Tennessee football: Five Alabama Crimson Tide to watch for against Vols

There’s no question that Tennessee football will have to account for numerous elite Bama players. Here are five key Crimson Tide against the Volunteers.

And here we are. Tennessee football has to face the Alabama Crimson Tide right as Jeremy Pruitt’s team found its stride with a critical win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs last week. Talk about a bad break.

With a 2-4 record and 1-2 SEC record, the Vols’ horrendous start to the season is complicating their path to a bowl. Facing Nick Saban’s No. 1 ranked team further complicates it. Add in the fact that it’s on the road and the Vols have questions about their starting quarterback, and there are numerous things working against them right now.

But like the rest of the SEC West and this year the South Carolina Gamecocks, Tennessee football can’t avoid Alabama being on its schedule. So the Vols have to get ready to face the team that is doing a better job of what it did in the regular season last year.

As we get set to look at the key players for the Vols to keep an eye on when facing the Tide, let’s note that it was hard to narrow it down to just five. This team, as usual, is loaded with elite weapons, and the suspension of one star player didn’t come close to changing that.

Pruitt has a pretty good history of scheming and preparing for the opposition as a defensive mind, but he and Derrick Ansley have their work significantly cut out for them here. The same is true with Jim Chaney on the offensive side.

It’s one thing to maximize the talent of your players. But it takes a completely different skill level to neutralize the talents of the other team and minimize what they can do. Pruitt will have to figure out a way for that to happen.

So how can he do it? Which players does he need to keep an eye on in order to scheme for the Tide? Let’s take a look here. These are the five key Alabama Crimson Tide Tennessee football will have to deal with when the Vols travel to Tuscaloosa Saturday.