Tennessee football: 10 things Jim Chaney must do to improve Vols offense

8. Add more creativity in the running game.

We discussed in another post how horrendous the Vols were on short-yardage runs throughout the year. Despite having two power backs, they almost always lost yards whenever they ran the ball in an obvious running situation.

The fix to that is more creativity in the running game. Tyson Helton was very predictable in such situations as to which side he would run to. It’s understandable when you have the talent and want to make guys stop you. But Tennessee football didn’t yet have the talent to do that.

This year, the issue is going to be similar. The Vols will have a lot more experience but won’t be that much more talented. And one of those power backs, Madre London, is now gone. The future of the other, Jeremy Banks, is in question in terms of playing running back specifically.

So the thing Jim Chaney needs to do immediately is open up the rushing attack. More counters and direct snaps with less predictability are all super important. He’s demonstrated an ability to do this in the past.

In 2012, he would often put A.J. Johnson in at wildcat for short-yardage plays. This past year, he had two 1,000-yard rushers with the Georgia Bulldogs. Chaney knows how to adapt to his personnel, but he’s also got to keep more options open. The Vols can’t give up two safeties this year on basic running plays. That described how bad the running game was in a nutshell.