How Did Tennessee Get So Good So Fast?

Deeply unlikely our top 15 tops theirs next season. As I said previously, I am not interested in HS star ranking...."blue chip ratio", etc, etc...We've whiffed on a grand scale in the recent past (except the true freshmen class), so stars don't count in this case

UT has a few All American's on their roster....We're struggling to place a bonafide all conference player this season, besides O Cyrus (and the 3 others that might make it, won't be back next season). We have a looooong way to go man.

 

agree with this - there are some things that concern me a bit about coach Napier so far: clock mgmt like you mentioned, relatively bland offensive and overly conservative defensive schemes, reliance on talent over innovation (you have to have talent to win but a great coach can do more with less). He seems to be a worker bee type guy with a very specific formula for program building, and he needs to follow that formula very closely and have a lot of things lined up exactly the way he wants in order to achieve success.

I'm not totally convinced that guys like that are great fits at UF for getting us back to the mountaintop - our greatest success has come with free thinking offensive wizard types who could adapt to different situations and talent, not the "Jessies and Joes over Xs and Os" types.

but I'm also not giving up on Napier yet by a long shot. I might have some quibbles with the offensive design but it's produced very well for the most part so far (despite having to work around the limitations of a still-developing QB), our OL has turned things around and been outstanding, and I'm really impressed with his demeanor and attitude and the culture he's trying to instill here. This team appears to be buying into it and is already displaying more heart, discipline and will to win than we saw at any time last year, and we all know how important that stuff is for a successful program.

I'm cautiously optimistic about his approach and vision for the future - this year is mostly a wash, and I'm hopeful that we'll see him tweak some things in the offseason and have a more successful year 2 as HBC and continue to show the program is trending in the right direction under his leadership.

 

Star averages are not the be all and end all for player success at the college ranks, but they are an excellent screening criteria. Look at the last 20 MNC winners and the others in the top 3. The vast majority had star averages over 3.50.

I do agree that player development has more to do with a player's success, however. How many times do we see 3-star, 2-star players become key contributors, star players or even All-Americans? More than you imagine.

As for NFL viability, that's meaningless. None of our Heisman winners were successful in the NFL for any real length of time. Our all time passing leader wasn't even drafted. If one looks at this year's draft, two first round picks were from FCS schools, and 27 were selected in the entire draft. Where it was development or a large growth spurt, they had to be good to even get selected. Hooker is far better at Tennessee than he was at Virginia Tech, but compared to what VT had after him, Hooker was Michael Vick. The result is palpable, as VT stands to have their worst season in exactly three decades.

 

If only it was every game.

 

We may have 3 first round picks next year. Possibly 4

 

I hope you are right. But I said top 15, not top 4.

Out of curiosity, who are the 4 in your eyes?

 

AR, Dex, OCyrus are all in most mocks first round. Cox won’t fall much further.

 

We are also loaded at corner and RB.

 

McDonald's bags haha

 

We lost a lot last year to the transfer portal and also had some drafted. I believe we have 3 or 4 Sr's on the team so we are relatively young. CBN seems to be focusing on getting the team to play hard, team unity, culture and so forth. This will be beneficial for us in the future. I'm reserving judgement until the year is over to see how we did our first year.
I also believe the AR's flashes of brilliance and at the same time his inconsistency is making managing our O more difficult, although for the most part the team gets positive marks to date.
Interesting to me that 2 or 3 times we had the opportunity to throw a hail mary and AR never got the ball to the end zone. Hopefully he will mature into a top flight QB. Although gifted, I don't think AR is ready for the NFL.

 

Very 2019 LSU-esque. Older transfer QB. Newer coach. Talented roster, but not among the elite. But everything… moon, stars, Chinese calendar etc. is in alignment right now. I won’t say the whole program is back, but THIS team, THIS year is a legit threat. 6-0 and 2/3rds of the nightmare trifecta complete (plus an impressive win in red stick) …I don’t understand how anyone can say they are not sold on them now. This is not your Butch Jones Vol team.

 

Gotcha, I was thinking of next years team..my bad. Yeah, we have some projected to be drafted high from the current team....but that's based on potential not production.

AR won't be All-SEC (1st, 2nd, or 3rd team), but he MIGHT get drafted really high. I still think he comes back.

Same with Dexter. He's getting drafted off potential, but he won't sniff 1st or 2nd team All SEC.

OCyrus is a baaaaad dude. He might be the best OG in the country. Very deserving of all awards and praised headed his way.

Interestingly, the 2 best offensive players this season are UL transfers.

 

7 games in & we are already seeing this nonsense! Give the man a few years to get his players in & fully install his systems.

 

Why won’t they be all sec? Because of their skills or something else?

 

AR wont be drafted in the first round next year unless he completely turns it around . no nfl team is going to take a project at qb in the first round. if he stays and has a very good season next year i can see him going in the 1st round

 

IF

Trey Dean...

Dude's soundtrack is Yakety Sax.

 

You are welcome to think he will bust but as of now every mock has him first round this year

He is not a project, at least not anymore than any of the other QBs coming out

 

Anyone who thinks Richardson is a first round pic at this point in the season is delusional. Maybe if he has some incredible second half of the season, but at this stage, he's late 3rd round. With NIL money, he'd be crazy not to stay another year to develop...especially with a somewhat heavy QB group eligible in '23.

When you say "every mock" lists him as first round, who are you referring to? I just did a quick google search on "2023 NFL mock draft", and have yet to find a link in the first two pages that lists him in the first round. Maybe if you are looking at mocks after the Utah or Tennessee game, but nothing actually current (that I have found).

 

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There is three from big brands. I underestimated the amount of mocks so certainly there will be some where he won’t be there. But he’s certainly highly regarded

AR reads the field at a high level. Goes through progressions at a high level. Has tremendous feel for the deep ball. And is a physical freak. Scouts aren’t judging him based on yards in an antiquated passing game that doesn’t suit him