The folks over at TSIB have created the next best tool for the offseason. That is The Big Orange Roundtable. It takes the best Tennessee blogs out there and connects them through a series of questions. My answers and others' can be seen below.
1. How good/bad do you think Jonathan Crompton will be in his first year as a Tennessee starting quarterback and what makes you think that?
I think Crompton will have a bit of a rollercoaster season. I think you'll see flashes of brilliance from him, and some things happen that will leave you scratching your head. It's going to be part of not only learning a new offense, but getting the chance to run it.
He obviously has talent; check LSU '06. The man's a risk taker, which will help and hurt the offense. He will have more interceptions that Ainge, but he will also have more longballs and breakout plays. As long as he keeps a healthy balance and stays within himself, I think he'll have a pretty productive and winning season.
2. This question was posed on our site a few weeks ago by the Bama boys, and it brought some good discussion, so given UT’s rich history of scheduling home-and-homes with top-shelf BCS programs, what school would you most like for the Vols to play in the future and why?
I'd like to see our Vols take on the Virginia Tech Hokies. If you were to hold an open discussion with Vols fans and Hokies fans, as I have in the past, both say the same things about each other and neither is very positive. There's a bit of a clash between the two programs that kind of sits beneath all of this SEC hype.
I'd like to put them on the schedule and see the two teams go at it. I think it draw great crowds and have the feel of a Saturday in the SEC. I would love to see it happen.
3. A lot has been made of our lack of depth at defensive tackle. With Demonte Bolden, Dan Williams and Walter Fisher pretty solid, what other player do you think makes a big move toward becoming dependable?
I'm going to go ahead and take the easy choice in Donald Langley. I don't think you'll see that dependability early from him but as the season goes on, I expect him to get his nose in there.
I think he'll have a season much like Gerald Jones had on the offensive end last year. He'll work his way in and come on strong down the stretch. Chavis needs to get some DTs in here!
4. Neyland Stadium has undergone some wholesale external and internal renovations during the offseason, updating and improving the overall appearance. If you could change one thing about Neyland, what would it be?
I don't know that I would really change anything about Neyland, but I may add on to it. I think adding a jumbotron above the other end zone is the next best thing we could do there.
It may take away from the ol' college look, but there are just too many people who can't be looking at the replay or the game on the big screen.
5. Different UT fans have different opinions on last season. Was it a success? Was it a failure? Why do you think so?
I definitely wouldn't call it a success, but a failure doesn't cut it for me either. We obviously took home an SEC East championship, but when you lose to Alabama and Florida as bad as we did, I'll never think of that as success.
I'd describe it more as a highlights type of season. There are certain plays from every game that really stick out. The Cal game is Desean Jackson's punt return for six, while the Florida game is E. Berry's owning of Tebow.
You've got to remember the Taylor to Coker pass when thinking of UGA, etc., down to the Kentucky game, which had some fantastic plays. King of the East and winner of the Outback Bowl is good, but the lows are just too low for me to call it a true success.
The other blogs
Third Saturday in Blogtober--Big Orange Roundtable
Moondog Sports--The Big Orange Round Table
Fulmer's Belly--Big Orange Roundtable: Week One
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3 months ago
I agree that I would really like to see the Vols play Va Tech. They are just a 3 hour drive up I-81 from Knoxville. I think both sets of fans would really enjoy the experience.
3 months ago
I live in southwest Virginia after spending 24 years in Knoxville...and yeah, the Hokies don't like us. At all.
I think some of it is fear - VT is the only sports team around here, and they weren't good for so long that many are afraid if they ever go back to sub-par football, people will just gravitate towards Tennessee.
I also know that the 1994 Gator Bowl, where a young Tennessee team trounced the Hokies by three touchdowns, was an infinitely bigger deal up here than it was in Knoxville. Hokie fans I know still talk about that game and what could've been. I don't remember having a conversation about that game with another Vol fan in the 14 years since it happened.
Plus, remember in 1999, before the Vols lost to Arkansas, we were #2 in the BCS with one loss, and undefeated VT was #3. They really don't like us. And we generally don't care about them, which makes it worse.
I keep waiting for it to happen in the Chick-fil-A Bowl one of these years...but home and home, or even in Bristol, I don't think it'll ever happen. Tennessee, right now, has nothing to gain from their perspective.
3 months ago
"Tennessee, right now, has nothing to gain from their perspective." Translation: we don't want to take the chance we (TN) might get spanked by VT. Play the damn game!
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