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Tennessee Football: Five Most Pleasant Surprises for 2016 Vols at Midseason

By Caleb Calhoun

Oct 1, 2016; Athens, GA, USA; Tennessee Volunteers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (C) is carried off the field by team mates after catching the game winning touchdown pass against the Georgia Bulldogs on the last play on the game during the fourth quarter at Sanford Stadium. Tennessee defeated Georgia 34-31. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 1, 2016; Athens, GA, USA; Tennessee Volunteers wide receiver Jauan Jennings (C) is carried off the field by team mates after catching the game winning touchdown pass against the Georgia Bulldogs on the last play on the game during the fourth quarter at Sanford Stadium. Tennessee defeated Georgia 34-31. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports /
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Sep 24, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones during the second half against the Florida Gators at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 38-28. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 24, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones during the second half against the Florida Gators at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 38-28. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /

1. Tennessee Football Mental Toughness

This is obviously the biggest surprise of all of them. It’s also the most frustrating one. After all, Vols fans get sick of watching their team fall behind early and then have to fight all game to come back. But that’s much better than the type of team they had last year.

Remember, this is a Tennessee football team that lost all four games last year in the fourth quarter. These Vols blew three two-touchdown leads in 2015. One of those was a 17-point lead, and two of them were two-touchdown leads in the fourth quarter.

This year, the Vols have fallen behind by at least two scores in six of their seven games. They came back to win four of those six games, and they easily could have won five of them.

That’s a huge deal and something this team deserves a lot of credit for.

Going into the year, we figured this team would be mentally tougher than last year and take that final step to be able to handle close games.

However, we did not envision them becoming the mentally toughest team in all of college football and never panicking when things went against them. That’s a huge testament to Butch Jones and his culture-change, but it’s also a testament to the leaders of the football program.

It’s a major surprise to see this 180, and it’s the biggest reason for the Vols’ success this year. As a result, we have to give them a ton of credit. And it’s by far the most pleasant surprise on this year’s Tennessee football team so far.

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