Tennessee football: 10 offseason improvements Vols must make before 2019

6. Depth on the defensive line

Because of the issues the offense had figuring things out all season, they often times took a while to get going. However, as they would get going, the defense would be too tired that point to hang after playing hard all game.

This became especially clear against the Florida Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs. In both instances, the Tennessee football offense found a rhythm in the second half. But the defensive line would end up giving in, allowing both teams to expand their leads with big plays.

Then, against the South Carolina Gamecocks, they just could not hang in the fourth quarter and blew that game. Throughout the season, Jeremy Pruitt could not go deeper than Shy Tuttle, Alexis Johnson and Kyle Phillips.

And now here comes the problem: all three are gone. That’s a concern on its own, but let’s assume three guys emerge among Emmit Gooden, John Mincey, Matthew Butler, and Kivon Bennett. What’s going to happen after that?

The Vols already had a depth issue there, so they didn’t need to replace all three starters. Everybody from the last two recruiting classes is going to have to develop some, and on top of that, Pruitt and Kevin Sherrer may have to move some guys back up front like Jordan Allen.

Otherwise, the Vols could be significantly worse next year on the line. We already expect a drop-off. But the problem could be that while everybody else takes a step forward, the drop-off here is so bad that it doesn’t matter. So Pruitt should dedicate his time to building up the depth here in the offseason.