The talk around the Vols the last couple seasons has been about youth and inexperience, especially from head coach Butch Jones. But that narrative isn’t being used with the 2016 team, and for good reason.
According to data compiled by Bill Connelly of SB Nation, the Vols return the 9th-most production from their roster in all of college football for the upcoming 2016 season.
The Vols return 85 percent of their offensive production from 2015 and 79 percent of their defensive production from last year. That places them 9th in the NCAA in terms of returning players who had an impact last season and second in the SEC behind only LSU.
Part of that bevy of returning production is thanks to running back Alvin Kamara, cornerback Cam Sutton, and linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin returning for this season instead of leaving early for the NFL after last season. The Vols also return 17 total starters from last year, which ties them for the 5th-most in the NCAA.
Here’s how the SEC ranks in Connelly’s returning production rankings:
3. LSU
9. Tennessee
23. Georgia
47. Vanderbilt
67. Texas A&M
68. Missouri
69. Arkansas
80. Ole Miss
93. Auburn
98. Kentucky
99. Alabama
106. Florida
110. Mississippi State
117. South Carolina
There are only two other SEC East schools in the top 50 in returning production from last season, and they are Georgia and Vanderbilt. Florida ranks all the way down at 106, and South Carolina comes in dead last in the SEC at No. 117.
The Vols have been one of the younger teams in the country the last few years and haven’t had a ton of quality experience on the roster either. That’s not the case in 2016.
