Tennessee football: Five bold predictions for Vols 2019 season

5. Jarrett Guarantano will throw for 3,000 yards and 25 touchdowns.

Yes, this is how much of an impact Jim Chaney will have on Tennessee football. He will have Jarrett Guarantano lighting up the stats sheet, even if it comes with lots of turnovers, sacks and a bad defense that keeps them from winning games.

Chaney is a guy who likes to coach to his personnel. Sure, with the Georgia Bulldogs, he produced two 1,000-yard rushers. But the last time he had personnel like this year’s Vols was, well, the last time he was with the Vols, in 2012.

That year, Tyler Bray threw for 3,612 yards and 34 touchdowns with Cordarrelle Patterson, Justin Hunter, Zach Rogers and Mychal Rivera as top targets. This year, Guarantano has a big arm and is throwing to Jauan Jennings, Maruqez Callaway, Josh Palmer and Dominick Wood-Anderson. So he has the chance to light up the scoreboard.

True, the Vols’ best offensive weapon is Ty Chandler, a running back. But he’s elite because he’s great with the ball in his hands, and Chaney will focus on getting him the ball through the air, which will only further help Guarantano’s stats. After all, even last year, Chandler became the first running back in UT history to have three receiving touchdowns in three straight games.

Simply put, Guarantano has too many chances to put up stats, so 3,000 yards and 25 touchdowns is actually modest. He did only have 12 touchdowns to three interceptions last year and fewer than 160 yards a game, but Tyson Helton’s timing-based offense focused on limiting his mistakes. Chaney will want to turn him loose.