Another look at Pro Day

[BanditVol]

Yes, Palardy was the second fastest guy.  But of the 14, the breakdown is 10 linemen, 1 linebacker, 1 RB, 1 long snapper and 1 kicker.

So I would definitely expect the RB to be fastest...but a bit faster.  We all knew Rajion was not a burner (though Lane is more so).

I would also expect the LBs to be faster than the kicker...in Sapp was at least close at 4.69.  

What about DEs...I would think they would be faster than a kicker...Marlon Walls did not turn in a time at all, but Jaques Smith pulled a 4.9...slow for a DE, for sure.

But really the only two players I would expect to be fast at all would be the LB and RB, and speed is obviously less important there than at DB or WR...you can have an RB that is big and/or shifty who doesn't need as much speed...see Travis Henry.

Still bad, but not as bad as some earlier posts led me to believe.

But....I wonder what Hurd runs in the 40?  

[BanditVol]

Did Smith even play DE, or was he interior?  I can't recall.  Heck, 4.9 is pretty good for an interior guy....

[LouisVOL]

The problem is that Rajon was touted as the fastest guy on the team.  The 4.5/4.6 range is not that bad for a RB, but fastest on the team--that is bad.

[VinnieVOL]

It was no more evident than in the Auburn game of this past season.  I remember before halftime I was just looking at the clock, wanting it to end.  It was shocking and embarrassing.

[BanditVol]

The problem is that Rajon was touted as the fastest guy on the team.  The 4.5/4.6 range is not that bad for a RB, but fastest on the team--that is bad.

Fastest on the team, really?  Hard to believe.  Definitely the fastest in that group, or fastest senior, but surely Marquez North and Cam Sutton are faster than Raj.

Sounds like something Ainge said started that talk (quote from link below):

The scary thing, as pointed out by Erik Ainge of Tennessee Sports Radio, is that former players thought Neal was incredibly fast, that he was perhaps the fastest player on the team, that he was a burner. He’s not.


"Perhaps the fastest player..."  I wonder how many believed that.  But I have no doubt he was or is one of the fastest.  

The article below does say that Raj was the only skill player.   I can believe that he, unfortunately was one of the fastest on the team, no doubt, but the sample at Pro Day was skewed to linemen as the article indicates.

http://www.tnsportsradio.com/2014/04/03/pro-day-said-state-program/

[BanditVol]

It was no more evident than in the Auburn game of this past season.  I remember before halftime I was just looking at the clock, wanting it to end.  It was shocking and embarrassing.

Yes...my reactions exactly.  It was made worse by the fact that I had TWO overweight Auburn fans crowding me from the left...a mother and her daughter, the mother kept waving her pom pom RIGHT IN my face (though not on purpose she was just clueless lol) and there was a belligerent drunk "vol fan" right behind me that kept complaining that we weren't 12-0.  Pirate and I had some words with him, in fact.   
 

[BanditVol]

The end of the article I link above is worth a larger C&P:

Neal has average speed. He was thought of as fast because the other Vols he was being compared to were so, so slow.

Speed is a must in football. Ask the many slower teams that have faced SEC teams over the past decade. Dooley turned the Vols into a Big Ten team. A slow Big Ten team.

It wasn’t just recruiting where Dooley failed. He also didn’t develop UT’s players. Speed and strength can be enhanced through proper training. Again, there was no constant plan under Dooley even in the strength and conditioning department.

Learning just how bad Dooley was as a head football coach is like peeling an onion. One story is another layer. It must make UT fans want to cry.

Many already know how bad Dooley is. So why am I bringing it up now? Because it’s time to realize how important stability is. It’s important to realize that it’s far too easy to hire a Dooley if an athletic department isn’t careful.
I don’t expect UT to win more than six games this year. As a matter of fact, I’m thinking five. Many have said 2015 is the season to judge head coach Butch Jones. While I think that’s fair, I wouldn’t treat that notion as gospel. What if Jones just wins six or seven games in 2015? Is that a sign the Vols need to make a change? No way.
Jones has already recruited better prospects than the Vols showcased on pro day. Freshman tailback Jalen Hurd is bigger and very likely faster than Neal, the former Vol speedster.

The Vols will be better this season. No doubt. Whether that results in more wins against a brutal schedule remains to be seen. The Vols will be even better in 2015. That should result in more wins. However, if it doesn’t, cooler heads need to prevail.

Jones has proven he can recruit. If he proves he’s a great coach, the Vols are set. If not, UT needs to be patient. Because of Dooley, this rebuilding effort is going to take time.

The Vols hired and had to endure the worst head coach in the modern era of the SEC. I realize that sounds like hyperbole but it’s not. Sure, other coaches have lost more games, but not at one of the top programs in the nation. It should be much easier to win at UT than Vanderbilt. It wasn’t for Dooley.

Given the resources around him, Dooley couldn’t win on the field, couldn’t recruit and didn’t know how to lead a program. Well, at least he signed a fast kicker.