-made, and, like Welton, many were impressed.

“Joshua Dobbs was his own quarterback guru, scripting his own plays for the workout portion of the pro day,” wrote senior analyst Gil Brandt at NFL.com. “He started with four go routes and dropped each into the bucket. He ended with four go-routes and threw perfect passes about 50 yards down the field.”

Much like was the case while in Knoxville, Dobbs was his own quarterbacks coach that day.

So, how much will it all ultimately pay off? That’s the ultimate question here, isn’t it? Well, the answer is as tough to tackle as Dobbs in the open field. CBS Sports has him projected in the sixth round. ESPN.com noted draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. believes the 6’3″, 216-pound dual-threat signal-caller could be taken as high as the second or third round. Teams such as the Browns and Texans—two teams desperate for quarterbacks—visited with Dobbs in the past week. Maybe they’re seeing what I see:

He’s worth the gamble, folks.

We always get caught up in measurables and workouts, and all of those are incredibly important. But Dobbs has experienced high marks in both areas. Look at his college body of work. There was inconsistency, but there is also constant improvement despite a lack of singular coaching focus on his position. He finished his UT career leading the SEC in total offensive yards per game, passing efficiency, touchdown passes and non-kicking points accounted for in 2016, and he added 713 yards and nine touchdowns rushing. That’s why he was named the league’s Offensive Player of the Year.

If you want a player with a high upside as an athlete, he’s one of the three potential steals alongside Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes. If he develops, you’ve got the intelligent, articulate, well-rounded poster boy for your franchise, somebody who not only won’t embarrass you off the field but also make you proud he’s yours. For a Cleveland franchise that drafted Johnny Manziel, he’d be the antithesis.

He’s the kind of player who can help you in a lot of ways, including on the sideline, on the practice field and in the community. And that’s only if he doesn’t star on Sundays, which certainly isn’t out of the question.

Dobbs has some question marks, but, really, how much bigger are they than any other gamble in the draft once you get past the mid-second round?

Sure, he’s raw—frustratingly so for UT fans who watched him lead the Vols through parts of the past four seasons. But that’s only because head coach Butch Jones stubbornly failed to hire a quarterbacks coach until a player who desperately needed one exhausted eligibility. What did Dobbs do? He improved each season under center despite having a grizzly, old offensive line coach tutoring him at the position.

Was his footwork great? Is his arm elite? Is his release point consistent? Did he always make the best decisions? No, but how many games did Dobbs win just being Dobbs? How many touchdowns did he score at pivotal times? How many players missed the magician in the open field when he took off with the rush?

Despite being a polarizing quarterback during much of his Tennessee career, Dobbs at times single-handedly led the offense to huge numbers. He was a transcendent athlete who’ll be desperately missed in Knoxville, whether you believe that now or not. The Vols haven’t had somebody who could take over games at the position like him since Peyton Manning, and they’ve not had a runner as effective as him at the position since Condredge Holloway.

That’s two legends, and it’s two players Dobbs doesn’t need to be compared to. But to be spoken in the same sentence as either of those two players is high praise. In case you’re keeping track at home, one of those was an NFL star; the other didn’t make it despite putting up some nice numbers in the Canadian Football League. One was a prototypical dropback passer, and the other was more of a run-first guy. Where does Dobbs fall? Somewhere in the middle of the two, much like his pro potential.

Many people will write many words about Dobbs over the course of his career, no matter how long or short it is. His performances in all the practice-atmosphere settings have warranted articles in previous weeks, and now everybody has an opinion on his stock, his ceiling and his pro ability. The team that drafts him will watch as beat writers file plenty of stories rehashing the same things said here through mini-camp and leading up to the season, maybe onward after that.

Some will talk about how Dobbs will be a star. Many others will talk about why he’ll be a flop.

You’ll get no prediction either way here. All I’m going to say is the kid has shown he deserves a chance, just by his college body of work, the way he conducts himself off the field and the brilliant things he does on it. I’ve said it for years, and other former naysayers are seeing it now and writing as much. He’s proven he can wow the crowd in big opportunities, and it couldn’t happen to a better kid, somebody who works just as hard to be good off the field as on it; maybe more so.

He’s going to sign a contract and make some big bucks. He’s going to give his dream a swing, and if it doesn’t work out, you know what? He’s proven he’ll undoubtedly go pro [and be successful] in something other than sports.

He’s not the next superstar rookie like Dak Prescott. He won’t be the next big-name bust like Robert Griffin III.

He’s Joshua Dobbs. And that’s been good enough so far. Who’s gonna bet against the future?

Gameday Today: Everybody’s becoming something, and somebody somewhere is (maybe?) throwing shade

FOOTBALL

Nigel Warrior is apparently turning into the player coaches (and everybody else) thought he could be. Meanwhile, Darrin Kirkland Jr. is apparently becoming Jalen Reeves-Maybin, and injured receiver Brandon Johnson is becoming so bored that he’s sneaking into practice reps. And the nickel is becoming the 4-3: Word is that Tennessee is playing around with more standard 4-3 defensive alignments instead of the mostly nickel packages they ran last year. So who’s in line for that third LB spot? It’s looking like Austin Smith, Colton Jumper, and Quart’e Sapp. 
 
And finally, the Orange and White Game: Where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter.

NFL DRAFT

Another NFL draft analyst has VFL Derek Barnett going to the Baltimore Ravens as the 16th pick in this year’s draft. Most of the rest of that article talks about how that’s in contrast to Barnett’s somewhat disappointing metrics from the NFL Combine and Pro Day. Aren’t the numbers supposed to help you predict what you don’t know? And isn’t what someone actually did better evidence than an educated guess at what you think they might do in the future? But what do I know?
 

RECRUITING

BONUS

The headline for this piece says that Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder has thrown shade at new Tennessee athletic director John Currie. Listen, Snyder is even older than I am, and he has no idea what “throw shade” means, and anyway, since when does singing faint praise for your incoming boss necessarily indicate an insult at your old boss?

WATCH Josh Dobbs on Jon Gruden’s QB Camp (full episode)

So it’s no secret that we’re fans of Jon Gruden around here. Or that we’re big fans of Josh Dobbs. So when I first started seeing that Gruden was going to feature Dobbs on one of his Quarterback Camp episodes, I was excited to see it. I had a bit of time to watch yesterday while waiting in a parking lot to pick up my daughter, and I sat there for almost the entire episode.

I love this stuff anyway, and the fact that it’s Gruden and Dobbs, Dobbs and Gruden just makes it all that much better. And the cherry on top? Gruden assigning the Florida spy guy to “defend” Dobbs during their drills. And the props the guy gives Dobbs afterwards saying essentially that the Gators knew during last year’s game that they had to force Dobbs to win the game through the air. Which he did.

So do yourself a favor and set aside about a half hour to watch all of this thing. You won’t be disappointed.