Tennessee football has been picked by most experts to win the SEC East, but are Butch Jones and the Volunteers aiming too low with that goal?
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Two years ago, a new head coach in the SEC at the time made the comment that if you can’t talk about it, you can’t be about it.
Now, ignoring for the fact that the comment was made by Vanderbilt Commodores Head Coach Derek Mason in reference to winning the SEC East, there is some truth to that statement.
Fast-forward to this year, and the Tennessee Vols are not just talking about winning the SEC East. They are the favorites to win it, despite having failed to do so since 2007. But are the Vols selling themselves too short by winning the SEC East?
Now in his fourth year, there is a strong case to make that Butch Jones should be guiding Tennessee football to its first SEC Championship in 18 years, the longest drought in school history.
After all, almost any coach who has achieved great success in history got there by his third or fourth year. Of course, it took Phillip Fulmer until his fifth year to win the conference, but for the most part, the fourth year is the final year many programs set their sights towards after hiring a new head coach.
The Vols have shown marked improvement all three years under Jones, and any other team with his personnel could be considered a favorite for a national title.
When you consider that Tennessee has 20 of 24 starters back following two straight Top 5 recruiting classes and then a No. 16 ranked recruiting class, is a team led by seniors and juniors who have mostly started at least three years, and was four plays away from being undefeated last year, it would seem like the Vols would not just be a favorite to win their division.
That’s especially true when you consider that they have a senior quarterback with two full years cumulatively of starting experience.
National title hopes would be in the talk for many programs. So at Tennessee, the goal should be set much higher than winning the SEC East. Sure, there are teams like the Alabama Crimson Tide and LSU Tigers who are projected to have much more talent this year.
But LSU got blown out in three straight games down the stretch last year, and Tennessee took Alabama to the final five minutes in Tuscaloosa last year in a game that could’ve gone either way.
So there’s no reason the Vols shouldn’t be thinking about winning the SEC Championship, not just the SEC East.
And although he’s not talking about it, Jones has to be thinking the same thing. The proof is in his offseason moves, from going all in to bring in Bob Shoop as a defensive coordinator to focusing on specific, elite junior college players in his 2016 recruiting class that could bring an immediate impact.
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So while Tennessee fans do not want to talk about it, the goal for the 2016 season should be to win the SEC Championship and make the College Football Playoff, not just shoot for winning the SEC East.