Tennessee football: Spring game suggests Vols defense a repeat of 2012

Tennessee football’s Orange and White game made something abundantly clear. The Volunteers have numerous issues to work out on defense.

After everything we heard Jeremy Pruitt say throughout spring practice and reports from the multiple scrimmages, the worst fears of Tennessee football came to fruition in Saturday’s spring game. The Vols look to be in serious trouble on defense.

We wrote about this issue at length during spring practice. Jeremy Pruitt kept either praising the offense or ripping the defense after practices, and it became a major point of alarm.

Our first post at the end of March questioned whether or not this was a concern since the offense is usually behind the defense this time of year. Over time, things got even clearer, and the truth was impossible to avoid.

After the second scrimmage, we had another post about Tennessee football’s defense being the weak link. Well, after the spring game, we’re raising the alarm to another level. Could the Vols’ defense be historically bad this Fall?

A common theme throughout was the fact that Tennessee football’s secondary was struggling. The last time the Vols made the switch to the 3-4, it was the horrendous pass defense, making the secondary look awful, that cost them.

This was 2012, Derek Dooley’s final year. He finally got his offense off the ground and rolling, but hiring Sal Sunseri as defensive coordinator proved costly. Tennessee struggled to adjust to the new system, and the historically bad defense cost them as a result.

On Saturday, the secondary and defense as a whole had breakdowns reminiscent of that year. Let’s just say Kevin Sherrer has his work cut out for him. Remember in 2012 when the Vols gave up a touchdown on 3rd and goal from beyond the 20 against the South Carolina Gamecocks? What about their inability to stop the draws against he Florida Gators?

Well, Tennessee football’s offense got a first down on a draw after an eight-yard sack by Jonathan Kongbo pushed them back. Sound familiar?

Also, Jarrett Guarantano on that same drive completed a pass to Josh Palmer in triple coverage. It was a beautiful throw and catch, but it was also a clear secondary breakdown.

Another beautiful throw and catch was Guarantano’s deep touchdown pass to Eli Wolf over the middle. But once again, the secondary was at fault there for not doing more to stop it. Simply put, the Vols had breakdown after breakdown.

It was a disaster for the first-team defense from start to finish. Everybody saw it, and the fault lies with the back seven more than anything else.

Analysts will use the excuse that the Vols had injuries at linebacker Saturday. Darrin Kirkland Jr. was most notable among them. However, considering how depleted the Vols are on the offensive line, that’s not an excuse.

Now, unlike Dooley in 2012, Jeremy Pruitt is in his first year and installing brand new systems on both sides of the ball. So there’s less pressure to succeed with this immediately and more time to get it right.

Next: Top 5 Vols spring game performers

Still, there’s no denying the parallels. Tennessee football looks like it’s not just in for a rough year on defense. Right now, it looks to be in for a disastrous year. The end of spring ball gave no comfort to anybody watching. But they have time, at least, to get things right.

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