Looking back on the 2018 Season.
5-7
There is only so much a coach can do with the talent on hand. Nick Saban , Bill Belichick and Vince Lombardi would not have fared any better with Peytin Manning at QB than this staff did this past season.
Yes, it is disappointing to see the season unfold like it did and to see Tennessee mocked and ran over roughshod as we were. Thats why Jeremy Pruitt was hired…to change this outcome, but it is not something that you change overnight with the same talent that failed everyone the season before. Only one part of the equation was changed, hence you are going to get a similar result every time. Once we can flip the roster and get Pruitt's guys in place, can we truly expect to see the Vols rise back to prominence.
5-7
- The Vols won every single game that they were favored to win. The Vols won 2 games that they were not favored to win.
- That tells me that this coaching staff helped to put the team in position to steal two games that they were not supposed to win.
- We won 2 more SEC games than we won in 2017 and won one more game the we did a season earlier, with mostly, the roster in place, running a new scheme on both sides of the ball.
- Let's look at the various positions aside of the ball…..
- The defense improved immensely in Pruitt's first season at the helm.
- In 2017 The Vols ranked 83rd in the nation in total defense.
- In 2017 we allowed 29.1 points per game, we game up 412 yards per game of total offense to opposing teams.
- In 2018 we came into the Vandy game 63rd in total defense, giving up an average of 27 points per game and 37- total yards per game.
- Teams ran for 90 yards a game less on our team in 2018 than they did in 2017, but teams threw for about 30 yards a game more on us this season.
- Personnel-wise we relied heavily in JUCO defensive linemen. We were not particularly deep there and relied on Kyle Phillips and Darrell Taylor for any kind of pash rush. We were not dynamic on the line. Just not enough speed, size, and depth there to get much more out of that group than Tracy Rocker and Chris Rumph got out of that group.
- At linebacker, we came into the season with Daniel Bituli, Quarte Sapp, Will Ignont, and Darrin Kirkland, Jr, who really had not played much in 2 seasons, due to injury. Other than that, we had little to no depth. This group was just flat out of gas by season's end. They played the run fairly well, but they were exposed when forced to cover in pass defense and out in space. This group lacks the ability to make constant plays in space.
- In the secondary, the coaches made a decision to play true freshman Alontae Taylor, Bryce Thomson, and redshirt freshman Trevon Flowers almost immediately. They made their share of mistakes, but no more than uppercut,assmen Baylen Buchanan, Michael Abernathy, and Nigel Warrior did. They had their ups and downs, but this group could be strength for the team 1-2 years down the road.
- Offensively speaking is an offensive term. We lack size and speed at virtually every position.
- We came into the season with a sophomore all-American candidate and a transfer center from Alabama. Neither anchor made it far into the season. Brandon Kennedy was injured in practice after the fist game of the season and Trey Smith had a reoccurrence of blood clots in his lungs. Trey may never play football again.
- So, our offensive line was the smallest per man average in the entire SEC and maybe in all of power 5 college football. We averaged less than 275 pounds across the offensive line. Think about that. It was 275 pounds lacking the muscle and strength that all of theater programs had. Is it any wonder why we struggled get any movement in the run game and hold out opposing pass rushers long?
- At running back, we had one game breaker and real SEC caliber running back in Tyson Chandler. None of the back ups really had SEC talent. The problem with that is that Chandler is not a big back and was often banged top and bruised. He missed a lot of playing time as a result and the staff knew that they could only get so many touched for him due to this.
- WR ended up being our strength of the team. We lack speed at WR. We did not have anyone who could take th top off of a defense, but we had 2-3 WRs who played with a lot of ferocity and became adept at high pointing jump balls down the field. However, not one game breaker.
- QB play was enough to make us somewhat competitive. Guarantano completed several long deep balls that our WRs fought for. He really did not throw the ball offensively down the field with any kind of effectiveness, with the exception of the deep ball, which he almost always under threw. I'm not very sure of how much more he can be developed and improve his play. Is he our QB next season? Probably, because nobody else is ready.
- In 2017, our offense was ranked 119th in total offense, averaging 19.8 points per game, 262 total yards of offense, rushing for 118 yards per game and 174 passing yards per game.
- In 2018 we moved up to 108th in total offense, while running a new scheme with players not meant to run this particular scheme. We average a little over 334 yards per game, rushing for a little over 132 yards per game and throwing for 202 yards per game
- Doyle was an okay punter. He got the ball of quickly and hit most of his punts about 35-44 yards. He averaged about 42 yards per boot. He never hit any big punts that flipped the field.
- Place kicking was never an issue. Thats the first time that I can remember where our placekicker did not factor into a game in the course of a season.
- Punt returns were not good. Yes, Callaway took one back for a TD against Charlotte, but he failed to field several punts that cost the team massive field position.
- Kick returns were few and far between. We did not have a game breaker back deep. Bryce Thompson probably had the best kick return against Missouri and brought the ball slightly east the 40 yard line.
- We have a first year head coach and first time coordinators on both sides of the ball. This staff's coaches are not newbies to the game. They all coached for top collegiate programs.
- We brought in an offensive staff to develop a pro-set power drive blocking offensive scheme using skinny and slow offensive talent left over from Butch Jones's Dancing bear read option spread. That was like trying to pound a square peg in the round hole. You could see the effort for the most part and see fundamental being properly executed. We had not seen drive blocking at UT in a long time.
- On the defense side side, Pruitt called the defensive plays.
There is only so much a coach can do with the talent on hand. Nick Saban , Bill Belichick and Vince Lombardi would not have fared any better with Peytin Manning at QB than this staff did this past season.
Yes, it is disappointing to see the season unfold like it did and to see Tennessee mocked and ran over roughshod as we were. Thats why Jeremy Pruitt was hired…to change this outcome, but it is not something that you change overnight with the same talent that failed everyone the season before. Only one part of the equation was changed, hence you are going to get a similar result every time. Once we can flip the roster and get Pruitt's guys in place, can we truly expect to see the Vols rise back to prominence.
