Tennessee football: Vols 10 biggest concerns for 2018 season

10. Chemistry

You always wonder about this with a new team. But when you add a new head coach and staff with a completely different philosophy altogether, it becomes really difficult to determine which leaders will emerge for Tennessee football.

The vocal players from last year are gone. Many guys missed the spring and are just getting back into the groove of things. With everything so wide open, it’s hard to find players able to step up and carry that mantle.

Marquez Callaway, Eli Wolf and Kyle Phillips were the ones to accompany Jeremy Pruitt to SEC Media Days. But two of those guys are underclassmen. What does that say about the seniors on the team?

Add in all the battles for starting positions and you have to wonder how well everybody is going to get along. Ben McKee of Rocky Top Insider said last week that leaders are finally beginning to emerge on defense, but everything is day by day.

With so many new parts and new systems, chemistry is going to be huge. It will also be difficult to come by.

Consider the fact that the Vols have added 10 transfers this year, including four graduate transfers and six junior college players. Threee of those graduate transfershave played for conference championship teams. So they bring some winning credibility to Knoxville.

How everybody else responds remains up in the air. This isn’t the biggest concern right now, but it was a inevitable one. Tennessee football needs a couple of guys to clearly emerge before taking the field Sept. 1.