The zone read is a play, not an offense. Your comment seems about a decade out of touch with where offenses have gone since the play was introduced at the major college level ... and honestly, an over-simplification as well.

Prepare to be stunned ...

I'm confused. In the Star-Sytem Era we've been repeatedly told this exact thing -- whole teams outperforming recruiting ratings -- doesn't ... can't ... happen (Blue Chip Ratio, anyone?). Thos article is obviously in error. Football games are lost and won in the living room, not on the field.

... and that Vandy 'falls short' by having two 9-win seasons in the same period isn't too shabby for the conference either.

I don't mean to be a jerk, but a 30-year old saying "Everything will always be pretty much like it is now" is not exactly shocking nor particularly enlightening.

So, let me get this straight: UT's choices were: 1. Get the best coach available -- in this case a cutting-edge offensive coach in an era of unprecedented offensive production -- willing to stake their career and reputation on digging a dysfunctional program out of a decade+ of futility and looming NCAA sanctions ... and embrace hopeless negativism and relentlessly poor-mouth him before he even starts. 2. Sit in the corner and pout until a superstar savior arrives and chooses -- for no particular reason -- to save Volunteer football. And Paul Finnebaum someohow chooses ... both. "We suck and there's no hope" is not going to get the bodies in the door to turn this program turned around. Support your dang coach. He's not a schmuck, and neither is his AD. UT has a long road to home, but their story isn't necessarily over unless -- as it's starting to appear -- they want it to be because it might be (sniffle) hard.

... "Maybe"?

Short, sweet, and to the point!

The low point was the Schiano debacle, when UT made it official that the lunatics were running the asylum. It showed every coach in America that the administration was completely incompetent and, therefore, the program had become a career-killer. White's arrival is a near miracle that shouldn't be wasted in negativity about not hiring a 'big splash' coach. UT isn't the place those guys go anymore. Of White and Heupel fail due to being undermined by any combination of admin/fans/boosters it has the potential to permanently damage the program beyond repair.

1. If the UT 'faithful' run off another coach before the ink on the contract is even dry it will kill the program dead-er than anything the NCAA can do. Coaching is a fraternity. UT is already on the ropes when it comes to being considered a place that's "worth it" to coach at based on how they treat coaches. 2. Clay Travis is a blithering idiot who seems intent on taking Finnebaum's place when he retires as America's Self-Important Southern D-Bag. 3. There isn't a current recruit alive that remembers UT as more than a .500-ish program. NCAA is coming to town. There's an offensive revolution in high gear in the sport. "Hey! Let's s***t on a guy who cranks out Top 5 offenses because he dropped some close ones during the COVID-19 season. We shoulda got Saban, Meyer or Gruden AT LEAST! WE ARE A BIG DEAL!" 4. UT is not a big deal, and has not been in a long time. But the cancer that is killing this once-proud program is it's delusional fanbase. You were actually lucky to get a coach of Heupel's caliber. Get behind a coach for once and stop letting unreasoning negativity turn a former destination job into a toxic no-man's land.