Talking Points: What of Charlie Weis's QB commits?

by Joel on Nov 10, 2009 7:34 AM EST in Rocky Top Talking Points Comment 40 comments

Football

Worried about a QB for next year? Don't forget about Nick Stephens, and don't miss Hooper's posting of the Tyler Bray video, but also note this: Notre Dame has not one, but two QB commits: Andrew Hendrix and Tommy Rees. Weis's biscuits are burning, and if he's gone after this season, what happens to those guys? I mean besides having Ed Orgeron camped in their front yards, because that's a given.
My prediction? Pain. (/Mr. T voice) I had no idea that Chris Walker's back pain was at times so severe he had trouble getting out of bed. Really hoping they get that under control.
Michael Silence rounds up the first salvos advocating for Lane Kiffin, Coach of the Year.
Tennessee's game against Vandy is set for 7:00 p.m., and will be broadcast on ESPNU.
3SiB on Jonathan Crompton:

I’m sorry for selling you short, Jonathan. You’ve certainly earned your orange jersey and that T on your helmet in my mind. How far you’ve come in a little more than a month is a testament to your work ethic, perseverance and self-confidence. Anybody who has overcome ridicule, benching, hatred and death threats to become what you have is a strong person and one that I’m happy is on my team. Now, let’s go out there and finish your career in style.

Just our luck. The predominant pre-season meme for the Ole Miss Rebels was that although Houston Nutt's teams can play the respect card like no one else, they couldn't handle high expectations. Well, those expectations are gone now, and their holding a flush of respect cards. Sigh.

Basketball

Expectations are tricky things. Bruce Pearl's team will likely start four seniors and returns its top seven scorers from last year's 21-win team and added, among others, the aforementioned Mr. McBee, who may provide the consistent outside scoring threat last year's team lacked. This could be a fun season. Or a disappointing one. Expectations are like that.
Walk-on U? First the football team has Nick Reveiz and the Sullins twins. Now, the basketball team has Skylar McBee, who's been so impressive early that his presence has moved Cameron Tatum from shooting guard to small forward and who is even, according to Bruce Pearl, pushing McDonald's All-American Scotty Hopson for the first-team job at shooting guard.By the way, Renaldo Woolridge has been, for the time being, squeezed out of the 10-man rotation, thanks in part to McBee and fellow freshman Kenny Hall.

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Is he now Chris UnWalkable?

by Hooper on Nov 10, 2009 7:59 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

heh

Nice.

Rocky Top Talk

by Joel on Nov 10, 2009 9:01 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I couldn't grin

Despite the cleverness, because I’m worried about his future. Are any of his problems fixable in the off-season, so he’ll have a shot at the money in the NFL?

Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!

by bobo_the_vol on Nov 10, 2009 9:04 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Will Woolridge redshirt?

by golfballs03 on Nov 10, 2009 8:39 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Hmm.

Hadn’t thought of that idea. What does the roster look like, in terms of graduation timetables?

by Hooper on Nov 10, 2009 8:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hey Hoop

Did I miss this week’s SEC Power Poll Ballot?

Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!

by bobo_the_vol on Nov 10, 2009 9:00 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Not yet.

Check back at 10. We had so much stuff go up yesterday, I delayed it.

by Hooper on Nov 10, 2009 9:12 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It's 10, Hooper.

Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!

by bobo_the_vol on Nov 10, 2009 10:01 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Where is the Power Poll, Hooper?

Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!

by bobo_the_vol on Nov 10, 2009 10:01 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm waiting, Hooper.

Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!

by bobo_the_vol on Nov 10, 2009 10:01 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

And I'm watching, Hooper.

Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!

by bobo_the_vol on Nov 10, 2009 10:01 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Always Watching, Hooper.

Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!

by bobo_the_vol on Nov 10, 2009 10:01 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Always.

Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!

by bobo_the_vol on Nov 10, 2009 10:01 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

LOL

Made my morning.

by Hooper on Nov 10, 2009 10:09 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Oh, I know it did, Hooper.

Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!

by bobo_the_vol on Nov 10, 2009 10:11 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

On a related Note:

When does this go from being funny to being creepy? ;-)

Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!

by bobo_the_vol on Nov 10, 2009 10:11 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

It's the internet.

Is there anything funny on the ‘net that’s not also creepy?

by Hooper on Nov 10, 2009 10:12 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

There’s this.

Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!

by bobo_the_vol on Nov 10, 2009 10:19 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I don't know.

The prospect of that guy living in my neighborhood gives me the willies.

by Hooper on Nov 10, 2009 10:29 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Somehow, I don't doubt that.

by Hooper on Nov 10, 2009 10:11 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Everybody's graduating this year

Four of the five starters are seniors, as Joel mentioned. Hops is a soph.

After that, I think the next five has:

2 JR (Williams, Goins)
1 SO (Tatum. He redshirted, right?)
2 FR (Hall, McBee)

by Incipient_Senescence on Nov 10, 2009 9:12 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Now that I'm settled for a minute, I peeked:

The sophomores are: Negedu, Woolridge, Tatum, and Hopson.

The freshmen are: McBee and Hall.

So if one sophomore does redshirt, it would balance the sophomore and freshmen classes out. Ignoring the walk-ons, we’d have 4 seniors (Smith, Maze, Chism, Prince), 3 juniors (Goins, Pearl, and Williams), and the 4/2 sophomores/freshmen listed above. It’s cheating a bit to include Pearl in the list of juniors, so right now call it a 4/2/4/2 rotataion from seniors through freshmen. Redshirting Woolridge would make it a 4/2/3/3.

I know that in football, it’s really nice to have level classes, but I don’t know if it’s important in basketball.

by Hooper on Nov 10, 2009 9:20 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Is Negedu going to be able to play again?

If not, it balances things out a little bit initially. I certainly hope he can, both for our sake and his.

by Incipient_Senescence on Nov 10, 2009 9:25 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Also, Hopson has been projected to go pro early

Who knows if that will materialize.

by Incipient_Senescence on Nov 10, 2009 9:26 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

If he has a lights-out year, I could see it.

But that’s a good thing, then. :-)

by Hooper on Nov 10, 2009 9:27 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Oh, right.

Forgot about that when writing. Nobody has said anything yet about his playing future. He definitely has a redshirt, though, and may be eligible for two if this lasts long enough. (That’s what the mythical 6th year is designed for – a two-year medical absence for a single cause.)

by Hooper on Nov 10, 2009 9:27 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

From what I saw of McBee,

he’s fighting for playing time harder than anybody else on the team. Right now, both Pearl and Summitt could use more of that. He actually looks a bit Dane-ish out there, all flailing about in a surprisingly effective way. He also looks like he’s living his dream.

And the crowd is behind him big-time. Every time he took a shot in that first exhibition game, the students would hold their breaths. They’d cheer for the makes and “awwww…” for the misses – more so than any other player. (All of the girls in the section I was in kept going on about how cute he was, too. Floppy hair. Go figure.)

by Hooper on Nov 10, 2009 9:33 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I didn't get to watch much of the first game

But I saw that. Think about it: this is a guy who could undoubtedly have played at, and starred, elsewhere. He_chose_ to come to Tennessee because he bleeds orange and white, and has a chance to be a majorly important player for this team. There’s definately going to be love oozing from TBA towards this kid.

Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!

by bobo_the_vol on Nov 10, 2009 9:50 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I don’t know if he’s necessarily trying harder than others (because I’m sure others are working hard, too), but it’s just a lot easier to see his effort and desire out there.

But seriously, the guy has something like 2 1/2 sorority’s worth of girls out there waiting to date him. I wonder if he knows that.

by Hooper on Nov 10, 2009 9:52 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Hmm.

How many girls is a “sorority” and what is the SI unit for that?

Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!

by bobo_the_vol on Nov 10, 2009 9:56 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That reminds me of a very long discussion in my undergrad.

A bunch of people in my dorm were trying to figure out how much a [FULMERIZED]load was. They settled on 4 craploads to one [FULEMRIZED]load. Obviously not SI.

by Hooper on Nov 10, 2009 10:11 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

If it were SI it’d be, like, 100 centi[FULMERIZED]s to one [FULMERIZED]load.

Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!

by bobo_the_vol on Nov 10, 2009 10:15 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Interesting that Pearl is going to the 10-man rotation right away

Instead of playing everybody in live action and seeing what’s what. Also, I think roles are more clearly defined this year – you’ve got two clear guys at every position on the perimeter (Maze/Goins, Hopson/McBee, Prince/Tatum) and then Williams and Hall can supplant Tyler & Wayne when they need a rest. Hopefully, this leads to more cohesiveness – there were times last year when we put lineups on the floor in the middle of games that just didn’t play well together at all.

Rocky Top Talk

by Will on Nov 10, 2009 9:56 AM EST reply actions 0 recs