quote:
It was a huge distraction for the team and ramped up the public pressure on Mac, who proceeded to wilt and then make up some bizarre story about death threats.

I don't dispute this, and Mac certainly wasn't equipped for the mental aspect of coaching at a high-pressure program

But we were fricking inept and were getting blown out by mediocre teams at the end of the year. And even if you think that was a seven-win roster with everyone available, we didn't get everyone available the next year. It certainly helped to have Scarlett and Miller, but our roster in 2018 wasn't exceedingly better than our roster in 2017.

I understand the larger point here is in defense of Pruitt, and I'm not arguing that Tennessee wasn't a mess when he got there, but Mullen absolutely was impressive in 2018 and not sure what good diminishing that does.

This post was edited on 6/22/20 at 1:21 pm

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Posted by sand mountainDvalues

Member since Oct 2018

8718 posts

Posted on 6/22/20 at 1:36 pm to GatorsGators

quote:
I understand the larger point here is in defense of Pruitt, and I'm not arguing that Tennessee wasn't a mess when he got there, but Mullen absolutely was impressive in 2018 and not sure what good diminishing that does.

I am not ITT diminishing Mullen (like the Georgia fans), I am simply making the argument that Mullen and Pruitt inherited much different rosters and cultures.

Mullen inherited a defense with:

Vosean Joseph
David Reese
Chauncey Gardner
Jachai Polite
Jabari Zuniga
CJ Henderson
Cece Jefferson (know he was injured but the point stands).

Comparatively, VOLS had:

Darrell Taylor
Shy Tuttle (who had broken one leg and torn an ACL in the other leg the previous two seasons)
Daniel Bituli, who has no knees left (proven by his failed physicals leading up to the draft.

Florida definitely had a significant talent advantage on defense.

On offense:

RB: Perine and Jordan Scarlett > Ty Chandler and Tim Jordan (not close imo)

QB: Franks > Gitmo (although both are trash so not really worth mentioning).

WR/TE: Swain, Cleveland, Toney, and Lewis > Jennings and Callaway. Mullen did well getting Van Jefferson in but he inherited a more talented and deeper group, although there’s not a huge difference there.

Both O Lines inherited were complete slaw. Taylor and Trey Smith are probably the only two worth a shite from both groups.

Not to mention one team had a losing streak to all 13 schools in the league while the other won 2 division titles in the 3 years prior. Mullen inherited a team that at least had experience winning and a better locker room culture overall imo, however much stock you put into that kind of thing.

This post was edited on 6/22/20 at 1:41 pm

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Posted by djsdawg