Tennessee football: 5 reasons for excitement surrounding Vols offseason

4. The Vols should be in much better health this offseason.

One of the biggest issues that faced Tennessee football in 2018 was the limited time Jeremy Pruitt and his staff had to install their system. It was a domino effect of disasters that dated back to the massive amount of injuries in 2016 and 2017.

Whether or not that was Butch Jones’s fault or due to an incompetent medical staff, it still set the Vols back significantly. They had over two dozen players miss spring practice, and some couldn’t even start fall camp. By the time their opener came against the West Virginia Mountaineers, they had five offensive linemen who had maybe practiced together for a week.

This offseason, they are much healthier. There are still some injuries that set guys back, but that’s par for the course. The overall injuries were significantly less in 2018, and that may have had something to do with Pruitt changing up the medical staff.

Whatever the reason, many more players will be around for spring practice. Those extra reps are going to be huge, especially on the offensive line, and with a ton of new recruits coming in at that position to start fall camp, the health combined with recruiting should make that unit much deeper and more talented this year. Oh, and the return to health of guys like Brandon Kennedy up front will also help that.

It’s hard enough to transition from a spread to a pro-style and from a 4-3 to a 3-4 in one year when everybody does get a full offseason. But when half the team misses spring practice to learn the systems, things get that much harder. Such issues shouldn’t be as prevalent this year.