Tennessee football: Five offseason improvements for Vols to make in 2020

5. Limiting mistakes on special teams snaps

This is one many people may not think about. And with Tennessee football losing Riley Lovingood this year, it’s one that’s incredibly up in the air. But one of the reasons for the drop-off in punting this year by the Vols was due to issues when it came to snapping the ball and handling the snaps. It’s a huge reason for Joe Doyle’s drop in average.

For the year, the Vols had 17 punts that failed to go 40 yards and did not pin the opponent inside their own 20-yard line. Of those punts, eight of them could be classified bad snaps. Five were high and three were low. However, on top of that, a ninth one was just dropped by Paxton Brooks as he was getting set to punt against the Kentucky Wildcats, and that one was blocked.

When it came to field goals, three of Brent Cimaglia’s four misses were due to mistakes on the line. His miss against the South Carolina Gamecocks was due to a high snap. In his two misses against the Missouri Tigers, both had bad snaps that were blocked as well. Taking all of that into account, handling snaps and protection up front was somewhat of an issue all season.

UT is too good on special teams to allow that to happen this year. With Doyle transferring, Brooks is now the full-time punter while Cimaglia is the full-time kicker for 2020. However, with Lovingood gone, this is a major issue for Jeremy Pruitt to work on during the offseason.