2015 Football Previews – (SEC) – Tennessee
The Tennessee Volunteers are starting to come out the other end of what’s been a very long rebuild for a proud program. The Volunteers were once a breeding ground for NFL talent, and appears headed in the right direction in its efforts to get back to that elite level.
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Southeastern Conference 2015 College Football Preview – Tennessee Volunteers
Head Coach: Butch Jones
2014 Record: 7-6
Tennessee Odds to win the SEC: 10-1
Butch Jones has done a terrific job on the recruiting trail, restocking shelves that were bare when he arrived in Knoxville. Coming off a 7-6 season, Jones has the program on the right track, but fans are getting restless, and are ready to see the team break through and make a run at the SEC East title.
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The team can’t use the excuse of being young anymore, as 21 returning starters leaves the team in position to build on the momentum it started a year ago. Competing programs like Georgia and South Carolina certainly aren’t going to roll over, and the schedule won’t do the team any favors, either.
Team Strengths
There’s plenty of skill on the offensive side of the ball for new offensive coordinator Mike DeBord to work with. Quarterback Joshua Dobbs and running back Jalen Hurd will be the key to developing some consistency on offense, but the team has plenty of weapons at wide receiver as well.
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Getting those guys going will be on DeBord, and task No. 1 for him will be to plug the holes in an offensive line that had its issues a year ago. That group didn’t do enough to protect the passer, or open up running lanes a year ago.
Dobbs will be the guy opposing teams key in on, however. He impressed after taking the starting quarterback gig over the second half of 2014. Dobbs ran for 468 yards and eight scores in six games, including a 166-yard, three-touchdown effort against South Carolina. Now the keys to the offense are his, and it will be up to him to take the next step in his junior season.
Team Weaknesses
By national standards, Tennessee’s defense was good last season. By SEC standards, the run unit needs some work. There weren’t many big bodies to man the interior defensive line, but bringing in elite recruit Kajlil McKenzie should help in that regard.
The team will need to be better in the red zone. Prior to its bowl game, Tennessee stopped opponents from scoring in the red zone only once all season, and even that was on a missed field goal. The Volunteers allowed opponents to score 23 touchdowns in 34 trips to the red zone last season.
2015 Tennessee Volunteers Prediction: 8-4
The Volunteers will have an opportunity to prove just how much they’ve improved with an early date against Oklahoma. The season-opener against Bowling Green is also a matchup they won’t want to look past. Drawing Arkansas and a road date at Alabama on the crossover won’t be fun.
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Tennessee will have to make the trip out to Florida and Missouri, but getting Georgia and South Carolina at home puts the Volunteers in position to deliver a couple blows to two of the top teams in the East. Getting those games at Neyland puts the Volunteers in a good spot.
While the first two non-conference games will be difficult, adding Western Carolina and North Texas to fill out the non-conference schedule adds a couple easy victories. Alabama and Kentucky are the only back-to-back road games on the schedule, and that comes after an off week.
Tennessee Volunteers 2015 Football Schedule
9/5 Bowling Green
9/12 Oklahoma
9/19 Western Carolina
9/26 at Florida
10/3 Arkansas
10/10 Georgia
10/24 at Alabama
10/31 at Kentucky
11/7 South Carolina
11/14 North Texas
11/21 at Missouri
11/28 Vanderbilt
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