Tennessee’s Roster Needs Reinforcements, and Help is On the Way

In looking at the two weakest positions on the 2018 team coming out of spring practice – the OL and Cornerback – I’ve made it clear that I think that while the team is not in any position to compete for titles it’s reasonable for a fan to expect improvement in the win column to the tune of a handful of games.

Part of that “optimism,” if one can call it that, is the expected across-the-board improvement in coaching.  It’s hard to argue against the idea that Pruitt and his staff aren’t better than their predecessors at every position except for RB (Coach G is a stud, in my opinion, while Chris Weinke is unproven), and the off-field staff isn’t just meaningfully larger than before but also contains tons of experience. At the same time, it is a fact that as bad as last season’s team was it was also within a handful of plays from winning against Florida, South Carolina, and Kentucky, and also lost to a bad Vanderbilt team in the season finale with a lame duck interim coach and no motivation other than trying to avoid the ignominious distinction of being the first Tennessee team in school history to lose eight games.

None of the above guarantees anything, of course, and it’s also fair to note that Tennessee won all four of its non-conference games – including a thrilling come from behind win against Georgia Tech – while it will be at least a touchdown underdog in its opener against West Virginia.  There’s also no doubting that from top to bottom the talent on the roster is deficient when compared to the cream of the SEC, most importantly three of its 2018 opponents in Alabama, Georgia, and Auburn.  And after watching the players on the field for the Orange & White Game there isn’t a ton other than hope that former 4 and 5-stars can be coached to their potential while the 2 and 3-stars on the roster can be coached up.

However (and here’s where I put my at least slightly orange tinted glasses on), what we saw at the Orange & White Game isn’t the team that will take the field in Charlotte against West Virginia on September 1.  Reinforcements, in the form of players returning from injury, 2018 signees, and graduate transfers, are coming and will inject talent and experience to the roster.  Many of them are simply better than their teammates at their respective positions and should take their place, upgrading not just the front-line players Tennessee has on the field but also the backups at those positions.

On the Offensive side, Offensive Linemen Trey Smith and Chance Hall project as starters at Offensive Tackle should they return from their respective injuries.  Both are high level players, and Smith in particular is a future high NFL draft pick barring any further physical issues (and seems much more likely to play this year than Hall, for what it’s worth).  4-star JUCO Jahmir Johnson will join the fold and add another talented player at either Guard or Tackle. Also on the OL, it is widely expected that the Vols will bring in at least one more player at the position, either in the form of a graduate transfer or a late-signing JUCO the staff thinks can step in and contribute.  Per Austin Price of Volquest.com there is a lot of buzz around former Alabama C/G Brandon Kennedy, a former Under-Armor All-American who was the Tide’s backup C and who would go a long way towards solidifying the interior of Tennessee’s OL.  He would also provide more overall depth and give OL Coach Will Friend more options and flexibility at the other four OL positions.  Finally at OL, freshmen K’Rohjn Calbert and Jerome Carvin, both of whom got their most extended snaps in the Orange & White Game and have the kind of sheer size and athleticism that upper echelon SEC OL possess, should see a jump in their play after a summer in the weight room and a fall practice to get further acclimation .  Former Michigan State Running Back Madre London and 2018 signee Jeremy Banks are the kind of big, physical RB that Pruitt covets and bolster a RB corps that already has talent.  JUCO All-American Tight End Dominick Wood-Anderson is simply more talented than any other TE on the roster and brings NFL potential to an offense that needs as many playmakers as it can get.  And finally, former Stanford starting Quarterback Keller Chryst will at worst push Jarrett Guarantano to up his game and provide an experienced backup QB where Tennessee currently has none and at best (for him) win the job outright, by definition improving the QB spot for the Vols.

Defensively, every level of the stop-troop unit will see an influx of talent from what took Shields-Watkins Field in April.  On the Defensive Line, JUCO DL Emmitt Gooden in particular has the size and physical maturity to help immediately on the interior should he show up in decent shape and ready to work; freshman John Mincey will add another big body to the DE group, and he appears to have the size and talent to potentially contribute early.  The LB spot is the one that will get the biggest boost, as not only will the position see the return of proven playmakers Darren Kirkland and Daniel Bituli but also the addition of All-American freshman JJ Peterson – these three are arguably among a handful of top-shelf/elite players on the entire team, and their presence will certainly improve the Defense as a whole from what fans saw a month or so ago.  Finally, at CB (potentially the #1 weak spot on the team pending what happens on the OL), the Vols will first and foremost benefit from Alontae Taylor’s status as a fulltime Corner.  And although he did play there in the Orange & White Game, based on what we know about his natural athleticism, work ethic, and competitiveness, the bet here is that what we see from him when fall camp rolls around won’t even resemble what he looked like in his first real action in the spring game.  Two other major additions to the position are late-signing JUCO Kenneth George  – who the staff appears high on and is more physically and mentally advanced due to his being further removed from high school – and incoming freshman Treveon Flowers – who the staff absolutely loves and for whom Tennessee flat out beat Clemson.  Both should add athleticism and playmaking ability to a position in dire need of both, and at worst will give the staff more options (i.e., bodies) to work with.

None of above is meant to imply that this writer thinks the 2018 Vols are going to contend for championships or even be one of the better teams in the East.  However, it should make Vol fans feel good that there is help on the way in terms of more and better and in some cases more experienced talent, all of which should make an immediate impact.  Between that improved talent, better coaching, and (hopefully) better luck – these Vols will need every bounce they can get – there is optimism in these corners that the season will be much better than last and perhaps even much better than we expected coming out of last month’s Orange & White Game.

 

Tennessee Recruiting: Tight Ends? Check. Vols Sew Up Position with Sean Brown Commitment

The Tennessee Vols got some anticipated excellent news on Friday night when Coosa, Georgia, tight end Sean Brown decided to end the recruiting process and commit.

The 6’5″, 245-pound 3-star prospect chose UT over other finalist Auburn. He boasted 16 offers total, including LSU, Kentucky, Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt, Purdue, N.C. State and others. Though the Tigers from the Plains seemed to hold an advantage for a while, Brown visited Knoxville earlier this spring, fell in love with the message Jeremy Pruitt was peddling and knew he wanted to be a Vol.

The rest was just details.

Brown wound up committing to Tennessee and joining Cartersville native Jackson Lowe as the Vols’ duo of tight ends in this year’s class. They’re the top two guys UT went after, and emerging ace recruiter Brian Niedermeyer is responsible for both of those guys. Brown’s offer sheet doesn’t match his pedestrian ranking, as he is currently the No. 957 player nationally according to the 247Sports Composite rankings and the No. 37 tight end.

He’ll join Lowe for a formidable duo that can do a lot of things at the tight end position, a spot that looked problematic from a talent perspective this spring. Though depth isn’t an issue, it’s a matter of finding players who can make an impact in the SEC. Right now, it’s uncertain if anybody can do that.

This spring, walk-on Eli Wolf and redshirt freshman Austin Pope got many of the reps. Freshman Jacob Warren needs to add a lot of weight and show more physicality to be a force in the rotation. The Vols got exceptional news this week when reports surfaced that the nation’s No. 1-ranked JUCO tight end, Dominick Wood-Anderson, qualified and is set to arrive in Knoxville soon. Wood-Anderson chose UT over Alabama and a host of other schools and should vie immediately for playing time, if not starting reps.

But versatility shouldn’t be an issue at the position in the future, especially if Wood-Anderson can give the Vols two solid years and UT can wind up signing Lowe and Brown. Both players are physical prospects who are good blockers, can play in-line and also catch the ball on the perimeter. Neither are burners, but they’re exactly the kind of tight ends that offensive coordinator Tyson Helton wants in his pro-style scheme.

That scheme, a lot of times, calls for two-tight end sets, and Brown and Lowe have a good rapport and should find themselves on the field together a lot in future scenarios.

The Vols swooped into North Georgia to fortify the position, and they zeroed in on those two guys as the primary targets at a major position of need. Brown told VolQuest.com’s Jesse Simonton that running track has kept him in great shape, and UT sees him as an all-around tight end. He went in-depth with Simonton in an interview posted tonight.

 

Brown knows Pruitt’s style from watching him at Alabama, a team he’s been rooting for. He told GoVols247’s Ryan Callahan that he wanted to be a part of rebuilding the Vols and knows that Pruitt and his staff are going to get it done.

Niedermeyer is flat-out getting it done on the trail. Though he may be UT’s least-known assistant, he’s proving adept at landing prospects. His name is prominently mentioned with the Vols’ two highest-profile targets as well — offensive lineman Darnell Wright and running back/outside linebacker Quavarius Crouch. If he can land one (or both) of those guys, his star will continue to rise.

Brown is his latest big coup. He’s UT’s sixth known commitment in the 2019 class, and his pledge marks the second straight time the Vols beat out Auburn for an important target. Offensive lineman Wanya Morris also had AU as a finalist, and, next week, 4-star receiver Ramel Keyton will choose between the Vols and Tigers. UT feels good about its positioning in that race, too.

The Tigers did beat out UT (and Georgia) for stud outside linebacker Owen Pappoe, but Pruitt and Co. are holding their own against the Plainsmen. Those are the types of battles you need to win to pull down big-time classes. The Vols aren’t there yet, as this class ranks 31st currently and 10th in the SEC, but it’s only beginning.

Brown isn’t going to do a ton to surge UT up the rankings, but that doesn’t matter. He’s a guy this staff believes should be one of the top two tight ends on their big board, and they went out and got both of those. That’s huge.

On film, Brown’s pass-catching abilities don’t flash, which actually isn’t a bad thing considering in all the commitment stories, his coach talks about that part of his game really coming on recently. His big hands should be an attribute on the next level. But what really looks good is his physicality and athleticism, and playing both ways (as most high school kids do) will help him, as will running track. This is really a kid that’s only now beginning to realize his potential, and once he gets into a college program, he can really take off.

Will he be able to come in and help immediately in 2019? That depends on how he develops over the course of the next year. But he has that ability because his body already is in the right shape, and he has the type of frame that can add 15-20 extra pounds with no trouble. He’s a very projectable prospect who can split out or play inside and block. Brown has a high ceiling and should only continue to rise in the rankings.

Pruitt in Year One: 2014 Georgia and 2018 Tennessee

In this year’s Gameday on Rocky Top preseason magazine, I wrote a narrative review of Jeremy Pruitt’s defenses at Florida State, Georgia, and Alabama. The numbers from Tallahassee and Tuscaloosa represent a ceiling you hope Pruitt can approach in Knoxville: Florida State had the best defense in college football in 2013, Alabama the last two years. It’s impressive Pruitt was able to accomplish that in his first season as defensive coordinator with those two teams, but some heavy lifting was done in recruiting before he arrived, and both of his predecessors left to become head coaches in the SEC.

So if you’re looking for a good comparison for Tennessee in year one, I wouldn’t use Florida State or Alabama. They’re the long-term goals; expecting the 2018 Vol defense to be the best in college football is an exercise in futility. But if we want a taste of what we might expect, Pruitt’s 2014 Georgia defense offers a much more fair comparison.

Todd Grantham’s final season as Georgia’s defensive coordinator in 2013 featured eight games when the Dawgs gave up 30+ points. They also forced just 15 turnovers in 13 games, 111th nationally. Georgia went 8-5, Grantham went to Louisville, and Pruitt headed to Athens. The Dawgs just missed a BCS Championship Game appearance the year before in 2012, winning their second straight division title. The program was in a healthier place in Pruitt’s first year than Tennessee’s is now. Georgia had also signed classes ranked between 8th-12th in the 247 Composite from 2012-14, a more consistent recruiting presence than Tennessee enjoyed at the end of Butch Jones’ tenure. But there are enough similarities, including significant room for improvement, for what Pruitt did in his first year with Georgia’s defense to inform the conversation on what he and his staff could do with Tennessee’s this fall.

The Year One Roller Coaster

The theme for Georgia’s defense in 2014 was inconsistency, a year one staple crop. When the Dawgs were good, they were very good. That started in week one with a 45-21 win over #16 Clemson. The Tigers gained just 291 yards and 3.83 yards per play, including only 88 yards on the ground. True freshman Deshaun Watson only saw back-up duty, but that wouldn’t last long.

The win vaulted Georgia to #6 in the polls headed to South Carolina, which was torched by Texas A&M (Kenny Football!) in week one. But not only was Pruitt’s defense unable to turn in another stellar performance, they played one of their worst games of the year. South Carolina went for 447 yards and 38 points, and a late goal-line stand led to a missed chip shot field goal for Georgia in a 38-35 Gamecock victory. Dylan Thompson was 21-of-30 for 271 yards (9.0 yards per attempt) and three touchdowns.

So it went for Georgia in 2014. They shut out Troy in a 66-0 win, then hosted Tennessee the following week. The Vols piled up 401 yards of offense, including a 23-of-35 for 264 yards and three touchdowns performance from Justin Worley, who was knocked out of the game briefly. Two second half fumbles in crucial moments doomed the Vols in a 35-32 loss, but Worley’s performance was good enough to keep Josh Dobbs on the bench for another month.

After Georgia beat Vanderbilt 44-17, Worley’s performance looked even better when the Dawgs went to #23 Missouri and shut the Tigers out 34-0. Maty Mauk went 9-of-21 for 97 yards (4.6 yards per pass) and was intercepted four times. And on the ground, the Tigers carried it 23 times for just 50 yards. It was the best performance of the year for Georgia’s defense (and, remember, the Dawgs are doing this with Hutson Mason at quarterback).

Back in the Top 10, the Dawgs had their sights set on Atlanta and more. Georgia led Arkansas 45-19 in the fourth quarter before allowing two late scores in a 45-32 win. Then they had a bye week before facing the hated Florida Gators. At this point, Georgia had won three straight in the series. But not this time: Florida ran for 418 yards while attempting only six passes in the game (remember Treon Harris?), and it was more than enough in a 38-20 win. Georgia had the league’s second-best rushing defense coming in, but allowed seven yards per carry to the Gators. More alarmingly, the defense’s two most costly performances (South Carolina and Florida) both came after bye weeks. This loss cost the Dawgs the SEC East: Georgia beat Missouri 34-0, but the Tigers didn’t lose again in league play.

But the roller coaster had twists and turns left still. After beating Kentucky 63-31, Georgia hosted #9 Auburn and bottled them up 34-7. Nick Marshall completed 11-of-23 passes for only 112 yards and the Dawgs forced three turnovers. After beating Charleston Southern, #9 Georgia faced #16 Georgia Tech in the regular season finale. A weird game featuring multiple blocked kicks and fumbles in goal-to-go situations, including a 99-yard scoop-and-score for the Georgia defense, ended on an overtime interception by the Yellow Jackets for a 30-24 GT win.

The loss knocked Georgia out of New Year’s Six contention and sent them instead to the Belk Bowl to face #21 Louisville. But the Dawgs made sure the season ended on a high note, blasting the Cardinals 37-14. Louisville ran 27 times for only 62 yards.

After finishing 54th in yards per play allowed in 2013, the Dawgs improved to 17th in Pruitt’s first year. While still allowing 30+ points six times, it was an improvement over Grantham’s eight the previous year. And they nearly doubled their turnover output, going from 15 in 2013 to 29 in 2014.

What Do We Learn From The Roller Coaster?

The comparison made by many with this Tennessee staff is the one Lane Kiffin brought in during the 2009 season. That group rode a similar roller coaster with similar relative success. The Clawfense was 110th in yards per play in 2008; Kiffin improved them to 53rd in 2009. That group struggled early, then turned the mother of all corners against Georgia with 7.38 yards per play and 45 points. They were good enough to have a shot to beat Alabama and took down South Carolina. But they also came crashing back to earth in a blowout loss at Ole Miss with only 275 yards of offense, and were largely ineffective in the Chick-fil-A Bowl against Virginia Tech (240 yards).

We obviously don’t get the Year Two data on Kiffin, but it’s comforting to know that Year Two at Georgia for Pruitt featured a defense that dominated everyone but superior competition, with one exception. In 2015 the Dawgs got torched by Alabama, then famously gave up a bunch of yards and points to Josh Dobbs and the Vols in a 38-31 Tennessee comeback. They also struggled again with Florida in a stunning loss, one that would ultimately close the book on Mark Richt’s time in Athens. But in every other game that season, Pruitt’s defense was lights out. South Carolina scored 20 points, but Georgia scored 52. Vanderbilt, Missouri, Kentucky, and Auburn all scored 14 points or less, as did Georgia Tech. Penn State got 17 in the bowl game.

I imagine Tennessee fans would take this same scenario: a roller coaster year one that makes overall improvement defensively, and a year two unit that may still struggle against the very best but starts imposing its will on everyone else.

 

Starter continuity in the SEC

Every year when I am deep in the throes of the final sprint for the Gameday on Rocky Top magazine, my subconscious bombards me with new questions that I’d love to know the answers to but don’t have the time or space to address in the magazine. One of those questions this year concerns the degree to which starter continuity impacts a team.

We’ve been using games played and started as sort of a rough proxy for experience for a couple of years now, but we’ve not really looked very closely at the issue from the standpoint of team continuity. As I started doing so, I quickly realized that these are deep waters, so with this post, we’re just wading in to see if the water’s warm.

I looked at every SEC team and pulled out every player who started every game for his team last season. The data is at the end of the post, but here are a few quickie questions and tentative answers.

How many guys should a team expect to start every game each season?

The answer to this question is depressingly low, but not altogether unexpected for a collision sport like football. Here’s the summary from the 2017 season:

  • 11 — Ole Miss
  • 10 — South Carolina
  • 9 — Florida, Alabama, Arkansas
  • 8 — Georgia, Missouri, Vanderbilt, LSU, Mississippi State
  • 7 — Kentucky, Auburn
  • 5 — Tennessee
  • 2 — Texas A&M

Based solely on last year’s data, a team can reasonably expect only 7-9 guys to start every game. Even under the best of circumstances, half of the guys who take the first snap of the season on offense or defense are going down, one way or another.

Ole Miss led the SEC last fall with 11 guys starting every game, but the majority of the teams were bunched right around eight players going wire-to-wire as starters. As you’d expect, Tennessee didn’t fare well with only five, but A&M was even less fortunate with only two.

Does starter continuity correlate to winning?

Somewhat surprisingly, early returns on this question look like, “Nope.” Ole Miss had the best starter continuity last fall but finished with a 6-6 (3-5) record. The Aggies had the fewest number of guys starting every game, and they finished better than the Rebels with a record of 7-6 (4-4). The two SEC teams that played for the national championship were right in the middle of the pack, no better than teams like Vanderbilt and Arkansas, who finished toward the bottom of the league.

If overall starter continuity matters at all, it matters much less than things like overall team talent, player development, and coaching. That’s not shocking, but finding that it might not matter at all is a bit of an eyebrow-raiser.

Are certain position groups more important to starter continuity?

Hmm. Maybe? Here’s the position group breakdown.

  • OL — 29
  • DBs — 21
  • DL — 20
  • LBs — 15
  • QBs — 7
  • RBs — 6
  • WRs — 5
  • TEs — 5

Just going by the rough numbers, it looks like there’s not much to see here. But when you start looking closer at the positions and the teams’ records and conference standings, you start to get the feeling that starter continuity at quarterback may matter, and it may matter a lot.

The SEC’s top teams all had the same starting quarterbacks for nearly the entire season. Jalen Hurts started every game for national champion Alabama, as did Jarrett Stidham for SEC West Division Champ Auburn. SEC Champ Georgia’s Jake Fromm didn’t start every game, but he only missed it by a portion of one quarter, as Jacob Eason started the first game but went down on the second offensive possession. Fromm took over at that point and went the distance as the starter. Georgia also played more games than any other team (15), so it’s essentially as close to starting every game as a guy can get without actually doing it. (As an aside, Florida played only 11 games to Georgia’s 15.)

The other SEC teams at the top of their division standings also had their starting quarterbacks the entire way: Jake Bentley for South Carolina, Stephen Johnson for Kentucky, Drew Lock for Missouri, and Danny Etling for LSU. We’ll keep an eye on that this fall.

Here’s the data, ordered by division standings:

SEC EAST

Georgia (8) (13-2, 7-1)

Aaron Davis DB
J.R. Reed DB
Dominick Sanders DB
Roquan Smith LB
Lamont Gaillard OL
Andrew Thomas OL
Isaiah Wynn OL
Nick Chubb RB

South Carolina (10) (9-4, 5-3)

Jamarcus King DB
Chris Lammons DB
Taylor Stallworth DL
D.J. Wonnum DL
T.J. Brunson LB
Skai Moore LB
Alan Knott OL
Jake Bentley QB
Hayden Hurst TE
Bryan Edwards WR

Kentucky (7) (7-6, 4-4)

Mike Edwards DB
Adrian Middleton DL
Courtney Love LB
Kyle Meadows OL
Logan Stenberg OL
Stephen Johnson QB
Benny Snell RB

Missouri (8) (7-6, 4-4)

Marcell Frazier DL
Jordan Harold DL
Cale Garrett LB
Terez Hall LB
Paul Adams OL
Trystan Castillo OL
Tre’Vour Simms OL
Drew Lock QB

Florida (9) (4-7, 3-5)

Duke Dawson DB
Chauncey Gardiner DB
Marco Wilson DB
Taven Bryan DL
Khairi Clark DL
David Reese LB
Martez Ivey OL
Jawaan Taylor OL
C’Yontai Lewis TE

Vanderbilt (8) (5-7, 1-7)

Ladarius Wiley DB
Joejuan Williams DB
Nifae Lealao DL
Bruno Reagan OL
Justin Skule OL
Kyle Shurmur QB
Ralph Webb RB
Charles Wright RB

Tennessee (5) (4-8, 0-8)

Micah Abernathy DB
Nigel Warrior DB
Kendal Vickers DL
Trey Smith OL
Ethan Wolf TE

SEC WEST

Auburn (7) (10-4, 7-1)

Stephen Roberts DB
Derrick Brown DL
Dontavius Russell DL
Jeff Holland LB
Austin Golson OL
Braden Smith OL
Jarrett Stidham QB

Alabama (9) (13-1, 7-1)

Anthony Averett DB
Ronnie Harrison DB
Da’Ron Payne DL
Bradley Bozeman OL
Jonah Williams OL
Matt Womack OL
Jalen Hurts QB
Damien Harris RB
Calvin Ridley WR

LSU (8) (9-4, 6-2)

Andraez Williams DB
Greg Gilmore DL
Christian LaCouture DL
Devin White LB
Garrett Brumfield OL
William Clapp OL
Danny Etling QB
Foster Moreau TE

Mississippi State (8) (9-4, 4-4)

Jeffery Simmons DL
Gerri Green LB
Montez Sweat LB
Deion Calhoun OL
Elgton Jenkins OL
Stewart Reese OL
Darryl Williams OL
Farrod Green TE

Texas A&M (2) (7-6, 4-4)

Kingsley Keke DL
Otaro Alaka LB

Ole Miss (11) (6-6, 3-5)

A.J. Moore DB
Josiah Coatney DL
Marquis Haynes DL
Demarquis Gates LB
Greg Little OL
Javon Patterson OL
Rod Taylor OL
Jordan Wilkins RB
A.J. Brown WR
Damarkus Lodge WR
D.K. Metcalf WR

Arkansas (9) (4-8, 1-7)

Josh Liddell DB
Santos Ramirez DB
Henre’ Toliver DB
Bijhon Jackson DL
T.J. Smith DL
Dre Greenlaw LB
De’Jon Harris LB
Hjalte Froholdt OL
Johnny Gibson Jr. OL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GET READY FOR THE SEASON WITH THE GAMEDAY ON ROCKY TOP 2018 MAGAZINE

Gameday on Rocky Top 2018 hits the newsstands all over the state of Tennessee (and select locations in neighboring states) later this month, but as a reader of this website, you can get it before then, and with free shipping to boot.

Pre-order Gameday on Rocky Top 2018 online, and we’ll ship it the day after we get it from the printer (which we expect to be on or before Wednesday, 5/16/18), Plus, you’ll get FREE SHIPPING (a savings of $4.95). So basically, you’ll have it delivered right to your door for the same price you’d pay at the grocery store, plus, if you order before Monday, 5/14/18, you’ll likely have it in your hands before it even shows up on the newsstands.

Free shipping will show up as an option automatically as long as you have the magazine in your cart.

Gameday on Rocky Top 2018 will only be available on newsstands in Tennessee and in limited areas in neighboring states, so if you live outside those areas, order online. And heck, even if you live in Tennessee, order online anyway this week and get it early.

As always, we had an awesome time writing the annual this year. The more we wrote and the more we thought about it, the more we concluded that the Jeremy Pruitt era holds promise because the man is intensely focused on one thing and one thing only: Football. He’s not wasting any time on false bravado, wardrobe decisions, or colorful metaphors on the virtues of patience.
Here’s the Table of Contents for this year’s edition:

Table of Contents

2018 TENNESSEE VOLS

5 Position Previews
By Joel Hollingsworth
Unsolved mysteries abound for the 2018 Vols

22 2018 Numerical Roster

23 Rocky Top Revolution
By Celina Summers
The day common fans became as influential as big boosters

27 Southern Stability
By Brad Shepard 
Pruitt’s first staff heavy on SEC experience

31 Class of ’18
By Brad Shepard
Pruitt welcomes a new group to Rocky Top

ANTICIPATING 2018

43 The 2018 Schedule
By Joel Hollingsworth
Several opportunities await the Vols this fall

53 Tennessee’s 2018 Schedule at a Glance

ORANGE-HUED HISTORY

55 Pruitt’s Priors
By Will Shelton
Jeremy Pruitt’s defensive resume is elite

59 Horseshoes, Hand Grenades
By Will Shelton
The best way to win close games is not to play them

AROUND THE SEC

65 SEC Team Profiles
By Joel Hollingsworth
The race to Atlanta

94 SEC Schedule at a Glance

95 The Coaching Carousel
By Brad Shepard
Six SEC schools made changes at the top this season

97 Gameday 2018 Preseason All-SEC Teams
By the Gameday on Rocky Top 2018 Staff
Our list of the best SEC players heading into 2018

98 Gameday Top 25
By the Gameday on Rocky Top 2018 Staff
Our preseason favorites for 2018

104 Team Talent Rankings
By Joel Hollingsworth
Ranking the contenders for 2018 by talent

107 Ranking the SEC Class of 2018

Tennessee Football: Pruitt’s Early Success Will Be Determined By Diamonds

Every first-year regime is going to experience a recruiting kick from prospects enamored with the “newness” around the program. Jeremy Pruitt nabbing 4-stars J.J. Peterson, Jerome Carvin and Jeremy Banks were prime examples of this.

Say what you want about Pruitt’s early recruiting victories — they mean very little. Every first-year head coach gets a few of those guys. Pruitt will get his fair share of elite recruits as the years roll on as long as the Vols show marked improvement on the field. The long-time assistant has long been known as a dynamic recruiter and relationship-cultivator, and that isn’t going to change.

It’s the lesser-known prospects — especially in these first couple of recruiting cycles — who will tell us a lot about Pruitt’s abilities to recruit, coach and develop.

It was the other way around for Butch Jones. He did fine recruiting and even molding many low-level recruits into serviceable SEC players. But “serviceable” doesn’t win big in an elite conference. Where Jones and his coaches struggled was taking big-time recruits and developing them into big-time SEC players. Those guys simply never got better during Jones’ tenure. The staff wasn’t good enough, the strength & conditioning program failed them, and Jones never truly had enough faith in his players to allow them to make plays with the game on the line; he was too conservative and played too much “by the book” rather than by feel.

Pruitt may wind up like that, but it would be a major change. He’s never done that as an assistant, and there are no signs (as there was on Jones’ resume) that he’ll do it in Knoxville.

So, it’s important that we look at some of the “reaches” that Pruitt takes and how they mature and develop. Are they really reaches, or are Pruitt and his assistants just exceptional evaluators? Are they getting key-fit kids who have the developmental bodies to slide into important roles within the framework of the defensive or offensive schemes? Or are they just warm bodies to fill gaps in the class?

We can’t know the answer to that yet, but we will soon enough. If it’s the former, that’s an exciting thing for Tennessee fans that Pruitt knows what he wants — stars-be-damned — and goes out and gets them. Also, even if he isn’t getting his first or second choices at a position, it’s important for any coach to get kids who fit that role and turn them into playmakers.

That will be the difference in how long it takes Tennessee to get back under Pruitt.

It’s going to be very interesting to see how lightly recruited defensive linemen Kingston Harris and Kurott Garland fit. These guys should give us an idea of how Pruitt and his staff evaluates and develops.

Harris is a 6’3″, 285-pound defensive tackle from famed IMG Academy. That means that basically everybody in the nation saw him play when they were evaluating other prospects, yet didn’t offer. 247Sports thought there were 1,210 players better than him in the cycle. Is Harris a recruiting oversight? Or do Pruitt and Co. see something in him they believe they can shape into an SEC stud? The same, really, goes for Garland, who had offers from Tulane, Coastal Carolina and Eastern Kentucky. The Vols saw him when they were also scouting teammate and Florida State (former UT) receiver commit Jordan Young, and they wound up taking him on National Signing Day.

Young was overlooked, and it’s possible Garland was, too. It’s also possible these kids are major reaches. That’s not a knock on those guys; but the SEC is the best of the best. Maybe these guys are future stars, multi-year starters and important pieces to the rebuild.

Maybe they aren’t.

They’re worth watching if we’re going to see just how good this staff Pruitt put together is. To a lesser degree, John Mincey is a mid-level SEC recruit from Homerville, Georgia, who was recruited by Arkansas and South Carolina. The Vols were thrilled to get him on National Signing Day, but he is far from an elite recruit. Can the coaches turn him into a guy we’ll look back on and call a steal?

This is three defensive linemen — Harris, Garland and Mincey — who could be high-upside players. They have big bodies, projectable frames and attributes this staff believe translate into a 3-4 defense. Some of the guys committed to the prior regime (such as ultimate FSU commit Jamarcus Chatman) were not considered fits. Even though they had a higher ranking, they weren’t the type of players this staff believed it needed. It’s OK to be skeptical, but it’s not like Jones ever had a good idea of what it took to build an SEC winner, so I have no issues with going in a different direction.

The same can be said on the offensive side of the ball, too. Could Tennessee ultimately hang onto former quarterback commitment Adrian Martinez had Pruitt and offensive coordinator Tyson Helton put on the full-court press when Nebraska and Scott Frost came calling? The Vols fought there to keep Martinez in the fold, but how hard? Nobody seemed overly disappointed when he went to the Cornhuskers, and after a strong spring game, it looks like he could be a true freshman starter in the Big Ten. The same goes for dual-threat quarterback and former UT commitment Michael Penix, who this new staff did not want. He signed with Indiana and has a legit chance to start as a true freshman for former UT offensive coordinator Mike DeBord and the Hoosiers in ’18.

Instead, Helton and Pruitt zeroed in on California commitment JT Shrout. It didn’t take long for the pocket passer to visit Knoxville and flip from his home-state Bears to the Vols. This is a kid who threw a ridiculous number of interceptions in high school and was a 3-star prospect. On paper, he doesn’t blow anybody away. But this is what Helton wanted — a piece he believes he can mold into a legitimate dropback SEC passer. The Vols are transitioning away from a dual-threat-oriented, spread offense into a more pro-style scheme, and Shrout definitely fits that.

How will Shrout develop? Will he make us forget Martinez and Penix?

Las Vegas receiver Cedric Tillman is another player like Harris. He played at a national powerhouse in Bishop Gorman, and he had teammates with high-FBS caliber offers, but he wasn’t one of those guys. UT saw his size (6’3″, 205 pounds) and his ball-catching ability and offered him.

So that’s Harris and Garland and Mincey and Shrout and Tillman. I’m not saying these five guys will make or break Pruitt’s tenure at Tennessee — that’s just silly. But they are proverbial “diamonds in the rough” that are, at least at first blush, developmental prospects. What do you do with developmental prospects? You DEVELOP them. They either turn into stars, or they take up a scholarship spot and are urged to transfer at a later date. Maybe Pruitt will recruit over them, and maybe they’ll become cornerstones for a foundation of success.

Watch them; maybe not in 2018, but throughout their careers. They may tell us a lot about Pruitt and his staff.

Wanya Morris Commitment A Step Towards Building Championship Level OL

Tennessee picked up a big commitment on Tuesday from borderline 5-star OL Wanya Morris from Grayson, HS in Georgia.  Morris picked the Vols over fellow finalist Auburn after a back and forth recruitment.  He’s a true offensive tackle and an elite prospect with the kind of size and mobility that the Vols simply do not have at the position outside of Trey Smith, and is simply put a huge win on the recruiting trail for Coach Jeremy Pruitt and Tennessee.

Morris is a foundational piece for the class of 2019, and with 4-star Jackson Lampley already in the fold, the Vols are off to a great start when it comes to having a high-level OL class, which it absolutely has to have. To that end, Tennessee is very much in the thick of it with 5-star Darnell Wright as well as other highly regarded OL like Bryce Benhart and Anthony Bradford  – both of whom have taken spring official visits to Knoxville after previously seeing the campus unofficially, showing how much interest they have in the Vols – among others.

Despite the 2018 offensive line being arguably the biggest question mark on the team, it is notable that looking ahead to the 2019 season there are no seniors at the position.  Therefore, even though the talent that exists on the team is not the kind of top-tier talent that Tennessee needs to win at a high level, there is certainly room and time for OL coach Will Friend to develop it.  Obviously, Trey Smith is a tremendous building block that Pruitt and Friend inherited and upon which to build, and K’rojhn Calbert also appears to have the kind of size and natural ability to be a bigtime SEC talent.  But in a short period of time, Pruitt and Friend added Jerome Carvin (for whom they beat out Alabama, UF, Auburn among others) and Jahmir Johnson (a JUCO All-American with 3 years to play) to the class of 2018.  And now, with Lampley and Morris – and surely more to come – one can see a path to the kind of talented and physically imposing offensive line that Tennessee simply hasn’t had since arguably the Phillip Fulmer era ended.

How Should Tennessee Celebrate Jason Witten?

Jason Witten is retiring after 15 years with the Dallas Cowboys. The former Vol will be neither gone or forgotten:

Tennessee currently has two players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Doug Atkins and Reggie White. Peyton Manning will be the third in three more years. All three already have their number retired at Tennessee.

What do you do with Jason Witten?

The Elizabethton native trails only Tony Gonzalez in every major statistical category among NFL tight ends all-time. He retires fourth all-time among all players in NFL receptions. He was the 2012 Walter Payton Man of the Year. And he played more games than anyone in a Dallas Cowboys uniform.

Witten is a lock for Canton. The initial criteria for number retirement at Tennessee required far more than that, but was waived for Johnny Majors in 2012.

However, Witten’s career in Knoxville didn’t produce the sort of accolades one associates with that particular honor. As a sophomore in 2001 he played on a dynamic offense with Donte Stallworth, Kelley Washington, and a pound-the-rock mentality that nearly carried Travis Stephens to the Doak Walker Award. His contributions were memorable, including a big touchdown against Alabama and leaving the entire Michigan defense in the dust. But he only caught 28 passes for 293 yards.

As a junior in 2002, Witten suffered when injuries to Casey Clausen and Kelley Washington severely limited Tennessee’s passing attack. He still earned first-team All-SEC honors with 39 catches for 493 yards and five touchdowns, including the game-winner in the sixth overtime against Arkansas. Witten opted to leave for the NFL before a senior season could have improved his legacy at UT, but it was clearly the right decision.

What do you do with such a player, a future Pro Football Hall of Famer who didn’t necessarily have the opportunity to be a College Football Hall of Famer? The current answer is, “Put him on the JumboTron”, where he joins Al Wilson and, in years past, Condredge Holloway: beloved former Vols who may not get their number retired, but made a lasting impact on Tennessee Football. The university now has an all-sports Hall of Fame, which I’m sure Witten could make his way to one day. But I wonder if there’s a place for something more specific to football to celebrate former Vols.

Witten may not find his way to jersey retirement; for my generation, #1 makes me think of Leonard Little more than Witten in a Tennessee uniform. But there are other players who will fall short of jersey retirement status, but are well-deserving of additional recognition.

For example: this fall we’ll celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 1998 National Championship, a group led by Al Wilson (who is in the all-sports UT Hall of Fame). But it’s also the 25th anniversary of Heath Shuler’s Heisman runner-up season, still the greatest statistical offense in school history. Shuler was the third pick in the NFL Draft, and though his pro career obviously didn’t pan out, it feels like his amazing college career gets more lost in the mist every year. It doesn’t help when you’re immediately followed by Peyton Manning, but still. The proverbial kids today should know about more than just Atkins, White, Majors and Manning. Witten’s NFL career should ensure he’s on that list anyway. Tennessee should find a way to celebrate it well.

The good news: these are the kind of things you’re probably in good hands with when the man in charge is Phillip Fulmer.

Congrats to Jason Witten on an incredible career.

Jeremy Pruitt Lands Early Bell Cow of 2019 Recruiting Class in Wanya Morris

As much as I wanted to make an awful Boyz II Men reference in that headline, it would have buried the news on just how important 4-star offensive tackle Wanya Morris‘s pledge to Tennessee was on Tuesday.

After all, not only is this the nation’s No. 46 overall player, the seventh-rated offensive tackle and a 6’6″, 293-pound physical specimen at a position of need from a powerhouse program loaded with talent in this and future classes, it also helps flip the narrative on new coach Jeremy Pruitt’s recruiting.

The Vols had a rousing early signing period in the last cycle, but, let’s face it: Pruitt and Co. needed a recruiting win. Tennessee was largely shut out of landing any marquee names other than stud linebacker J.J. Peterson in the late period, mostly going silent following the flip-of-the-calendar all-star games. This recruiting cycle hasn’t started with sterling momentum, either, scarred by Memphis defensive end Bill Norton visiting Knoxville and committing to rival Georgia on the day he returned home.

All the while, though, Pruitt has kept swinging for the fences. And, as my good buddy Dylan wrote earlier this week, it’s setting up to be a marvelous May for Tennessee. It got off to a rousing start on the first day with Morris’s commitment.

The Grayson High School product out of Loganville, Georgia, had offers from virtually everybody in the nation, and it ultimately came down to Auburn. The topsy-turvy recruitment had its share of ups and downs and momentum swings, but, somehow, Tennessee turned Morris’s opinion in its favor for good with an official visit two weekends ago.

At the time, many recruiting pundits had Morris penciled in to the Tigers on the Plains’ loveliest village, despite UT holding early sway in the race to land his signature. Morris was expected to take his final official visit to Auburn this past weekend, which would have given the Tigers the final chance to convince him. But Morris must have made his mind up in Knoxville last weekend, because he chose not to make that visit.

Now, he says his recruitment is “over” and he’ll sign with Tennessee in December.

As we all know, this is recruiting. These are 17-year-old kids. There is a lot that can happen between now and then, especially considering the 2018 season doesn’t (at least on paper) look like it’s going to be a banner campaign on the field in Rocky Top. Auburn has some nice pieces on its roster and could contend with Alabama (and Mississippi State) in the West. Could that sway Morris’s decision?

It’s at least worth mentioning, but so is the fact that Morris said he’s done. Knoxville is where he wants to be, and while early playing time is obviously a massive factor on his agenda, so are relationships. Both he and his mother love Pruitt and offensive line coach Will Friend, who has a rich history of developing SEC linemen. The Vols have massive holes along the front and need building blocks around which to build their pro-style scheme.

Morris is one of the best early pledges they could have gotten. Now, much of the attention turns toward the nation’s top tackle in Darnell Wright, who loves Tennessee and Alabama and could make a decision before his senior season. Pairing the West Virginia lineman with Morris would be a massive coup, especially considering in-state lineman Jackson Lampley is already firmly in the fold.

Tennessee is still going to swing hard after Morris’s prep teammate and good buddy Owen Pappoe, one of the nation’s top linebackers who also made his choice today. Much like we’ve discussed with Morris, though, these are just verbal, non-binding commitments until they sign on the dotted line, and the first time that can happen is December.

Still, this is a huge early-cycle statement for Pruitt, who is still catching up on relationships in this cycle. He joins 4-star lineman Lampley, 4-star tight end Jackson Lowe, 3-star defensive tackle LeDarrius Cox and JUCO lineman Darrel Middleton as 2019 pledges.

With some players like linebacker Terrell Dawkins, cornerbacks Tyus Fields and Jaydon Hill, receiver Ramel Keyton and others feeling Tennessee right now, the Vols could wind up fleshing their class out with some big names soon. None will be bigger than Morris, who is an incredible piece to a class that’s only going to grow from here on.

This is an indication of the kind of recruiting battles Pruitt won while he was at Alabama. Hopefully, it’ll be one of many he pulls while the head coach at Tennessee.

Fore to Play One: Tennessee Basketball Gets Important Transfer in Richmond Point Guard

Any piece basketball coach Rick Barnes can add to his 2018-19 basketball team that will play critical minutes on a team that should make a deep run in the NCAA tournament is important. That’s why Monday night’s news that graduate transfer point guard Khwan Fore of Richmond was big news.

The Vols earned Fore’s pledge over Auburn and a host of others following the guard’s visit to the Plains this past weekend where coach Bruce Pearl tried to lure him to play for the Tigers.

In the end, the Vols won a rugged SEC battle of the top two regular-season teams as both look to put finishing touches on quality groups returning next season.

Fore made his decision public over Twitter.

The 6’0″, 175-pound guard is a pivotal piece who should step in nicely for the departed James Daniel, who transformed his game from a big-time scorer at Howard to a table-setter during the 2017-18 campaign for the Vols. Daniel split time with explosive point guard Jordan Bone and was an integral part of UT’s resurgent team.

Fore, though, is more of a pure point guard; something UT has been missing in recent years. The former Huntsville, Alabama, native will joint fellow North Alabamian Lamonte Turner on the Vols roster. Tennessee has enjoyed success in that area in recent years, also landing former guard Detrick Mostella from the area. Fore is an experienced player who’s appeared in nearly 100 games for the Spiders. He started 26 games this past season and averaged 11 points per game.

Though Fore isn’t known for his marksmanship, he is a quick guard who can slash to the basket and whose game thrives on penetration, much like Bone’s.

A couple of weeks ago, Fore told VolQuest.com’s Rob Lewis:

“I definitely want to go somewhere where we’re going to be able to win and make the tournament, with the kind of success they had here already they’re definitely set up to do that,” Fore said in an interview following his trip to Knoxville two weeks ago.

“The coaches told me that they need a guy like me, someone that can penetrate, finish and play tough on the ball defense. Those are my strengths.

“One thing that I really liked about Coach Barnes was that he didn’t just talk about the things I could do, he talked about my weaknesses and how they could help me get better.”

Though Barnes’ high school recruiting hasn’t landed many marquee names, he’s shown a propensity for evaluation, development and fit. The Vols are thriving because of it. Barnes also is proving he knows how to go out and add important missing elements to his team. Daniel was a major part of the success of the past season, and though JUCO guard Chris Darrington didn’t pan out, Darrington’s transfer led to the opportunity to sign Fore.

He’ll be a vital piece this year, and the Vols could go a long way. Getting another guy who can penetrate and dish to a group of players poised to win big is big news.