I Hate You, John Crist: Responding to reader comments from Week 10

Needless to say, the story of the week in the SEC was the stunning departure of Jalen Hurd from the Tennessee program.

The 6-foot-4, 240-pound running back intends to transfer schools and, according to reports, switch positions to more of a tight end/slot receiver. While he struggled badly in 2016, just last season he rushed 1,288 yards.

The Volunteers can go one of two ways as a result. Perhaps this galvanizes a team currently going through an ugly three-game losing streak — taking them from atop the East to out of the division race — and gives them a reason to come together again. Or maybe this is the beginning of the end for coach Butch Jones.

Regardless, the column I wrote Monday on the Hurd situation got more action than anything I’ve ever done for Saturday Down South. I had to set aside an afternoon simply to respond to all the e-mails I got from readers.

Here are some of my favorite comments from this past week. One thread contained enough material to last the rest of the year.

The grapevine suggests that Hurd was promised more I-formation looks this season from Jones, which never really materialized.

First of all, it’s difficult to play smashmouth football with a power running attack if you’re constantly down two and three touchdowns in the first half. That’s been the case for Tennessee way too often in almost all of its games.

Second, there are 84 other scholarship players on the roster. I’m quite sure there are receivers not getting as many balls thrown their way as they’d hoped and linebackers not allowed to blitz as often as they’d like. Well, that’s football. It’s a team game. Jones’ job is to win, not to showcase Hurd for the next level.

Lastly, and arguably most important, it isn’t 1986. It’s 2016. Not only is the I-formation largely a thing of the past in college, but it’s practically gone the way of the dodo bird in the NFL, too. It’s all about the spread now.

Credit: Bryan Lynn-USA TODAY Sports

You know who has a lot of success in a one-back set with his quarterback in the shotgun? LeGarrette Blount, who isn’t a bad comparison to Hurd.

The New England Patriots use Blount a lot like the Vols were using Hurd. Rarely does he have the luxury of a road-grading fullback in front of him and an offensive line augmented by a pair of blocker-first tight ends.

Part of the reason Blount has rushed for 9 touchdowns in eight games this season is New England’s wide-open passing game spreading the field with so many receiving options. As a result, when he does break through the line of scrimmage, he can flatten all those extra defensive backs who aren’t equipped to tackle him.

Yes, Leonard Fournette gets more traditional off-tackle runs and toss-sweep action associated with an I-formation scheme. But it wasn’t that long ago when friends and foes alike suggested that LSU’s system was antiquated.

As far as Jones hurting Hurd’s draft stock, nothing will damage his grade worse than being labeled a quitter. Hurd did that to himself.

It takes an extraordinarily dim bulb to blame the media for all the problems on Rocky Top right now, but I’ve gotten used to typing in low light.

There was a collective “This is the year!” in Knoxville at the start of the season, and it wasn’t started by guys like me. Coaches were saying it. Players were saying it. Fans were saying it, too. If print, radio and TV people are meeting in secret every offseason to craft these wild proclamations out of thin air, then I’m yet to be invited.

I can make you a promise when it comes to preseason predictions: As soon as readers stop consuming them, the media will stop writing them.

I received way too many messages like one this via Twitter, Facebook and e-mail for all them not to hold at least a little water.

Nevertheless, it’s difficult for me to blame Hurd entirely. He’s 20 years old and more than likely has been coddled on a daily basis since the first time he stiff-armed some poor kid he outweighed by 25 pounds in Pop Warner.

Even though I cover college football for a living, nothing makes my skin crawl like recruiting. When I see commitments — and decommitments, of course — from high school freshmen polluting my feed, it makes me want to scream. No driver’s license yet, but let’s go ahead and decide where he’s going to college in three years.

I played with a first-team USA Today wideout in high school. On Signing Day, he did little more than put his John Hancock on a letter of intent in the school gym. Now, kids are jumping out of airplanes.

Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

In many cases, 7-on-7 in the spring has become more important than actual football in the fall. The personal accolades outweigh the team accomplishments.

No wonder Hurd is only thinking of himself right now. He’s been promised a path to the NFL that leads to riches and fame. Like most coaches, I’m sure Jones told Hurd what he wanted to hear in order to secure that LOI.

We all watch the draft every April. When a player comes off the board, a highlight package is queued up on the broadcast. What do we see? Individual performances. What do the analysts discuss? Bench-press reps and 40-yard dash times. Aside from the QBs, nary a mention is made of how many games this particular prospect helped win.

From family to friends and coaches to classmates — don’t forget the sleazy street agents, naturally — Hurd no doubt had too many people in his ear giving him bad advice. As indicated in the post above, this probably wasn’t an isolated incident.

If you continue to treat a teenager like he’s better than everyone else, then don’t be surprised when he starts acting like it.

If Hurd left Tennessee because he feared getting hurt, then he needs to take off his football cleats for good and put on a pair of golf spikes.

By the very definition of the position, a tailback is forced to take more punishment than anybody else on the field. You can’t just abandon running up the middle because the offensive line hasn’t played as well as you’d hoped.

Georgia’s Nick Chubb is coming off a surgically repaired knee from a year ago and runs behind an O-line that’s equally ineffective, yet he’s not quitting. While Fournette has dealt with a nagging ankle injury all season long, it didn’t prevent him from setting a school record with 284 yards rushing two weeks ago facing Ole Miss.

In order to run the I-formation, you also need a dropback passer that’s comfortable with the requisite three-, five- and seven-step drops, plus the play-action element is key. Does that sound like Joshua Dobbs to you? Me neither.

Now Hurd wants to be a tight end elsewhere. History suggests that if he doesn’t get enough targets or can’t run the routes he wants, he’ll just quit again.

John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.