SEC East Team Previews: How your team heads to SEC Championship Game

Phil Sears-USA TODAY Sports

Tennessee Volunteers

Tennessee clearly won the offseason. They are widely expected to be the next SEC team to take a leap and challenge for the division. After having some of the best recruiting classes the past few seasons, the Vols return just about all their starters from last season. Top recruits are becoming veterans and Tennessee is one of the few teams in the conference to have a returning starting quarterback. Junior Joshua Dobbs leads the Vols again and has improved each season he has played.

Book a trip to Atlanta: We saw it last year with Ole Miss. All the talent of top recruiting classes came together before ending the season on a sour note. Tennessee hopes to have a similar season this year. They certainly have the talent but the question becomes whether they can live up to the high expectations.

Tennessee has a somewhat favorable schedule. They face South Carolina, Georgia and Arkansas at home. Expect them to break their losing streak against Florida this year at “The Swamp”. Road games against Alabama and Missouri will prove to be measuring stick games to see how much the Vols have improved from a year ago. If things go as planned, the race for the East division could be between Georgia, Missouri and Tennessee.

Next: Missouri