2010 NCAA Football Preview: Tennessee Volunteers
The Tennessee Volunteers have had an interesting couple of seasons. Back in November of 2008, their longtime head coach Phillip Fulmer announced he was retiring following the end of the season. The school believed they found the right replacement in former Oakland Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin. Kiffin led the team back to a bowl game and a winning record (7-6) before leaving the school in a very public scandal to head up the University of Southern California (USC) Trojans.
Hired to pick up what remains of the program is former Louisiana Tech head coach Derek Dooley. Dooley had only seen moderate success while there, with his best season coming in 2008 when he led the team to an 8-5 record bowl game (which they won), and a second place finish in the Western Athletic Conference. The team then fell back to 4-8 in 2009.
With the team being rocked by scandal following the departure of Kiffin, a quality season would go a long way to quieting a lot of the grumbling. Producing that winning season may be easier said than done with few starters returning to the team. It appears that Dooley is going to have his work cut out for him in his first season.
Offence
Jim Chaney is one of the few coaches that are still around from the Lane Kiffin days, and he will have his work cut out for him in 2010. Most of his skill players need to be replaced as does most of his offensive line.
What Chaney will have to work with is a talented group of wide receivers. Gerald Jones is a pretty good talent; he led the team last season with 46 receptions and 680 yards. Denarius Moore was a consistent producer last season as well, catching 40 balls himself for 540 yards and leading the team in touchdown receptions with seven.
However, without a quarterback to throw them the ball their past production does not mean much. The team will likely be hoping that junior college transfer Matt Simms can be something like his dad (Phil Simms). Last season, Simms threw for 2200 yards and 17 touchdowns while completing 59% of his passes (his season was cut short due to injury).
Simms or true freshman Tyler Bray will end up starting for the Vols, but the bigger issue will be in the protection that gets provided for them. All five starters from last season’s group are gone and only Jarrod Shaw saw much time last season. Freshman Ja’Wuan James will be looked upon to contribute early as will freshman JerQuari Schofield. Two other freshmen, James Stone and Zach Fulton, could also end up seeing time.
Defence
New defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox will be expected to do for the Volunteers what he did for Boise State and that is craft a competitive unit without having much to work with. Gone are his four best tacklers and especially his one star, strong safety Eric Berry.
The strength of the unit may still be the team’s secondary. Free safety Janzen Jackson will have a great chance to compete for all-conference honors in 2010. Art Evans is a young player that has the potential to be a shutdown cornerback if he continues to improve. Freshman Eric Gordon comes in with a lot of expectations and is already projected to be a starter. Also looking to get time will be Darren Myles and Dave Clark.
There is hope for the ends on the line, but the tackle position is one which Wilcox should be concerned about. Corey Miller and Jacques Smith look to be a force coming off the ends, but the tackles the team have are not too impressive. Chase Nelson is a fifth year senior, but he has yet to log much playing time. Rae Sykes was moved over from end, but is still getting accustomed to the switch. Montori Hughes is a young player that the staff has high hopes for, but it will likely be junior college transfer John Brown that the team will rely on.
Tags: