Develop a “Closing Mentality”:
This one is pretty self-explanatory if you watched the 2015 Vols football team. Tennessee suffered four losses in 2015 by a combined 17 points and led in the fourth quarter in three of those four games. The most heart-breaking ones were a double-overtime loss to Oklahoma and a one-point loss to Florida in the month of September.
The first New Year’s resolution for the Vols is for the football team to learn how to finish off close games in 2016. The SEC East will be up for grabs more than it ever has been, and the Vols will likely be the favorites to win the division. But in order to do so, they will have to close out games more effectively than they did this year.
Butch Jones and his staff too often got conservative late in games, and the biggest thing they need to learn how to do next year is to loosen up and give their players the best chance to make plays. Talent was so often under-utilized late in games for the Vols, and play-calling was too often too tight.
Many are already pegging 2016 as a make-or-break year for Jones and the Vols. In order for next season to be a success, the Vols need to finish games and put teams away rather than letting them hang around and makes plays.
