Tennessee football: Five reasons Vols will have top 5 2020 recruiting class

4. The Vols should have a better season in 2019 than 2018.

Nothing helps recruiting more than winning, and Tennessee football was able to secure a top 12 class despite going 5-7 in 2018. Although questions are everywhere about how good they’ll be in 2019, conventional wisdom says they should be much better.

After all, not only is this team entering its second year in Jeremy Pruitt’s system. The roster is deeper, and the schedule is much easier. The Vols will be favored in all four non-conference games with its toughest opponent being the BYU Cougars.

You would assume they could steal two SEC wins again to reach bowl eligibility. After all, they should get two home wins of their three against the Vanderbilt Commodores, Mississippi State Bulldogs and South Carolina Gamecocks. Then they could maybe steal a road win against the Kentucky Wildcats, who they beat 24-7 in 2018, or the Missouri Tigers, who could be on probation.

Simply put, it’s hard not to see them making a bowl, and there is actually a path to eight or nine wins. That makes for a very strong selling point on the recruiting trail, and a brand that can already get a top 12 class without making a bowl should be able to jump into the top 10 with making a bowl.

If they don’t have a better season, then Pruitt and the Vols could be in some trouble. But it’s really hard to see that happening, so that makes it really hard to see them being unable to crack the top 10 with this factor alone. Then there are all the other things that could get them into the top 5.