AndyVFL

It's football, not a beauty contest. Same thing with the strength coach removing all of the mirrors and put weights in their place, we don't need guys looking at themselves or playing uniform model. Just play football and win.

Gaulden should be at the top of that list. Also, this one would being with the assumption the new staff would actually use him with the ball in his hand, but Evan Berry was a threat every time he had the ball during kick returns and should have been used on offense, IMO.

Two small tweaks need to be made, in my opinion: BIG 12 REASSIGNMENTS: Oklahoma — Big Ten >>> SEC Oklahoma State — Pac-12 >>> SEC West Virginia — ACC Baylor — ACC Iowa State — Pac-12 >>> Big Ten Kansas State — SEC >>> Big Ten Texas — SEC >>> Pac-12 Kansas — Big Ten >>> Pac-12 TCU — Pac-12 Texas Tech — Pac-12 Puts Iowa and Iowa State both in the Big Ten, Kansas St. can provide for some competitive games and upsets in the Big Ten. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State make sense for logistics in the SEC and competitiveness. Pac-12 gets a boost with the Texas teams (ideally Baylor would be in there, but tried sticking with the numbers you had originally and that made the most sense, though no teams outside WVU make REAL sense for the ACC. SEC ALIGNMENT: EAST Georgia Alabama Florida Kentucky Vanderbilt Tennessee South Carolina Auburn WEST LSU Oklahoma Mississippi State Oklahoma State Mizzou Texas A&M Arkansas Ole Miss Sorry, nothing made sense logistically (or if you look at a map of east and west) with the original alignment you listed. This is balanced and makes more sense of who is actually in the east and west portions of the conference.

"Just like any SEC team, UT will have an incredibly challenging stretch this season" Ha, unless you're Georgia. Tell me what stretch on their schedule qualifies as 'incredibly challenging'.

Kind of shows you the intel behind some of these picks we blast later on, really for any sports. On the surface at the time, Leaf vs. Manning looked like it would be what Manning vs. Brady turned out to be. Slightly off-topic, but I still can't help to wonder what would have happened if Peyton Manning had successfully recruited Randy Moss to Tennessee, as he was trying to do...

But.....they do have a weak schedule, nothing to buy into there other than facts.

I know, figured the NCAA wouldn't be jumping to make either change, but a guy can dream. But to the turnover part, I don't think that should matter. It rewards you for finishing strong, gives more meaning to bowls, and even with turnover it still has more meaning than ranking on potential and hype. If you did lose a lot, than the rankings with sort itself out, if you simply reload than you have done a good job of building a program rather than a one-hit-wonder.

I wish they would do one of two options: 1) Carry over the polls from the end of one season to the next. Make how you end up matter even more, it makes bowl games REALLY make a difference. You finish number 1? You start #1 until dethroned, not based off of predictions, guesses, crystal balls, etc. 2) You don't have an official ranking at all until a good 4-6 weeks into the season once everyone has 'gotten their feet wet' and are getting into the grind of their schedule. I would think this is less likely, simply because the networks and sites want to build drama and harp on polls, stats, and other numbers and especially for televised events. That being said, I don't think it'd take away from a good match-up not having the number next to their name, but option 1 is still more likely of an option.

I believe Tennessee will be plenty fine at RB. They have Chandler, Jordan, Coleman, London, and the freshman Banks to share carries. I would actually say Evan Berry, because I feel much more confident in Pruitt getting the most talented guys on the field, as he said himself, even if it means changing positions. Evan Berry on offense was something just about all Tennessee fans with at least an inkling of football knowledge knew would be fun to watch but it never happened.

Or as any fan with half a brain would call the Dooley/Jones affect. Going out on a limb here, but MIGHT be why we have a new coach and new AD now.

Awesome, glad that is over with and happy to see the addition to the OL. Now lets hope Trey Smith is healthy and good to go and the OL should be a nice shape with several guys injured last season coming back.

Very true. Anyone who has walked up that ramp knows it's no joke. My season tickets are at that gate, the last thing I'd want to do is sprint up there.

About time they pushed them! I remember back in the day when the wins were rolling in the players said they workouts and conditioning were so tough that the games themselves seemed like a break. You could see it last year and the year before, injuries left and right, makeshift OL which meant the defense was on the field way too long and the defense wore out by the end of the game. We were in several games through 2 or 3 quarters before the wheels fell off. Conditioning can most certainly be the difference between a win and a loss.

Mountain Dog - Good take on Guarantano, IMO. Obviously, he had freshman moments and that is to be expected, especially when you're playing behind a OL that at one point had a couple of walkons starting due to injuries. The one thing that stood out to me was the SC game, we had one last chance at the end, pass sailed a bit and was incomplete with SC getting the win, his demeanor right after that told me how much winning meant to him and he knew he had just missed a chance to pull out the win. I like that type of fight and will in a player. I'm going to say we're a little better than people think, with the bad taste of last season causing people to guess on the low-end and say we go 7-5 just as Kirby Smart did his first season at Georgia two years ago.

Considering they ranked towards the bottom in football on defense, I'd imagine it'll take more than two graduate transfers on the DL to plug their holes on 'D'. Will Grier is a heckuva QB, he concerns me much more than those two guys. Should be interesting. They were 7-6 last season, and it wasn't because of their offense.

I'm no Alabama apologist, especially being a Tennessee fan. That being said, Georgia fans have no right to call any fanbase delusional considering they flaunt around like they are on top of the world and talk about Hershel Walker like he played a couple of seasons ago. Fact of the matter, Georgia hasn't won a championship in my lifetime and I'm halfway through my 30's. And before this turns into a punch-for-punch exchange because Tennessee has obviously been struggling recently, Tennessee still holds more wins overall, head-to-head, more national titles (1998 being the most recent), more all-americans, more conference titles, more draft picks, and have won two of the last three against Georgia.

In all fairness, he was the #1 overall recruit per ESPN when coming out of high school and rated as a DL. You don't generally switch guys in that scenario. Now, Pruitt and staff apparently wanted to move him to OL and that played a role in him leaving early for the draft despite a lackluster career overall considering his five star status coming in and it's rather ironic now the NFL wants him to switch the OL. Makes me feel even better about the new staff. Works out for McKenzie, I reckon, since now he gets to make the switch while getting paid.

Perhaps his sons will grow up to be gifted football players, as well. I would love to see them in Orange and White with the 'Power T' on their helmets someday.

I just wish Georgia didn't have a joke of a schedule this season, I want to see them play through a real big boy schedule to see how they hold up.

Larry Coker went 12-0 and a national title his first year as a head coach. Gus Malzahn lost in the national title game his second year at Auburn. Bill Battle went 11-1 and then 10-2 his first two years as a head coach in the 70's, kind of fell apart after that and didn't last. Chuck Fairbanks went 10-1 in the late 60's at Oklahoma his first season. Chris Petersen went 13-0 his first year as a head coach. Not his first job overall, but first major job, Terry Bowden went undefeated at Auburn his first season. Now, the older references are a little different simply because the way champions were crowned back in the day was different. You didn't have a set national title game exactly, hence you had years two teams would 'claim' national championships and that is why some schools have more titles listed than you might see listed on some web site, etc. One poll would claim a team champion and another poll would claim someone else, it was a mess.

Of course, you aren't at all biased, right? ;)

Great guy, amazing football player, very consistent and a joy to watch play the game. Wonder if his little boy will follow in his daddys footsteps and learn from one of the best.

I get a laugh every time a Georgia fan grumbles or makes fun of Fulmer. It's kind of like how us Tennessee fans couldn't stand Spurrier. It's because we rarely beat his teams, just like how Georgia could barely beat Fulmers teams, including all of the 90's.

Draining the Rocky Top swamp...fresh leadership can right the ship across the board.

Picked up Wanya Morris Tuesday evening, not Wednesday, FYI.

I'd have to agree, Witten isn't a TE you just pick up anywhere, quite the career. Kamara can obviously have a huge career but, like you said, I couldn't list him above Witten.

lol, 'the goat kirby smart'? Funny stuff there.

Aw, a pup fan still in need of a safe zone for the hurt feelings stemming from the championship loss.

Yes, you're thinking about the right guy. Can't remember the details but basically he got past all of that, it was more along the lines of he witnessed a rape and he has said he regrettably didn't do anything other than freeze but wishes he had stepped in and taken action to stop the horrendous act.

Pruitt sounds more and more like exactly what Tennessee needed. A true no nonsense football coach with commonsense in regards to decision making and preparation who grew up in and around football and has been highly successful as a coach and recruiter in and out of the SEC.