Tennessee football: Vols 2017 season preview primer

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 15: A view of the inside of Neyland Stadium during a game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers on September 15, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 15: A view of the inside of Neyland Stadium during a game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers on September 15, 2012 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images) /
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The 2017 Tennessee football season is right around the corner. Here is a primer looking ahead to the year for the Volunteers.

After falling short of expectations in 2016, Tennessee football head coach Butch Jones has his plate full heading into the 2017 season.

He is a potential hot seat coach for starters. But on top of that, he has to replace lots of key talent. That talent includes the best pass-rushing defensive end in school history in Derek Barnett and his quarterback in Joshua Dobbs.

He also has to replace his top running back in Alvin Kamara, his top receiver in Josh Malone, and his top cornerback in Cameron Sutton.

Add in a plethora of new staff members, and there was clearly a ton of attrition this offseason.

This makes for lots of questions ahead of the season opener against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Atlanta.

However, there’s still a lot of talent coming back. Here, we’ll provide the links to all the positional previews for the 2017 Tennessee football season as they come out.

Click on any one of them as they come out.

Tennessee football 2017 preview by position: Vols quarterbacks

With the departure of Joshua Dobbs, the Vols have to find a new quarterback. The race is down to Jarrett Guarantano and Quinten Dormady. But with a new quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, it’s a completely fresh start at the position.

Tennessee football 2017 preview by position: Vols running backs

Tennessee enters 2017 with much less hype at the running back position than it had in 2016. However, the Vols still have excitement there with one major returner and lots of other young talent.

Tennessee football 2017 preview by position: Vols wide receivers

Butch Jones has to replace his top receiver from last year, but he still has a major playmaker at the position. And there is veteran leadership in the slot along with lots of young talent. Here is a look at the position for the 2017 season.

Next preview: Tight ends