Tennessee football: 10 offseason improvements Vols must make before 2019

4. Pass protection

For Jarrett Guarantano to be able to take more shots downfield, Tennessee football has got to protect better. Now, to be fair, the Vols did lose Trey Smith again right before their game at the South Carolina Gamecocks, just as they were getting some momentum.

That was a huge blow, and Jeremy Pruitt was considering this year a bit of a loss on the offensive line anyway. That’s what happens when so many of them missed spring ball and even part of fall camp to get back into shape.

With the hope of everybody getting back fully healthy and then a recruiting class that, however light, seems to be deep up front, the line should be significantly better next year. And it has to be if the Vols can do anything in the passing game.

Although their run blocking improved later in the season, they still allowed Guarantano to take far too many hits. We just showed you the numbers that prove how often he made the safe throw. However, Guarantano still managed to get sacked and hit a lot. That can’t happen in the future if the Vols are going to exploit the advantage they have in the passing game.

Tyson Helton was worthy of the criticism he received, but this issue limited what he could do as well. So the entire focus this offseason needs to be shoring up that pass blocking in order for the passing game to be as explosive as possible. And, by the way, this also includes the tight ends and running backs doing their job, which was a bit of a problem as well at times this year.