Talking points: the Google of football edition

by Joel Hollingsworth on May 18, 2009 7:28 AM EDT in Rocky Top Talking Points

Tennessee football

The Sporting News' Matt Hayes interviews the Google of Football and is treated to some Grade A political home-base talking point conversation re-directors. Okay, I don't really know what that means -- I got started on a slippery sentence and ended up in the ditch -- but check out how Monte's answer to the question about Lane's mouth is deftly deflected. He acknowledges it and then hits every single one of his talking points, finishing with comments about energy and players buying into the program. By the way, GVX's Drew Edwards also interviews Monte and, frankly, comes away with a much better piece, including Monte's favorite "resin bag" story. So what's Monte going to do about the spread? All he'll say is that Florida is fast and good.
David Douglas, father of Aaron Douglas, who just moved from tight end to offensive tackle, loves Jim Chaney ($) and says that Aaron is in good hands.
Jesse Scroggins, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, RUN! Dude's got a bit of post-run Tebow hops, too:
SEC post-spring power rankings, per ESPN: Tennessee is 10th.
Robert Marve will be deciding early this week between Purdue and Tennessee.
Janzen Jackson is recovering well from a bum knee and has spent much of the summer devleoping upper body strength and watching DVD cutups of the defense.

SEC

Former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville will be working for a website this fall.
The SEC takes the top four spots in a list of the top ten best pot-stirring coaches. Spurrier's still No. 1; Kiffin's No. 2. Spurrier re-opened the Meyer-to-Notre-Dame rumor on Paul Finebaum's show, and Meyer said nope.
SEC baseball!
The dribble-drive-motion offense: a recruiting tool in disguise.

NCAA

Oklahoma dismisses Juan Pattillo.

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I love me some coach O

The Janzen Jackson story and the first Monte Kiffin story both mention O. I wish I could talk like him.

by kidbourbon on May 18, 2009 8:27 AM EDT reply actions

Couple of things

1) Am interested to see Tubs’ project, but I get the feeling he’s slumming here.

2) Occasionally, like when I watched that Scroggins video, it occurs to me how much more advanced the passing game has gotten in high school in the 12 years since I was there.

"Florida didnt win their first SEC title until 1991 and now they think they invented football."
-Ron Zook

by rustytanton on May 18, 2009 9:54 AM EDT reply actions

I do hate to tell him that it’s not much of a disguise. The phrase “one-on-one” has been synonymous with “one-and-done” recruiting for a long, long time. (Here, one-and-done refers to players who leave for the NBA after their freshmen year.)

by David Hooper on May 18, 2009 11:19 AM EDT reply actions

Its like a fast-track to the NBA

But as long as hes putting up W’s and hanging banners, UK fans will ask questions later and won’t complain.

now with less meyton panning.

by Pride of the Southland on May 18, 2009 12:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Chris Low has UT 10th???

Let’s see. We had a top 5 defense without an appreciable pass rush. We added Monte Kiffin, who is more than an even trade with Chavis, and it looks like we might have a pass rush. Defense holds serve.

Offense was nothing short of Misery last year. Even a modicum of ball control and short passing gets us to better than 5-7. Scheme is much better & the #1 RB in the nation and some top WR’s can’t hurt.

Special teams were not special at all – let’s hope we hope teams to less than 35 yds per KO and fewer than 5 TD returns (made those up, but it felt that bad). Again, gotta be a little better.

The schedule is set-up a little better as well. There’s no way we are 10th best in the SEC. We aren’t top shelf yet because of the QB, weakness in the D Line and other things, but please tell me that is bulletin board material about disrespect.

by memphispete on May 18, 2009 10:01 PM EDT reply actions

that'd be - "let's hope we can hold teams to less than 35 yds....

by memphispete on May 18, 2009 10:02 PM EDT up reply actions

I think he is wrong as well

Luckily for us, we’ll have 12 (hopefully 13… maybe even 14 :)!) chances to prove everyone wrong this fall.

by rblakeh on May 18, 2009 10:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Yes 10th is way too low but holes are still everywhere on this UT team

Yes, we did have a top 5 defense last year, but 6 of the 12 teams on our schedule finished in the bottom 20 in the entire NCAA in total offense. There were a lot of good defenses in the SEC last year that benefited from bad offenses and crappy QB play in the SEC.

I agree Monte is a positive over Third and Chavis, but how many SEC caliber linebackers do we have on this team?

by Jan221973 on May 18, 2009 10:29 PM EDT reply actions

I have no problem with Low ranking us 10th

We’re coming off a 5-7 season in which we were at best the 10th-best team in the league, we still have terrible QBs, and we have new but unproven coaches. On what basis (outside of orange-filtered optimism) was he supposed to put us higher?

And what difference does it make anyway? Complaints about ranking/disrespect are valid when you are worried about BCS scenarios, but this team is at least a year away from worrying about anything like that. Frankly, getting ranked too low is a good motivational tool and I hope people keep doing it until we give them reasons to do otherwise…

Lou Brock loves Lamp.

by birdjam on May 19, 2009 9:36 AM EDT reply actions