re: Examining Tennessee's 2017 starting roster (Fluid)

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RB is the position on the team I'm most confident in strangely enough.

I think Kelly is an absolute stud.

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He is. The only thing concerning about our RB situation is the depth. We need Ty ready and we need CFA able to contribute meaningful snaps (his weight gain should help there).

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Your entire post comes off as misinformed honestly.

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I don't post that much and don't feel the need to weigh in if I haven't watched the player. During the offseason I watch games of various teams. I watched Kelly and he looks average to me. It's possible for equally "informed" parties to disagree about something, happens all the time. If you go through life assuming that everyone who disagrees with you is "misinformed", you're gonna make some bad mistakes.

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We love what we have in him as a starter.

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I expected no less. Fans nearly always hype/defend their players/coaches until they're gone, and then they idolize someone else. Happens with every single collective fan base. So Kelly is the next huge thing at UT RB. Got it. I will respectfully submit that it's been a long time since you guys had a true "stud" RB, so you may tend to overhype the talent level of those who are average, or maybe slightly above. I've seen that happen lots of times. I think John Kelly is an average, or maybe slightly above, RB. The average SEC RB is pretty good, so maybe we don't disagree that much.

As for Chandler, I looked at his videos and I'm just not sure that he's as good as you think. That's okay too, we can disagree. I also disagree with the rating of Georgia's RB recruit, Swift. He's overrated too, IMO. Right or wrong, evaluating a player doesn't have to be influenced by who he plays for.

His speed is about average. His size is about average, too short to add much more bulk. He has good mobility, but he's not gonna juke everybody out of their shoes. Runs with decent power and has a low center of gravity, but he's not gonna bowl people over like Leonard Fournette with a head of steam.

I'm not trying to be overly critical about Kelly, just don't see him as an exceptional SEC RB. He could have a fine season if your new QB plays well. Jones system can get RB's into space and give them a nice YPC average (except Hurd who just was never even an average RB IMO).

The OP made a detailed post about Tennessee's roster, so I did him the courtesy of explaining my opinion. I recommend it; conducting a debate without immediately resorting to insults can actually improve one's mental skills. Eventually a couple of paragraphs no longer seems like a lot of words.

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His speed is about average. His size is about average, too short to add much more bulk. He has good mobility, but he's not gonna juke everybody out of their shoes. Runs with decent power and has a low center of gravity, but he's not gonna bowl people over like Leonard Fournette with a head of steam.

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His top speed is wayyy above average. Where you can get Kelly is in the in-between -- between the initial burst and his top gear and that's a shorter time frame than you realize -- and even that time frame is still above average. Kelly's vision is excellent and that shortens the time frame you have to get him in the mid-range. He sees the field and that allows his initial burst to get him far enough ahead to hit his top gear.

Kelly's toughness is great and he can bowl a lot of guys over. Everyone? Hell no. But I think your perspective is skewed by the recent crop of mega-backs and let me remind you that they were an anomaly and as good as LF was in college he wasn't bowling over everyone and he struggled against large speedy defenders like BAMA always has. That said, even among the best RBs the combination of attributes LF possessed is rare as frick.

As for juking... are you seriously criticizing a running style knowing damn well that RBs all have different styles? Healthy Chubb was a one cut and go RB and no one criticized that as bad. Hell, Derrick Henry is too. And even though Evan Berry isn't an RB he is an All-American KR and a one cut guy as well. For comparisons sake C. Patterson is a guy who is absolutely electric with the ball in his hands -- dude makes guys look like fools but he was no where near as good as Berry returning the ball.

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I'm not trying to be overly critical about Kelly, just don't see him as an exceptional SEC RB. He could have a fine season if your new QB plays well. Jones system can get RB's into space and give them a nice YPC average (except Hurd who just was never even an average RB IMO).

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The system didn't make John Kelly. John Kelly's physical attributes and mental attributes make John Kelly. Marlon Lane didn't rack up tons of yardage in the system nor did Rajion Neal though Neal improved enough to make it to the NFL (your man, Chaney was allergic to running the ball).

Hell, even our system is a combination of spread, pro-style, and West Coast offense. It's not a true spread as you seem to believe.

For now we will have to agree to disagree on JK. We'll see how it plays out over the next 2 seasons. FWIW I'm not under the illusion that he's going to be an all time great or AA, but I do believe that he can be a strong back for Tennessee.

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For comparisons sake C. Patterson is a guy who is absolutely electric with the ball in his hands -- dude makes guys look like fools but he was no where near as good as Berry returning the ball.

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Not sure I agree with this

BFA

Good Luck with a roster full of 15 starters rated 4 or 5* that are 90% upperclassmen?

Good luck replacing all that talent leaving for the draft with McElwains inferior recruiting.

Felipe Frank's wasn't very impressive fwiw. He doesn't look bad, but he doesn't scare anyone either.

You will lose to the VOLS for the 2nd time in a row.

Not sure I agree with this


College stats. Berry has done far more in the return game -- shattered rerecords. CP can make something out of nothing and is a joy to watch. I'd take him over Berry as an all aroud player but I'd put Even as my KR.

CP is good enough too adapt to and it's way past time his coaches give up on trying to hammer square peg into a rounf hole. Let him do what he does best and reap the rewards.