Was doing some more thinking about the team.

[Inspector Vol]

Yea I know don't strain anything........

Anyway I went back and looked at our roster again, then I looked at all the other SEC teams rosters. We are younger than any unit in the conference on either side of the ball save Auburn's and LSU's defensive units. This tells me two things. First our defensive talent is not nearly what LSU has and they may be even better next year on defense. Second thing is that at every level starting from middle school on up it is the teams with the oldest players that are the best typically. In college just like highs school it is a junior and senior dominated sport. We have very few of them and even fewer who are SEC talents. While we may not like youth as an excuse it is a fact for us. We are younger than everyone else and our depth is even younger. The old saying about a player suffering a sophomore slump came about for a reason and we are playing a lot of them so multiply that issue tenfold.

It is just going to take time to do it right. Next year should be a little better as we will be mostly juniors but their backups will be sophs and freshmen again. That is why I think it will take until 2013 or 2014 to compete for the SECC. That is if we can get rid of this dark cloud of doom that is raining on every parade we try to have. Hopefully with Hamilton gone that will get better as he seemed to bring doom to every program he was in charge of.

[PirateVOL]

Yea I know don't strain anything........

Anyway I went back and looked at our roster again, then I looked at all the other SEC teams rosters. We are younger than any unit in the conference on either side of the ball save Auburn's and LSU's defensive units. This tells me two things. First our defensive talent is not nearly what LSU has and they may be even better next year on defense. Second thing is that at every level starting from middle school on up it is the teams with the oldest players that are the best typically. In college just like highs school it is a junior and senior dominated sport. We have very few of them and even fewer who are SEC talents. While we may not like youth as an excuse it is a fact for us. We are younger than everyone else and our depth is even younger. The old saying about a player suffering a sophomore slump came about for a reason and we are playing a lot of them so multiply that issue tenfold.

It is just going to take time to do it right. Next year should be a little better as we will be mostly juniors but their backups will be sophs and freshmen again. That is why I think it will take until 2013 or 2014 to compete for the SECC. That is if we can get rid of this dark cloud of doom that is raining on every parade we try to have. Hopefully with Hamilton gone that will get better as he seemed to bring doom to every program he was in charge of.

I would submit that since we sent the Chief packing with Fulmer we have had two DCs that aren't as good.  Yes I still cringe at the word Mustang but IMO Wilcox is not in the same league as the Chief and I would also submit that Monte was a poor replacement. 

I am not sold on Wilcox as the DC.  I am sold on Sirmon and Thompson.  Their units have improved this season (I would also point out that the secondary isn't as good as when Sirmon was the grad assistant working with the safeties).  The DL has gotten deepre and better at stopping the run.  The LBs have minimized their alignment issues in recent games and their play has improved, AJ's in particular.  In the secondary, the only real improvement in recent game(s) has been Randolph, who really improved both run support and pass defense over the uga game.  I hope, and expect, that improvement will allow Wagner to slide over full time to the left corner position.  BTW, it was interesting that as soon as Wagner mover to corner in the 2nd half L$U started picking on Lanier, who reacted well in my view.

[CrossVol]

Yea I know don't strain anything........

Anyway I went back and looked at our roster again, then I looked at all the other SEC teams rosters. We are younger than any unit in the conference on either side of the ball save Auburn's and LSU's defensive units. This tells me two things. First our defensive talent is not nearly what LSU has and they may be even better next year on defense. Second thing is that at every level starting from middle school on up it is the teams with the oldest players that are the best typically. In college just like highs school it is a junior and senior dominated sport. We have very few of them and even fewer who are SEC talents. While we may not like youth as an excuse it is a fact for us. We are younger than everyone else and our depth is even younger. The old saying about a player suffering a sophomore slump came about for a reason and we are playing a lot of them so multiply that issue tenfold.

It is just going to take time to do it right. Next year should be a little better as we will be mostly juniors but their backups will be sophs and freshmen again. That is why I think it will take until 2013 or 2014 to compete for the SECC. That is if we can get rid of this dark cloud of doom that is raining on every parade we try to have. Hopefully with Hamilton gone that will get better as he seemed to bring doom to every program he was in charge of.

While LSU may be even better on defense next year, they will only maringally be better.  In other words, they only have so much room for improvement.  I contend that part of the difference between 3-star and 4 and 5 star recruits is that more 4 and especially 5-star recruits come in ready to play earlier.  I think that a lot of the players that Dooley has brought in so far will probably need more time to develop, but may be able to end up being top players.  The other issue is that LSU will likely have more players leave early because they have more that can.

It is too early to expect Dooley to compete wit LSU and bama.  It is also unreasonable to expect Dooley to be able to bring in top 5 recruiting classes at this point and time as well.  I hope that over time and with success on the field we will see UT's recruiting class rating rise from year to year.

[PirateVOL]

While LSU may be even better on defense next year, they will only maringally be better.  In other words, they only have so much room for improvement.  I contend that part of the difference between 3-star and 4 and 5 star recruits is that more 4 and especially 5-star recruits come in ready to play earlier.  I think that a lot of the players that Dooley has brought in so far will probably need more time to develop, but may be able to end up being top players.  The other issue is that LSU will likely have more players leave early because they have more that can.

It is too early to expect Dooley to compete wit LSU and bama. 

We competed against L$U for an entire game, minus three seconds last year, on the road.  We only made it to half time this year. 

Last year we got blown out by uga, this year we stayed with them, for a half.

Last year bamer pulled away for a win.  I do not expect it to be as "close" this year

To answer your question, yes it is realistic to expect the VOLS to compete with any SEC team.

[ChattanoogaVol]

We competed against L$U for an entire game, minus three seconds last year, on the road.  We only made it to half time this year. 

Last year we got blown out by uga, this year we stayed with them, for a half.

Last year bamer pulled away for a win.  I do not expect it to be as "close" this year

To answer your question, yes it is realistic to expect the VOLS to compete with any SEC team.

Agree 100%..............................................we have talent, maybe not as much as the above teams, but good coaching and smart play will keep you in a game till the end.
 

[BigOrange Maniac]

 

[Inspector Vol]

Who is that for?

[BigOrange Maniac]

Who is that for?

Not you.