Tennessee football: 5 concerns Vols revealed at 2019 SEC Media Days

5. There is still too much unproven talent.

Depth being a concern was one of our main takeaways from Tennessee football at the podium. We pointed out that Jeremy Pruitt said he only has three quarterbacks with two of them having never played a snap of college ball.

Taking that into account, it was clear that Pruitt was concerned about depth. But he’s also just concerned about the lack of proven talent on the team as a whole, and the depth on the Vols is part of that.

After all, despite touting the conditioning improvements, Pruitt specifically noted that those things don’t win football games. In an interview with SEC Kickoff, despite touting the building of a roster, he noted that the Vols are on the “potential” side of things because they are still so young.

And Pruitt also talked about the attrition on the defensive line. Remember, the Vols lost all three starters up front last year in Kyle Phillips, Alexis Johnson and Shy Tuttle. Meanwhile, he couldn’t really tout any standouts there just yet.

As a result, Pruitt is clearly worried about the lack of proven talent on the Vols. He didn’t say it out loud, but he’s as concerned as anybody. Unproven production among the backup quarterbacks and no proven contributors in the trenches would give any coach a headache.

This shouldn’t be a surprise for anybody who has studied UT’s personnel. But Pruitt’s quotes make it more real. It’s just another example of what could happen to the Vols this year if they don’t shore up issues at certain positions.