Randy Smith
We are still a little more than two months away from the start of the 2019 college football season but excitement and anticipation for the Tennessee Volunteers is at a fever pitch. The Vols however are still an unknown commodity. Coach Jeremy Pruitt enters his second season at Tennessee with a couple of decent recruiting classes under his belt and several pre-season prognosticators have picked the Vols to win eight or even nine games. They're in the top 25 in some pre-season polls and those factors alone have given Big Orange Nation new hope.
Perhaps the biggest single factor for success at Tennessee this fall is the schedule.
The Volunteers have consistently battled one of the toughest schedulesin the nation for several years now and while it will still be a daunting one to say the least, it's lighter than the past several seasons. The first three opponents for the Vols are Georgia State, BYU and the Chattanooga Mocs, so unless there is a major upset, Tennessee should be 3-0 when they travel to the Swamp to face the Florida Gators on September 21st. This is where the schedule begins to toughen. After the contest with the Gators, the Vols take a week off before hosting Georgia and Mississippi State. Next they play at Alabama and back home to host South Carolina. If they could somehow go 3-2 in that tough stretch, eight to nine wins will remain a possibility. It is much more likely Tennessee will be 2-3 in that portion of the slate which would make them 5-3 overall and just one win away from bowl eligibility with four games remaining.
The Vols would need just one more win in games with UAB, Kentucky, Missouri and Vanderbilt to clinch a bowl bid but a 6-6 mark will disappoint everyone including Coach Pruitt. The Vols should be better and deeper at every position and with the return of offensive coordinator Jim Chaney what was a lackluster offensive attack in 2018 should be a lot more exciting in 2019. Tennessee did receive a setback this week when senior wide receiver Juaun Jennings suffered a knee injury and underwent surgery. The good news is that Juaun should be back in time for the start of the fall campaign.
When Phillip Fulmer hired Jeremy Pruitt in late 2017 it wasn't considered to be a " sexy " hire. While Pruitt wasn't really in the picture in the early going, he was when Coach Fulmer took over the search. It was a blue collar hire; one that was perfect at the time for Tennessee. The Volunteers are still a few years away from serious consideration for an SEC title or the college football playoffs but the eight wins they should garner in 2019 is a great foundation.
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Randy Smith can be reached at rsmithsports@epbfi.com