I will question Pruitt on one thing already

[BanditVol]

He moved Carlin Fils-Aime to DB.  I thought Fils-Aime was a great RB, and he doesn't seem to be contributing at DB, so I definitely quesiton the move.

Now of course it looks like we have a full stable of RBs, so maybe in that sense it doesn't matter, but I hate to see talent go to waste?  But maybe Fils-Aime will make the two deep and start contributing at DB.

Not criticizing Pruitt, just find this move a head scratcher.

[Creek Walker]

I think Fils-Aime was our 3rd-best RB at best, maybe 4th-best. He wasn't going to contribute much on offense this year, might as well give him a shot to contribute on defense though it looks like that isn't going to work out for him either.

Fils-Aime is not a terrible RB but he's not an SEC RB, imo. I now see why the coaches were so high on Tim Jordan during the offseason and I expect he's about to move ahead of Ty Chandler on the depth chart. Fils-Aime isn't better than either of them, for sure.

[VinnieVOL]

Yesterday Swain went through Butch's last two recruiting classes, name by name... it was shocking to hear how many of them can't get on the field now or were ran off already.  Pretty clear to see how we're in the situation we're in.

[Tnphil]

Yesterday Swain went through Butch's last two recruiting classes, name by name... it was shocking to hear how many of them can't get on the field now or were ran off already.  Pretty clear to see how we're in the situation we're in.

Exactly. Not hard to see we are hurting bad on the talent front. On the defensive side overall probably close to the worst in the SEC. Got some young talent probably but not enough to compete against the good teams. Hopefully what we got will develop and improve each week.

[BanditVol]

Some of Butch's talent in his last two classes, which were not his best anyway, was probably overated.  At the same time, any coaching change results in players transferring or quitting.  It's just part of the deal of changing coaches.  Thus not that surprising.

[BanditVol]

I think Fils-Aime was our 3rd-best RB at best, maybe 4th-best. He wasn't going to contribute much on offense this year, might as well give him a shot to contribute on defense though it looks like that isn't going to work out for him either.

Fils-Aime is not a terrible RB but he's not an SEC RB, imo. I now see why the coaches were so high on Tim Jordan during the offseason and I expect he's about to move ahead of Ty Chandler on the depth chart. Fils-Aime isn't better than either of them, for sure.

I just look at the stat line from last year.  Fils-Aime averaged 6.9 yards per carry, by far the best of any back we had.  I guess I'since he did that on just 31 carries it might be a bit suspect.  Not sure what you are judging Chandler on, he did look good at times last year but only averaged 4.1 yards per carry.  Do you just look at them running the ball and decide, or is there more to it than that?  I tend to trust the stats. 

Having said that, I will trust Pruitt on this one.  I guess with the transfer from MSU, we had more RBs than we needed.  I hope Fils-Aime contributes at DB, because I personally am going to still say I think he looked great last year when he played and the stats back it up.

[73Volgrad]

Since I am not and have never been a football coach, I find it hard to question coaching decisions. That said, over my observations of 50 years of watching Tennessee football, I am not always convinced that a coach really knows what position a player is skilled at. When I hear a coach say "We need to put our best players on the field", I interpret that as saying I do not know where our players need to be. I think Pruitt is really short at DBs and is playing skilled players there and hoping the RBs left get the job done. Dooley never had a clue. Butch had a clue, but could not coach or pick assistants that could coach. Same for Fulmer after 2000.

The talent pool for the Vols is shallow so I give Pruitt a benefit of a doubt. It is just with the new concussion protocols, RBs will get knocked out of games over an abundance of caution.

But it does not matter what I think because I am not the head coach.

[BanditVol]

Since I am not and have never been a football coach, I find it hard to question coaching decisions. That said, over my observations of 50 years of watching Tennessee football, I am not always convinced that a coach really knows what position a player is skilled at. When I hear a coach say "We need to put our best players on the field", I interpret that as saying I do not know where our players need to be. I think Pruitt is really short at DBs and is playing skilled players there and hoping the RBs left get the job done. Dooley never had a clue. Butch had a clue, but could not coach or pick assistants that could coach. Same for Fulmer after 2000.

The talent pool for the Vols is shallow so I give Pruitt a benefit of a doubt. It is just with the new concussion protocols, RBs will get knocked out of games over an abundance of caution.

But it does not matter what I think because I am not the head coach.

Well if we start dropping RBs, Fils Aime could always jump back over I'm sure.

[Creek Walker]

I just look at the stat line from last year.  Fils-Aime averaged 6.9 yards per carry, by far the best of any back we had.  I guess I'since he did that on just 31 carries it might be a bit suspect.  Not sure what you are judging Chandler on, he did look good at times last year but only averaged 4.1 yards per carry.  Do you just look at them running the ball and decide, or is there more to it than that?  I tend to trust the stats. 

Having said that, I will trust Pruitt on this one.  I guess with the transfer from MSU, we had more RBs than we needed.  I hope Fils-Aime contributes at DB, because I personally am going to still say I think he looked great last year when he played and the stats back it up.

It's very hard to look at stats alone with a body of work that small. CFA broke off some moderate gains last year and that skewed his YPC average. He had 41 yards on 3 carries against Indiana State, but 30 of those came on one play. He had 31 yards on 3 carries against Missouri, but 25 came on one play. His best game was against Kentucky, 13 for 73. But even then, it looks less impressive if you take off a 21-yard run. If you take away those 3 longer runs, his YPC drops quite a bit. I think if you go back and watch the tape you'll see that there was nothing that really stands out about him -- not like Tim Jordan and Ty Chandler. I think it goes without saying that if he really was a potential game changer, he would have gotten more than 31 carries last year -- especially given the way the running game struggled.

[Volznut]

CFA wasn't a great RB.

I think the RB stable is ok actually, Jordan is tough and hard nosed, Chandler has speed, and London gives them a bigger body. I would like to see more of Banks.

[BanditVol]

It's very hard to look at stats alone with a body of work that small. CFA broke off some moderate gains last year and that skewed his YPC average. He had 41 yards on 3 carries against Indiana State, but 30 of those came on one play. He had 31 yards on 3 carries against Missouri, but 25 came on one play. His best game was against Kentucky, 13 for 73. But even then, it looks less impressive if you take off a 21-yard run. If you take away those 3 longer runs, his YPC drops quite a bit. I think if you go back and watch the tape you'll see that there was nothing that really stands out about him -- not like Tim Jordan and Ty Chandler. I think it goes without saying that if he really was a potential game changer, he would have gotten more than 31 carries last year -- especially given the way the running game struggled.

Well I can point out that he  may be likely to continue those long runs, but then O realize the low no. Of carried.

At any rate I hope he gets to where he can conttribute at DB. Hate to waste an athlete and we could use it.