Eric Berry and Tennessee Football

I could not have anticipated how bad this season would be. There was no way I could have anticipated how bad our QB's would be. As of late it seems Tennessee has found the formula for success: DON'T THROW THE BALL!

After hitting rock bottom and losing to Wyoming (13-7, all 13 of Wyoming's points came off of Stephens' interception throws) the Vols (FINALLY) put together a simple game plan. Run the ball. They only threw 9 times against Vandy (and had 2 picks) and won 20-13.

It's sad to see Fulmer on his way out. He deserved better than this, but I won't feel too bad for him. He had my dream job for 16 years, and has an incredible resume*, not to mention he made himself a multi-millionaire in the process.

It's really a shame to see this defense go to waste. They are probably the best in the SEC (statistically they are near the top, but if you factor in that they have a field position handicap, and time of possession handicap both caused by the offense, you can really appreciate how good the D is).

It's also a shame to think that Phil would probably be roaming the sidelines a few more years had he not made such a bad hire in Clawson. Clawson took almost the exact same offensive pieces from last year's team (minus Ainge) and made them into one of the worst offenses in all of the NCAA. Tennessee returned 5 starting O-lineman from last year's team that only gave up 4 sacks all year! They gave up 6 against South Carolina! It's pretty obvious that the problem is Clawson.

The one bright spot we do have is Eric Berry. He seems to be a shoe-in for the Thorpe award, and he is the only sophomore to ever be a semi-finalist for the Lott Trophy. He leads the NCAA in INT's (7) and INT yards (264) with 2 TD's. Not to mention 67 tackles, 3 sacks, 6.5 TFL's and he laying out fools left and right including Knowshon Moreno, and that hit on a Bama WR.

If Berry keeps it up for 4 years he will definitely be in the conversation for best defensive player ever. He is unbelievable. He is only a sophomore but has 12 picks, 3 TD's, he's right around 150 tackles, and holds the SEC career and season records for INT yards, and he is only 14 yards short of the career NCAA mark. Although it's been hard to watch my Vols, it's been a pleasure watching Berry.

*1998 National Title
2 SEC Titles
Led Tennessee to 5 SEC Title games in the last 11 years. Most in conference.
NCAA COY 1998
From 1995-1998 went 45-5
Finished 6 seasons in top 10, 13 seasons finished ranked
13 January bowls
Coached 17 First Team All-Americans
Coached 16 NFL First Round selections
150 wins
97 SEC wins

Peyton the Choker

Peyton Manning is a choker. The ignorance of the statement is almost laughable.

"He couldn't beat Florida" is why he got a bad rap for his college days. Peyton led the Vols to rankings of #22, #3, #9, and #7. He won 3 bowl games and an SEC championship. He led Tennessee to 3 straight victories over Bama (who was our biggest rival at the time, and we hadn't beat them in 9 years). The 4 years Peyton was at Tennessee, Florida finished #7, #2, #1 and #4. Who can blame Manning for losing? Despite finishing 39-5 against SEC opponents, Manning is a choker.

Football is a team sport. Somebody claiming a QB is the best, or is clutch by the number of Super Bowls they have won is incomplete. QB's only have control over about 45% of the game, the other 55% is obviously crucial in winning a Super Bowl.

Manning has had a few bad playoff appearances. No excuses. It happens. Manning has had good games, when the Colts lost for which he was called a choker, Steelers 2005 (Manning posted a rating of 91) and Chargers 2007 (rating of 97)*. In relation to the losses, people said of Manning, "He can't win the big one."

He was even criticized for regular season losses. In 2004 at New England, in the 4th quarter with a 3 point deficit James fumbled on the goal line. The next possession with 24 seconds left Vanderjagt missed a 48 yarder. Colts lose. "Manning can't win the big one." Big one? This is regular season. Of course in 2005 when Manning did beat the Pats people said, "Big one? This is regular season."

Manning is the only QB to post a perfect passer rating in the playoffs. He has a Super Bowl. He's been to the playoffs 6 straight seasons. He's overcome terrible defenses to get to the playoffs. He won a Super Bowl with possibly the worst run defense ever. The last time Mr. Clutch (Tom Brady) didn't have a top 10 run defense, he didn't make the playoffs.

The Colts lost to the Steelers because of a missed field goal (indoors, on turf). "Manning is a choker" was the reason. Brady beats the Raiders on a bogus call and a long field goal in 3 inches of snow. "Brady is clutch." is the reason.

A little known fact is that Peyton Manning has never thrown an interception in the 2 minute drill with the game on the line. Brady has done it 3 times (twice in the playoffs, twice against the Colts). Not that Brady isn't clutch, it's just silly that he is considered clutch while Manning is considered the choker.

Now you can see why the ignorance of these statements is laughable. Peyton Manning has a Super Bowl Ring, and all stats show that he makes his teammates better**. But he is a product of a system, and a choker? Right.

* Manning lost when he posted a 91 rating and a 97 rating in the playoffs, but has won when he posted ratings of 39 and 71. Brady has won in the playoffs with ratings of 66, 57, and lost with ratings of 82 and 79. This further illustrates the fact that it's not always up to the QB.

**Players tend to have their best years with the Colts: E James, J Pathon, K Dilger, M Pollard, B Stokely, D Rhodes, R Lilja. Many players that have played with Brady have had equal, or better season performances with other QB's: T Brown, D Branch, D Graham, C Dillon, D Patten, D Stallworth, J Gaffney. To say that Manning has the stats he has because of his weapons is absurd. His weapons change all the time but he continues to rack up huge stats year in, and year out.

Anticipating The College Football Season

This is the 10th anniversary of Tennessee's title run. I don't think people really appreciate how good that team was. They beat #17 Syracuse, #2 Florida, #7 UGA, #10 Arkansas, #23 Miss St, and #2 FSU in the title game. Those teams finished #25, #5, #14, #16, unranked, and #3 respectively in the final AP poll. I am unaware of any National Champion who beat 6 ranked teams. The '98 Vols are ranked by computers #2 all-time behind the '71 Cornhuskers.

Tennessee had an efficient offense and a smothering defense. As I recall, no tailback had a 100-yard game against Tennessee including Shaun Alexander. Tennessee gave up less than 2 TD's per game and scored 32.8 per game against 9 SEC opponents. This was made possible by the amount of talent on both sides of the ball.

Starters that made NFL rosters:
Tee Martin
Travis Henry **
Jamal Lewis **
Travis Stephens
Shaun Bryson *
Peerless Price *
Cedrick Wilson *
David Martin *
Chad Clifton **
Cosey Coleman *
Shaun Ellis **
Darwin Walker *
Corey Terry
Al Wilson **
Raynoch Thompson *
Eric Westmorelant *
DWayne Goodrich *
Andre Lott
Deon Grant *
Jeff Hall

19 players in all. That's an NFL player from at least 16 of the 22 starting positions. That's not even mentioning the several reserves who ended up playing in the NFL such as: Eric Parker, Donte' Stallworth, Fred Weary, Will Overstreet, etc. 28 players were drafted, 29 made NFL rosters. It was an awesome team.

This upcoming season reminds me of the 1998 team. Our pre-season ranking is in the teens. Just like in 1998 we lost our stars on both sides of the ball Manning/Ainge and Little/Mayo, but we have 17 returning starters (6 All-SEC), with a great crop of RB's, WR's, OL, DB's and DT's coming back. We have a new O-coordinator. All the new starters will be players that have experience and were coveted recruits (Crompton was the #2 QB in his class). McCoy will have a breakout season, similar to Al Wilson, Lucas Taylor reminds me of Peerless Price, and let's be honest, when have we ever had a playmaker like Eric Berry? The current team has 12-18 starters and major contributors that I could see making NFL rosters. The biggest problem is we are playing Florida and UGA who both did very well last year, and are both returning many starters. We have the talent and the coaching to go all the way. If we find a way to win those close ones like in '98, we will go all the way. Go Vols!

* NFL Starter
** Pro Bowler

Vols in the NFL

There are 43 Vols currently on NFL rosters. 8 Pro Bowlers, 3 Rookies, 30 who got significant playing time in 2007, and 21 who were starters in 2007. 2 were completely inactive last year due to injury.

It is a significant accomplishment to place 43 players on NFL rosters, 21 of them starters. 31* of the 66 BCS schools don't even have 21 former players currently in the NFL, let alone 21 starters.

Tennessee may place a few more players on NFL rosters before the season starts**. Pro Bowl linebacker Al Wilson has been looking at making a come back. He has been interested in signing with a contender. Travis Henry was cut by the Broncos due to nagging injuries. He was leading the NFL in rushing last season when he got hurt. Cedrick Wilson and Peerless Price still have talent, but other issues may keep them from playing again this year.

Undrafted rookies Eric Young, Jonathan Hefney, Xavier Mitchell, Antonio Reynolds, and Chris Brown are all battling to make NFL rosters this year.

*Including West Virginia, Clemson, Oklahoma St, Georgia Tech, and Missouri
**And may lose a few due to cuts

The Real Finals MVP

So I figure Paul Pierce won Finals MVP because he has been on team through the hard times. Although he had good stats, he did not have the best series.

My MVP is Ray Allen. He is the only member of the Boston Three Party to not have a bad game. Pierce only had one bad game, but it was awful. In Game 3 he had 6 points on 14 fga. If Garnett or Pierce had even a mediocre game 3, with Allen leading the way (25 points on 13 shots) the Celtics may have swept.

Garnett really only had 2 good games, so he is out of the running. Pierce choked away his best game. Kobe picked his pocket twice in the last few minutes of game 5, negating the 38 points he had scored (16 from the stripe). So let's compare their final stats:

Allen: 20.3 ppg, 73 fga, 51% fg, 5.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.3 spg, 0.7 bpg, 1.8 topg
Pierce: 21.8 ppg, 88 fga, 43% fg, 4.5 rpg, 6.3 apg, 1.2 spg, 0.3 bpg, 3.7 topg

The only stat where Pierce has a real advantage is assists. Ray Allen was consistent. Ray Allen was the man. He just doesn't have the star power Garnett and Pierce have. He couldn't just play better than those 2 and win MVP, he had to absolutely stand out, which he didn't. Oh well, I am sure Ray is just happy to have a championship.

Personnel Change

Well, a lot has happened in the last few weeks with the Men's Hoops squad. Ramar Smith and Duke Crews were dismissed for substance abuse violations. Crews will be missed, but I never cared much for Smith. He was a superior athlete but a very poor free throw shooter, jump-shooter, and not a great passer.

Tennessee did sign a great prospect to pick up the slack (I actually think we are a better team after this shuffle). PG Bobby Maze who started his career at OU, just finished a year in JC where he averaged nearly 21 points, 7 assists, and 2 steals per game.

We did lose 5 players that had major minutes last year, but I couldn't feel better about the circumstances. This is what our team will look like...

Jr - Tyler Smith - 6' 7" 215 lbs (13.6 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 3.4 apg)
Jr - Wayne Chism - 6' 9" 242 lbs (9.9 ppg, 5.8 rpg)
Jr - JP Prince - 6' 7" 205 lbs (8 ppg, 3.2 rpg)
Jr - Bobby Maze - 6' 2" 175 lbs (20.7 ppg, 6.8 apg, 1.7 spg)
Fr - Scotty Hopson - 6' 5" 185 lbs (5-Star)
So - Brian Williams - 6' 10" 267 lbs (2.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg)
Sr - Ryan Childress - 6' 9" 235 lbs (2.3 ppg, 2.4 rpg)
Fr - Reynaldo Woolridge - 6' 8" 205 lbs (4-Star)
Fr - Phillip Jurick - 6' 10" 250 lbs (4-Star)
Jr - Josh Tabb - 6' 4" 196 lbs (1.3 ppg, 1.1 apg)
So - Cameron Tatum - 6' 6" 196 lbs (5 ppg, 2.3 rpg)
Fr - Daniel West - 6' 1" 165 lbs (3-Star)

We are stacked. I think this is definitely enough talent to get us finally past the Sweet 16. We'll see how it all comes together.

Scotty Hopson

Tennessee's Men's Hoops offseason just got a little bit better. I think Scotty Hopson was waiting to see if Pearl was staying before he committed. He is from Hopkinsville, KY and rivals.com has him rated as the 5th best recruit in the country, and the 2nd best shooting guard. That will help fill the void left by Lofton and J Smith. Hopefully he can have a huge impact as a freshman. He is Tennessee's first McDonald's All-American since Yarbrough (1998). Hopson finished third in the dunk contest and scored 10 points on 4/5 shooting in the game.