Tennessee football: Five biggest reasons for Vols turnaround this season

3. Defensive tackles have emerged for the Vols.

Early on in the year, Tennessee football was tasked with replacing every contributor on the defensive line. They lost all three starters from last year in Kyle Phillips, Alexis Johnson and Shy Tuttle. And Jeremy Pruitt had limited players returning to work with.

Included in that was Emmit Gooden, who was the only other major contributor from last year. And he suffered a season-ending injury before the year started. Meanwhile, Michigan Wolverines transfer Aubrey Solomon was the only other proven guy with any experience at the FBS level, and he didn’t get an eligibility waiver from the NCAA until opening week.

So Gooden was hurt, everybody else from last year was gone, and Solomon was rusty. Pruitt then had to find who would stand out in the middle. He tried everybody before settling on Solomon, Greg Emerson and Darel Middleton. But while trying everybody, he had early growing pains, and they showed against the Georgia State Panthers.

Dan Ellington moved the ball at will in that game. The Florida Gators were also able to exploit the Vols’ inability to get any push in the middle. But coming out of that first bye, they have settled on their top guys, and it has showed.

UT’s defensive line play was huge in their win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs, it kept them in the game agains the Alabama Crimson Tide, and it’s been coming through ever since. The ends, LaTrell Bumphus and Matthew Butler, were pretty solid to start the year. But the tackles coming on have made a huge difference.