Hey Folks, this is my first shot at the Big Orange Roundtable, as a new member of CFJ. Thanks to the guys at Third Saturday in Blogtober for hosting this week…
Much has been made of Nick Stephens and his performance Saturday. Give your opinion on the job he did and what you think is in store for his future.
I was unable to watch the game live as my Saturday night was spent at my cousin’s wedding in North Carolina. Turns out I was attending the better event. I did however receive minute by minute text messages from Oskie and Ghost to keep me up to speed, and was in charge of relaying the sad information to slough of BDLC’s family of Volunteer faithful, who were drowning the sorrows of being 1-3 in open bar deliciousness. Ok, back to the subject, I did get to watch the FSN replay from the Vols Network last night. I thought Nick had a good field presence the entire game. He looked comfortable in the pocket, and actually used the pocket unlike Crompton. When outside pressure would come, he was poised and stepped up into the pocket instead of losing his composure. He was pressured up the middle more than he should have been by a mediocre defensive line, but handled the pressure well. This was apparent in Stephens’ 43 yard pass to Gerald Jones. He held his ground in the pocket and got the pass off, and Gerald Jones made a nice play on the ball. He seemed to work his progressions well and timely passes. I also thought he sold the play action very well, considering the running game was nothing to speak of in the first 3 quarters. The good fake to Foster was critical in holding the safeties at bay will Denarius Moore ran an excellent post route for the 63 yard touchdown pass. Stephens had swagger and confidence on the field Saturday night, and led the offense well. The offensive results weren’t what we would want, but at this point I will take the little victories from our quarterback play.
Barring a Chernobyl-like meltdown by Stephens, he is our quarterback for the rest of the season. To me he has a Casey Clausen like attitude on the field, and seems to have all the confidence in the world. He has worked hard to get to this position, and I believe he has put us in a better position to compete the rest of the season than we had with Crompton. It always seemed like Crompton had his favorite targets, leaning towards their routes, and not working through progressions if they weren’t open. It was great to see Stephens find and get the ball to the likes of Denarius Moore and Josh Briscoe. I like his field vision, and he gives us a better chance to win. I believe his talents have put us in a position to beat Miss State, Wyoming, South Carolina, and Kentucky…and compete with Georgia, Bama, and Vandy. I wouldn’t have said that last week… its just one week, and I could be proven wrong come Sunday.
As Eric Berry continues to impress what do you think is the greatest part of his game?
Reading the Quarterback in Zone Coverage: Eric Berry excels here… There is no doubt in my mind that EB could be a lockdown corner, but he plays more naturally in the strong safety position. He puts himself in great zone position every play. He has the innate ability to cut off routes and make breaks on the football. The pick Saturday night was a prime example. He was in what looked like Cover 2, cut off the route, and made the pick. His first two steps are extremely quick which allows him to make sharp cuts and excel towards the football. Having experience playing quarterback in high school, has helped him most definitely in reading the quarterback and being one step ahead of him in his progressions. When in this coverage that we run SO much, he also reacts well if the pocket breaks down and the QB scrambles, he always seems to be the first orange jersey to the QB, take for instance stops against a scrambling Tebow in the Florida game.
He will go down as the best DB in Tennessee history when his career is done. That is saying a lot.
Britton Colquitt returns from suspension this week, so saying that, how big of a difference will he have on the special teams part of the game?
I have been extremely bitter towards Britton all year long. If he would of taken care of his business, thought about his teammates, and not gotten involved in all of his drunken escapades and tomfoolery, we would stand an excellent chance of being 4-1 right now. 1) He doesn’t get the punt blocked against UCLA, 2) He doesn’t kick anywhere near Brandon James against Florida (whether coaches call it or not).
With that being said, I think it’s massive that he is returning for the Georgia game. Cunningham had a nice game against Auburn but he was punting on a short field the entire second half. I feel like we are going to need some serious booming punts this week in order to work the field position back in our favor. Especially if this game turns out like the 2002 and 2004 games were in Athens in which field position won or lost the game. Georgia is ranked first in the SEC with an average of 21.7 yards per punt return this year, so we need very high driving spirals that are Colquitt’s specialty. Britton also gives us the opportunity to kick the ball into the end zone of kickoffs. We don’t have that right now… and Georgia is ranked fourth in the SEC on kickoff returns with 23.7 yards per return. We can NOT afford to give up extra yardage on special teams this game.
The Rundown:
Good first one, buddy! Agreed on the Colquitt situation – he has really hurt this football team by being absent.
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