Tennessee Football: 5 reasons why Volunteers will stink in 2017
3. Defensive cohesion
The chemistry on defense, or lack thereof, can be contributed to a lot of new faces as starters and the absence of quite a few leaders from the 2016 squad.
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Not only the loss of Cam Sutton and Derek Barnett but also Corey Vereen, Latroy Lewis, and Micah Abernathy. Seniors like safety Todd Kelly Jr., linebacker Cortez McDowell, and defensive tackle Kendal Vickers, have to step up and lead all three levels of the Tennessee defense.
This is a defense that did not force enough turnovers as is last season. And they lost a lot of their true playmakers. Something has to change with the attitude of the defense. Forcing more than two turnovers per game is needed to help along their young offense.
No single defensive back for the Vols intercepted the football more than twice last season. However, Kelly did pick off opposing quarterbacks three times in 2015. He’ll have to do more of that for the Vols in 2017 to lead by example.