Tennessee football: Five concerns for Vols 2020 offseason

5. Riley Lovingood is a key loss on special teams.

It’s no secret that Tennessee football had a major advantage when it came to place kicking last year with Brent Cimaglia but suffered some inconsistencies at punter. Now, those inconsistencies appeared to be rectified once Paxton Brooks replaced Joe Doyle, but evidence shows that snapping, at times, was an issue with Doyle’s drop-off from his freshman year.

With Doyle transferring out, Cimaglia and Brooks are the clear-cut kicker and punter. However, snapping could get even worse. This past year, Riley Lovingood handled all the duties. Remember, he was once the special teams player of the week for fielding a punt back in 2016, and he was the one guy who could handle both duties.

Now, with him gone, there is concern as to who will be snapping next year on field goals and punts. Yes, this is a huge deal. Bad snaps cost Cimaglia two field goals last year. If there are more of those this year, than Jeremy Pruitt loses a major advantage. Cimaglia’s consistency helped the Vols beat the Kentucky Wildcats and Indiana Hoosiers this past year.

Before last year, Lovingood and Jesse Medford were both snappers for the team on special teams, but Lovingood really was the only guy to handle it this past year. Matthew Salansky was a true freshman, and it looks like he’s the guy waiting in the wings. Will it work out? We don’t know for sure, but we can say it’s something the Vols need to address.