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Tennessee Football: Vols Just Capped Off the Greatest Two Weeks in Offseason History

By Caleb Calhoun

Jan 1, 2016; Tampa, FL, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones and his team celebrate as they beat the Northwestern Wildcats in the 2016 Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium. Tennessee Volunteers defeated the Northwestern Wildcats 45-6. Tennessee Volunteers Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 1, 2016; Tampa, FL, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones and his team celebrate as they beat the Northwestern Wildcats in the 2016 Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium. Tennessee Volunteers defeated the Northwestern Wildcats 45-6. Tennessee Volunteers Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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The return of Alvin Kamara to the Volunteers capped off the best two weeks in offseason history for Tennessee football and Butch Jones. Here is why.

It all began on Monday, Jan. 4, following the epic bowl win over the Northwestern Wildcats. The Tennessee Vols were riding high and already thinking about huge expectations for the following season.

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Then, a series of events happened started that day, each one raising the level of expectations for the program going into 2016.

Butch Jones first announced the hiring of Larry Scott to replace Mark Elder as the tight ends coach for the Vols. Scott had served as the interim coach of the Miami Hurricanes and built a reputation as a great leader and winner while also giving Tennessee another recruiting pipeline into the state of Florida, making him the best position coach hire of the year.

Later that week, Jones shocked the world by letting go of defensive coordinator John Jancek, and he worked with the administration to up their spending to bring in the most sought after assistant coach in any sport: Penn State defensive coordinator Bob Shoop.

Shoop is clearly the best defensive coordinator in college football, and his arrival is certain to upgrade the Vols defense.

Then came the personnel news.

The same day Shoop was announced as the defensive coordinator for the Vols, one of three players who had filed paperwork for the NFL Draft announced his decision to return.

Jalen Reeves-Maybin was the heart and soul of the defense in 2015, and his decision to come back for his senior season gave the defense enough momentum.

But later that week, Cameron Sutton, the Vols’ best lockdown cornerback, also announced his intent to return for his senior year, which was a shocker. With his return, Tennessee has eight starters back on defense now.

And then came Monday. Alvin Kamara is a great running back and loved in Tennessee, but he didn’t have the same emotional connection to the program that Sutton and Reeves-Maybin have, and given the short shelf-life of running backs, it was perfectly understandable that he would want to leave.

But he confirmed he was returning later that night, meaning all of the weapons from the 2015 offense are back as well.

Two elite assistant hires and three NFL prospects coming back. That’s what happened for the Vols over the past two weeks.

How much better of an offseason could you get directly following your bowl win? Did I mention that during that time, as the college football season ended, they had been able to confirm their first Top 25 finish since 2007-2008, which came in both polls?

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Everything has gone right for the Vols since that bowl win except for on the recruiting trail, but Jones and his staff have two weeks to get that together, so there’s no reason to worry about that yet.

And hey, as we just saw, two weeks is all this program needs.

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