Before any discussion of Tennessee’s 2019 roster and season outlook can go anywhere, it must be acknowledged that the team does not have enough talent. It doesn’t have enough talent to realistically compete for an SEC East championship; it likely doesn’t have enough talent to win more than 8 games; and it doesn’t even have enough talent to feel that good about beating all of the other SEC non-contenders on the schedule, including Missouri, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt. That’s just where the program is right now and will be unti Coach Jeremy Pruitt adds another couple (1-2?) of recruiting classes. But…
What if the highest ranked and most highly recruited players on the team – from seniors to true freshman – play up to their rankings this season? Because while Tennessee not have enough high 5-and-high-4-stars, and is still lacking high quality depth up and down the roster, there are still quite a few former blue-chip recruits on campus in Knoxville. So what would happen if when camp starts on Friday Strength & Conditioning Coach Fitzgerald has worked wonders and then Pruitt and his staff can get all of his blue-chip talent to play up to those past rankings? Before we even get to former 3-stars being coached up and playing beyond those rankings, if the Vols can get its true top-end talent to play like it things could look much different this fall.
Below, by position, are former 5-and high 4-stars on Tennessee’s 2019 offensive roster:
QB
Jarrett Guarantano
There are differing opinions on JG, but regardless of how one feels about the Vols’ signal caller it’s clear he’s got more room to grow in order to live up to his billing as one of the very top high school QBs in the country. If he does that it might mean more than any other player on the list, as it goes without saying that top end QB play can take any team to another level
OL
5-stars Trey Smith, Wanya Morris, Darnell Wright
4-stars Brandon Kennedy, Jerome Carvin, Ryan Johnson, Jackon Lampley With Trey coming back from injury he’ll almost assuredly pair with Morris on the left side, and Kennedy is locked in as the starting Center. Wright will be thrust into a battle at RT, while Carvin and Johnson are top contenders for the RG position and will be firmly in the rotation no matter who wins the starting job. So Tennessee could potentially have 3 5-stars and 2 4-stars starting on its OL, with another 4-star as the top backup two true freshman OL– ignoring the potential perils of starting one let alone two freshman OL, that’s really strong. And if those six in particular play like 5 and 4-stars, look out. Ideally Lampley will redshirt, but even having the luxury to do so is a far cry from the very recent state of Tennessee’s OL.
RB
4-stars Ty Chandler, Eric Gray, Carlin Fils-aime
That’s your likely starter and 3rd back in a 5-RB rotation in Chandler and Gray, with “CFA” being a potential gadget player in new OC Jim Chaney’s creative offensive system. If Chandler and Gray can become bigtime Swiss Army Knife weapons all over the field and Chaney can optimize CFA’s very solid speed/power combination then the Vols will have an incredibly dynamic backfield.
WR
4-stars Marquez Callaway, Tyler Byrd, Ramel Keyton
One could strongly argue that Callaway has lived up to the ranking, but going back to the 2017 opener against Georgia Tech where he simply dominated, what if he does that every week? What if Tyler Byrd has the lightbulb come on and looks like the borderline 5-star he appeared to be in the US Army All American Game? Keyton has an opportunity to break into the rotation depending on how many WRs Tee Martin wants to play, but what if he’s taken a huge step this summer in the weight room and has a Justyn Ross/Jaylen Waddle type freshman year?
TE
4-stars Dominick Wood-Anderson, Jackson Lowe
There are very big expectations for “DWA” coming into the season, as the former #1 JUCO in the country, for whom Tennessee beat out Alabama straight up, heads into his final college season. He’s got elite size and speed, can block at the point of attack, and has good hands. But he wasn’t the gamechanger needed last season – what if he is in 2019? What if he becomes an All-American and a force at the position, both stretching the field and dominating in the red zone while being a third-down conversion machine? Lowe is a big kid who had a nice spring as an early enrollee and has a chance to be the #2 TE. If he is an immediate contributor and can be a dominant inline blocker in two-TE sets with DWA the Vols will have a lot of flexibility in terms of sets no matter the down and distance.
Especially at the incredibly important positions of Quarterback and Offensive Line, the Vols have enough bluechippers that if Coach Pruitt, Coach Chaney and the rest of the offensive staff can get 5 and 4-star performances from them both the floor and the ceiling for the 2019 Tennessee season are raised significantly. That’s a big if, but not beyond the realm of possibility given the developmental history of the staff. We’ll next take a look at the defensive side of the ball where Tennessee also has some real yet untapped talent.