Tag: Trent Dilfer

Wide receiver Nate Spillman discusses committing to Tennessee, Josh Heupel’s offense

2023 wide receiver Nate Spillman discusses committing to Tennessee and Josh Heupel’s offense.

2023 wide receiver prospect Nate Spillman has committed to Tennessee and head coach Josh Heupel.

The 6-foot-1, 194-pound Spillman is from Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tennessee. He plays for head coach and Super Bowl champion quarterback Trent Dilfer.

Spillman discussed his commitment to Tennessee with Vols Wire.

“What stood out to me was just the relationship I have with the coaching staff,” Spillman said of Tennessee. “Since day one, they have really put in the effort to build a great relationship with me and my family. I love that Coach Heupel’s offense is fast and explosive. I like how he gets the ball to the receiver’s hands and lets them make big plays. I like that he trusts the receivers to go and make big plays when needed.

“The fan base and atmosphere definitely stood out to me, too.”

Spillman plays the X-receiver position at Lipscomb Academy.

Dilfer previously joined the show “Football Two-A-Days” and discussed his coaching career and implementing an Air Raid offense at Lipscomb Academy.

The show with Dilfer can be listened to here.

Lipscomb Academy head coach Trent Dilfer. Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire

Tennessee’s 2023 football commitment tracker

‘Josh Heupel’s Offense’ e-book now available

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Former NFL QB: Klubnik is ‘the real deal’

Clemson fans certainly have a lot to look forward to with incoming quarterback Cade Klubnik. The five-star prospect from Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, is ranked as the No. 1 quarterback in the country for the 2022 class. He signed with the …

Clemson fans certainly have a lot to look forward to with incoming quarterback Cade Klubnik.

The five-star prospect from Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, is ranked as the No. 1 quarterback in the country for the 2022 class. He signed with the Tigers on Wednesday and is set to enroll early at Clemson in January.

A highly touted quarterback who earned Gatorade Player of the Year honors in Texas for 2021, Klubnik was named MVP of the Elite 11 Camp in the summer of 2021 and guided Westlake to state championships in 2019 and 2020. His 2021 team is currently 15-0 and will play in the state championship game on Saturday.

Prior to the final game of his prep career, Klubnik has played in 37 career games, completing 70.1 percent of his passes for 7,146 yards and 82 touchdowns with just six interceptions, while adding 189 carries for 1,259 rushing yards (6.7 average) and 31 touchdowns.

You can watch former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer, who coaches quarterbacks at the Elite 11 Camp, talk about Klubnik in the video below from Elite 11 on Twitter.

Dilfer called Klubnik “the real deal” and says the future Tiger “is as tough as you’ll find.”

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Swinney has a message for those inside – and outside – Clemson’s fan base

As Clemson goes through a season that’s fallen well short of expectations for various reasons, Dabo Swinney’s program has been on the receiving end of plenty of consternation and criticism from the Tigers’ fan base and beyond. Swinney has taken a …

As Clemson goes through a season that’s fallen well short of expectations for various reasons, Dabo Swinney’s program has been on the receiving end of plenty of consternation and criticism from the Tigers’ fan base and beyond.

Swinney has taken a couple of opportunities to address fans’ concerns this week before Clemson (4-3, 3-2 ACC) tries to stay above .500 against Florida State on Saturday at Memorial Stadium. After discussing the state of the program and emphatically stating his belief that Clemson “ain’t going nowhere” during a local radio interview, Swinney further expanded on his message to fans through the media Wednesday amid a season where the negatives have far outweighed the positives.

The struggles of an offense that’s on pace to be worst statistically in Swinney’s 13 years at the helm have gotten to the point that Swinney has alluded to an open quarterback competition between D.J. Uiagalelei and his backup, Taisun Phommachanh, though Uiagalelei was still listed at the top of Clemson’s updated depth chart released earlier in the week. Meanwhile, attrition continues to pile up.

Offensive lineman Matt Bockhorst (torn ACL against Pitt) is the latest contributor lost to a season-ending injury. Clemson has lost 14 scholarship players since the start of the season to injuries or transfers.

There’s also been starters being unavailable because of COVID-19 protocols on an almost weekly basis. Swinney said he’s hopeful offensive lineman Hunter Rayburn and leading receiver Joseph Ngata will be able to return against the Seminoles, but the backfield was dealt another blow this week with Kobe Pace out, leaving true freshmen Will Shipley (who just returned from a leg injury last week) and Phil Mafah as the top two running backs for now.

It all has a program that’s made six straight College Football Playoff appearances out of the playoff discussion before November. And playing for a seventh straight ACC championship won’t happen either unless the Tigers win out and get some help along the way.

“I know everybody’s disappointed. We’re supposed to go to the playoff every year, win this league every year and have a 10-plus win season every year, but it’s hard to win,” Swinney said. “Hopefully we can all reset and have a deep appreciation of how hard it is. We can’t just show up and win. It’s a reset with this team, but there are a lot of things that go into winning and the margin for error is very small all the time, especially with where we are this year and a lot of the challenges that we’ve had.

“The message is we’ve got a great group of young men, a great staff, and it’s been an incredible journey for 13 years. This is one season in the midst of an unbelievable journey. When this chapter is over, if they let me leave on my terms or they send me to the pasture, whenever that is, we’ll look back on this year and it’ll be a blessing.”

Swinney kept going.

“The biggest thing is keep the faith. Get behind these coaches and get behind this team. They’re working their butts off. Everybody is. Everybody wants to be undefeated. We’ve got to quit worrying about what we can’t do, and we need to get excited about what we still can do. That’s what winners do. We’ve got to keep fighting, we’ve got to keep moving forward, and we’ve got to stay together.”

As for the criticism coming from outside the fan base, Swinney said he’s not concerned about it even though it continues to come in waves. Radio personality Paul Finebaum called the Tigers’ result against Pitt over the weekend a “seismic loss” and has opined Clemson’s dynasty under Swinney is over. Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer this week publicly scolded Clemson’s coaching staff for its development of Uiagalelei, calling it “probably the most egregious thing I’ve ever seen.”

Swinney said he doesn’t listen to those sorts of specific criticisms of his program from people on the outside, but he had a general message for them, too.

“Go ahead. Get it in while you can,” he said. “That’s all I can say.”

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Elliott responds to Dilfer’s criticism about Clemson not being able to develop quarterbacks

Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer talked about D.J. Uiagalelei this week and said Clemson’s sophomore quarterback has “gotten worse.” Dilfer also says Trevor Lawrence regressed during his career as a Tiger and threw blame at quarterbacks coach …

Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer talked about D.J. Uiagalelei this week and said Clemson’s sophomore quarterback has “gotten worse.”

Dilfer also says Trevor Lawrence regressed during his career as a Tiger and threw blame at quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter.

Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott was asked during his media availability Monday if he is surprised by some of the criticism that has come, considering the success they have had over the years, that they now have analysts questioning quarterback development and things like that.

“I look at it and I guess the way I convince myself is that I know they are paid to say some of those things, to create that,” Elliott said. “But I also know too that we have always been in the situation where people want to criticize Clemson. Right, wrong or indifferent, they want to criticize and they want to criticize Clemson, and we, with the success that we have had, we never felt like we should have been there. So, it doesn’t surprise me.”

Elliott admitted, though, that criticism like Dilfer’s can be frustrating to hear.

“You get frustrated sometimes,” Elliott said. “I don’t hear much of it, but there are some comments that people are making that you can tell that they aren’t educated on the comment that they are making. Those are the ones that frustrate me. At the end of the day, we gave them the ammunition to say it, so we got to own it and all we can do is go back… It is a ‘what have you done for me lately’ business. It is a ‘what have you done for me lately’ world, and right now we haven’t done enough for them to say nice things, so I understand it.”

“But some of the stuff about not being able to develop quarterbacks,” Elliott added before pausing. “That is all I am going to say.”

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Trent Dilfer throws blame at Streeter for D.J. ‘getting worse’

A former NFL quarterback didn’t hold back when discussing D.J. Uiagalelei and what he’s seen from the Clemson sophomore quarterback. Trent Dilfer, during an appearance on OutKick, said Uiagalelei has “gotten worse” at Clemson. “What’s going on with …

A former NFL quarterback didn’t hold back when discussing D.J. Uiagalelei and what he’s seen from the Clemson sophomore quarterback.

Trent Dilfer, during an appearance on OutKick, said Uiagalelei has “gotten worse” at Clemson.

“What’s going on with D.J. right now at Clemson, that’s probably the most egregious thing I’ve seen,” Dilfer said. “And I love Dabo, and I’ll probably get a phone call … D.J.’s gotten worse.”

Dilfer — who played in the NFL for 14 seasons with the Buccaneers, Ravens, Seahawks, Browns and 49ers — also believes Trevor Lawrence regressed when he was a Tiger.

“Trevor got worse mechanically,” Dilfer said. “Trevor has completely changed from the time he left Clemson to what he is now in Jacksonville — completely retooling. … Much better. He’s so talented, and they were rolling so much, that he got away with being sloppy. He’d be the first to tell you. … I don’t even know who the quarterbacks coach is at Clemson. I couldn’t tell you his name. Colleges need to do a better job of understanding, it’s a craft.”

Brandon Streeter has been Clemson’s quarterbacks coach since December 2014.

After completing 69.4 percent of his passes for 781 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions in two starts as a true freshman last season, Uiagalelei has completed 54.8 percent of his passes for 1,102 yards and four touchdowns with five interceptions across seven games this season.

Uiagalelei went 12-of-25 passing for 128 yards and threw two interceptions in Saturday’s game at Pittsburgh. He was benched for Taisun Phommachanh after he threw a pick-six that all but sealed the Tigers’ fate in a 27-17 loss to the Panthers.

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Trent Dilfer: Giants QB Daniel Jones will become an NFL great

Trent Dilfer believes New York Giants QB Daniel Jones will “grow into” one of the NFL’s great quarterbacks.

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Former New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan is “done” with New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones.

Done. D-o-n-e, done.

“I gotta admit my guy still can’t protect the football, so I’m done with you, Daniel Jones. Just like I was done with Mark Sanchez at some point. I’m done,” Ryan said on ESPN’s “Get Up!” earlier this week, via NJ Advance Media.

But at least one former Super Bowl champion isn’t buying what Ryan is selling on Jones.

Trent Dilfer, who started at quarterback when the Baltimore Ravens defeated the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV, believes Jones will solve his turnover problem and once he does, will be bound for greatness.

“I see the toughness, the grit, the resilience, enough talent. The intangible stuff is going to allow him to survive what’s going to be a horrific narrative of giving games away,” Dilfer said on WFAN. “He’s going to have to get through this turnover thing. And he will, because I think he’s the right kind of kid.

“And when he does — I don’t think it’s an if, I think it’s a when — and as [the Giants] get more talented upfront, I think he’s going to be one of the better players in the NFL. I don’t think he’s going to be a flash and sizzle player all the time. I think he’s going to grow into one of these great quarterbacks who makes everybody around him better because of what he’s gone through, what he’s endured, what he’s had to fight through.”

But will Jones stick in New York long enough to see that happen? The Giants have had offensive line problems for a full decade and seem no closer to solving the issue now than in 2012.

If Jones does eventually ascend into the NFL’s elite tier, it may not come with the Giants. His clock is ticking and unless this team turns things around quickly, Jones, like Sam Darnold before him, will be forced to continue his career elsewhere.

Trent Dilfer releases statement after physical rant directed at high-school player he coaches

Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer, now a high-school coach in Nashville, is attempting damage control after a physical altercation with a player.

Trent Dilfer, who played quarterback in the NFL from 1994 through 2007 with the Buccaneers, Ravens, Seahawks, Browns, and 49ers, is currently the head football coach at Lipscomb University, a private, Christian liberal arts institution in Nashville. Recently, Dilfer’s sideline rant directed at tight end  Beau Dawson went viral for all the wrong reasons. Dilfer put his hands on Allen, which is definitely going to lead to complications regarding his coaching career.

After the video hit social media with the impact you’d expect, Dilfer released a statement via the school’s official Twitter account.

I want to address the incident on our sideline during Friday night’s game vs. Independence that has drawn a lot of attention. First and foremost, I take full responsibility as the head coach and leader of our team for not de-escalating an emotional situation with one of our players, Beau Dawson. Beau is one of our finest student-athletes and embodies all the characteristics we are looking for in our Mustang players. Beau plays the game with the right kind of passion and is an inspiration to our other players.

During a moment of frustration in an attempt to get our team to play with more discipline, I unfairly singled Beau out. Somehow Beau Dawson has been portrayed publicly as the culprit in this situation, when in reality I should have been a better leader and shown greater wisdom and discernment in how I handled this incident. Overall, I could not be more proud of Beau and the rest of our team for how they handle the emotional nature of each game they compete in.

It’s a pretty decent stretch from the coach Dilfer was in that moment to the coach making this statement, which implies damage control.

As for the statement, I’m not sure how Dawson is being portrayed as the culprit here; he’s a high-school kid being assaulted by a grown man in a position of leadership under the auspices of an institution of learning. And if Dilfer was “de-escalating” an emotional situation, what exactly was the emotional situation that had escalated in the first place? It would be good to know.

In December, 2020, Gerrel Williams, a Georgia youth football coach, was fired from his position and expelled from his football league after a video was released of Williams screaming at one of his nine-year-old players and slapping the child’s helmet and knocking the child to the ground. The child’s mother reportedly said that she did not want to press charges, but the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office in Florida sent an information report to the Department of Children and Families, and Osceola County Maj. Jacob Ruiz said that the decision had been made by the sheriff’s office and local state attorney’s office to file charges for child abuse, regardless of the parent’s wishes.

Dilfer didn’t knock Dawson to the ground, but he shoved the player, and there is no place for that at any level of coaching. Not when your players are nine years old, not when they’re in high school, not when they’re making $15 million per year in the NFL. There is simply no excuse for Dilfer’s actions in this case, and at the very least, he should be asked to do more than apologize for this incident. Perhaps some anger management courses would be in order. Perhaps Dilfer is a great coach who can impart the knowledge he has on his players. Perhaps Dilfer is also a coach who went far outside the bounds of discipline any coach in any sport should be able to implement.

And for those who insist that we’re all making too big a deal of it, that Dilfer did the right thing, and that the negative response is just another example of how America has gone soft — well, imagine Beau Dawson was your son. And if you’re still okay with it, take a minute and investigate why behavior that could be considered a Class A misdemeanor in the state of Tennessee is acceptable when it’s taken against your child — or any other child.

Dilfer, who is also the head coach of the Elite Eleven program, featuring the finest high-school quarterbacks in the country, might want to take a hard look at his motivational methods before he’s put in any more positions to lead young people in any capacity.

Former Ravens QB Trent Dilfer still bitter about post Super Bowl XXXV split

Former Baltimore Ravens quarterback Trent Dilfer is still bitter the team moved on from him after winning Super Bowl XXXV.

With the 20th anniversary of the Baltimore Ravens’ first Super Bowl win — Super Bowl XXXV — happening last week, former Ravens quarterback Trent Dilfer reflected back on Baltimore’s abrupt turn in the offseason.

Following the Super Bowl XXXV victory, Dilfer was set to hit free agency. Surely Baltimore would want to re-sign their Super Bowl-winning quarterback? Unfortunately for Dilfer, no. The Ravens had Dilfer as their third option, according to ESPN’s Jamison Hensley, and eventually signed Elvis Grbac to a five-year $30 million contract.

“You know, I’ve been through a lot in my life and I try not to be bitter about anything,” Dilfer said, according to ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. “I’d say that’s one I’m still harboring a little bit of bitterness because of the why. It was so poorly evaluated on their behalf. They knew I was hurt.”

Now the head coach of a high school in Nashville, TN, Dilfer agreed that he hadn’t played well but said the Ravens knew it was because he was hurt.

“There’s legendary stories of how bad I was in practice, and they’re all true,” Dilfer said. “I had some of the worst practices in the history of football for a quarterback. If my high school quarterback practiced like I did sometimes that year, I wouldn’t play him. But I was hurt. There was a reason for it. It wasn’t that I wasn’t trying. I didn’t suck. I sucked physically.”

Regardless of whether Baltimore’s decision to let Dilfer leave was unwise, their decision to sign Grbac turned out to be a bust. Grbac was dreadful in 2001, throwing just 15 touchdown passes to 18 interceptions and finishing with a 71.1 passer rating on the season. After refusing to rework his contract and being cut Grbac retired from the NFL with offers on the table from other teams, according to the Associated Press.

Dilfer’s bitterness seemingly extends beyond the team as well for what he says was Grbac not having enough mental or physical toughness.

“I’ll take a shot at Elvis because it doesn’t bother me at all,” Dilfer said. “The core value of that team was toughness. And Brian didn’t realize that. It wasn’t their coaching. It wasn’t their talent evaluation. It wasn’t all the things that they think it was. The core value of that team was mental and physical toughness, and that’s who I am and that’s the opposite of who Elvis is. They set their identity back light years by getting it wrong.”

Baltimore would make the playoffs in just two of the next six seasons before owner Steve Bisciotti fired coach Brian Billick, hiring John Harbaugh to replace him. Dilfer signed as a backup with the Seattle Seahawks, starting just 12 games over four years before fizzling out with one-year stints with the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers.

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In-state head coaching candidates for Vanderbilt

In-state head coaching candidates for Vanderbilt.

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In-state Southeastern Conference East foe Vanderbilt fired head coach Derek Mason Sunday.

Mason served as the Commodores’ head coach since 2014, compiling a 3-3 record against Tennessee. He had a 27-55 overall record at Vanderbilt, while appearing in two bowl games.

Following Mason’s departure, Vols Wire takes a look at in-state head coaching candidates, Trent Dilfer, Jeff Fisher and Rex Ryan, for Vanderbilt’s vacant position.

Phil Jones, former Vols’ defensive lineman (1973-74) and Nashville resident, discussed who would be a leading candidate between Dilfer, Fisher and Ryan at Vanderbilt.

Jones views Dilfer as the leading candidate of the three.

Trent Dilfer — Lipscomb Academy head coach

Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire

Dilfer is in his second as head coach at Lipscomb Academy in Nashville.

The Super Bowl champion quarterback has made the playoffs both seasons at the helm of Lipscomb Academy.

The 48-year-old finished 7-6 during the 2019 campaign and is currently 13-2 and remains in the high school state playoffs this season.

Dilfer previously joined the show “Tennessee Two-A-Days” to discuss his coaching career.

Jeff Fisher — Former Tennessee Titans head coach

1999: Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher gives the thumbs-up to the crowd after this team beat the Atlanta Falcons 30-17 at Adelphia Coliseum Dec. 19, 1999 to insure a playoff berth. © Bill Steber / The Tennessean, The Tennessean via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Fisher served as head coach for the Houston Oilers and Tennessee Titans from 1994-2010.

The 62-year-old former Tennessee head coach resides in Nashville.

Rex Ryan — Former Jets and Bills head coach

Former football coach and current ESPN analyst Rex Ryan looks on from the stage during the final day of the NFL Draft Saturday, April 27, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn. © George Walker IV / Tennessean.com

Ryan served as head coach for the Jets (2009-14) and Bills (2015-16), compiling a 61-66 record and appearing in two AFC championship games.

The 57-year-old former NFL head coach currently resides in the Nashville area.

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Georgia football 5-star QB commit Brock Vandagriff shines on first day of Elite 11 competition

The 22nd annual Elite 11 quarterback competition began Monday and Georgia football commit Brock Vandagriff looks the part so far.

On Monday, 20 of the top- high school quarterbacks in the nation arrived in Nashville for the first day of competition at the 22nd annual Elite 11 finals.

Among those competing is Georgia football commit Brock Vandagriff, a 5-star quarterback from Bogart, Georgia. Vandagriff is rated as the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the 2021 recruiting class.

247Sports spoke with Elite 11 head coach Trent Dilfer about his thoughts after day one and it seems Vandagriff is matching the high expectations so far.

“Vandagriff is awesome,” Dilfer stated. “He’s another one of those kids that makes everything look easy. His tape matches what you see in person. It’s impossible not to put the other stuff out of your mind when you’re watching him, he plays six weeks after he shatters his ankle with screws in his ankle and scores six touchdowns. He’s not a camp guy, you can see he’s a football player at a camp. He’s consistent.”

Vandagriff isn’t the only Georgia quarterback in Nashville. Wake Forest transfer quarterback Jamie Newman is also representing the Bulldogs as a counselor.

Notable former UGA quarterbacks that have participated in the competition are D.J. Shockley, Matthew Stafford, Aaron Murray, Jacob Eason and Jake Fromm – not a bad list to follow if you’re Vandagriff.