Tennessee football 2018 preview by position: Vols special teams

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Final take

Tennessee football is replacing a ton of talent on special teams. On top of that, they probably aren’t going to have the same focus on it Butch Jones had. And that is potentially a problem for the Vols since they need every edge they can get this year.

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However, there is some good news. Brent Cimaglia has shown enough that he should be a very good kicker. If not, at least they have another option in Ryan Tice. It’s unlikely that neither of those guys works out.

Meanwhile, they do have a proven kickoff returner. And there are enough athletes for Jeremy Pruitt to plug in the rest of the way in that field. Finally, Charles Kelly, special teams coordinator, was the special teams coordinator of the Florida State Seminoles when they won the national championship. So he does have success in this field.

But aside from the good news, the questions are abound. The biggest question is in the punting game. No matter what happens, that figures to be a major weakness for Tennessee football this year. And the return game won’t be a major advantage.

As a result, the Vols lose something that could have significantly offset their rebuilding projects on offense and defense. It puts more pressure on those units as they both learn new systems, and that is a problem.

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Tennessee football has always been a traditionally great special teams program. They are Punter U and dominated in the return game in recent years. There is reason to believe they could get back to that. But this year, it looks like this will be a middle of the pack unit.

Note: This preview is part of a series of previews for the 2018 Tennessee football season. For a look at other positions, please click here.

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