Indeed, time flies. The season has changed right before our eyes. Football players are returning to work. Thousands of fans have switched from picnics and good, old summertime to information please, just the facts.
There is no ho-hum at Tennessee – party deck at Neyland Stadium, surprising success in recruiting, all digital tickets, even for us old folk, NCAA letter of cheating allegations, Casey Pruitt in the eye of the storm?
Two of the five sound exciting. One is a maybe we can do it. The others are embarrassing.
More information? What will Jeremy say to combat the charges? Is there something else he can do to hurt Tennessee?
Good news? Coming soon. Who will make the Volunteers better?
Information spills onto drugstore floors from football magazines clustered on the racks above. Perhaps you have already noticed that Lindy’s found no place for Tennessee or Florida or much improved South Carolina in its top 25.
Shocking, shocking I tell you, is Auburn at No. 10.
Somewhat surprising to see Mississippi State and Will Rogers ranked ahead of the transfer king and Ole Miss. Somebody with a keyboard has a better telescope than mine.
Tennessee unranked by Lindy’s is not fatal. That leaves space to grow. The Vols hope to build on a winning 2021 season (7-6) that wasn’t as good as celebrants make it sound. The sometimes orange (when alternate uniforms were still in the closet) beat Bowling Green, Tennessee Tech, Missouri, South Carolina, KENTUCKY, South Alabama and Vanderbilt.
KENTUCKY is capitalized because the Wildcats defeated 10 opponents, including Iowa in the Citrus Bowl. Tennessee was not invited to Orlando and did not fight off Purdue in the thrilling Music City adventure. Officials were a factor in the failure.
Phil Steele’s Top 40 has the Vols at 27. We are told the early season matchup with Pitt looms large. What a revelation. Seven other matchups are large. Not so large are Ball State, Akron and homecoming against UT-Martin.
Athlon projects these Volunteers as No. 18 in the country. That magazine is based in Nashville. Being optimistic might increase state sales.
Athlon got an up-close look at what happened in the local bowl game. The Boilermakers torched the Tennessee defense. Aidan O’Connell did it, 534 yards and five touchdowns. There were 11 pass plays of 20 or more yards.
Upon further review, that was a disaster.
My suggestion for dramatic change: Play better defense. Rush the guy with the ball. Before that, create some linebackers and some semblance of a secondary, just in case the quarterback remains upright long enough to throw.
Others propose a much easier fix. Allow Hendon Hooker to be more explosive. He delivered 31 touchdown passes and scored five times as a runner. If the coaches would be daring and let him run more, what the defense does wouldn’t matter as much.
Hooker does not sound overly enthused about this idea. After discounts for sacks, he netted 613 rushing yards. He says, down deep, he is a run-when- necessary guy. He favors staying healthy.
After that hint, he rearranged his words: “I’ll do whatever it takes to win.”
More information? Athlon editors think the Southeastern Conference will be very good. That magazine designated 96 players as pre-season all-stars. It filled four teams and added many extras but pulled up short. If it had kept going to five or six all-SEC teams, it could have included almost everybody.
It honored 18 Alabama players, 13 from Georgia, 12 from Texas A&M and 10 from Tennessee. Vol honorees: Wide receiver Cedric Tillman and defensive end Byron Young (first team); Hooker and linebacker Jeremy Banks (second team); offensive lineman Jerome Carvin, defensive end Tyler Baron and punter Paxton Brooks (third team); running back Jabari Small, offensive lineman Darnell Wright and defensive back Trevon Flowers (fourth team).
Tillman was an automatic, the leading returning receiver in the SEC (64 receptions, 1,084 yards, 12 touchdowns). He was the Vols’ first thousand-yard receiver since Justin Hunter in 2012.
Tillman set a school record with TDs in seven consecutive games. In all his time before Josh Heupel, Cedric had eight catches.
The coach says Young, top edge rusher, will be one of Tennessee’s “foundational pieces.” That is code for cornerstones. The junior college transfer delivered 46 tackles, 11.5 for losses, 5.5 sacks and eight quarterback hurries.
Hooker is behind Alabama’s Bryce Young in Athlon ratings. That puts him within sight of the Heisman Trophy.
Hooker set records for passer rating and completion percentage. He engineered a top-10 offense that broke eight records. He looked like he knew what he was doing. He lost just three interceptions.
Banks, the linebacker, set the pace for Tim Banks, defensive coordinator (no relation).
Jeremy Banks ranked third in the SEC with 128 tackles. Too many were too far down the field. He, coaches and I know he needs to make more hits closer to the line of scrimmage. He needs to join the secondary in helping the pass defense get better. He needs to reduce personal fouls.
Other than that, Banks is the best available.
Small played through a shoulder injury and led Tennessee in rushing. He was eighth in the SEC. He produced 792 yards and nine touchdowns with almost 5.7 yards per-carry. He has added some bulk in hopes of hurting less.
Be sure the offensive Volunteers will be entertaining. You may get fireworks. Results were measurable in 2021 – top 25 nationally in seven categories, including scoring (9th) and passing efficiency (7th). The 511 points and 6,174 yards of total offense broke school records set by some of the all-time greats.
Nothing to it, said offensive coordinator Alex Golesh.
“Five hours of sleep and 18 Red Bulls a day.”
The offense might actually be better – if, if and if.
Tillman and younger receivers must replace production lost in the departure of Velus Jones and JaVonta Payton. I’m still looking for the big running back who will improve short-yardage efficiency. It won’t be Len’Neth Whitehead. He’s had season-ending surgery to repair a July injury.
Maybe the offensive line, blessed with experience, will improve with age.
There are a few other jagged rocks atop Rocky Top. The one-word summation is defense. Could be the foundation for improvement is set. Key word is continuity. The Heupel coaching staff stayed hitched (one defection). Recruiting has been much bolder.
If NIL is allowed to flourish, if the NCAA penalty is less than a life sentence, if the Vols are granted partial forgiveness for confessing, scrubbing and disinfecting, if, if, if …
Tennessee might someday be Tennessee again.
Marvin West welcomes reader comments or questions. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com
