Category Archives: Football

Jashon Robertson makes the Outland Trophy Watch List

The Football Writers Association of America (“FWAA”) named Tennessee senior offensive lineman Jashon Robertson to its 2017 Outland Trophy watch list today.

https://twitter.com/Vol_Football/status/885507656340975617

The Outland Trophy is given to the nation’s best interior lineman (offense or defense) each year, the winner being chosen from three finalists from the FWAA All-America Team. Robertson, who has started 34 games for Tennessee and was a key contributor to 2016’s record-breaking offense, is one of 81 players overall and one of 11 from the SEC on the preseason watch list. The watch list is made up of 24 offensive tackles, 21 defensive tackles, 20 centers, and 16 offensive guards.

The watch list will be whittled down to six or seven semifinalists on November 15, and six days later down to the three finalists. The winner will be announced live on ESPN on December 7.

Programming set for Tennessee Takeover Day on the SEC Network

The schedule for Tennessee Takeover Day on the SEC Network is set. The network will show nothing but Vols coverage for 24 hours straight beginning at 12:00 a.m. next Tuesday, July 18. The schedule features three football games (last year’s Florida and Georgia games, plus the 1998 national championship), last year’s win over Kentucky in basketball, a Tennessee-Vanderbilt baseball game, a Lady Vols-South Carolina hoops game, a volleyball game, a Tennessee-Florida softball game, a football National Signing Day special, and four VFL Films and SEC Storied specials about the Vols.

Here’s the entire programming schedule (all times ET):

  • 12:00 a.m.
    Football: Tennessee vs. Florida
  • 3:00 a.m.
    Football: Tennessee at Georgia
  • 6:00 a.m.
    Volleyball: Tennessee vs. Kentucky
  • 8:00 a.m.
    Men’s Hoops: Tennessee vs. Kentucky
  • 10:00 a.m.
    Women’s Hoops: Tennessee at South Carolina
  • 12:00 p.m.
    Softball: Tennessee vs. Florida
  • 2:00 p.m.
    Baseball: Tennessee at Vanderbilt
  • 4:00 p.m.
    VFL Films: Best of Tennessee
  • 5:00 p.m.
    Football: Signing Day 2017
  • 6:00 p.m.
    VFL Films: Declaration Day 2017
  • 7:00 p.m.
    SEC Storied: The Color Orange
  • 8:00 p.m.
    SEC Storied: Pat XO
  • 9:00 p.m.
    Football: 1998 National Championship

It seems like they could have found better time slots for the football games, but that’s why we have DVRs. Just make sure there’s room on that sucker before Tuesday rolls around.

Counterpoint: Butch Jones’ Positive Spinning is Maddening to the Vols Fanbase

I started a new job this week, and I’ve gone from being a virtual expert at my daily responsibilities to having to train for 8 hours the past few days just to get a handle on all of my new tasks.

That’s disappointing.

After all, I thought even though I was changing gigs, I’d catch on quickly.

In one of my night jobs, I thought I wrote a kick-butt article for Bleacher Report last night that I re-read multiple times and published this morning. Looked clean to me. Though the content was strong, I got an editorial note that on one of the slides, I forgot to link an article I quoted.

That’s disappointing.

Tennessee head coach Butch Jones doesn’t understand the definition of disappointment, obviously. After he was quoted — yet again — as saying something cringe-worthy at SEC Media Days this week, answering that last season wasn’t a disappointment, he led to yet another national media frenzy dissecting his words with a gigantic, 500-word “seriously?”

The words, yet again, have split an already fractured fanbase down the middle. The staunch Butch supporters believe the words were no big deal and point (rightfully) to the fact that the past two nine-win seasons are better than the five-win seasons of Derek Dooley not so long ago.

Others, like the jaded, frustrated fans who remember the glorious 1990s and can’t quite stomach even the upper end of mediocrity have used this as yet another battle cry that Butch isn’t the answer.

Neither extreme is OK. Why? Because even though last season may not have been bad, it was, indeed, a disappointment, by definition. After saying, “I don’t view it as a disappointment, these were his VERY NEXT WORDS:

“The way I view it is we didn’t accomplish everything we set ourselves out to. And, again, our goal every year is to win a championship and compete to win a championship.”

[We interrupt this regularly scheduled column to bring you the actual, real-life definition of “disappointment.”

dis·ap·point·ment
disəˈpointmənt/
noun
the feeling of sadness or displeasure caused by the nonfulfillment of one’s hopes or expectations.
Uhhhhhhh, yeah. So, um, Butch, last year was a disappointment, big guy. It just was. Ask senior defensive tackle Kendal Vickers, who is 22 years old and still more media-savvy than our head football coach.

If it sounds like I’m going after Butch, it shouldn’t, because I’m not. My track record proves I’m a Butch supporter. I believe he has gone a long way in re-establishing the program to a level of respectability. The jury is still out on whether he’s good enough to be a championship-level coach at Tennessee, but he’s earned enough string to prove whether he can or not.

I’m sorry, but three years of rebuilding from the doldrums of the worst head coaching hire in SEC history and an injury-plagued 2016 season isn’t enough to tell us either way.

I know for a fact that Jones isn’t on the hot seat, no matter what a vocal minority on social media and message boards want to say. New athletic director John Currie knows what state the program has been in, and he knows how far it’s come. This year is a pivot point in Jones’ tenure, sure, but there won’t be any serious talk about going in a different direction until after the 2018 season, at least.

So, divorce that idea from this one: Jones needs to learn what to say when.

Last year was a disappointment. It started with a 5-0 flurry, and was a whole lot of fun breaking the Florida streak and beating Georgia on the Dobb-nail boot. But also included in those five wins was the lucky-to-win game against a less-talented Appalachian State team to open the season.

Then, even though the wheels didn’t necessarily come off, the Vols had to steer to the curb and call a tow service. After an injury-cursed loss at Texas A&M, UT was blown to smithereens by Alabama. Then, they fell apart defensively down the stretch in wins against Missouri and Kentucky and losses to South Carolina and Vanderbilt.

No matter what you want to call it, there’s no excuse for those defensive performances in Year 4 of any coach’s tenure. Tennessee is historically supposed to beat Vanderbilt and South Carolina regardless of the circumstances, but there’s no question UT should have still been more talented than those teams even with all the injuries. At the very least, they shouldn’t have given up miles worth of yards, including a school-record high in yards allowed against Mizzou in a game they actually won.

It’s unacceptable. It’s a disappointment.

Many writers have weighed in over the past few days on Jones’ words. Anything else I say about what he should have said would just be a repeat of that. But even though Butch’s sound bytes are scrutinized more than they probably should be by people across the country, his track record doesn’t exactly give him any free passes.

Much like Jones’ progress in the win column has bought him some wiggle room when it comes to keeping his job (as we’ve already discussed), his verbal miscues have tightened the noose in the realm of public perception. After “champions of life” and “five-star hearts” Butch needs to rebuild his reputation “brick by brick” before the cynical world of media and the court of public opinion.

The fact is Tennessee’s historical fortitude and the heights of the program’s success have sculpted a world where nine wins is acceptable, but it’s not good enough. Butch’s opinion doesn’t matter to a fan base that has seen its two biggest rivals reach unprecedented success during a dark time. The successes of Nick Saban at Alabama and Urban Meyer at Florida haven’t done Butch or anybody else in the SEC, for that matter, any favors.

But Butch didn’t have to beat Alabama in 2016 for it to keep from being a disappointment. All he had to do was win against South Carolina and Vanderbilt and seize a down SEC East with the door wide-open in a year the Vols were expected to do just that.

He didn’t do it. A Florida team with one of the worst offenses in the country has gone to the SEC Championship Game two years in a row now because the Vols couldn’t seize what was being handed to them. Bottom line.

And while last year shouldn’t be nearly enough to get him fired, it’s the first flesh wound.

If that’s not disappointing to Butch, well, it should be.

Here’s the thing, Vols fans. It actually IS disappointing to him. You’ve seen the man on the sidelines. You know he is passionate, turns eight shades of red and looks like his head is going to blow off. He tirelessly recruits, scrutinizes every single detail of the program with his fingerprints all over it and has proved over and over again he will make the difficult decisions — even when it means severing ties with long-time friends — when it comes to upgrading his coaching staff.

He cares. A lot. And he’s disappointed last year didn’t end with the Vols playing for a championship. He said it. The goal is to win championships, and the Vols didn’t do it.

By definition, that’s disappointing.

All he has to do is say it. All he has to do to stay on the same wavelength as the sane Tennessee fans is to just let them know that while things are getting better and the program is getting healthier, seasons like last year are unacceptable. They’re disappointing.

If you want a team that competes for championships and expects championships, you have to preach to your team that anything less is not OK. I’ve been behind closed doors, and Butch does that. He says it all the time; he lives it and breathes it.

For some reason, he just refuses to tell us that. And that’s why we don’t see eye-to-eye.

The Tri Cities wins the 2017 Big Orange Caravan

A record crowd of 1,011 attended the Big Orange Caravan during its final stop at the Kingsport Farmers Market in the Tri Cities last night. The new “family-friendly” spin on the event was a great idea, although the execution could use a bit of tweaking. It was hot, the lines were long, there were not enough seats, and much of the fun stuff was out in the hot sun, but overall, it was fun, and Tri Cities Vols Fans showed out.

https://twitter.com/vol_sports/status/884953678880354305

Butch Jones, who had spent the previous day in Birmingham for SEC Media Days and Nashville for its Big Orange Caravan, burned a day of his rare vacation to sign autographs, talk to Vols fans, and stop at Pal’s for a burger and a shake. Because you can’t come to the Tri Cities without stopping at Pal’s. Jones said he texted a picture of his meal to head basketball coach Rick Barnes, who didn’t attend, just to make him jealous.

A couple of stories I hadn’t heard from Jones included (1) him telling Josh Dobbs to do whatever Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Antonio Brown told him to do, and (2) a joke about how Sterl the Pearl, who wore #16 before Peyton Manning did, goes around telling people that his jersey is retired.

And by the way, I would listen to Sterl the Pearl read the roster ten times in a row. Dude’s got energy.

Sterl the Pearl

The nice lady beside him on the Macbook, maybe not so much. She needs less Coke and Dasani and more Sterl.

Jones did get into some newsy stuff, including touting the Vols academic turnaround and insisting that he wants players with the right attitudes even if people mock him for it now. Also talking to fans were director of track and field and cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan, tennis coaches Alison Ojeda and Chris Woodruff, Bob Kesling, and John Currie. They also got local favorite and The Rock painter Peyton Miller on stage for some appreciation.

It was a fun evening. I appreciate Bobby Rader and WXSM for having me on again to talk about Butch Jones’ positive leadership. Apologies to anyone for any sudden change in topics. It was loud, and Bobby was talking into my deaf ear, so I really had no idea what he was asking. If I sounded like a politician checking off his talking points and ignoring the question, well now you know the rest of the story.

And this post would not be complete without mentioning that somebody showed up with a lawnmower for Butch to sign.

Your move, Chattanooga, Nashville, and Memphis.

 

Why Butch Jones’ refusal to use the word “disappointment” is a good thing

It will come as no surprise to most, but folks are still weighing in on Butch Jones’ response to a question at SEC Media Days yesterday about whether he viewed the 2016 season as a disappointment. Today’s headlines say that Jones did not view the 2016 season as a disappointment. That led to a lot of fans wondering why it is so difficult for Jones to use that particular word to describe that particular situation. After all, Vols defensive tackle Kendal Vickers admitted that 2016 was a disappointment, so why can’t his coach?

For the record, here is Jones’ entire response to the question:

“I don’t view it as a disappointment. The way I view it is we didn’t accomplish everything we set ourselves out to. And, again, our goal every year is to win a championship and compete to win a championship.

“So, was it a disappointment? No. Did we not accomplish some of the things we set out to do? Absolutely. We have to learn from the things that went wrong that we could have done better.

“But I think all you have to do is look at it’s difficult to win and it’s difficult to win championships. And I think this league really exemplifies that. But I’m still proud of the way our team responded. And I told our football team this. The lessons you learned from last year, the resolve, the resiliency, are going to serve you for many years down the road in life.

“And that football team went through a lot of things. I know we started off 5-0, and I believe our first five opponents were divisional champions. And I made a comment going towards the tail end of our season that the back half of our season would be much more challenging than the front half of our season.
Everyone kind of looked at me like, what are you talking about? But I knew where we are at as a program, and we were still needing that competitive depth across the board, and we have some position groups where we couldn’t afford to have injuries.

“But, again, this is a results-oriented business and we fell short of our goals. But I don’t like to use the term “disappointment,” because when you still look at it, it’s hard to win in this conference. And only three teams have won nine games, and the University of Tennessee is one of those.”

The entire quote is 1,624 characters, though, and would require 12 total Tweets, so it’s boiled down to the lead: “I don’t view it as a disappointment.”

But did he accomplish what he wanted? No. Did some things go wrong? Yes. Could they have done better? Yes. Did they fall short of their goals? Yes.

But are there any positives to take from last season? Yes.

And that’s why we aren’t going to hear Jones label the whole thing as a disappointment. He’s bent toward the positive. He believes in the Power of Positive Leadership.

Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples says that Jones should talk like he thinks, that he shouldn’t be “deathly afraid of admitting what any person would feel in his situation.”

What Jones fails to understand is that those fans just want to know he feels the way they feel. They’re disappointed about last season. They would rather have an East championship than a Life championship. They would rather their team sign five-star players instead of five-star hearts. If he were willing to show them he feels the same way—except more passionately, because this is his livelihood we’re talking about—then they might be more understanding if the rebuild takes a little longer than expected.

Fans want to win, Jones believes a positive attitude is the way

Staples is right that many fans want to know that Jones feels the way they feel, but what they want more is to win. My theory is that Jones believes that a positive attitude is the only path to victory and he is absolutely unwilling to deviate from that belief even if it makes some fans and media uncomfortable in the short term. He believes that this is the only way to give fans what they truly want in the end instead of what they’re asking for right now. Jones’ predecessor tried embracing the negativity, and his orange pants are burnt to a crisp in the dumpster. Sure, we fans want a coach to feel the same way we do, but we also want one who will do what it takes to win, and if the coach believes that those two things are in-congruent, he’d better choose the latter.

Butch Jones obviously believes that positive leadership is required to win, and so he views everything from that perspective. It’s what causes him to couch everything in positive terms, including negative outcomes.

And it’s what causes him to see both positives and negatives in a season that had both and boldly proclaim that the only thing it means is that we’re not there yet.

Reading between the lines at SEC Media Days: Butch Jones and competitive depth

There’s been some manufactured controversy about Tennessee Vols head coach Butch Jones saying at SEC Media Days that he didn’t think last season was a disappointment while Jashon Robertson was saying that it was. A couple of notes on that first before I get to my main point. First, it’s not like these guys were sitting in the same room arguing with each other. Jones was asked in one room and Robertson was asked in another.

Second, Jones really only said that he didn’t like the word “disappointment.” He said in the same sentence that they didn’t accomplish everything they’d set out to do, that they needed to learn from the things that went wrong, and that they could have done better. He then said that he was proud of how the team responded and that the lessons they’d learned would serve them well in the future, and then he said again that they fell short of their goals. He just doesn’t like the term “disapointment,” probably because of that book he’s apparently been reading and recommending to SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey.

What everyone can hopefully agree on is that there are lessons to be learned from last year, and the more important issue is exactly what lessons have been learned.

One guy (high five to The Sporting News) actually asked that question mostly in that form, and Jones’ answer sheds some light on the main thing that he thinks went wrong last year and what he’s doing about it this offseason.

“You can never have enough depth,” said Jones. “Everything is about competitive depth.”

That wasn’t the only time Jones used the phrase “competitive depth,” either. He used the same phrase when someone else asked him what he needed to do to take the proverbial next step:

“I think a lot of times, too, when you’re building a football program, your program goes through evolutions or different stages from being able to compete to having competitive depth.”

Depth was definitely on Jones’ mind. He even mentioned it in response to the question about last year being a disappointment, saying that he knew depth was going to be a challenge in the back half of the season even before it became the problem that it was.

The difference between “depth” and “competitive depth” is presumably the difference between having backups and having backups who are actually ready to play. So, a “competitive depth” problem is a combination of injuries to starters and backups who aren’t quite ready to fill in.

One of the most interesting things I heard out of Jones’ mouth today was his subtly-offered opinion that having to rely on true freshmen more than normal could have been a factor in the rash of injuries last year, that maybe they weren’t physically ready to play. I don’t know whether that’s actually true, but it’s an interesting question: Are younger guys more prone to injury? It has a certain logic to it.

Regardless, it seems that Jones thought his team’s primary problem last year was competitive depth. In other words, not just too many injuries to key guys, but not enough backups who were ready to play.

So if that’s the problem, how do you correct it?

Enter Rock Gullickson

The second most-repeated phrase of the day was this:

This has been the best offseason we’ve had.

I’m not attributing that quote to anyone in particular because I think everybody wearing orange must have said it. I heard it from Butch, and Twitter recorded it from Robertson.. I haven’t read or heard any interviews from Kendal Vickers or Emmanuel Moseley yet, but I’m fully expecting to see the same quote from them. Heck, it was probably a talking point on the plane.

It’s not uncommon for players and coaches to say something similar at media days, but again, reading between the lines provides some glimpse into why they’re saying it, and the why is important to the problem of competitive depth.

“Rock” and “Gullickson” were the first two words out of Jones’ mouth on the SEC Now program after he declared this their best offseason. (For anyone just now tuning in, Gullickson is Tennessee’s new strength and conditioning coach.) He was the first new hire that Jones mentioned in his opening remarks. Butch Jones thinks Rock Gullickson is important.

But important why? Jones mentioned several times that his players are bigger and stronger this year than last. He mentioned it on SEC Now when asked how his defensive line was going to stop the run this year. He specifically singled out Darrell Taylor as a guy who looks completely different now than he did last fall.

Reading between the lines at SEC Media Days today, then, it appears that Jones believes that the thing he needed to fix the most in the offseason was a lack of competitive depth, and that’s exactly what he’s been doing. He’s put former NFL strength coach Gullickson in charge of getting his guys healthier, bigger, and stronger, so that his team will be better.

And he says it’s been the best offseason they’ve had in five years.

We won’t know if that’s true or whether it matters until this fall, but it’s good to know that Jones has identified the issue and is well on the way to executing his plan to correct it.

What to expect from the Vols at SEC Media Days this afternoon

SEC Media Days kicks off today in Birmingham, Alabama. It’s like a much-needed little booster shot, giving college football fans just a little extra juice that you’ll need to make last through the start of fall camp.

The SEC Network will devote more than 30 hours of coverage to the event this week, primarily with its appropriately-named SEC Now: 2017 SEC Football Media Days television show from 12:30-5:30 each day.

Up first is Arkansas, LSU, and Good Ole Rocky Top. (The schedule the rest of the week is here.) Each team brings its coach and three player representatives to the event to sweat under the spotlight and heavy-breathing of about 1,000 sportswriters. In a season without stars, it’s hardly surprising that Tennessee went with seniority in tapping seniors Kendal Vickers, Jashon Robertson, and Emmanuel Moseley to say the right things in front of the microphones today. Generally, these guys are well-coached and will do exactly that, and they’re even getting advice from guys who’ve been there and done that like VFL Chris Walker:

“Engage the reporters,” Walker said. “Don’t get offended at questions that you get asked, because we always have to answer questions and sometimes answer tough ones. I think it’s one of those things where you enjoy the process and the opportunity you get to represent your university.”

If you are tempted to think that the reporters are especially prescient this week because their pre-event “X things to watch for at SEC Media Days,” just remember that they will be the ones asking the questions and thus directing the agenda. Mike Griffith did an especially good job with this, not only asking the questions, but also both predicting the answers and reading between the lines to interpret them. John Adams, though, makes you cock your head like a dog looking at a ceiling fan, wondering exactly what he’s doing. Is it snark? Good-natured humor? There’s enough truth in there to make you wonder about everything.

Anyway . . . by all means, expect these things to be addressed:

  • Lack of star power. As a couple of recent tweets from Bobby Rader pointed out that none of the preseason magazines have the same players on their covers, and even the SEC Media Guide punted on the issue and just showed an obscure group of faceless, numberless players. That could be a very good thing for team chemistry, but we’ll just have to wait and see. Expect the coaches and players to spin it positively. Also expect a few references to 1998, when Tee Martin took over after Peyton Manning was off to the NFL.
  • The quarterback battle. Will it be Quinten Dormady or Jarett Guarantano? Might it be both? When will they know? What criteria will they use to make the decision? Expect many words and no real information.
  • Update on injuries and what they’re doing to prevent this year what happened last year. Recently, Jones has downplayed the ability of a strength and conditioning coach and program to decrease injuries, and he’ll likely do that again. But he’ll also probably talk about the importance of gaining weight and strength and that they’ll be better in those areas this fall. He’ll also likely rattle off the players who have gained weight and make several references as to how Rock Gullickson is improving the program this summer.
  • How does everyone feel about Jones being identified by several news outlets as being on the hot seat? I may get this verbatim: “We have the best fans in the nation, and we like the expectations. It’s why you come to a place like Tennessee.” Points to anyone who can communicate that thought in a unique way, though. They may even get a blockquote from me this evening.
  • Further comments on Jones’ earlier “Champions of Life” comment. I wouldn’t expect Jones to walk this back very much but instead to clarify by adding more detail. It may lead to eye rolls from the cynical sports writers, but as several are beginning to point out, it’s much more important that the message resonates with players and their parents, and if Jones is saying these things to that audience and getting the results on the recruiting trail that he’s currently getting, then he’ll get no eye rolls from me.
  • The impact of the staff changes. These guys — Mike Canales, Walt Wells, Brady Hoke, Kevin Beard, Charlton Warren, and even Larry Scott, who is in a new role this fall — are all essentially the backup quarterback, someone you love because he hasn’t had the opportunity to make any mistakes yet. They’ll all get glowing reviews today.
  • The impact of the John Currie and Phillip Fulmer hires. How many times have you heard someone say bad things about their bosses in public? Right. (I actually think the nice things they’re saying about these hires are also true, for whatever that’s worth.)
  • The offensive line. I’ve said it many times, but I’ll say it again: these guys are as experienced, talented, and deep as they’ve been in a long time, and if they’re stronger and nastier to boot and can stay healthy, it’s going to go a long way toward having the Vols exceed muted expectations this fall.

We’ll be following along when the Vols step up to the plate, so stay tuned here and on Twitter.

 

Tennessee Takeover Day on the SEC Network is July 18

The SEC Network has announced that Tuesday, July 18 is Tennessee Takeover Day, a day for which the Vols “will exclusively program 24-hours of the network with classic games, films, ESPN original content and school-produced content.” During a two-week span, each of the 14 SEC schools gets to take the network hostage and use the platform for its own propaganda, and the 18th belongs to the Big Orange.

So what will the Vols choose to show the world with its own 24 hours? The only thing currently listed on the article announcing the Takeover schedule is the 2016 Tennessee-Florida game, which is certainly a great start. I’d expect the Georgia game as well. And maybe the Battle at Bristol or a nostalgic trip back to 2007, 2001, or 1998. Toss in a bit of recruiting news, add in a few sprinkles of Peyton name-dropping and an NFL Draft roundup, and we’d have a nice day. If we could manage the day without Paul Finebaum, that would be a nice cherry on top, but we won’t get greedy.

If you were in charge of programming for the day, what would you serve up?

Whatever the case, expect an awesome 24 hours of orange-tinted goodness. We’ll be watching for sure.

 

Tennessee’s Biggest 2017 Question: Where’s the Rush?

While some Tennessee fans may be wringing their hands over life after Joshua Dobbs, those concerns need to shift to the opposite line of scrimmage instead.

Between experienced junior Quinten Dormady and talented redshirt freshman Jarrett Guarantano, the Vols will have a capable quarterback behind center. It may be worth your worry to wonder how Larry Scott will fare in his first year as an offensive coordinator, but with running back John Kelly and a quality offensive line to help matters, it shouldn’t be as big of a deal moving forward on that side of the ball as some may think.

The real sweaty palms need to come on defense, particularly on the edges.

A season ago, UT’s defense was horrific in high-dollar coordinator Bob Shoop’s first year on Rocky Top. He has as much to prove as any player on the team after an embarrassing season that saw the Vols completely fall apart down the stretch. Yes, injuries were a contributing factor, but there’s still no reason South Carolina, Missouri, Kentucky and Vanderbilt should have been able to torch Tennessee in Year 4 of a coaching tenure.

If it’s not an indictment of recruiting depth against Butch Jones, then it’s got to fall on somebody. Jones is the head coach, so he deserves a portion of the blame, but Shoop gets paid $1 million a year to scheme things up better than he did a season ago.

If that happens again in 2017, there’s no reason why Tennessee should keep paying him.

“I think at the end of the year you always critique yourself and you quality control your personnel, your philosophy, your scheme, your execution and your personnel,” Shoop told GoVols247’s Patrick Brown recently. “I think I might have billed it (with) some unrealistic expectations, and when we got guys injured, maybe the guy calling the shots was a little bit stubborn right there, me. I really wanted to force-fit, this is my style of defense or whatever. I probably didn’t do a great job at times of tailoring things.”

As the story notes, Tennessee’s defense allowed 353 and 409 yards rushing to Texas A&M and Alabama. Later, it got much worse.

Kentucky gained 635 yards, including 443 on the ground. Missouri rushed for an unreal 420 yards en route to a 740-yard performance, the most yards ever allowed by a Tennessee defense. Then Vanderbilt scored 45 points in a season-ending upset.

Embarrassing.

What led to those gaudy numbers was a fundamental breakdown on all three levels of the defense. When you factor in the fact that Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Cam Sutton and especially Derek Barnett are gone, the Vols are going to have to shake things up under Shoop to improve. And they need to improve dramatically on that side of the ball in ’17 to even match the nine wins from a season ago.

The biggest loss is Barnett — a record-setting Tennessee legend when it comes to sacking the quarterback. Underrated are the losses of his end mates, Corey Vereen and LaTroy Lewis, too. Vereen was sneaky-good, and with all the added attention on Barnett, he performed well, even for an awful defense. Lewis gave quality late-down snaps, too.

Where do the Vols go from here? How do you replace the irreplaceable in Barnett and his supporting cast?

That’s the biggest question mark of the season. Tennessee has to generate a pass rush among the players remaining on its roster. It also has to build quality depth where, at least on the surface, none exists on the roster. While UT has some depth at defensive tackle [though the Vols need Shy Tuttle to get back from his injury sooner rather than later, and the first of the year isn’t looking like it’s going to happen…] the ends are paper-thin.

A year ago, Jonathan Kongbo played much of the time on the interior. Many reports are that he’s gotten his body in a good position, and he is showing the type of leadership that is necessary for a player of his ilk. After showing some flashes late last year, the Vols need the junior former No. 1-ranked JUCO player to live up to his ranking under new line coach Brady Hoke.

The other starter should be battled out between promising redshirt sophomore Darrell Taylor and oft-injured, formerly highly-ranked prospect Kyle Phillips. Neither player has proven he can be an every-down SEC defender, but both have immense talent. Taylor is over 250 pounds and is the kind of speed-rusher teams covet, but he’s got to prove he can get off blocks and play with more consistency than he did this spring. Phillips simply can’t stay on the field. His freshman and sophomore seasons were cut short with injuries, and he didn’t participate this spring, either. The Vols must have him all year.

Beyond that, your guess is as good as any where Tennessee will find depth.

The best guess right now is true freshman mid-term enrollee Deandre Johnson, who the Vols flipped from Mississippi State. The Miami native looked like a player who maybe can help right away this spring, and that’s big news for Tennessee. Perhaps one of the most intriguing players with college-ready bodies is freshman Matthew Butler, too. He is a jumbo defensive end who looks versatile enough to play either inside or out and should get snaps right away for the Vols, too.

Though Austin Smith and Ja’Quain Blakely are listed as linebackers, either could play with his hand down. Smith played defensive end after moving from linebacker a season ago, but he’s back to 236 pounds, and the redshirt sophomore could stay on the next level. With all the glut of second-level defenders, though, the quickest path to the field for him may be at end. Regardless, he’ll get snaps somewhere. He’s too talented to keep off the field. As for Blakely, he’s a good-looking player who redshirted a season ago and, now at 254 pounds, he looks like he can play at end. That’s where he should spend most of his time, and the Vols would love for him to break out this spring and prove deserving of some snaps.

If Mykelle McDaniel can remain in good standing with the Vols after being suspended last year, he’s a guy who could provide meaningful reps or at least is talented enough to.

Anybody projecting Ryan Thaxton, Kivon Bennett or Marquez Bembry right now knows more about the team than I. Nobody knows if those guys are going to be able to help in 2017 or when they’ll be able to at all.

And, yeah, that’s it.

So, as we said, the pass-rushers are far and away the biggest question marks and the utmost concern. If you can’t get to the quarterback and he has all the time to find open receivers downfield, he’ll find them. Tennessee’s defensive backs were terrible a season ago, and though new secondary coach Charlton Warren may actually get a player to turn around and play the ball every once in a while, it’s not realistic to think UT can go from as bad as it was defending the pass to the top half of the SEC.

In other words, the Vols need to find some guys to get after the quarterback from the end position (or from the second level like Quart’e Sapp is possibly capable of doing). If they do that, the defense stands a good chance of being much better.

If they can’t, it’s going to be a tough time to be a Vols fan when the defense takes the field again in 2017.