Category Archives: Football

Tennessee Football: Will the Pruitt Way Be the Winning Way?

You’re a Tennessee fan, and you’re skeptical. The two things may as well be synonymous after what we’ve been through for the past decade-plus, especially after what our dysfunctional administration put us through this offseason.

New head football coach Jeremy Pruitt doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt yet, and, quite frankly, he probably doesn’t want it. Like everything else in his career, he realizes he has to earn it, too.

You shouldn’t give him the benefit of the doubt, either. You should be in wait-and-see mode.

After all, most of us talked ourselves into Derek Dooley and Butch Jones, even while the nation around us warned that they were reaches, at best. As the program burned all around us, we were like that meme, stuck in the middle of the room on fire, saying, “This is fine.”

This isn’t fine. 4-8 isn’t fine. Winless in the SEC isn’t fine. The roster being in such shambles that Pruitt and his coaching staff having to experiment with position changes galore just to find diamonds in a field of quartz isn’t fine.

But it’s what we have. It’s what Pruitt inherited, and nobody hears him complaining, even if you don’t hear him heaping praise, either. Instead — unlike the past two regimes — everybody in the nation is telling us to hold tight, because Pruitt and this great staff he assembled know what they’re doing, and they’ll get Tennessee back on the right track.

We’re not seeing a used-car salesman of the highest order in Knoxville anymore. Butch Barnum has left the circus tent.

There are covert practices taking place in Knoxville, mainly because Pruitt learned at the knee of Nick Saban, and we’re all starved because we know very little about what’s happening at practice, and our reporters are seeing very little to know what to report. Truth be told, there’s probably little to see. We all should know what Tennessee football is going to be in 2018, and it isn’t going to be a pretty picture. It’s going to take more than an offseason to wash the Butch Jones stink off the program.

But you can bet one thing: Pruitt is putting his fingerprints all over this program.

Is that a good thing? We certainly don’t know yet, but we know one thing for sure. It isn’t the same as Jones’ fingerprints. And we know that isn’t bad, don’t we?

The reports from spring practice are about what you’d expect. Gone is the blaring music at drills. It seems that the coaching staff is actually more interested in the players hearing what they have to say than listening to Lil’ Wayne (or whatever kids are listening to these days). There isn’t as much hype or hyperbole. Instead, it’s just straight talk, and not all of it is what we want to hear. But I think we all probably believe it’s the truth, because Pruitt isn’t the type of guy who’ll sugarcoat anything.

Players are talking little, and assistants are talking less. Pruitt is controlling the message and has mentioned to reporters he wants everything to be about getting better this spring and for players to be in full-on business mode. Maybe that gums up the conduit between the program and the public, but none of that matters if they wind up better than we think they’ll be, now does it?

Pruitt is not going to come out and say there are a lot of orange turds in the punch bowl, but you can tell by the way he’s shuffling and trying to find some more puzzle pieces that fit what he wants to do that this roster isn’t in the shape he wants it. This spring has the feel of, “Well, we’re going to do whatever it takes to get to six or seven wins.” Am I reading between the lines? Well, yeah. Aren’t we all?

I don’t think the “Pruitt way” is hoarding graduate transfers or hitting up JUCOs for players. I don’t think the “Pruitt way” is moving kids all over the field to try to find a place where they may play the best. And I don’t think the “Pruitt way” is stripping all the fun away from football.

I think the “Pruitt way” is winning. And I know he’s done it before at the highest level and believe he knows what it takes. I believe he sees the roster is in shambles, knows to recruit at the highest level he has to show marked progress on the field and is trying to piece together a team in ’18 that can compete, and I believe he’s trying to use some of what he has to get there and sprinkle in others he doesn’t have.

So if Alontae Taylor is better at cornerback (where he’s getting a look right now during practice and where Pruitt recruited him to play while at UA) or LaTrell Bumphus is better at defensive end than tight end — and both have a clearer path to help the Vols in 2018 at those positions — that’s where they’ll play. Both of them may go back to offense, but why not look?

It’s part of a pedigree of success, a pedigree of toughness and a pedigree of championships. Butch didn’t have it. Dooley didn’t have it. The biggest difference in those guys and Pruitt, is the new guy does.

“It was very exciting (when Tennessee hired Pruitt), just seeing all the national championships he’s won, and especially with the coaching staff he’s brought in,” senior defensive lineman Kyle Phillips told GoVols247’s Patrick Brown. “We have a great coaching staff here, and I’ll believe we’ll be successful for it.

“This coaching staff, they’re definitely being tough, especially after a bad season last year, they want us to get the most out of this upcoming season. They believe that we have the talent in the room to do it. And I think we can do it, if we buy in.”

What is the “most” out of the season? Six wins? Seven wins? Could Tennessee somehow get to eight? Few probably think the latter is in the question, but the coaches and players aren’t limiting themselves, and that’s what you want to hear. There’s a reason why it’s exciting that players like Quart’e Sapp, Will Ignont, Jarrett Guarantano and others are bigger and more athletic. There’s a reason to be excited about UT’s personnel fitting a 3-4 scheme better than a 4-3. There’s a reason to be excited about throwing the ball vertically more and having bigger running backs who can get tough yards between tackles.

We have to hope in the little things because the Jones era didn’t leave Pruitt anything big to inherit. We have to find solace in what left with the previous regime.

Gone is the unfolding rusty lawn chair offense of Jones that appeared allergic to vertical routes, tried to work East and West to run from defenders, and make 1st-and-goal from the 2 1st-and-goal from 8 by lining up in shotgun formations.

Maybe this team will play some real football on offense and some real football on defense. Maybe we’ve got a real football coach this time. As my good buddy Wes Rucker said, “Coach Pruitt is the kind of guy who’ll put a dip in and sit in the field house and just talk ball with a high school coach for a couple hours.”

All of us who played ball can appreciate that. Pruitt has worked for every job he’s ever gotten, and he’s been successful every step of the way. He fully expects to be successful at Tennessee, too. But anybody who is expecting an overnight sensation is fooling himself. Get ready to scoff and hear the snide remarks, to feel like “this is the same ol’ Tennessee” as the losses pile up in 2018. Just be ready.

But don’t be surprised if it changes soon. The culture is already changing. Players’ bodies are already changing. Recruiting is already changing.

With Phillip Fulmer in charge of the athletic department and Pruitt in charge of the football program, there feels like an old-school approach to things around UT. Will that include winning? We’re all eagerly awaiting that to happen. We all hope it will happen, and while we all yearn for it to happen quickly, common sense and a look up and down the roster tell us we’re going to have to be patient yet again. You can blame Pruitt — and you probably will at some point in 2018 — but that isn’t his fault. When you make awful hire after awful hire, you rebuild every four or five years. Otherwise, the hires wouldn’t be awful, would they?

I’d love to sit here and tell you, “Be patient because the wins will come.” But I can’t. All I can tell you is expect to win soon. Why?

Because it’s the “Pruitt way.” And everything else so far is being done the way he wants.

Tennessee Recruiting Efforts Show Commitment to More Beef

This past week might be more indicative of what we should expect from the Jeremy Pruitt regime, as the relationships he’s taken time to build manifested itself in a flurry of commitments.

One common theme throughout most of these new pledges is that they’re bigger than the players currently on campus. That’s no surprise. Pruitt mentioned several times over the course of his first few months that he wanted to see the Vols get bigger — both in the weight room and on the recruiting trail with the type of athlete they were recruiting.

Not only have we noticed in drills that a lot of the players are bigger (guys like quarterback Jarrett Guarantano and linebacker Quart’e Sapp) but also, the guys Pruitt is bringing in are elevating the average size of the roster.

The week started with an expected pledge from Cartersville, Georgia, tight end Jackson Lowe, who Tennessee loved and had high atop their list at the tight end position — a major need for the team in this recruiting cycle. At 6’5″, 242 pounds, Lowe is athletic for his size, can catch passes and looks to be a strong inline blocker. He’s used to catching passes and pass-blocking, as his quarterback a season ago was top-ranked signal-caller Trevor Lawrence, a player who grew up high on the Vols but ultimately chose Clemson because of failures by the previous regime.

Lowe was coveted by many of the top teams in the country, including Clemson, but fell in love with the Vols, Pruitt, tight ends coach Brian Niedermeyer and commitment Jackson Lampley.

Tennessee continued the trend with a defensive tackle pledge from LeDarrius Cox, a 6’4″, 305-pound defensive tackle from McGill Toolen High School in Mobile, Alabama. He had offers from Georgia, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and others, and he will be a high-rising recruit. Though he’s just a 3-star prospect, he’ll see his interest surge. It’ll be interesting to see what happens if Alabama or Auburn pulls the trigger because everybody knows how hard it is to pull players out of the Yellowhammer State, especially with the way both those instate teams are currently surging.

Earlier in the week, Tennessee pulled 2020 athlete Kristian Story from Alabama, a 6’2″, 207-pound athlete who is one of the nation’s top 200 players in that class. He’s expected to be one of the top overall players from the state in that group, which could be Pruitt’s best class with all the time to build relationships.

Tennessee followed up Cox’s recruitment with a commitment from an old name. JUCO defensive end Darel Middlelton, who chose UT while he was an underclassman at Powell High School. He transferred to Oak Ridge, had some off-the-field issues and wound up at East Mississippi Community College. He was once a 240-pound tight end prospect, but now he’s a 6’7″, 290-pound defensive end. It’s unclear whether he’d be part of the 2018 or ’19 class for the Vols, who are trying to get him in, but he’s an elite athlete if he can make the grades.

Sure, he’ll be rough around the edges, but a player of that size is somebody Tennessee can’t afford to turn away. Pruitt liked him when he was at Alabama, and teams like LSU and Georgia showed a lot of interest in him, too. If Tennessee can start getting big bruisers like him and 300-pound JUCO commitment Emmit Gooden in school, that’s a positive development for a program that looks like it finally wants to start competing to play SEC football.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Tennessee is going after all these big-name prospects who are bigger in stature, too. Pruitt immediately noticed the size discrepancy when he got to Rocky Top. Simply put: There were times a year ago when UT didn’t look like an SEC team, and that goes for the team throughout the roster.

That’s why the Vols vowed to get bigger, and they did at places like running back where they recruited 6’2″, 220-pound Jeremy Banks and received a graduate transfer from Michigan State power runner Madre London, who is 6’1″, 220. Heck, even Keller Chryst, the graduate transfer quarterback, is 240 pounds.

It just so happens the nation’s top-ranked player is a running back/outside linebacker from North Carolina named Quavaris Crouch, who is a monstrous 6’2″, 224 pounds and who has already visited Tennessee for a multi-day visit. Of course, the Vols will have plenty of competition for him, but they’re going to be in the race for the long haul.

For those looking for a quick fix in Knoxville, you’re probably going to be disappointed. The roster deficiencies Butch Jones left are prevalent. The argument can be made that the roster — at least in places — is worse than the one he took over when Derek Dooley was fired, which is crazy considering the good recruiting Jones did at times. That speaks to his failures in player development, and it’s why UT fans hold out hope that the new staff can get the most out of players who were expected to play better than their careers have proved thus far.

But you simply can’t play SEC football with a finesse scheme on either side of the ball. That was evidenced by all the injuries the Vols suffered the past few years and also by the fact that Tennessee had few players on its team that made any game-breaking plays on either side of the ball. They were kind of just … there.

When you see Alabama and Georgia step onto the field, you see physical freaks flying around all over the field, making tackles or breaking tackles, making plays and forcing turnovers or scoring touchdowns. Tennessee isn’t there, and the ’18 version of the Vols probably won’t be, either.

But Pruitt has seen it up close and personal while with the Tide and Dawgs. Heck, he recruited a lot of those players making those plays. So, he knows what it takes.

The Tennessee transformation has begun.

Tennessee Spring Has Sprung: 5 Intriguing Vols Storylines to Watch

The Jeremy Pruitt era officially began Tuesday as the Tennessee Volunteers took to the practice field for the first of 15 spring practices. Coming off the program’s worst year in history and a winless slate in the SEC, hope is all we have.

Hope of improvement. Hope of development and actual coaching. And hope that some new blood injected in the program will produce enough wins to get back to bowl eligibility.

After back-to-back 9-4 seasons under Butch Jones, 2017 spiraled out of control. Now, the Vols appear in shambles from a roster standpoint, in worse shape, arguably, than they were when Jones took over for Derek Dooley.

This is the early 1980s all over again.

But, we have to start somewhere, don’t we? You aren’t going to beat Georgia and Alabama for recruits until you prove you can win football games. The Vols can’t do that this spring, but they can take steps toward being a better team. There are miles and miles to go before we play.

Let’s take a look at five things to watch as we embark on the spring.

 

Can Jarrett Guarantano get separation?

Throughout the miserable end of the 2017 football season, Tennessee’s talented redshirt freshman quarterback showed flashes of growth. What’s he going to do once a real quarterbacks coach gets a hold of him now that Tyson Helton is in town?

There’s a reason why Guarantano was the nation’s top-rated dual-threat quarterback according to the 247Sports composite rankings in the 2016 class. The only questions are will he ever get to prove it behind an adequate offensive line, and how will his skill set fit within the framework of this pro-style offense?

Experts said that during his high school days, Guarantano was a pass-first quarterback, and he never proved to be the type of freelancing runner Joshua Dobbs was, anyway. There’s nothing wrong with being able run a little when the pocket collapses, but quarterbacks have to be able to throw the deep ball and the intermediate routes consistently. Guarantano needs to prove he can, or he won’t be the guy.

Keller Chryst is standing over there, watching, and he didn’t transfer from Stanford for his final season to stand on the sideline. He’s coming in to start, and Guarantano will have a battle on his hands once Chryst gets on campus. JG likely won’t have an issue beating out Will McBride, who seems like a poor fit for this scheme, but Chryst is a different story.

Last year, Guarantano’s major issues dealt with timing and accuracy. He struggled being on the same page with his receivers, and the internal clocks quarterbacks need to keep them from getting drive-killing sacks didn’t exist. A lot of that is because of a lack of maturity, but he’ll get lapped if he doesn’t pick it up quickly.

Chryst is right there waiting, JT Shrout is a talented freshman who might be the future, and this staff is going to go after elite signal-callers every year. In other words, Guarantano had better embrace the competition this spring, assert himself as the definitive guy right now and get a head start on Chryst.

If he does that, it’ll be big for his future and, more importantly, for Tennessee’s present.

 

Position changes steal the spotlight

One of the things we always stayed frustrated about during the Jones era was maximizing the potential of the roster. Sometimes, it was elite prospects not getting any better. At others, it was players we thought fit better at other positions who were locked at places where they were either buried on the depth chart or couldn’t reach their potential.

The perfect example of this, of course, is Tyler Byrd. The South Florida product flipped from Miami on National Signing Day’s eve two years ago, and we all waited to see whether he’d be a safety or a cornerback on the next level. Basically everybody who was anybody recruited him to play defense.

Yet, he’s been wasting away on the second- or third-string at wide receiver during his first two years.

This spring, he’s getting a crack at cornerback, and that’s an exciting development. Also, his best friend and high school teammate, Carlin Fils-aime, is getting the opportunity to play corner as well. He showed flashes at running back a season ago, but he was going to be buried on the depth chart there, especially with Michigan State graduate transfer Madre London coming in. With Ty Chandler, Tim Jordan, Trey Coleman and Jeremy Banks on the roster, CFA wouldn’t going to be a factor. Why not put him somewhere where he can? I like it.

When Latrell Bumphus committed to Tennessee over a bunch of nice offers, it was unclear whether he’d play tight end or defensive end. Though some schools (like Jeremy Pruitt at Alabama) was recruiting him to play defensive end, the Vols let him start on offense. Now, Bumphus has grown to nearly 280 pounds, and he is getting a look as a 3-4 defensive end. With his speed and explosion, he’s at least worth a look at a position of need.

An exciting development that transpired today was the news that this coaching staff is high on Princeton Fant, a player who was an afterthought in last year’s class after an injury-riddled senior season. He came in as a wide receiver, moved to tight end, was thought to be able to play linebacker, and nobody was sure where he was going to play or if he was. Pruitt and Co. are giving him a seven-practice look at running back. That’s an intriguing thought considering Fant is a nice-looking athlete who is around 6’2″, 220 pounds. Those guys don’t grow on trees, and if he develops a knack for the position, he’s got four years left to grow.

Ja’Quain Blakely, who was a linebacker under Jones, is moving over to tight end to get a look there. Also — even though this was to be expected — some players who were defensive ends will drop back and play outside “Jack” linebacker in a 3-4. The perfect player for that position is Darrell Taylor, but Austin Smith is another guy who can get a look there.

 

Talent rejuvenation

So, who is going to flourish under Pruitt?

Aren’t you sick of the days of guys like Kahlil McKenzie, Todd Kelly Jr. and Jonathan Kongbo coming in as highly coveted recruits and never getting any better? Thanks, Butch. Hopefully, those days are over. UT’s coaching staff has been lauded by virtually everybody as being an experienced, excellent group of developers.

Some candidates to come out of the woodwork and reach their potential are Taylor and Kongbo. I think we could see both of those guys come through and be dependable players in 2018. Though Nigel Warrior arguably was Tennessee’s best player a season ago, he could blossom and be the defensive leader this year.

As for guys who’ve not really done much who could thrive? Receivers Jacquez Jones and LaTrell Williams are a duo of guys with speed and ability who could turn heads and develop under receivers coach David Johnson. Both of those guys are same type of player as Memphis stud Anthony Miller, who Johnson helped from a lightly-recruited no-star to a guy who’ll assuredly get drafted this year.

The Vols desperately need a couple of offensive linemen to step up, and with such a slim group out there this spring, it’s a great opportunity for freshmen Jerome Carvin and Ollie Lane as well as redshirt freshman Riley Locklear. I like their potential, and at least one (and probably two) of them will be rotational players in ’18.

Defensively, there are plenty of reasons to be excited about redshirt freshman Theo Jackson and junior Marquill Osborne. One of those guys never got the chance to blossom under Jackson, and Osborne — who was heavily recruited by Clemson, Ohio State and others — hasn’t reached his potential. Can he be a playmaker for the Vols? He’s got the talent to be.

 

Passing the test

Having a vertical passing attack is a nice theory. If the Vols can do that, it’ll open some things up on offense and give UT an element it never really had under Jones.

But you can’t pass the football if you don’t have anybody who can catch it.

It’s massive news for the Vols that Jauan Jennings is back (for now) and even though he is out for this spring battling injuries, he’s got the potential to be one of the top receivers in the SEC if he can stay healthy and keep his head on straight. But UT needs more than just him.

We’ve already mentioned Jones and Williams as a couple of possible breakout stars. But UT has other players who are capable of doing nice things with the ball in their hands. Rising junior Brandon Johnson led the team with 482 receiving yards a season ago, and everybody knows how good Marquez Callaway can be if he consistently gets open and can get the ball. He doesn’t always get separation, and he and Guarantano wasn’t on the same page a season ago, but if they can get there, this receiving corps has a lot of potential.

Just think of Jennings, Callaway and Johnson as a trio if they live up to their potential. That would give UT a backup corps of Jones, Williams, and we haven’t even mentioned Josh Palmer, who proved to be the Vols best receiver at getting open a season ago, even if he struggled to catch the ball consistently.

Jordan Murphy has some potential too, and the redshirt freshman will get a chance to prove it this spring. We also haven’t mentioned Alontae Taylor, who may well be Tennessee’s top offensive recruit from the ’18 class, and he’s on campus ready to try to crack the two-deep rotation. Cedric Tillman will get here this summer, so that’s another possibility in the rotation.

This is an exciting group to watch, and, yes, they were terrible a season ago. But they will get great coaching from Williams, and in this offense, a few of them could shine. That starts this spring.

Where do the defensive pieces fit?

Finally, we all want to know where everybody is going to fit as the Vols transition to a 3-4 base package.

As I’ve mentioned, Taylor and Smith will drop back and be outside linebackers who’ll get after the quarterback. JUCO transfer Jordan Allen, who certainly looks the part in pictures after coming in from San Francisco in the early signing period, will battle for a starting outside ‘backer position, as well.

The Vols already have a great middle linebacker in Darrin Kirkland Jr., but he’s yet to prove he can stay healthy. There’s a big opportunity for Alabama sophomore Will Ignont, who belongs in the section above regarding breakout players. He’s a big, fast linebacker who looks like he belongs on the Crimson Tide roster, and he’ll get the opportunity to win a spot at inside ‘backer as well. Don’t forget about Daniel Bituli, who was one of Tennessee’s biggest playmakers a season ago. He’ll have a shot to win a spot, too.

It’s going to be interesting to see who plays the all-important “Star” position in Pruitt’s defense, which was so dynamic during Pruitt’s days with the Tide. Theo Jackson and Osborne could get looks there, and Jackson seems like a perfect fit for that spot. Shawn Shamburger could wind up being a guy who gets a look there, too. He’s simply too good to keep off the field, and if he doesn’t play at that spot, he will at cornerback.

Opportunities abound, and it’s going to be interesting to see where guys like Kongbo and Kyle Phillips fit on the defensive front, too. How about Alexis Johnson? He and Shy Tuttle look like they’ll be nose guards in this scheme, but are they big enough? Can Eric Crosby be conditioned enough to make a difference inside? Is Matthew Butler going to break the rotation at defensive end?

A lot of these questions need to be answered, and we’ll start finding them out during spring.

Gameday Today: VFL Pro Day roundup

Yesterday was Pro Day on Rocky Top, and several former Vols football players were in action hoping to improve their NFL Draft stock.

Rashaan Gaulden

Rashaan Gaulden, of course, had to answer for probably the 100th time a question about his double-bird to the Alabama fan section last season and had what I consider to be a nearly perfect answer:

“It’s just, you know, I’m a very passionate guy when I step on the field,” Gaulden said. “I hate Alabama, and that’s just how it is. But at the same time, I’ve got to know that there’s no place in sports for that kind of thing to happen.”
“I obviously don’t want to be remembered that way at Tennessee,” he said. “I feel like I made a lot of plays and different things like that, so that’s not how I want to be remembered, but I’m gonna have to live with it. But I’ve definitely matured since then.”

More from Gaulden:

John Kelly

John Kelly had an important, if somewhat ambiguously-defined, answer for what he wanted to put up as his 40-time:

“Something that’s not slow,” he said, smiling.

More from Kelly:

Evan Berry

Now that kick return specialist Evan Berry is his own man, he’s decided to take matters into his own hands and put himself on offense:

“I was planning on doing both [offense and defense],” Berry said after his workout. “But then around mid-January, I decided that I just wanted to put all my focus into one thing and do that to the best of my ability without having to worry about two things at one time. I just chose one. Life is too short, and I chose what I really felt comfortable with and what I really wanted to do. That’s how I narrowed it down. I was pretty much determined to do it.”

More from Berry:

Kahlil McKenzie

Not to be outdone, defensive tackle Kahlil McKenzie also put in some time on the offensive side of the ball:

“A couple of coaches asked me if I’d be willing to do the drills,” McKenzie said after finishing his Pro Day workout at the Anderson Training Center, “and I told them it’s good with me, so I just went out there and did some of the O-line drills.
“That’s the first time I’ve been asked to do an offensive line type of stuff. (NFL Scouting) Combine, I did strictly D-line things. I get questions all the time sometimes about offensive line stuff, but you know, you just kind of focus on what you’re getting asked to do.”

More from McKenzie:

Trevor Daniel

And we’ve heard all of the legends about punter Trevor Daniel’s freakish athleticism (for a punter), but he says it’s doing nothing for him with the NFL Scouts:

“It doesn’t mean anything, honestly,” he said. “I just did it to do it. They’ll tell you they don’t really care that I got 23 reps on the bench. That doesn’t matter. They just want you to kick good.”

More from Daniel:

Other guys

More select quotes from the players can be found here.

Tennessee Gets Michigan State Transfer Running Back Madre London

 

Tennessee needs immediate-impact playmakers all over the field, and that’s why the Volunteers are such an attractive option for graduate transfers.

A week after getting Stanford quarterback Keller Chryst, UT added another player who figures to get important touches on Sunday night when Michigan State senior transfer Madre London announced via Twitter that he’ll finish his career at Tennessee.

Just this week, I wrote for Bleacher Report that London was looking to leave the Spartans, and I predicted he’d wind up with Notre Dame, only because there hadn’t been any buzz out there on where he’d go. In that same piece, I predicted (wildly guessed) the Vols would go after and get Clemson running back C.J. Fuller. I had it right that the Vols would go after a runner, but I got the wrong one.

Instead, London wanted to go somewhere and get started. That’s why the Vols were a perfect fit.

There’s no question London wanted to go somewhere where he could get vital carries, and there’s also no doubt the Vols need a power back who can churn out yards. Just like UT wants to go to a more downfield passing attack, they also want a power running game, and with John Kelly off to the NFL, there aren’t any proven options there. Incoming freshman Jeremy Banks will serve that role in the future, but will he be ready in 2018?

That’s why London was necessary.

It appears London was wanted by the Vols all along, at least according to ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg:

Sophomore Ty Chandler should be the starting running back, but London brings with him valuable reps in the Big Ten. He’s not going to be a guy who can break off 40- or 50-yard runs, but he played three years in East Lansing, finishing with 924 yards and eight touchdowns in three seasons.

He looked like he may be the Spartans’ primary back as a freshman when he had more than 500 yards, but he got injured, and LJ Scott took over; he’d never relinquish the job. In that span of time, Scott had 2,591 yards and 25 touchdowns, and with him returning for his senior year, London was going to be the backup again. So, he’ll go to Tennessee where he can carve a niche for himself.

He averaged four yards per carry in his career, and at 6’1″, 218 pounds, he’s a between-the-tackles player who can move the chains in short-yardage situation. That’s exactly what UT needs; the Vols don’t need an every-down back, but they need somebody who can get tough yards.

Getting London will allow the Vols to bring Banks along slowly and also to work in Chandler and Tim Jordan. With Carlin Fils-Aime moving to cornerback this spring to work on that side of the ball, depth was an important need for the Vols at the position, and London brings it.

“They (have) been letting me know the situation I can be a part of this fall,” London told GoVols247’s Ryan Callahan recently. “They feel like I can play a big role in the offense, and they were looking for a player that is used to playing in big games and that is used to playing in front of a big crowd.”

Grad transfer Keller Chryst commits to Tennessee

Former Stanford quarterback Keller Chryst announced on Twitter last night that he has committed to Tennessee, and he used an awesome picture to do it:

GoVols247 confirmed the news with Chryst himself.

Chryst will graduate from Stanford this June with eligibility remaining and plans to enroll at Tennessee soon thereafter. His decision comes on the heels of an official visit to Tennessee last weekend.

The third-best pro-style quarterback in the Class of 2014, Chryst redshirted as a freshman for the Cardinal and then played four games (0 starts) as a sophomore, 12 (6-0 as the starter) as a junior, and 7 (all starts) this past season before giving way to KJ Costello after a 5-2 start.

Chryst, whose father Geep is the tight ends coach for the Denver Broncos and whose uncle Paul is the head coach at Wisconsin, will compete for the starting quarterback position immediately against redshirt sophomore Jarrett Guarantano, sophomore Will McBride, and incoming freshman JT Shrout.

Tennessee earned Chryst’s commitment on the power of its new coaching staff, as Chryst, immediately after his official visit this weekend, specifically mentioned running backs coach Chris Weinke and offensive coordinator Tyson Helton as part of a group of “guys from all over that have a good background and football history.” That the Vols will be running a pro-style offense in the SEC was also factor.

Check out Chryst’s 2017 highlights. If you’re like me, you’ll find the play at 1:15 amusing.

See? He LINES UP UNDER CENTER AT THE GOAL LINE TO RUN THE BALL LIKE YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO . . . oh, wait, he threw a touchdown instead. Okay, that works, too.

Per VolQuest Report: Trey Smith Out for Spring

Good football news has been hard to come by in Knoxville the past few weeks, and Saturday brought another blow as VolQuest.com’s Austin Price and Brent Hubbs reported all-star sophomore offensive lineman Trey Smith will miss spring drills to deal with a “medical issue.”

Fortunately for the Vols, it doesn’t appear to be something that will keep Smith out for the 2018 season, but this is not good news for a UT team that needs Smith to take a pivotal step forward.

The 6’6″, 320-pound former top-ranked recruit emerged easily as UT’s best player on the offensive line a season ago, having the ability to play a lot of different positions. It was not uncommon for him to maul everybody he went against.

Though Smith needed to become more consistent, he was well on his way to being an All-SEC and All-American performer. Now, at the very least, Smith will have to knock off the rust when fall drills come around.

If there is a silver lining to this news, it’s that Tennessee will have the opportunity to get its newcomers as many reps as possible. Though JUCO offensive tackle Jahmir Johnson won’t be enrolled early — something that would have helped him and the Vols considerably — freshmen Jerome Carvin and Ollie Lane are. They will need to improve dramatically along with incumbent players Marcus Tatum and Drew Richmond.

When Smith returns, hopefully he will be at full-tilt. If so, the extra time and attention for the youngsters may wind up being a good thing. But in an all-important offseason, make no mistake: This is bad news for Smith and Tennessee as they try to perform for a new coaching staff and improve as a unit.

Riley Locklear, K’Rojhn Calbert, Devante Brooks, Ryan Johnson and others must become viable candidates to be SEC-caliber linemen, something they’ve yet to prove. With their leader on the sideline now for an undetermined amount of time, that becomes even more crucial.

Report: Vols hire Chris Weinke as running backs coach

Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt isn’t wasting any time replacing running backs coach Robert Gillespie. GoVols247 reported yesterday, only a day after Gillespie and Tennessee parted ways, that the Vols are replacing Gillespie with former Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Chris Weinke.

Weinke spent last year as an offensive analyst for the Alabama Crimson Tide and worked closely with Pruitt. Prior to that, he was a quarterbacks coach for the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams and the Director of Football at IMG Academy in Florida for five years. He coached current Alabama running back Bo Scarbrough while at IMG.

In his playing days, Weinke won the Heisman in 1999 and led his Florida State team to the 1999 BCS National Championship. He spent six seasons with the Carolina Panthers and one with the San Francisco 49ers.

Vols add offensive guru Joe Osovet to support staff

The Vols add yet another guy to their growing coaching support staff with the arrival of Joe Osovet, a top JUCO coach known for his offensive prowess. He’s expected to be an offensive analyst.

Osovet made the announcement via his Twitter account:

Osovet is the head coach and offensive coordinator at ASA College in Brooklyn, New York, and has made the ASA Avengers a JUCO powerhouse. They compiled a 9-1 record this season and put up 38.1 points and 446.3 yards of total offense per game. They scored 67 points or more in three games. Over the past six years, he’s scored 75 points or more five times. Osovet has been heavily utilizing RPOs since 2001 and has studied under Rich Rodriguez and Art Briles.

Osovet had been a candidate for the then-vacant wide receivers coaching job, but that gig went to David Johnson. Nevertheless, he and Jeremy Pruitt apparently go way back to Pruitt’s days at Georgia, and Pruitt wanted him on the staff badly enough to offer him a quality control assistant.