2018 Tennessee Vols

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In 2017 the Volunteers started 7 whites, 2018 sees a drop to 5 for HC Jeremy Pruitt and co.

At QB Stanford graduate transfer Keller Chryst looks set to beat out mulatto Jarrett Guarantano who was terrible last season. (So) Will McBride is listed as the 3rd string QB to start the year. TE is in good hands in Jr. Eli Wolf (Ethan Wolf's brother now in the NFL) is set to have a break out year after being buried his career. OL will start off with a 3/5 white line, with some good depth behind them.

On defense former 4-star LB (Sr) Dillon Bates has apparently not lived up to expectations, but I think he'll work his way into the starting line-up in his final collegiate season.
Offense
QB- Keller Chryst (Sr) 6'5 235
TE- Eli Wolf (Jr) 6'4 236
LG- Joey Cave (So) 6'4 312
C- Ryan Johnson (So) 6'6 302
RG- Riley Locklear (So) 6'4 293

Defense
LB- Dillon Bates (Sr) 6'3 229

Ones to watch in 2018: QB Will McBride, TE Austin Pope, WR Richard Mize Jr, OT Nathan Niehaus, OG Lane Ollie, LB Landon Knoll
 
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J
Since 2007 Alabama has started 4, 3, 8, 4, 5, 5, 5, 4, 5, and 6 whites, this year we may see a drop to only 4 whites. Nick Saban led the Tide to 13-1 record in 2017, in route to winning the championship.

At QB Bama will swap black quarterback Jalen Hurts for poly Tua Tagovailoa, with promising white SO QB Mac Jones returning to 3rd string ( why hasnt he transferred yet?). True FR Slade Bolden is a highly recruited all-purpose back that will likely only play wr for Alabama. Hopefully Bolden has a solid camp and takes the slot receiver job.

Bama returns with one of the best Offensive lines in college. They lose their snow-plow from last year, but still have 3 white starters with plenty of depth. LT Jonah Williams is a 1st round talent, and G Ross Pierschbacher is likely a day 2 guy. At TE Alabama will run 2 TE sets, with SR Hale Hentges returning as a starter. They got plenty of TE depth, like former 4 star SO Miller Forristall who will steal reps from black Irv Smith.

On Defense the tide suffered a major blow this off-season as MLB Keith Holcombe has decided to focus solely on Baseball. Holcombe was projected to be a full-time starter this year. Elsewhere (JR) S Keaton Anderson will be a primary a
Back-up this season, and will see his fair share of snaps. Anderson is likely the only white who will see PT on defense.
Offense
TE- Hale Hentges
LT- Jonah Williams
LG- Ross Pierschbacher
RT- Matt Womack

Defense
None

Ones to watch in 2018: QB Mac Jones, OT Elliot Baker, OG Richie Petibon, TE Miller Forristall, TE Major Tenison, WR Slade Bolden, S Keaton Anderson.

Holcombe wasn't even close to being named a starter. He was pretty good back-up and a solid special teams player. Bama is the king of college football and likely another national title this year with Tua.

Btw your title says Tennessee...all Bama fans vomit at the site of puke orange.
 
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J


Holcombe wasn't even close to being named a starter. He was pretty good back-up and a solid special teams player. Bama is the king of college football and likely another national title this year with Tua.

Btw your title says Tennessee...all Bama fans vomit at the site of puke orange.
Got it updated.
 

Shadowlight

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In 2017 the Volunteers started 7 whites, 2018 sees a drop to 5 for HC Jeremy Pruitt and co.

At QB Stanford graduate transfer Keller Chryst looks set to beat out mulatto Jarrett Guarantano who was terrible last season. (So) Will McBride is listed as the 3rd string QB to start the year. TE is in good hands in Jr. Eli Wolf (Ethan Wolf's brother now in the NFL) is set to have a break out year after being buried his career. OL will start off with a 3/5 white line, with some good depth behind them.

On defense former 4-star LB (Sr) Dillon Bates has apparently not lived up to expectations, but I think he'll work his way into the line-up in his final season.
Offense
QB- Keller Chryst
TE- Eli Wolf
LG- Joey Cave
C- Ryan Johnson
RG- Riley Locklear

Defense
LB- Dillon Bates (in a position battle)

Ones to watch in 2018: QB Will McBride, TE Austin Pope, WR Richard Mize Jr, OT Nathan Niehaus, OG Lane Ollie


Thanks Deceptive.

The Vols have long been an enigma to me. Tennessee has nearly a 75% white population yet their teams are routinely as black as the "blacker" SEC teams. Out of all the SEC teams they should have more white players but that is generally not the case.

They always showcase gorgeous cheerleaders--good breeding down there I guess--and the bright orange colors and dedicated fan base make you want to get behind them yet nearly every year they never have enough white players in key spots to get excited about.

This season looks no different. Perhaps if looking for crumbs WR Ricard Mize listed above and perhaps Dillon Bates on D might figure in a bit but like most all of the other SEC teams this is rough sledding. They do manage to play white TE's a lot which is fine but we know playing TE's are not the same as playing white WRs.
 

Bucky

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Thanks Deceptive.

The Vols have long been an enigma to me. Tennessee has nearly a 75% white population yet their teams are routinely as black as the "blacker" SEC teams. Out of all the SEC teams they should have more white players but that is generally not the case.

They always showcase gorgeous cheerleaders--good breeding down there I guess--and the bright orange colors and dedicated fan base make you want to get behind them yet nearly every year they never have enough white players in key spots to get excited about.

This season looks no different. Perhaps if looking for crumbs WR Ricard Mize listed above and perhaps Dillon Bates on D might figure in a bit but like most all of the other SEC teams this is rough sledding. They do manage to play white TE's a lot which is fine but we know playing TE's are not the same as playing white WRs.

Yup their neighbor Kentucky has same problem with their coal black teams they continually pump out .

At least they'll have Chryst this season at QB.
 
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Thanks Deceptive.

The Vols have long been an enigma to me. Tennessee has nearly a 75% white population yet their teams are routinely as black as the "blacker" SEC teams. Out of all the SEC teams they should have more white players but that is generally not the case.

They always showcase gorgeous cheerleaders--good breeding down there I guess--and the bright orange colors and dedicated fan base make you want to get behind them yet nearly every year they never have enough white players in key spots to get excited about.

This season looks no different. Perhaps if looking for crumbs WR Ricard Mize listed above and perhaps Dillon Bates on D might figure in a bit but like most all of the other SEC teams this is rough sledding. They do manage to play white TE's a lot which is fine but we know playing TE's are not the same as playing white WRs.
Honestly Ill admit to looking for crumbs in Mize, but TN have had some starting white wr's here in the past few years with Josh Smith starting last season. Figured he is their best chance of fielding one this season.
 

Shadowlight

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Yes from time to time a white WR pops up and Josh Smith caught 23 passes his sophomore season. He got into some trouble but then faded from view. When he did play they used him as a downfield blocker. Witness his stats from last year, 5 catches for 93 yards. His junior year was unmemorable too.

My favorite Vol from the past decade is speedster WR Zach Rogers who came up big his senior season with a 32-491-7 stat line. While those stats don't jump out he made some big plays that season in 2012. I thought he had a shot at the NFL.

But like you I hope Mize finds a way to play. I believe he was a dual threat QB in HS.

Going even further back there was Craig Faulkner who had a nice career there capping it off with a senior season stat line of 40-680-6.

So hope springs eternal when it comes to Tennessee despite the cold realities.
 
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Thanks Deceptive.

The Vols have long been an enigma to me. Tennessee has nearly a 75% white population yet their teams are routinely as black as the "blacker" SEC teams. Out of all the SEC teams they should have more white players but that is generally not the case.

They always showcase gorgeous cheerleaders--good breeding down there I guess--and the bright orange colors and dedicated fan base make you want to get behind them yet nearly every year they never have enough white players in key spots to get excited about.

This season looks no different. Perhaps if looking for crumbs WR Ricard Mize listed above and perhaps Dillon Bates on D might figure in a bit but like most all of the other SEC teams this is rough sledding. They do manage to play white TE's a lot which is fine but we know playing TE's are not the same as playing white WRs.

It's been said for decades (going back to the 1930's) that Tennessee high schools don't produce enough college football prospects. This means Tennessee has always recruited heavily out of state. When Tennessee was all white in the 1950's they had a lot of players from Pennsylvania coal mining country and New York and New Jersey street kids, a couple from Philadelphia on the 1951 National Championship team.

Nowadays, and since the 1980's, they recruit nationally. going for the "blue-chips," who are mainly black.
 

Bucky

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It's been said for decades (going back to the 1930's) that Tennessee high schools don't produce enough college football prospects. This means Tennessee has always recruited heavily out of state. When Tennessee was all white in the 1950's they had a lot of players from Pennsylvania coal mining country and New York and New Jersey street kids, a couple from Philadelphia on the 1951 National Championship team.

Nowadays, and since the 1980's, they recruit nationally. going for the "blue-chips," who are mainly black.

Thanks for the insight, had no clue of their Blue Collared Northeastern pipeline in their earlier days.

I suppose the Volunteer State has too many pale faces in their state to ever be deemed "fertile recruiting ground." Im not buying that there hasn't been enough in-state talent though.. If Northern schools like Iowa and Wisconsin(and Nebraska in their day and looks like Frost is on the come up)can recruit successfully in-state I gotta believe a Warm Southern State like Tennessee has enough talent in their backyard to do the same.

247 sports has 138 players ranked in Ten. for 2019 class, the 3 above Big Ten teams I mentioned have about 70 players ranked between them.

Again thanks for the history lesson and sorry for the rant !
 

Shadowlight

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Nashville is a huge city with a 75% white population. Knoxville is not as big but still nearly 200,000 people and it is 75% white too. I remember attending a Vols game a long time ago. A walk over the river. It was neat.

Speedster Nathan Cottrell, class of 2015 now at Georgia Tech, comes out of Knoxville,( which to my knowledge places great emphasis on HS football since the Vols are in town), and to the best of my knowledge was not heavily pursued by the Vols.

I tend to think that while some other states "might" have more to pick from, the mindset in Knoxville is to studiously avoid white skill players. When was the last time Tennessee fielded a white DB? Aren't there white DBs playing in Tennessee
high schools? This pattern of ignoring white skill players has been very obvious to me and I don't care for the practice.

At the end of the day I don't expect a radical rearrangement at Tennessee with respect to their racial outlay but given the parameters of their situation they should have more of a white presence ( see Bucky above) on the team. All I ever hoped for was modest gains and unfortunately they keep letting me down.
 

Bucky

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Nashville is a huge city with a 75% white population. Knoxville is not as big but still nearly 200,000 people and it is 75% white too. I remember attending a Vols game a long time ago. A walk over the river. It was neat.

Speedster Nathan Cottrell, class of 2015 now at Georgia Tech, comes out of Knoxville,( which to my knowledge places great emphasis on HS football since the Vols are in town), and to the best of my knowledge was not heavily pursued by the Vols.

I tend to think that while some other states "might" have more to pick from, the mindset in Knoxville is to studiously avoid white skill players. When was the last time Tennessee fielded a white DB? Aren't there white DBs playing in Tennessee
high school
s? This pattern of ignoring white skill players has been very obvious to me and I don't care for the practice.

At the end of the day I don't expect a radical rearrangement at Tennessee with respect to their racial outlay but given the parameters of their situation they should have more of a white presence ( see Bucky above) on the team. All I ever hoped for was modest gains and unfortunately they keep letting me down.

I know Harrison Smith, the best safety in The NFL, played his HS ball in The Volunteer State!
 

TwentyTwo

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Excellent post! Nice to see some of those names again... Yep Harrison Smith was from Knoxville. These days the Vols are mired in mediocrity.

LB Dillon Bates was a high profile recruit from Florida; a shame he has had to deal w plenty of injuries burying him on the Depth Chart. He could be a difference maker.

HS Class of 19' in the State of Tennessee has 3 High-profile pale faces on Defense...yet the Vols let them all go out-of-state to stronger College programs!
ILB Jackson Hannah (6'-3" 225) from Nashville.... Committed to Nebraska
DE William Norton (6'-6" 275) from Memphis ...Committed to Georgia
ILB Kane Patterson (6'-2" 227) from Nashville....Committed to Ohio State

DE Christian James from Memphis is Committed to Vanderbilt.

Wonder where WR Noah Henderson plays at?? Arkansas State listed as the leader.
 

ximasa

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ILB Kane Patterson (6'-2" 227) from Nashville....Committed to Ohio State....then de-commit

Now Patterson picks Clemson, another Championship caliber program.
 
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