They basically quit trying in the 2nd half and then Pruitt called them out as well as the fans. There were over 65,000 at the spring game btw so it seems very ridiculous to call them out
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Agree. I am so glad we hired CJM over him. He is ignorant to be calling out there fans after 65,000 showed up. He is a nobody as a head coach right now. He has proved nothing so far other than he has a big mouth, and a big head. He better slow that mouth down or they will run him out of town. Tennessee fans are really ticked off at his comments today.
With all due respect, Coach007 is correct in some fashion - Key was "bird dogging" receivers all day long. There were a few possessions that he went through progression, but unfortunately since the def. couldn't hit him - it's hard to tell if that was on him or them. It had nothing to do with learning a new system.
I was critical of Fitz's 5 INTs last year and got railed on here that the game didn't matter. The truth is that this game does show glimpses of what the fall will be like.
I came away from the game not really worried about Key since Fitz should be healthy (and praying Fitz is more accurate on deep balls this year), the front 7 on D is nasty, and Austin Williams has the potential to be a game changer for us.
Coach Joe has been nothing but appreciative of the community and fanbase. He was very complimentary of the turnout today and said he was impressed given that the baseball schedule change kept some fans from attending.
He and his coaching staff have also treated the players a lot differently than the country club did. No more calling them idiots and morons for making a mistake.. Instead, he or another coach takes them to the side, explains what they did wrong/right and sends them back in.. Now I know the intensity will step up in the fall, but I appreciate him treating them like men and not like children.
Still, he better learn his role before calling those fans out. Saban can do that if he wanted to because he has earned the right to say/do whatever he wants, but Pruitt hasn't earned anything as a head coach. I give him 3 years max. A lot of Tennessee fans are fired up over his comments today.
Some quick thoughts on the Spring Game:
1. Brian Cole is a DUDE. Electric explosiveness as a DB. He'll make big plays this year both in coverage and on the blitz. Hes fast.
2. Jason looks like Justin Jenkins to me. A little body control over twitch, but he has good hands and play the ball. He'll be a very good WR here and an awesome red zone weapon.
3. Williams is just what the DR ordered. A reliable guy that runs good routes.
4. Rivers looks like an athletic run stopper that can set the edge and rush the passer.
5. I was impressed at how we had open WRs and the players appeared to know the offense. I actually thought Key's decision making was good in the first half. How quickly we forget that Fitz threw like 5 INTs in last years Spring game. Overall Moorhead's offense just looked more rhythmic and free flowing than Mullen's.
6. Kylin and Aeris are in for huge years. When we ran the ball today, it looked right. We had numbers and the play was open.
I base all this on the fact that I know our defense will be good. I was impressed compared to past Spring games. Watch out for Brian Cole. He's going a blind side a QB and win a game for us this year. He's a "move the needle" impact type player. Huge addition.
I also noticed Kylin had some more patient runs. Look at his 3rd TD. He waited for the block. Something he wouldn’t have done last year. That’s a very good sign that he has taken a step forward and will be a nightmare for many defenses.
They're not going to be the Tennessee of old again. Volunteer fans and alumni seem to be the only ones that don't know that. Certain factors in recruiting have changed in the last 15 years and there is no going back. The advantages they once had are no longer there unless some big paradigm change comes along that suits them better. Right now we are as good or perhaps an even better football program than their's.
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Just rewatched it. My dumb ass thoughts:
1) WRs are definitely better, but I don't think Getsy has the time to cure the drops. Williams will be a starter. Whop is the real deal. Todd didn't improve much, so Guidry probably starts over him. Not sure who the 3rd WR is to go with Guidry and Williams. I noticed that on a lot of the passes the WRs got open without really making a move. DBs playing too off, missing assignments, LBs getting picked on crossing routes... just didn't look as tight as I expected them to. I'm not saying I'm concerned about the pass D, moreso that I'm tempering my excitement for the receivers as a whole.
2) OL is good, but the backups look BAD. Was that Tyre at LT, and Champion at Guard? What happened to Story? Anyway, I paid a lot of attention to Champion and Tyre as I had the highest hoped for them, but they both got beat and missed blocks. Depth may be an issue, bu the starts did really good against what we know is a top 3 SEC DL.
3) Hill will start over Aeris by Auburn. He's already the better receiver, better at making people miss, better at breaking tackles, and quicker to make cuts. Both have really good vision and run hard. Blocking and knowledge of the playbook may be the only edge Aeris has. Either way, will be fun watching these 2 fight for reps. Neither one will ever shy away from lowering the shoulder, as they know the other one is waiting.
4) Cole is SEC caliber, Guidry seems like he can replace Bryant, and Murphy will be solid by Auburn and really good by midseason. He just needs reps and coaching.
5) Backup LBs did not impress me, which is to be expected given we know the depth is thin there.
6) TE's all look comparable. Maybe it was intentional by JoMo to give each of them a chance to catch a pass, but there were like 4 guys that looked good and nobody seemed like the clear favorite to me.
7) the O is WAY ahead of where I thought they'd be. Except for the backup OL, they all knew exactly what they were doing and seemed to understand the details too. D, however, had a few bad coverages and missed gap assignments. For example on 2 plays the DE lost containment and Key ran, which would have been fine for the DE is there was a LB spying him, but there wasn't. Not sure if that was a misunderstanding of the D behind him, or if the LB wasn't where he was supposed to be, or if it was just a technique error causing him to get pushed so far. Overall the D didn't look behind where it did last year to me, just relative to where the O is.
8) really LOVED the way the coaches worked. As was noted above, they calmly correct what they see wrong and don't yell/melt. What little was shown on TV made it look like the players weren't discouraged.
9) This team looks like they are tying so hard. Every player, every snap is going 100% and is excited to be out there. I watched some of the UF, Tennessee, and LSU spring games and it was not the case
I'm probably wrong on many of these. Either way, Hailstate!
What about Nick Gibson, he looked really good.
Hill looked great. I think he will be great here. With that said, I'm not ready to declare aeris 2nd string just yet. He has avg over 5 yds/carry for his career