[tps_header][/tps_header]
5. Depth
At wide receiver, Josh Smith, Josh Malone, Preston Williams and Juauan Jennings only begin to tell the story. Newcomers like Tyler Byrd, Marquez Callaway and Jeff George could also factor into the mix before it’s said and done with.
In Kendal Vickers, LaTroy Lewis, Kyle Phillips, Danny O’Brian, Shy Tuttle, Kahlil McKenzie, Corey Vereen, Dimarya Mixon, Austin Smith, Darrell Taylor and Derek Barnett, you’ve got a defensive line rotation that will feature more players than in recent years. And that doesn’t even factor highly touted JUCO transfer Jonathon Kongbo who could well see playing time, too.
On the o-line, consider this: Chance Hall was vying for the start at right tackle and his injury hasn’t exactly brought the unit to its knees. That wouldn’t have been the case the last couple of years. The good news is that Chance should be back. The better news is with guys like Dylan Wiesman, Jashon Robertson, Coleman Thomas, Drew Richmond, Brett Kendrick and Jack Jones, for once, UT has plenty of bodies up front.
And the Vols will also be deeper than they’ve been in quite some time in the secondary. Just a season or two ago, a guy like freshman Nigel Warrior would have been one of UT’s marquee players. Now he’ll be just another name.
Sure, he’s insanely athletic. And yes, he may crack the starting lineup alongside TK Jr at safety. But with Cam at one corner and (likely) Emmanual Mosely at the other, the load won’t be on him. When you consider Rashaan Gaulden and Malik Foreman (currently battling for the nickel), Justin Martin, Micah Abernathy, Baylen Buchanan and others, the Vols have all kinds of depth on the back end.
Yes. Tennessee will start a more talented lineup than the Volunteers have in the past couple of seasons. But not by much. The real increase won’t be in on-the-field talent, but rather in depth, the byproduct of great recruiting. And that does two important things for a program. First, it makes injuries a little easier to deal with as we’ve already seen with Chance Hall. But second and possibly even more important, it makes all that talent compete even harder.
[tps_footer][/tps_footer]
