Leader of defense Darrell Taylor had some quotable notes from SEC Media Days. He thinks the Vols will make a bowl game. Do you?
The Tennessee football team is coming off a 50-17 loss to Missouri from making a bowl game in Jeremy Pruitt’s first season as head coach. You could also say the 38-13 loss to Vanderbilt stood in the way of the 2018 squad going bowling.
Everyone remembers the disaster of 2017. The worst season in the history of the program. The only time since basically the beginning of time that the Vols failed to win at least five games.
However, Darrell Taylor thinks those days are long in the past.
Taylor first came on the scene back at the Battle of Bristol where he was filmed saying, “we gonna whoop their .” #WGWTFA
Last season as a redshirt junior, Taylor made history by joining Derek Barnett (2014) and Leonard Little (1996) as the only plays in Tennessee football history to record two games of three or more sacks in the same season.
Taylor played in 11 games last season
When Taylor was behind the microphone on Tuesday afternoon, he said, “we will make a bowl game this season, that ain’t nothing.”
Everyone is well aware that Tennessee could have a good season. A lot of the national media has jumped on board and like the Vols as sleepers to make a lot of noise. The FPI suggests that Tennessee could win as many as nine games.
Bill Connely, a writer for ESPN, took a deep dive into the numbers and made the point that almost every run play for the Vols last season went backwards. He also mentions that Jarrett Guarantano was constantly under pressure and was the reason the offense was even successful.
If the offensive line can get worked out and Jim Chaney can make an impact on Guarantano, Tennessee should prove Taylor right by making a bowl game. What do you think? Do the Vols have it in them?