TJ Hartnett
Resting Dawgs
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The notion that the week before the Georgia Bulldogs take on the Florida Gators is an “off week” is, frankly, laughable.
It’s one of the greatest and most ferocious rivalry in college sports and both teams are always hungry to beat the other, regardless of the context within the season as a whole.
For the Bulldogs in particular, after suffering a loss at the hands of LSU in Week 7, the bye week is a big opportunity to get some much-needed work in before they head to Jacksonville. With some of the holes becoming more apparent in the Georgia roster, there are a handful of young players that could use the extra time to work out and step up.
The first person who comes to mind who is capable of grabbing the bull by the horns is freshman quarterback Justin Fields. He arrived in Athens with plenty of fanfare, and Jake Fromm’s Cinderella season in 2017 can only carry so much goodwill in 2018.
That being said, it’s hard to blame Fromm for a bad game in a very hostile environment but he is likely going to be watched closely and scrutinized all the more going forward, and especially against the Gators.
If Fields can keep his nose to the grindstone during the off week and show Kirby Smart that he’s ready to grab the brass ring, Fromm’s leash might get even shorter than it had been.
Robert Beal is another player to watch. The Bulldog defense was pretty fairly maligned for its performance against the Tigers, but Beal picked up his first career pick. It was easy to overlook in a loss of that magnitude. If Beal steps up and helps D’Andre Walker start to elevate the level of play on D, Georgia will benefit immensely.
Demetris Robertson’s future with UGA might rest in the balance of his work rate during this bye week. Expectations were set very high for the wide receiver despite his injury and late arrival at fall camp. He will need to prove that he is ready to grind if he ever wants to make an impact for UGA.
If Robertson can practice well, in his blocking, route running and pass catching, he could see an increased work load against Florida. Up to this point, Georgia really only uses Robertson as a gimmick player. He needs to practice and play more like Riley Ridley if he is going to contribute to Georgia this season.
A loss like the one that the Bulldogs were handed by the Tigers never truly comes at a good time but having a week “off” to lick their wounds could arguably be a big benefit to UGA. More than that, the loss brought into focus the fact that Coach Smart will need to spend this bye week whipping his team into shape.
The Florida Gators are lurking just around the corner, and the team that showed up in Baton Rouge cannot be the same team that suits up in Jacksonville. The Gators always manage to find another gear when they take on Georgia and UGA needs to spend their extra practice time (time that Florida also has, mind you) figuring out ways to reach that extra gear as well.
The Bulldogs took a loss in 2017 before running up to and through the SEC Championship and into the National Championship, so there’s no reason to think that their season is over based solely on their Week 7 performance.
However, they will need to show up and impress against Florida to remain in the contention conversation. They’ve got an extra week. They need to utilize it.
Braves Getting Scalped
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Going into the Division Series, few, if any, had the Braves taking 3 from Los Angeles and moving on to the National League Championship Series.
The Dodgers were in the World Series a year ago and still flaunted many of the big guns that they had in that Fall Classic, plus the huge addition of Manny Machado to their infield and lineup. They are bigger and scarier and have a recent track record. That’s fine. Every series is going to have a favorite and an underdog. So be it.
Going into Sunday’s Game 3, the Braves are in an 0-2 hole, having dropped two on the road in L.A.
That’s a bad spot to be in. Now they’ve got to win three in a row, but what’s been worse that the record has been the on-field play.
The Braves have yet to put a run on the board in the first 18 innings of the Division Series. The offense has been a dud. The Braves have scattered hits amounting to nothing and anytime a rally appears like it could begin, the next batter inevitably hits into a double play or strikes out to end the inning.
The Atlanta offense that ranked so highly in the NL in 2018 has gone into hibernation weeks too soon.
The biggest gut punch of the series, however, was Mike Foltynewicz’s Game 1 start.
He started the game by giving up a leadoff home run, which in and of itself wouldn’t have seen so big a deal, but it very clearly shook Folty hard.
He ended up throwing only 50 pitches and was yanked after giving up 4 runs in just two innings.
The runs and the inability to pitch deep into the game were an issue, of course, but nothing sucked the wind out of the sails of the Braves (and their fans watching from across the nation) like Folty’s complete defeat.
His body language gave it all away. He was shaking his head constantly, snatching the return throw from the catcher in a frustrated way and all-in-all looking like he had nothing to give.
It was the kind of Folty we hadn’t seen at all during his breakout year and it was clear to the entire country that he was just done.
Despite minimizing the damage to one run in what could have been a much worse bottom of the first, the Braves ace came back out for the bottom of the second and didn’t have it. The Braves ace gave up three more runs and showed even more defeat in his posture and mannerisms.
Even 4 runs aren’t an insurmountable hole to climb out of but Brian Snitker saw what the rest of us saw and pulled Folty from the game.
It was tough to watch. It was tougher still by comparison to the way the Dodgers were playing. Kike Hernandez and Yasiel Puig were making basket catches and sticking their tongues out while making sliding plays. They were playing so casually and with a confidence that basically shouted: “we belong here.” Their swagger alongside a lackluster Braves squad showed a divide between the two teams as wide as the distant between their two home cities.
Game 2 was easier to watch. Anibal Sanchez did what he’s done all season: keep the Braves in the game.
Unfortunately, Clayton Kershaw decided it was time to remind the world that he’s a future Hall-of-Famer with plenty of road ahead of him.
There was to be no scoring against the Dodgers on that night and in fact there were only three hits, two of them by Ronald Acuna, Jr.
It was a long shot for the Braves to win this series but there was hope.
While many Braves fans will be satisfied just by their ahead-of-schedule NL East crown, no one could have expected or wanted to see this absolute outclassing at the hands of the Dodgers.
But to end on a positive note, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger; and while the Braves aren’t likely to win after being down 0-2, this young squad will have gotten their first taste of the postseason. There’s only one way to go from here.
A Tale Of 2 GM’s
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
With an NL East Division Championship on their mantle (and in fact being the only team in the National League to wrap up their division prior to the last day of the season), the Braves have put together an unexpected and incredible run in 2018.
Lots of people will get credit, primarily and obviously the players, but also the coaching staff and front office, and deservedly so.
Braves General Manager Alex Anthopoulos came aboard during the last offseason and made an impression quickly with a financially clever trade, sending Matt Kamp to the Dodgers for Brandon McCarthy and Charlie Culberson (also Adrian Gonzalez and Scott Kazmir, neither of whom made an appearance for Atlanta).
Anthopoulos continued to put manager Brian Snitker in position to succeed throughout the year, taking gambles when necessary but also not dragging out mistakes out of pride (Jose Bautista, for example). He has been an asset to the team since he arrived, and he’ll get heaps of deserved praise for the season the Braves have completed.
But there’s also someone else who deserves praise and will get very little of it.
Part of a general manager’s job is to add pieces as needed, like Anthopoulos has done. But arguably a much larger part of the job, especially in the current era of MLB, a GM must build a team for sustained success. Alex Anthopoulos just got here, so he can’t claim to have done that for Atlanta.
Instead, erstwhile and disgraced former general manager John Coppolella gets credit for a lot of the Braves’ 2018 success.
He was fired (and banned from baseball for life) for shady dealings, but prior to that, Coppy – along with John Hart – tore down a Braves team that was heading for a tailspin and began crafting the young team we know today.
The formation of the 2018 NL East Division Champions is a tale of two GMs.
Who traded Evan Gattis to the Astros for a young, flame throwing pitcher named Mike Foltynewicz? Coppy did.
Who saw the talent in Kevin Gausman being squandered on a last place team and traded for him, installing the pitcher who would eventually take a spot in the postseason rotation? Double A gets the credit there.
Who moved the Braves’ only All-Star from 2015, Shelby Miller, in a blockbuster trade that brought Dansby Swanson AND Ender Inciarte to Atlanta? That was Coppollela.
Which GM took advantage of service time loopholes to make sure that the Braves get six years of Ronald Acuna, Jr., though it also turned out that Acuna struggled to start the season so maybe the notion that he needed more seasoning was right all along? Anthopoulos.
Who signed 2019 All-Star Nick Markakis to lead the young Braves on and off the field? Coppy again.
Who decided after an abysmal-yet-brief run by Bautista that the Braves didn’t need to hunt for a new third baseman and that Johan Camargo was going to produce at the hot corner? Anthopoulos made that call.
Who signed Acuna and Ozzie Albies as teenagers? Well, Frank Wren, actually. I suppose he deserves a little credit too.
Alex Anthopoulos has already made himself a lot of fans in Atlanta during his brief tenure as Braves GM. After the season they had, he’s very likely going to be a strong candidate for Executive of the Year.
That’s not unfair, he’s done a lot to make sure the Braves stayed in contention long after they were expected to drop out.
But let’s not forget the impact that John Coppelella had on the team that is heading to the playoffs this week.
He may not have turned out to be much of a model citizen, but it might be worth to raise a glass to him. You’re enjoying the fruits of his labor this season.
P.S. It’s probably also worth noting that one of the very last things that John Schuerholz did before ending his legendary run as Braves GM was draft a kid from California named Fredrick Charles Freeman.
Brave October
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It’s been half a decade, but the Braves are going to the playoffs again.
It is an exciting and frankly unexpected development in the Braves franchise in 2018, coming at least one but probably two years before the earliest anyone could have expected a division title.
Let’s take a quick look back at how they managed to end up on the top of the heap and briefly look ahead to the playoffs.
So, the Braves weren’t expected to make the playoffs in 2018. They weren’t really expected to compete for a spot.
So, does that mean that they lucked into a division title? Is their spot on top a fluke? Not at all.
Players like Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuna, Jr. took steps as players, Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis stayed consistent and stayed healthy and the starting rotation, anchored by Mike Foltynewicz and Anibal Sanchez of all people, put in enough quality innings to help out a fairly poor bullpen.
This team is talented enough to belong where they are, make no mistake. To give credit where it’s due, it certainly didn’t hurt that both the New York Mets and the Washington Nationals, the two teams people actually thought would be at the top of the heap in 2018, were busts from nearly Opening Day.
The Mets in particular were lost causes early on but people kept expecting the favorite Nationals to wake up and make a run, at which point the Braves and Phillies would fall back to their natural places in the middle of the pack.
But that never happened and the NL East has been all about Atlanta and Philadelphia throughout the year.
So yes, Atlanta took advantage of a top spot that was vacated by the Nats, but the team they fielded still deserves to pop champagne, at least once.
On that note, let’s look ahead to what the playoffs might look like for Atlanta.
At this point it’s pretty clear that Chicago will have the best record in the NL, which means that they’ll take on the winner of the Wild Card Game, leaving the NL West Champs to face the Braves.
That’s clearly going to be either the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Colorado Rockies. Both teams offer big challenges and the Braves played neither particularly well, going 2-5 against each club in 2018, including an ugly four game sweep at Suntrust Park at the hands of Colorado in August.
There may be a psychological benefit to playing a smaller market team like the Rockies to start off the playoffs but there would also be a measure of sweet revenge if the Braves could face Los Angeles, the team that knocked them out in the first round in 2013 (though only Freeman and Julio Teheran remain on the roster from that season).
Either way, it will be a huge challenge for the Braves to win their first playoff series since 2001. Whatever happens, Atlanta should be proud of what they accomplished this season – not just that they won the NL East, but that they DESERVED to win the NL East.
They hit, pitched, caught and had the kind of no-quit, gritty attitude that hasn’t been seen in Atlanta since the scrappy and resilient team that led Bobby Cox back to the playoffs one last time in 2010.
They’ve been incredibly fun to watch play and now we’ll get to watch them play just a little bit longer.
Acuna Matata
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Braves fans were already chomping at the bit for Ronald Acuna, Jr. to be awarded the NL Rookie of the Year award all the way back in February. As the league’s top prospect, he seemed a safe bet for the award.
A late debut wouldn’t make much of a difference but missing nearly a month to injury and a good, but not stellar initial run in the lineup threatened to derail those plans. Not to mention the emergence of Juan Soto as a legit contender for the award.
Acuna’s return and subsequent move to the leadoff spot has put him firmly in the running once again. The two young phenoms’ numbers are incredibly similar and it looks to be a tight race for the trophy.
But I think Acuna could aim a little higher. As in, Ronald Acuna, Jr.: National League Most Valuable Player.
ROTY tends to be handed to whichever player puts up better pure numbers. The MVP award tends to fluctuate on that point, sometimes going to players with higher slash lines, sometimes going to players who lead a team to the postseason.
What the appropriate criteria should be is a debate for another time. What tends to be the case when an MVP is awarded to a player on a last place team is that their numbers are so gaudy or historical that they are worthy of merit (A-Rod’s MVP while he was on last-place Texas Rangers team, for example).
The NL features no such player in 2018. No one has run away with the award and in fact there could be as many as five or six players worthy of the trophy come season’s end. And one of them, arguably the most deserving, is Ronald Acuna.
Since taking over the leadoff spot in the batting order, Acuna has been on an incredible tear and has been a huge part of solidifying the Braves’ spot at the top of the NL East.
The Braves briefly dropped out of first place over the summer but Acuna heated up and has been the sparkplug that has the Braves on the cusp on an NL East Title.
He’s hovering around .300 and could very reasonably reach 30 homeruns by the time the season comes to a close. He will have barely played in over 100 games.
To that point, his OPS would be tied for best in the National League, except he doesn’t have enough at-bats to qualify.
So regardless of slash line, counting stats (RBIs is a notable deficiency), or impact on a team’s postseason aspirations, Ronald Acuna, Jr. has an incredibly strong case for National League Rookie of the Year AND Most Valuable Player.
There’s precedent too: Ichiro pulled off the trick in 2001, so writers are willing to throw votes at a rookie (Ichiro’s standing as a true rookie was, of course, debatable).
Will it happen? If Acuna can get and stay over .300 and reach 30 home runs for a playoff team, it might convince a few voters.
Standing in his way, ironically, would be his teammates. Freddie Freeman was considered the frontrunner for the MVP for most of the season but his production lately hasn’t been up to MVP level. If Freddie finds another gear to close out the season, it might actually be tougher for either of the Braves stars to win. A split vote would be more likely.
But whatever happens, Atlanta has seen something truly special in 2018 and he’s only 20. So, regardless of whether or not he wins this year, Acuna needs to buy himself a trophy case sometime soon. A big one.
Panic Button?
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Don’t panic.
The Falcons dropped to 0-3 in preseason games on Saturday with a 17-6 loss to Jacksonville, but that is no cause for concern for the Atlanta faithful.
After all, the Falcons themselves do not seem to be taking the entire notion of winning preseason games very seriously anyway. If you need proof, note who started the game against the Jaguars and who did not. Atlanta sat seven of their key starters.
That is not the kind of team that seems concerned about wins and losses as they are about working on specific needs and figuring out who will come out on top of positional battles prior to the first game of the regular season.
Yes, the result was a pretty ugly display against Jacksonville, despite Falcons fans hoping that Matt Ryan would shut down and shut up Jalen Ramsey after Ramsey call the star QB “overrated.”
Atlanta’s efforts against Jacksonville’s defense proved to be futile but it is worth mentioning that the Jags fielded their starters. Jacksonville adapted quickly and pressured the Falcons’ offense in a way that prevented the Dirty Birds from adjusting.
Atlanta only managed 261 total yards during the game and their rushing yards were abysmal, the majority coming from a big Tevin Coleman run.
Take that out of the equation and the Falcons only picked up 48. Overall the team only moved the ball an average of 4.7 yards per play. For good measure, Matt Ryan was also sacked three times. It was ugly.
But it’s okay.
Did you see Julio Jones on the field? Devonta Freeman? No, you did not. They haven’t lined up for a single snap during the first three preseason games and word is they may not see the field for the last tune up before the season starts either.
They don’t need to and Dan Quinn isn’t concerned about wins. So, the offense looked like a mess but they were missing two of the most dynamic pieces – just like for those first two losses.
Looking back on the games against the Jets and Chiefs, it’s more proof in the pudding.
In the game against New York, Atlanta’s starting defense made what amounted to a cameo appearance, disappearing quickly after just a handful of snaps.
The Falcons lost that game, of course, but what’s important is that when the team’s actual defense left the game, the Jets hadn’t put a single point on the board.
The players that ended up losing that game, to New York’s starters, are not going to be making an on-field impact during the regular season.
This kind of thing is par for the course for Dan Quinn and the Atlanta Falcons. Quinn likes to run prospects out during preseason and the results are what you would expect.
There are plenty of reasons for it. Julio Jones doesn’t need to prove anything, for example and it isn’t hard to imagine that Freeman’s preseason concussion from a few years back is a factor in the decision making. Why risk injury to your impact players when the wins and losses don’t matter?
It is also worth pointing out that last year the Falcons laid an egg in the preseason, going 0-4 and everything turned out fine to the tune of a 10-6 season and a playoff run.
There is always a sense of disappointment in a poor preseason showing. They are the first competitive football games since the Superbowl in the winter, after all.
However, the record isn’t the result that matters. This Falcons team is shaping up to potentially be a dominant force in the NFC, 0-4 or otherwise.
So, don’t panic.
KIller Owls
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For Kennesaw State, it’s going to be hard to look past the first game of the season. The Owls take on the Georgia State Panthers at Turner Fie- I mean Georgia State Stadium. It’s FCS versus FBS and while that tends not to bode well for the FCS school, this is not the case. If you had to pick a game for an upset during the 2018 season, this might be the place to look.
The Panthers are rebuilding and Kennesaw’s high-powered offense reloaded, this could be a big game for the Owls.
But there are ten more games that will need to be played regardless of whether or not KSU can get one over on Georgia State, so let’s dive into what the team looks like.
For a team that is about to enter its fourth year of existence, Kennesaw State has made quite a statement. Last season they won 12 games and fell a touchdown and an extra point shy of reaching the FCS semifinals, in year three.
From that stellar team returns 18 starters, including Chandler Burks, who accounted for 27 touchdowns in 2017, as well as linebacker Bryson Armstrong, outside lineman C.J. Collins, wide receiver Justin Sumpter and linebacker Anthony Gore, just to name a few.
The Owls offense was the star of the show last year, with Kennesaw State possessing the ball for more than 33 minutes per game – good for 8th in the FCS.
They also had the best turnover margin in the country and ranked second in third-down conversions. But the real sexy number is 330, as in rushing yards per game. Six players on the squad rushed for at least 300 yards on the season in 2017 and all six of them are back for more in 2018.
The other side of the ball didn’t get as much love but Armstrong was the best freshman in the nation last year and led the team in sacks, tackles for loss, fumble recoveries, forced fumbles, and tackles. And the next two guys (who are back) had at least 50 each.
It also doesn’t hurt that Kennesaw’s top recruit, Markeith Montgomery, is a defensive back.
Needless to say, this still-fresh football program has already set the bar very high for itself. Expectations are in the stratosphere, with the Owls the heavy favorite to win the Big South Conference and are expected to compete for the FCS Championship at the end of the season.
They have continued to build upon each season, so making it to and even through the semifinals is the next logical step. The likes of James Madison University and North Dakota State University await them at the top of the heap. Not too shabby for a school without a football team in 2014.
That Georgia State game looms large and is the first time the Owls have put an FBS team on the schedule. While an upset would certainly make a huge statement, the Owls need to make sure that win or lose they keep their offense and defense firing on all cylinders as they move on to Alabama State and Samford in the early part of the season before a stretch of five Big South matchups in a row.
Those are the games that will end up being meaningful, regardless of the outcome of that showdown against the Panthers.
With so many of the key pieces returning and a (short) history of constant improvement, this is going be a fun season for Kennesaw State.
Spurring To 2018
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It’s a little strange to consider that a team that won 9 games to 4 losses in 2017 had an underwhelming season but the South Carolina Gamecocks managed to pull off just such an unexpected feat last year.
Will Muschamp led a team that did not put up a lot of big point totals or make lots of flashy plays, which probably has a lot to do with it. Add that to a couple of surprising losses to Kentucky and to Texas A&M and there were a lot of people writing them off.
The question is, how will South Carolina follow up an underwhelming/pretty good season in 2018?
They will almost certainly be a better team on the field and they should be confident of that.
Deebo Samuel is a huge reason for that confidence. The wide receiver successes have been rightfully celebrated and he gives veteran quarterback Jake Bentley a target that other teams would love to have.
Breaking his leg after putting up 474 all-purpose yards and scoring 6 touchdowns last season postponed his coronation as possibly the best player in the SEC but if he can stay on the field in 2018 he has got a great chance of being crowned.
Speaking of offensive weapons with broken legs, Rico Dowdle should be healthy and running with the ball for the entire year as well, giving the Gamecocks yet another option to boost those scores.
On the other side of the ball, South Carolina needs to step up their game on the pass rush. Twenty-six sacks in 2017 will not cut it, though six of those sacks came from the returning D.J. Wonnum. If he can lead the other tackles and put more pressure on opposing QBs, then the secondary will benefit in a big way.
There is also the matter of the schedule, it can be taken advantage of. Georgia and Clemson loom large up ahead and will be looked at as major challenges for South Carolina. However, the rest of the reason looks favorable Muschamp and company.
Perhaps the biggest plus is the absence of LSU and Alabama. Luck of the draw, but it is still something they need to appreciate and make the most of.
Florida and Tennessee are usually powerhouses, but they look like they might continue their recent struggles in the near future.
Texas A&M is on the schedule again and the Gamecocks should be primed to take their revenge after being embarrassing defeated by the Aggies last year.
Another positive is that this team is already better than last year’s and there are still positional battles to be worked out.
Muschamp has called on his defensive line to step up this year and it is down to Keir Thomas or Kobe Smith to grab the bull by the horns at defensive tackle. Thomas has bulked up and Smith has two seasons’ worth of game under this belt, so there are good options here.
Jamyest Williams is competing with Jaylin Dickerson, with the latter returning from an injury. Tavyn Jackson is also in the mix here, moving from cornerback. Dickerson had the most notable spring and Williams could essentially trade slots with Jackson and go back to his natural position at cornerback. It remains to be seen how this one will shake out.
Tight end is another one to watch, with K.C. Crosby and Jacob August vying to replace Hayden Hurst, who was snatched up in the first round. Both could be reliable but one will need to step up. Of note, Crosby also broke his leg last year.
A 9-4 team that should be significantly better is going to make some real waves in 2018. That is what the South Carolina Gamecocks are looking to be this season.
Rebuilding Rocky Top
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
A new era has begun at the University of Tennessee: the Jeremy Pruitt era. After five years of varying success under Butch Jones (and two games under interim coach Brady Hoe), the Volunteers are hoping to see a resurgence under this new leadership.
Pruitt comes from the winning ways of FSU, UGA and Alabama and has already begun to make his mark, shaking up the way the Vols are going to play football and shaking up the roster as well.
After the chaos of 2017, it seemed like Pruitt was being brought in to lead Tennessee through a rebuilding period but Pruitt, apparently has other plans. With fall camp finally upon us, let’s dive in and look at a preview of things to come for this new head coach and his team as the season’s first kickoff rapidly approaches.
The first thing to watch will be seeing how the team adapts to a new style of offense.
The spread style that Butch Jones implemented worked with Joshua Dobbs but no one else. With a cadre of passers on the roster and more traditional, a pro-type offense could see success. There will also be a heavier reliance on backs for big plays, with the hope that Madre London and Ty Chandler will step up and be big pieces of the puzzle for the Vols.
Preseason should be an intriguing time in Tennessee, as the transition to this new style will be more telling than it was in the spring.
A key piece to the success of the offense will be whoever wins the positional battle for quarterback. Sophomore Will McBride and freshman JT Shrout are competing for the slot but the competition is really between sophomore Jarrett Guarantano, who made six starts in 2017, and senior graduate transfer Keller Chryst, incoming from Stanford.
Guarantano has an arm to be excited about but the offense faltered under his guidance last year.
Chryst brings a leadership presence to the locker room and, perhaps just as important, a familiarity with the pro-style offense the Vols will be using. Either young man could see the majority of snaps this year.
QB is far from the only position battle the Vols will be hosting during camp this year: tight end will pit incumbent sophomore Eli Wolf (brother of the NFL’s Ethan) against 4-star JUCO transfer Domick Wood-Anderson.
Wood-Anderson came with much fanfare, having been courted by the likes of Nick Saban at Alabama but Wolf comes with experience.
One of the most intriguing differences between the Vols’ squad from last season until now is the number of upper classmen transfer that have showed up on the roster. By bringing in these players it seems clear that Pruitt doesn’t want to settle for a rebuilding season and is ready to win often in 2018.
The dynamic of the locker room is sure to be shaken up compared to where it was in the spring, especially with so many of these transfers being looked at for starting roles. It remains to be seen how the returning players will react to this mass immigration.
Another big change comes in the form of a shift to a 3-4 defense after five years at 4-3.
This might be a tough pill to swallow (just look at the struggles of recent teams who’ve made this change like UGA under Mark Richt or even Tennessee under Derek Dooley).
The defense implemented this change in the spring and looked bad doing it. If Pruitt and Kevin Sherrer plan to stick to it, expect some growing pains in Rocky Top.
One Fell Swoop
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
In a blockbuster move that stole headlines all across the United States of America, the Atlanta Hawks traded for Oklahoma City superstar and future NBA Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony.
Okay, that might have been disingenuous way to start this article but I just couldn’t resist.
Plus, it’s technically true. Melo was sent to the Hawks from the Thunder. It’s just there’s a caveat that Melo won’t be donning an Atlanta jersey anytime soon. Or ever, probably. Let’s back up a little bit, shall we?
It was pretty much the exact moment after the sound of the buzzer that ended the Finals faded away that the rumor mill started cooking up the notion that Dennis Schröder was not long for Atlanta.
Schröder himself stoked the flame by removing all mention of the Hawks from his social media (granted that has never meant anything relevant, but it was noteworthy at the time). Turns out, those prognosticators were right and Schröder has left Phillips Arena, never to return again. Except as a visitor from the Midwest, of course.
The visiting team will have to be the Oklahoma City Thunder, where Schröder was shipped off to in exchange for Melo, one of the biggest NBA stars of the century, as well as a 2022 first round pick.
The Philadelphia 76ers contributed to the swap as well, sending Justin Anderson to Atlanta and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot to Oklahoma City and receiving Mike Muscala, also from Atlanta.
To be fair, while this was a headline-grabbing trade due in large part to Anthony’s involvement, it doesn’t exactly come as a surprise for those paying attention. It seemed inevitable that the Hawks would make a move like this one.
And it’s a doozy. In a good way. They acquired some breathing room in their salary cap going forward and in turn gave themselves plenty of routes to play with their roster.
For the more immediate future, Muscala and Schröder will be missing from the roster, and that is not a benefit. They managed to keep the Hawks afloat last season, or as much as the Hawks could be kept afloat, anyway.
They have been Atlanta staples for the past several years and with good reason. They were consistent in their performances on the court, in the regular season and in bright spots during the playoffs.
But despite the hurt that their being traded will reign down on the team’s quality, let’s not forget that this is a rebuild and eggs must be broken before omelets can be made.
This was a trade for the future and that draft pick is half the battle. The other half is Justin Anderson. Anderson is a young player with potential that Philadelphia failed to unlock.
This was also a trade for financial flexibility so that the team can maneuver as needed in the months to come, having less than half of the $109 million they can spend committed for the 2018-2019 season.
That’s three goals: draft pick, young talent, cap space, accomplished in one fell swoop.
There’s no way to argue that this is a trade that made the Hawks better for the upcoming campaign, it did not. It made them worse.
But that’s okay, because they weren’t very good to begin with and this trade, while immediately detrimental to the team’s win-loss prospects, sets Atlanta up for the future in a big and bright way. It’s the kind of trade that needed to be made, and Atlanta pulled the trigger at seemingly the right time.
Oh, and Carmelo Anthony was immediately waived. Had to get that salary cap space. Sorry.
