Tennessee football: Five biggest concerns for Vols 2019 season

3. Adjusting to new coordinators

Everybody was excited about Tennessee football luring Jim Chaney away from the Georgia Bulldogs to replace Tyson Helton. And they were fine with Jeremy Pruitt giving up play-calling duties on defense, moving Kevin Sherrer over to special teams, and losing Charles Kelly and Terry Fair all to bring in Derrick Ansley to be the new secondary coach and defensive coordinator.

But the fact of the matter is these are new guys, even if they are keeping the pro-style and 3-4 in place. So we don’t know how well-adjusted the players will be to them. And, most importantly, it’s worth noting that both guys were here, Chaney even in the same role, when this team went 5-7 in 2012.

We might note that there are some differences from Chaney and Helton as well. After all, Helton runs a timing-based offense and likes speedy mismatches. Chaney just likes to maximize the talent he has, wherever it is. So that’s a big change.

In addition to Ansley and Chaney, it may not be helpful that Sherrer moved over to special teams coordinator either. We have no idea how he’ll work out there, and special teams was a rare strength for the Vols in 2018. So what happens if they take a major drop off.

Simply put, the Vols changing coordinators may bring some excitement, but it also does mean significant attrition. And we don’t know how that attrition will be handled, so not everything is a sure bet with these changes.