Tennessee Volunteers stats, records, schedule, and standings

Volunteers

Tennessee Volunteers

NCAAF – SEC

TEAM LEADERS

Tennessee Football Team News

The Volunteers have registered five winning seasons in the last 13 years and will be breaking in their sixth head coach during that period. The football program in Knoxville isn’t quite in shambles, but it’s not exactly in great shape, either.

Former coach Jeremy Pruitt went 16 – 19 with one bowl appearance in three seasons and was fired after revelations of recruiting improprieties, which also resulted in the resignation of athletic director Phillip Fulmer, who was also the last person to have sustained success as a head coach. The Volunteers turned to UCF, which has had recent success, for athletic director Danny White and new head coach Josh Heupel.

Tennessee Volunteers Standings

The Tennessee Volunteers are a proud football program with a rich history of success. With a high-powered offense and a stingy defense, the Volunteers are always a threat to their opponents. With their impressive stats and standings, they’ve proven themselves to be a top team year after year.

Tennessee Volunteers Betting Trends

Summary

After going 8-5 with a Gator Bowl win in 2019, hopes were high for Tennessee in 2020 and following two wins to open the season, the Vols were ranked 14th in the country. It was a free fall from there, starting with a 44-21 loss at Georgia and an ugly 34-7 setback to Kentucky, resulting in six losses in their final seven games to finish 3-7, with the only victory coming over winless Vanderbilt.

The Volunteers were inept on offense, ranked 102nd in the nation in total yards and 108th in scoring with only 21.5 points per game. The defense wasn’t much better, giving up 30.1 points and 407.4 yards a contest, but overall it ranked just outside the top half of the FBS.

Key Players

Most cases, the best reconstruction efforts in college football begin with the defense, and the Vols have a good player to build around. Senior cornerback Alontae Taylor had a good 2020 with an interception despite being slowed by injury.

Whoever ends up at quarterback will be instrumental for Heupel, who played the position at Oklahoma, with several candidates to assume the starting role. The top preseason pick is a Virginia Tech transfer who brings experience to the role while Heupel develops a long-term successor.

The team’s second-leading tackler from 2020 is strong safety Trevon Flowers, who, along with Taylor, will serve as the nucleus for a secondary that has to play better if Tennessee is to quickly turn the program around.

New Additions

Freshman quarterback Kaidon Salter out of Cedar Hill, Texas, will push Hooker in camp and may be ready to take over starting duties at some point at a position that Tennessee has had difficulties with for several seasons.

The top recruit for the Vols was inside linebacker Aaron Willis from Colonial Heights, Virginia, who they hope will add depth at a position that was stripped of talent via the transfer portal. He was suspended in the spring with several other players but returned to the team in time for fall practice.

Heupel’s offense relies on speed, and they hope junior college transfer Andison Cody can contribute that, along with experience, right away in order to make up for serious defensive deficiencies.

Key Subtractions

Leading rusher Eric Gray, with 1026 total yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns, including 30 receptions, took his talents to Oklahoma. His departure leaves big shoes to fill in the skill department on the offensive side of the ball.

Alabama will be benefiting from the services of linebacker Henry To’o To’o, Tennessee’s leading tackler with 7.5 of them for loss, also the best on the team. He was joined in the transfer portal by fellow linebacker Ouavarius Crouch, who was third in tackles for the Vols and will play for Michigan State.

Divisional Outlook

Georgia is the clear favorite in the SEC East after going 8-2 in 2020, losing only to national champion Alabama and division winner Florida. They were second in the conference in defense and underperformed on offense, but they should be much better offensively in 2021 and have a scheduling advantage over the Gators.

Last year’s division champion struggled down the stretch, losing their last three games, and they have some holes to fill, but a win over the Bulldogs could once again put them in the SEC championship game. Beyond the top perennial top two division powers, Kentucky could make a run as could Missouri, but both are likely playing for second place at best.

Tennessee has a lot of rebuilding to do after all of the transfers, while South Carolina and Vanderbilt will also be challenged to contend. Georgia is probably the only team in the SEC East that will be able to come out of the championship game with a victory, and if they do, a national championship isn’t beyond their grasp.

Tennessee Offense

The big question for new head coach Josh Heupel is whether he can assemble enough talent to run the kind of scheme he prefers, which is either fast or faster, with only two starters returning from 2020. The first step is to pick a quarterback and then see if he can establish the timing necessary to run the offense at the pace Heupel desires.

With all of the losses to the transfer portal, the offense will be challenged to hit stride early in the season, but contests against Pittsburgh on September 11th and Florida two weeks later will be big indicators of their progress. Overall, they have a lot of work to do, but going with Hooke at quarterback to start the season will at least give Heupel an experienced leader while the squad improves.

Tennessee Defense

The big issue for the Vols is at linebacker, where they suffered talented losses from last season. Also, if the offense sputters and can’t be successful enough to keep the defense off the field, fatigue could exacerbate problems with depth at key positions.

The strength of the unit will be the back end, anchored by Taylor and Flowers, but they’ll need a pass rush that puts enough pressure on opposing quarterbacks for the secondary to use their athletic ability to make plays. For a defense that was 11th in the conference against the pass in 2020, that might be a big ask.

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