Rival SEC coach makes strong statements about Tennessee's offense and Neyland Stadium
An anonymous rival SEC assistant coach had some interesting things to say about the Tennessee Vols and Neyland Stadium in the Athlon Sports 2023 college football preview magazine. The anonymous coach commented on the criticisms of Tennessee's up-tempo spread offense and he also talked about the atmosphere at Neyland Stadium. "They were legit good last […]
An anonymous rival SEC assistant coach had some interesting things to say about the Tennessee Vols and Neyland Stadium in the Athlon Sports 2023 college football preview magazine.
The anonymous coach commented on the criticisms of Tennessee's up-tempo spread offense and he also talked about the atmosphere at Neyland Stadium.
"They were legit good last year," said the unnamed coach. "That wasn't a fluke or a gimmick. That offense is no more or less a gimmick system than anyone else's. I think a lot of coaches are just sore about how they got scored on so much…[Joe] Milton [Ill] is not going to be [Hendon] Hooker, so the ceiling won't be as high. They need to develop more depth at wide receiver to stay creative. This system is like a new-age option offense where it's just hard as hell to practice it in a single week. and you get burned easily because you're tired. You can't replicate the tempo and pace unless you do it a little bit all season…The defense still has leftover talent from [former head coach Jeremy] Pruitt; they're just asked to play complementary ball and create a few stops. … When they're up on you, Neyland is a nightmare to play in. The stadium is back to the way it used to be."
Most of the comments seem pretty spot on, except for the part about Joe Milton and Hendon Hooker. While it's not automatic that Milton is going to pick up where Hooker left off (even though that's exactly what Milton did in Tennessee's win against Clemson in the Orange Bowl), it's not really fair to say that the ceiling of the Vols' offense won't be as high with Milton under center.
Milton has the physical abilities to be a superstar in the the SEC. He just has to be consistent as a starter. And in fairness to Milton, he hasn't really had a chance to show that he can be consistent at Tennessee as he's only started four games for the Vols since arriving in Knoxville ahead of the 2021 season.
As for the comments about the Vols' offense, it's certainly interesting to hear a coach that's played against Tennessee's offense say that it's not a "gimmick". Maybe that will silence a few of the critics that love to throw shade at Tennessee's high scoring offense.
Kirk Herbstreit predicts a trend will sweep across college football because Tennessee
ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit predicts a trend will sweep across college football because of the Tennessee Vols
Featured image via Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
