Tennessee football has made it through spring ball and it’s time to look forward to the 2018 season. What’d we learn about the Volunteers this spring?
There’s a new era for Tennessee football heading into the 2018 season thanks to the firing of Butch Jones and hiring of Alabama assistant Jeremy Pruitt. The Volunteers are no longer willing to celebrate mediocrity and instead they’re pushing progress.
Pruitt has already been vocal about his team’s shortcomings this spring and there’s a good chance Tennessee will exceed expectations in year one thanks to the new head coach’s mindset.
The Volunteers still have plenty of questions surrounding the program following spring ball, but we also learned some valuable things about this team.
What’d we learn about the Volunteers this spring?
5. Defense is shaky, at best
The defense didn’t look effective in the least during the spring scrimmage. A relatively lethargic offense returns from last season but yet it was able to move the ball with ease against the Volunteers’ defense — something that should have the coaching staff slightly worried.
Either the offense has improved drastically or the defense can’t stop anyone.
Tennessee’s defensive gave up 34 points and 360 yards on a ballooned 6.1 yards per play. That’s not exactly a recipe for success moving forward, and the coaching staff knows that.
Quality pieces are littered across the defensive side of the depth chart and it’s important to note they’re still getting used to the new coaching style and schemes. Tennessee shouldn’t be panicking just yet, but the lack of defense during the spring scrimmage was concerning.