ESPN's Jesse Palmer: 2015 'perfect storm' for Vols

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In one of the rare, substantive pieces published by the Tennessean on Tennessee football, Matt Slovin interviewed ESPN's Jesse Palmer extensively (see ESPN's Jesse Palmer: 2015 'perfect storm' for Vols). In assessing Tennessee's prospects for 2015, Palmer states that "I really think Tennessee could be that team in the SEC, especially in the SEC East, that really takes the biggest steps next season. . . . When you look around that division, Florida has a new coaching staff, Georgia's going to have a new quarterback, South Carolina's going to have a new quarterback. . . . [Tennessee has found] a guy in Joshua Dobbs that really gives them an opportunity. The offense looked completely different when he took over late this season. If he's able to stay healthy next year — with the receiving corps they have, everybody on the offensive line coming back, a young talent in Jalen Hurd, I think they'll continue to play phenomenal defense — I think next year could really be a special year."

In remarks pertaining to our receiver corps, Palmer states that "if this is a team that's able to stay healthy next year, this has a chance to be one of the best receiving groups not only in the SEC, but in the country.

Palmer is very, very high on Derek Barnett, whom he refers to as the Boy Wonder and whom he characterizes as working, at this point, off of pure talent. "From a fundamental standpoint — hand placement, footwork, not even the physical stuff, just mechanics I think [he] can get a lot better. When that happens with the leverage he plays with and the strength he has and the natural quickness, the speed he has — he's one of these guys that could potentially become an unblockable guy. He's already 6-foot-3, 270. When he gets stronger and learns to become fundamentally better, this guy's going to be an absolute terror."

In critiquing Neyland Stadium vis-à-vis other SEC venues, Palmer described Neyland as "my favorite [opposing] stadium to play in in the SEC. It reminded me of The Coliseum in Rome. It's very vertical. Everybody just felt like they were on top of you. . . . That to me was kind of the definition of going into a lion's den. . . . We played there in 1998 and lost in overtime when Tennessee went on to win the national championship. That was an environment that I will never forget. We went back two years later and won on a touchdown pass with about seven seconds to go.

We always had tremendous games there, dog fights. It wasn't just the football team and the defense we were playing that made it difficult. It was the environment and the fans are just tremendous. It's one of the great SEC environments."

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