An anonymous NFL scout insults Ethan Wolf from the shadows, Chick-fil-A is sold out, you’re going to love Will Ignont, Hoke’s focused on stopping the run, another offensive lineman will miss the entire season, and Josh Dobbs will start for the Steelers tomorrow night. All this and more in today’s Vols link roundup.
Anonymous NFL talent evaluator says Ethan Wolf isn’t tough enough
Mike Griffith with SEC Country last night published a post quoting an unnamed “NFL talent evaluator” as saying that the draft-eligible players on the 2017 Vols roster are soft. That’s likely brewing into the storm of the day, particularly in light of the fact that some players, particularly senior tight end Ethan Wolf, were specifically called out.
I’m no anonymous NFL talent evaluator or anything, so I don’t know whether that’s true or not. My guess is that it’s not, and my money’s on Wolf in a fight with any anonymous NFL scout, particularly this one. But if it makes our players more mad and more tough, thanks for the fuel, anonymous NFL-dude.
The Chick-fil-A Kickoff is sold out
Tennessee’s season-opener against Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium is officially sold out. Kickoff is on Monday, September 4 at 8:00 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN.
Playing Georgia Tech and its out-of-the-ordinary offense poses problems, but it’s not something the Vols can’t overcome with sufficient preparation. And John Adams reminds us that Tennessee would do well to get an early lead because run-first teams like the Yellow Jackets don’t overcome early deficits well.
You’re going to love Will Ignont
Linebacker Quart’e Sapp is apparently “still very limited,” according to Butch Jones, who went on to say good things about Darrin Kirkland Jr., Cortez McDowell, Elliott Berry, and Dillon Bates. Colton Jumper, having proved himself a reliable guy already last season, is also still improving:
The big news in the linebacking corps, however, is freshman Will Ignont, who is apparently already poised to really make some noise this fall. According to Jumper, Ignont has “gotten everybody’s attention,” and he’s an especially physical guy who’s also ahead of the game from the neck up:
“Will’s a lot, I mean, head and shoulders above like, when any other linebacker has come in here,” Jumper said. “He knows the game really well. He’s a smart guy. You can tell he’s really smart. I mean, like, when I came in, my first camp, it was just, you know, setting up the front, knowing where to line up. He’s way, way past that. He’s starting to get coverages down, pass patterns down.
“I think he just recognizes the game really well, and I think that just, right off the bat, can help him a lot.”
Run defense
Defensive line coach Brady Hoke says that “We’ve got to be a unit that this team counts on.”
https://twitter.com/vol_football/status/895315933748633607
See? I told you so. Hoke also elaborated to Jimmy Hyams:
“Stopping the run, to me, is always the No. 1 thing you have to do (on defense),’’ said Tennessee defensive line coach Brady Hoke. “And you’re not going to stop the run unless everybody understands where the fits are and what different strengths and weakness each defensive call may have.’’
Fits in my house are generally somewhere in the vicinity of my six-year-old, but I’m not sure how that helps, to be honest. I do know, however, that stopping the run was a problem for the Tennessee defense last season and that they need to be better at that this fall.
Injuries
Freshman offensive lineman K’Rojhn Calbert, who reportedly was destined for a redshirt season anyway, will now definitely miss the season to undergo surgery to repair a pre-existing knee injury. Speedy recovery, young man.
Football – General
- Will compared ESPN’s FPI and Bill Connelly’s S&P+ numbers for Tennessee and says that you can make a case for anything between 7-5 and 9-3 for the Vols this fall. He’s landed on 8-4 himself.
- Butch Jones says that freshmen wide receivers Josh Palmer and Brandon Johnson are really stepping up this fall camp, even going so far as to say that they are challenging for starting positions. That could be good news or bad news, largely depending on whether it’s actually true, whether they’re actually really good, and whether Jones simply felt he needed to get the attention of Jajuan Jennings, Josh Smith, Tyler Byrd, and Marquez Callaway.
- Punter Trevor Daniel, who’s lost 30 pounds in the offseason, is focusing on improving his hang time, saying that he sometimes tended to outkick his coverage.
VFLs
Josh Dobbs is going to start for the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Giants Friday night, mostly because neither starter Ben Roethlisberger nor backup Landry Jones are available. Head coach Mike Tomlin is wondering whether his early assessment of Dobbs will survive under pressure:
“One man’s misfortunate is another man’s opportunity,” Tomlin said about Dobbs getting the opportunity to play in place on Jones. “I know he’s excited about it, I know I’m excited about watching him.
“He’s a bright-eyed willing worker that appears to be willing to learn from his mistakes. He also appears to learn by watching the mistakes of others. But we won’t know until we get him into a stadium. It will be good to get him into the stadium on Friday night.”
I love that whole “vicarious learning” thing, and I also love that Dobbs is keen on making sure that his mind overcomes his muscle memory:
“19 seconds left, and as a quarterback, it’s third and eight so you’re thinking I want to get a first down, but at the college level you’re thinking I want to spike it so we can call another play. But in the NFL, if you get the first down in bounds the clock doesn’t stop as we all know. So as the receivers are running back you change your whole mindset to ‘I gotta take a shot at the endzone’ because this could be our last play and we need to throw it into the end zone and then get a play after that.”
Also, if you’re interested in how people actually paid to crunch numbers rate the Vols in the NFL, GoVols247 has a slideshow of all of their Madden rankings.
Also, UTSports has a nice catching-up feature on VFL Jarnell Stokes. Always liked that guy.