If the Vols get a new coach, on a scale of 1-10, how much of a bare cupboard is

[volsboy]

the new coach going to inherit? Even though everyone says Jones is a great recruiter, our talent does not jive with his recruiting rankings. Some of the units just look plain bad. Where did these recruits the last four years go? I will put our talent level at a 6 for next year. That is a long ways off from Bama or UGa.

[LouisVOL]

We are playing FAR below our talent level.  Not bama or uga level talent, but certainly FAR above the level at which we are playing. 

[Tnphil]

It was reported by a media that we played a total of 8 freshman against So Miss......In year 5 you should never have to play 8 freshman in a game. Some of it not all has to do with kids that should be our upperclassmen playing at other schools across the country.

[wtkvol]

We have never had less talent. Never.

[volsboy]

We have never had less talent. Never.

Some of those Dooley teams were pretty thin on talent.

[Black Diamond Vol]

We have never had less talent. Never.

If you account for all the injuries, maybe.  But at full health, this team is much more talented than Dooley's last.

[SmokeyJoe]

the new coach going to inherit? Even though everyone says Jones is a great recruiter, our talent does not jive with his recruiting rankings. Some of the units just look plain bad. Where did these recruits the last four years go? I will put our talent level at a 6 for next year. That is a long ways off from Bama or UGa.

I know you fancy yourself as a "realist" but a couple
players could make a big difference at this level. Particularly at LB. "We" have good not great talent. That said, "we" could easily be a VERY competitive team with a couple players here & there & the right coach. The NFL can literally be a 2-4 player swing & possibly 1-2. College ball isn't real far off from that. JMO. But I would say 7 is our talent level with a new coach.

[BanditVol]

You didn't give a standard for the rating.  1 to 10 could mean anything.

More meaninful is "what is our talent level compared to the rest of the SEC?" 

I'm more familiar with the East.  I would say in the East, overall we are second only to Uga.  I would say Florida and Junior have better D talent and Mizzou perhaps better offensive talent, but in total only Uga is ahead of us.  I would say our advantage over Florida is very slight though.

From the West, clearly bammer is more talented. I  would also put LSU and likely Auburn ahead of us, though the gap to Auburn is less, maybe even a tie.

I would say more talented than Arkansas and MSU.  Ole Miss might be about like us, don't know enough about Tamu but they might have a slight advantage.

So I would say overall we are about the 5th or 6th most talented team in the SEC,

Summary...teams definitely better than us are bammer, LSU, uga, Auburn...in that order.  About the same but maybe a bit better Tamu and Ole Miss.  Florida just a bit behind.

So maybe seventh or tied for sixth.   All our SEC losses except Georgia are thus to less talented teams, but I don't think the gap to any of them is huge. 

By national standards thats still pretty good, but by SEC standards it's above average. 

Under Dooley we were more like 10th in the conference.

[volsboy]

You didn't give a standard for the rating.  1 to 10 could mean anything.

More meaninful is "what is our talent level compared to the rest of the SEC?" 

I'm more familiar with the East.  I would say in the East, overall we are second only to Uga.  I would say Florida and Junior have better D talent and Mizzou perhaps better offensive talent, but in total only Uga is ahead of us.  I would say our advantage over Florida is very slight though.

From the West, clearly bammer is more talented. I  would also put LSU and likely Auburn ahead of us, though the gap to Auburn is less, maybe even a tie.

I would say more talented than Arkansas and MSU.  Ole Miss might be about like us, don't know enough about Tamu but they might have a slight advantage.

So I would say overall we are about the 5th or 6th most talented team in the SEC,

Summary...teams definitely better than us are bammer, LSU, uga, Auburn...in that order.  About the same but maybe a bit better Tamu and Ole Miss.  Florida just a bit behind.

So maybe seventh or tied for sixth.   All our SEC losses except Georgia are thus to less talented teams, but I don't think the gap to any of them is huge. 

By national standards thats still pretty good, but by SEC standards it's above average. 

Under Dooley we were more like 10th in the conference.

That's why we need a new coach. If you say we are 5th or 6th in the league in talent then why are about the 10th best team in the conference? I agree on paper we are about 6th in talent. But on the field, some of these Butch recruits look bad. All those great OL recruits look like trash against good teams.

[BanditVol]

That's why we need a new coach. If you say we are 5th or 6th in the league in talent then why are about the 10th best team in the conference? I agree on paper we are about 6th in talent. But on the field, some of these Butch recruits look bad. All those great OL recruits look like trash against good teams.

Since recruiting is not an exact science, maybe a better way is to group teams.


Bammer - in a class by themselves 

Uga, LSU, auburn - in the next best class (and IMO bammer would be here without massive cheating  )

Then we are in the group of Tamu, Ole Miss and Florida

So if we are in the second group of 4, then yes, we should be "middle of the pack".  No question about  it.

But we almost are.  If we had won the three close SEC games, or even 2/3, we might have expectations of also beating Mizzou and Vandy, or at the very least Vandy.

My SEC record prediction preseason was 3-5.  The only way we get there is by winning out, and that is very unlikely.


We are so close to having 3 SEC wins...it's maddening.   

Let me be clear...I am not excusing the performance this year.  We are fortunate to beat Ga Tech, it should not have been close against UMass, the Florida loss is unacceptable  for multiple reasons directly tied to coaching, uga and bammer should have not been as bad as they are, and ISU doesn't count.

That leaves a penalty-aided win against Southern Miss as our only good win of the season.  Not acceptable.  I am certainly not trying to defend Butch, I am definitely saying that this team is in much better shape for the next coach than it was in 2012.