War Room: Football looks to bounce back, recruiting notes, hoops and more
We begin this edition of the War Room as we always do. The War Room is a collective effort of Tennessee notes and news gathered throughout the week by the Volquest staff that is located only on the General’s Quarters. And now, it’s on with the news.
The million dollar question remains, what’s going on with the Vol offense. An offense that scored just 16 points Saturday night at Florida.
One of it is finishing. Tennessee had the football 10 times Saturday night and scored on three of the 10 possessions. They had the ball in Florida territory six times and only came away with three scores. Against Austin-Peay they were in Governor’s territory 8-of-13 possessions and scored six times.
Against, Virginia the Vols were on the Wahoo’s side of the field eight times and scored 7 touchdowns. The competition was indeed better at Florida and that was part of it. Tennessee also has to be more efficient which is something that head coach Josh Heupel has lamented all week. To be more efficient Tennessee needs to be able to crank up the tempo because that’s when they are at their best. To do that, they have to stop with the mistakes.
“The efficiency of our tempo, if you continue to put yourself behind the chains, you’re not going to play with tempo. When the official has to stand over the football, you’re not going to play with the tempo that we would like to, to be able to dictate the game to the defense a little bit.”
Tennessee had offensive penalties on three of their five first half possessions and had them on five of their 10 possessions for the game. On top of that they had negative yardage plays like a fumble by Milton, negative running play all of which affect tempo.
So did Austin-Peay and Florida just play this offense differently the last two weeks? Heupel said not significantly indicating that was not the issue.
“Maybe a little bit, at times. Not different looks than what we’ve seen. … I think each week kind of becomes its own identity. We always prepare, but have what we think their adjustments can be off of it. How do we adjust to some of those things? Then there’s always things that transpire during the course of the game, too. We’ve typically handled that pretty well as a staff, trying to put our guys in the best position to be successful.”
So what was the difference between what Florida did to Tennessee last year vs. this year. The reality is not much. The Vols ran seven more plays last year but gained nearly 200 more yards. Tennessee threw for 62 more yards a year ago. They averaged 15.8 yards a completion last year and 14.3 yards this year.
The difference was the run game and Hendon Hooker’s part in it. The Vols rushed for 121 more yards last year on 13 more carries.
So one adjustment for this offense is the lack of production with the quarterback’s legs. The compensation for that has been more RPO’s which means more sideways passes.
Last year for the season, Hooker threw the ball behind the line of scrimmage 38 times. In three games Milton has thrown that pass 42 times.
They picked their spots with Hooker running the ball last year. For example, they ran him, albeit ineffectively, at Pitt 15 times for 27 yards. Against Florida he had 112 yards on 13 carries (his biggest day of the year).
Milton through three games has just 17 carries. Will they try to run him more as the season progresses or will they stay with the RPO game as an adjustment to not having the elusiveness at the QB position.
“Those perimeter tags are really extensions of our run game based on how they’re fitting things and things that we can’t control in the run game. Those (passes) become ways that we control maybe overhang defenders or safeties, so it’s a huge part of what we do, even though they might not all be 15-, 20-yard gains.”
So how does this offense grow? It starts with the offensive line and who is Tennessee’s best five? We will see if Cooper Mays plays this week. I think the speculation on when he will return is stopping and everyone is just of the mindset of he’s back when he walks out there to start a series.
Gerald Mincey is back. The decision to play him only two snaps on special teams last week remains one of the most bizarre things I have ever covered and the answer as to why has simply been a non-answer. All Heupel said on Thursday was that it’s been handled internally and he’s fully available on Saturday even though it appears he was last Saturday at Florida, but they just chose not to play him despite the struggles at right tackle.
As for the offensive line play, Heupel said the improvement starts with everyone being on the same page.
“Some of our straight communication up front needs to be better,” Heupel said. “When you get all five guys in sync, then you have a chance to play cleaner up front. Which means your double-teams are on the first level, to the second level, giving your back a chance to get it started.”
Tennessee had 52 total offensive penalties in 13 games last season with half (26) coming from the offensive line. This season they have 19 offensive penalties in three games with 11 coming from the offensive line. Cleaning things up is paramount.
“Yeah, we charted every single practice since I I’ve been here. But certainly this year too from spring ball to training camp, all those things, why it transpired the way that it did last week, I don’t have an exact reason. I do think the momentum of the game, we didn’t reset from play to play and you can’t do that in this game. That was a point of emphasis just in my communication to them last week. We do have new guys inside of what we’re doing. You look at the left side of the offense, from center all the way over, those are new guys inside of our system. Tight ends are new. So some of those things are growing pains and when I say growing pains, not that you have to have those things during the course of the season, man, they gotta settle in. They gotta do their job at a high level.”
Offense is not the only issue as Tennessee struggled to get off the field defensively last week, particularly in the first half. There was great disappointment in how the secondary played in the third and long situations Saturday night. It will be interesting to see what the rotation is in the defensive backfield. We know there will be no rotation at safety but do they rotate more at star and corner. Does Rickey Gibson get more chances? Does Kamal Hadden play as much? Does Brandon Turnage see more reps? That will be something to watch on Saturday.
We won’t be surprised if Gabe Jeudy-Lally to get his second straight start. Doneiko Slaughter has pushed through and practiced some this week as he has battled a foot injury. Slaughter will give it a go in warm up’s and see where he is.
At linebacker, they are who they are right now and the young guys just have to keep growing. The injury to Keenan Pili was a significant injury.
And it’s safe to say that their focus on tackling has been ramped up even more this week. They really work on it every week, but they tackled better the first week then they have the last two.
On the facilities front, more wi-fi spots will be up and running this week as crews have spent the last two weeks pulling cable and wiring things up.
Concrete framing work continues on the expansion to the Anderson Training Facility in what has become a very lengthy project.
Baseball is prepped to start work there any day. The goal/plan is the left field side with permanent seats and some premium table top areas.
Speaking of baseball, the program will have one ‘24 official visitor in this weekend – RHP Nic Abraham. He’ll be in town later today through Sunday, so he will be at the football game. From California, Abraham is seeing a couple of different schools before going home. He was at Ole Miss before arriving on campus.
Farragut ‘24 outfielder Landis Davila, who was making plays on Rivalry Thursday yesterday, was on campus over the weekend. He recently de-committed from Virginia Tech. Davila will likely visit Mississippi State soon as well.
Recruiting
While recruiting on the 2024 front seems relatively slow, next weekend will be an important weekend for the Vols with Mississippi running back Daniel Hill and Peach State wide receiver Kam Mikell both expected in town for an official visit for the South Carolina game.
Hill continues to have positive talks with the Vols ahead of the upcoming official visit, and he is one who relates well with Jerry Mack. Tennessee will take a swing here when he makes it to campus and try to make things more interesting down the stretch. Alabama and South Carolina remain the biggest competition.
There continues to be some positive buzz around Tennessee and Mikell. His official visit will be an important one, as multiple other schools are still working to get him to campus later in the cycle as well . Mikell and Kelsey Pope have continued to have consistent dialogue about how he would be used at Tennessee, and the South Georgia receiver continues to like what he hears. Texas A&M remains a major threat, with Colorado certainly in the picture.
Speaking of Colorado, we spoke with Gage Ginther this week and while Colorado has called and there has been some chatter that he may visit Boulder, he says he has no plans of that and will be in town for the Georgia game in November. He is even trying to get here for next weekend if possible.
As we have mentioned for some time, multiple teams have been keeping an eye on Nasir Smith to start his senior season. Miami offered this week, and there are others circling. Smith has not made a decision yet on if he will check out the Hurricanes or not, but regardless, their offer could start a chain reaction and is certainly something to watch. Tennessee has been a constant for Smith and he is still communicating with Rodney Garner frequently. He expects to be on campus for an official visit either later this month or early next month.
Elsewhere on the defensive line, Tennessee has recently offered Missouri commitment Elias Williams and Texas A&M commitment Gabriel Reliford. They will continue to watch these two more closely throughout their senior season. They hope to get them to campus unofficially at some point.
At one point, Amaris Williams hoped to make it in this weekend, but that has since changed. We believe that visit will come later in the fall.
Utah TE Roger Saleapaga is currently set for an official visit in November with the Vols. Alec Abeln has Tennessee deep in this one, in our opinion. Vol recruiting analyst Aaron Amaama also has a strong relationship with Saleapaga and deep ties to the area where is from in Utah. Saleapaga plays things close to the vest, but Tennessee certainly has his interest. He just made a trip to Auburn and the Tigers are a major player as well. This one has the potential to go all the way into December.
Notable visitors expected in town this weekend
Draden Fullbright
Jaylan Morgan
CJ Jimcoily
Jordan Young
Keenan Britt
Isaiah Campbell
Jordan Burns
Edwin Spillman
William Satterwhite
Bear McWhorter
Madden Iamaleava
Alex Payne
Hoops
Tennessee will find out in one week if they’ve landed their first commitment in the 2024 class. Charlotte point guard Bishop Boswell is set to announce his college decision next Thursday.
Boswell is deciding between Tennessee, Wake Forest, Georgia, Missouri and Xavier.
Boswell officially visited Knoxville on Sept. 8 earlier this month. He made official visits to Missouri and Xavier over the summer. He made three successive visits to Wake Forest, Tennessee and Georgia over the last three weeks.
Tennessee was late to the party here, not offering until July but the Vols have made up some ground and are in the thick of it as we head into the final week of his recruitment.
Many thought Wake Forest, the first to offer, was the team to beat but once he made it through his official visit there without committing that didn’t seem to be the case. Boswell hasn’t giving anything away as far as leaders, but it feels like Tennessee is firmly in the mix and has continued to have good dialogue with Boswell. A couple of different people we have spoken with feel that Xavier is a dark horse to watch.
Head coach Rick Barnes and associate head coach Justin Gainey were in Charlotte on Wednesday to visit with Boswell. That’s the second straight Wednesday the duo has made that trip.
Earlier this week Barnes was in Atlanta to see 2025 five-star Caleb Wilson, the second straight week Barnes has seen him. Wilson is set to unofficially visit next weekend.
This weekend Tennessee will host 2025 Illinois point guard Jeremiah Fears. Fears is rated as the No. 31 overall player in next year’s class in the on3 consensus rankings.
Next weekend will be a big one for 2025 recruiting. In addition to Wilson five-star point guard Aaron Rowe will be in town along with center Malichi Moreno from Kentucky.
The Vols will welcome Las Vegas prospect Pharaoh Compton to town for an official visit this weekend. Compton, who has a final five of Tennessee, San Diego St., LSU, UNLV and Iowa. The only official visit he has taken thus far has been to San Diego St., so this recruitment still has a ways to go.
Following his trip to Knoxville he will be in Iowa on September 30th, and LSU on October 14th.
Tennessee continues to pursue Chase McCarty from IMG Academy who officially visited the Vols on the last weekend of August. He has a final six of Tennessee, Texas Tech, Georgia Tech, Houston, Kansas and Missouri.
McCarty has officially visited each of his finalists except for Texas Tech. He’ll be in Lubbock next weekend.
The post War Room: Football looks to bounce back, recruiting notes, hoops and more appeared first on On3.
