Tennessee football: Top 5 storylines for Vols as 2018 fall camp begins

4. Health

This is a big one. After two years of serious injuries decimating the program, Jeremy Pruitt changed a lot in the offseason. He brought in a new strength coach, changed the way the Vols practice and overhauled the medical staff.

Now, heading into fall camp, 106 of the 110 guys expected to be on the roster will be able to practice fully and get as many reps as possible. The only exceptions include JJ Peterson, who has to complete some academic things to be able to enroll, and then three guys coming off injury.

Jauan Jennings and Chance Hall have been cleared to practice, making it 108 guys overall, but they will have their reps limited early on. Then there’s Trey Smith, who’s cleared for non-contact drills, but can’t practice fully until Aug. 19 or Aug. 20.

Simply put, Tennessee football begins fall camp as healthy as you could ask them to be. However, the big thing for the Vols is staying healthy. Will all these changes, many of which happened in the summer, help this team avoid the issues that they faced the past two years?

One thing is for sure, and that’s overhauling the medical staff was something to be celebrated. They cleared Brett Kendrick to play last year with a concussion and have been grossly incompetent. It’s probably what led to so many injuries.

But now, we see if the new guys will truly be an improvement or if the players on the roster are just injury prone. The number of injuries coming out of fall camp will give us a good read into that depending on which way it goes.