VTTW Board Index

We can revisit this after spring camp. Position by position, tell me how you think the 2014 Vols will compare to last year on a scale of 0-10.

0 = far worse than last year
5= the same as last year
10= far better than last year

QB:
RB:
WR:
TE:
OL:

DL:
LB:
DB:

KR/PR:
P:
K:

Go.

Mine:

QB: 7
RB: 6
WR: 9
TE: 8
OL: 1

DL: 3
LB: 8
DB: 6

KR/PR: 7
P: 1
K: 3

QB: 7
RB: 6
WR: 7
TE: 7
OL: 2

DL: 3
LB: 8
DB: 7

KR/PR: 7
P: 1
K: 3

I feel like these "predictions" of mine are being fed by the optimistic Vol fan side of me...

QB:7
RB:7
WR:9
TE:5
OL:4

DL:3
LB:7
DB:5

KR/PR:5
P:3
K:4

QB: 6
RB: 7
WR: 8
TE: 9
OL: 3/4

DL: 4
LB: 7
DB: 8

KR/PR: 7
P: 3
K: 4

QB: 7.  Everyone seems to forget that Justin Worley was rounding into a plus player before he got hurt last year.  If he comes back as the QB we saw against UGA and USC, we can win with that.  Don't just assume that the QB battle is going to come down to Furguson and Dobbs.  That said, I think a questionable OL will put a premium on mobility, so my money would be on Ferguson.  At any rate, I think Peterman's disastrous first half at UF last year dropped the QBs an entire letter grade- so assuming that Peterman sees no meaningful action, this position is going to improve by default.

RB: 6. I want to believe, I really do.  But how many bluechip RBs have we recruited in the past decade+ that didn't live up to their billing?  Without a doubt, we've upgraded the talent here, but the OL is going to limit their ceiling this year.

WR: 10. Even taking the recruits out of the equation, I think this position would be vastly improved.  North didn't assert himself until midseason last year, so we should get an entire year of him at his best.  And hopefully the rest of the returners will benefit from an entire season of a QB who can actually put the ball on target.  Now add Malone and Pearson (who I think could be the biggest sleeper of our entire recruiting class) to the mix, and these guys can challenge Mizzou as the strongest WR corps in the league.

TE: 10. I mean, can they be any worse?  Did we even have a TE last season?  Seriously, I think Helm is the starter from day one.  He'll do a credible job this year, and be an All-American by the time he's a junior.

OL: 3. No way around it, we're going to struggle up front.  Maybe last year's group didn't live up to their billing, but replacing them ALL is not going to be easy.  The fact that this is the one position where we came up short in recruiting only compounds the issue. 

DL: 5. And that's being conservative.  I'm a bit surprised that so many of you scored this group so low.  The only reason I give them a 5 is because we have to replace them all.  But seriously, last year's group was terrible.  They couldn't stop the run, they couldn't contain the edge, and they couldn't generate a pass rush.  We've upgraded the talent here in a big way, so if these guys gel at all, they are going to be improved.

LB: 7. Sapp is a big loss, but AJ is back, Magitt will be back, and there are some exciting newcomers. 

DB: 7. We've been lacking speed here for what seems like forever.  That was addressed in a big way in recruiting.  Sutton is going to be a shutdown guy (if he's not already), and he'll be the leader of this group.

KR/PR: 8. Young is back with another year of experience and another year in the S/C program.  And we've added loads of speedy recruits.  Someone should be able to make the return game into a weapon.

P/K: 2. A year ago at this time, I never would've imagined how much we're going to miss Palardy, but he finally fulfilled his expectations last year.  Honestly, other than Medley I don't even know who we have here.  But whoever wins the job(s) will have a hard time duplicating Palardy's 2013 season.  And when was the last time we had a first-year kicker who didn't struggle?  Jeff Hall?

QB: 8
RB: 6
WR: 8
TE: 7
OL: 2

DL: 3
LB: 8
DB: 7

KR/PR: 7
P: 3
K: 4

I'm a bit soft on some of those.  DL...replacing them all is tough, but they didn't do much last year.  Hard to predict.  Want to say LBs are better with Maggit coming back, but he is rusty and seems injury prone so I thought about lowering that to 7.  WRs...want to believe 9 or 10 but have to see it first. 

QB...I agree with BDV that Worley is being overlooked a bit.  No matter how bad he looked at times early in the season, I can't escape the fact that (a) our two best games were by far USC and Uga and Worley played a key role in both, and (b) we were not really worth a shizzle after USC. I think he can have a great senior year while we continue to groom Dobbs and Ferguson finally gets a shot. 

On the DL: it's just hard to replace that many contributors with new guys and expect it not to fall off, IMO, even when those guys were not very good. By the end of the year we may be better at DL-- but I think there's no doubt it's a major weakness to start the season. If Owen Williams can be a day 1 starter that will be a very good thing.

Make no mistake- While I think we'll be very much improved, I still don't expect it to show too much in our record.  The only loss from last season that I would expect us to flip is Vanderbilt.  But make no mistake, we're making up a lot of ground on the big boys in this league.  I would expect to start beating some of them consistently in 2015.

Yep. I agree with this, and my ratings were largely positive too (with the only decines being OL, DL, and K/P). I think that 2014 sets up much like 2013-- that making a bowl game would be a nice achievement and that our minds ought to be focused on that as the primary goal, but failing to achieve it does not mean disaster. I think the chances of achieving that goal are better in 2014 though. I see 6 wins, with one of those being an upset.

I almost don't dare hope...but I think we can beat the gators.  It's later in the year, it's at Neyland, we might have won last year without Peterman starting and Muschamp suxes.   :naughty:

I think we can beat everyone on our schedule except bammer.  I look for at least one upset this year, maybe two, but I'm not ready to say against whom.

Yeah, six years of dog whippings drive out any optimism.   But I am looking forward to this season more than any since 2008, so there is that.

Hopefully they will Boomer the Sooners. I hope the QB play improves like everyone thinks it will. I'm just not optimistic any of the QB's will be game changers. The QB's should improve just due to experience. One good thing is there will be a lot of new QB's starting in the SEC this season.