Tennessee football: 5 things to watch for in Vols spring game

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1. What is the level of balance in Jim Chaney’s offense?

Tyson Helton was just not a fit for what the offense had last year. He likes timing-based offense and creating speed-based mismatches at receiver with an accurate quarterback to get them the ball, spreading the defense out to be able to open up the running game.

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Tennessee football, however, has more of a physical quarterback who has shown flashes of a big arm but not a ton of accuracy. Its receivers are mismatch guys based on size, not speed. And it had too many good running backs to not run to set up the pass.

Jim Chaney’s experience is a much better fit for the Vols’ personnel than Helton’s. However, Chaney also likes to adapt to his personnel. So we don’t know exactly what the offense will look like when he’s running it Saturday.

Will Chaney decide that his personnel allows him to run the offense he last ran at Tennessee in 2012? That would mean a ton of deep throws to big receivers to spread the field, heavy use of tight ends and slot guys in the passing games, and scoring lots of points quickly.

Or will he decide to play physical and use a combination of Tyson Helton and Jeremy Banks to set up the pass? That’s more similar to what he did after leaving the Vols, with the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Georgia Bulldogs.

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It all depends on the personnel he thinks he has. But the offensive players are largely more in tact for the spring with potential defensive contributors, many of whom we don’t expect to arrive until the summer. So we could see a more full playbook from the Tennessee football offense, and that’s why Jim Chaney’s schemes will be worth watching.

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