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Tennessee gets yet another commitment, as Georgia LB Nigel Mitchell-Thornton committed to the Vols this afternoon, likely a response to the earlier commitment from the day from Alabama backer D.T. Shackelford.
LB depth is a questsion for the Vols this year, so taking possibly up to four (these two with potentially Jerod Askew, Frankie Telfort, or LB/S D.J. Swearinger) can’t be a bad thing at all. This class is looking like it may be nearing 30 commitments once it’s all said and done. The staff should be commended on getting all of these commitments and unofficials this summer.
It just keeps on rolling.
The USA Today released its coaches Top 25 Poll today, and Tennessee came in at #18, behind teams like Wisconsin, Kansas, and Texas Tech. While those three teams are a little high in my opinion, Tennessee is about right.
That said, preseason polls are garbage. They’re useless and they need to done away with. It’s all speculation at this point, and there’s a myriad of things that can/will go wrong that severely change the top 25 from today to the one that comes out January 8. I think they should have one just to have one, but not release a second poll until the end of September.
Georgia and Knowshon Moreno are #1 in the preseason USA Today Coaches’ Poll, and it should be interesting to see how long it takes for them to fall
Of course the SEC is well-represented. Georgia is now officially ready for the fall they’ll be taking this year, because the Dawgs are #1 (it’s the same team from last year and their schedule is tougher than Tennessee’s). Florida is 5th, LSU is just a tad high at #6, Auburn is a little high too at 11. Alabama and South Carolina were the first teams in the “others receiving votes category”.
In other news, Tennessee picks up a surprising commitment today from a DT – not a defensive tackle, but D.T. Shackelford, a three-star inside linebacker from Alabama. I was unaware at first, but Shackelford is from the same high school as Alabama’s Rolando McClain, a Freshman All-American from last year (thanks 3SIB).
He had offers from Mississippi State, Auburn, LSU, South Carolina, Louisville, and others, so I take it he’s a solid player. Per Rivals Shackelford runs a 4.7 40, which I assume is pretty quick for a LB (Jerod Mayo, for comparison’s sake, was listed with a 4.62 time coming out of high school). According to Shackelford’s high school coach in the article on VolQuest, DT has a 3.96 GPA and has an outstanding work ethic.
I know he wasn’t one of the main, necessarily well-known LB targets on the board, but he sounds like he can play. With all of these early commitments it should be interesting to see how the coaching staff handles recruiting the rest of the way in terms of numbers and scholarships, because more or less space aboard the upward-moving Vol train is becoming more and more limited.
With Western Kentucky joining the Sun Belt Conference (sort of) this year, Division I-A is down to just 3 Independents – Army, Navy, and Notre Dame. I’m one of those that believes Notre Dame needs to get over themselves and join the Big Ten, but that won’t happen in my lifetime (they have no reason to though). Anyways, I’ll include the Irish in the Big Ten preview.
That leaves Army and Navy. Army has returned to Independent status after an “experiment” of sorts in Conference USA. It didn’t go so well, and Army has struggled just as much as an Independent. Phil Steele says they would be a perfect fit for the MAC (using Temple as an example) and that makes sense – the Black Knights do face 4 MAC teams this season. On top of that there’s the minor issue of 6 straight losses to Navy (just 2 wins since 1996).
Navy has beaten Army 6 consecutive times, and nine out of 11 since 1996, including last year’s 38-3 rout
The Knights were just 3-9 last year, but this year’s schedule is easier with potentially winnable home games against Temple, New Hampshire, Akron, Eastern Michigan, Louisiana Tech, and Air Force. However, Army returns just 8 starters, one of which is QB Carson Williams, who threw for 11 TDs and 12 INTs last year. Williams will face a stiff challenge from freshman QB Paul McIntosh, Indiana’s Mr. Football in 2007 who accounted for nearly 4,000 yards of offense his senior year and presents more of an option-style QB, which Army is looking for.
The top 4 rushers – HBs Tony Dace, Patrick Mealy, Wesley McMahand, and Ian Smith – return, but the WR spot will be a weakness of some sorts, as Army does look to move to more of an option offense emphasis. The OL have 5 players back with starting experience, always in important in a run-first offense.
Jr. DT Ted Bentler (#99) – team leader in sacks last year with 3 – leads the Army front seven into 2008
Defensively, the front 7 looks to be fine with 4 starters back, but heavy losses in the secondary may be a problem for the Knights. Army will also struggle on special teams as well, so it looks to be another difficult year for Army, but success could be on the horizon.
Meanwhile, Navy, under Paul Johnson, have won less than 8 games only once since 2002 and has been to 5 straight bowl games (winning two). However, Johnson is now at Georgia Tech, so it’s a new beginning of sorts under new coach Ken Niumatalolo. The Middies have been the epitome of the triple option offense under Johnson and it has been very successful. The offense is so unique that when it’s run to perfection like Navy (and until last year Air Force) does it, it’s hard to be stopped – I’ll use the Air Force-Tennessee game from 2006 as proof.
Ken Niumatalolo is Navy’s new head coach, taking over Paul Johnson, now at Georgia Tech. Niumatalolo did coach the Poinsettia Bowl 35-32 loss to Utah
Offensively Navy always leads the nation in rushing, and they scored the most points in their history last season, breaking a 90 year-old record. QB Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, a nightmare for TV announcers, returns to lead the option attack. RBs Eric Kettani and Shun White return as well. The OL, however, returns just 25 career starts, the 5th lowest in I-A, and make take some time to come together.
QB Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada leads the Navy triple option offense into 2008
Defensively, Navy struggled last year. The points they gave up? 19, 41, 34 (OT), 43, 20, 45 (2OT), 44, 59, 44 (3OT), 62, 24, and 3 (Army). They actually won the game where they gave up 62, a 74-62 win at North Texas, the most points ever scored in a I-A game that didn’t go to OT. Eight of last year’s top 10 tacklers return, including 3 DL and the entire secondary. Of course Navy finds themselves at disadvantages defensively, but they should be better this year than they were last year. And they may have to be with the new offensive line getting its feet wet early in the year. I would honestly be surprised if Navy didn’t reach its sixth consecutive bowl this year, in addition to another win over Army.
When talking about great rivalries in sports, you just can’t leave out the spectacle that is Army vs. Navy
