Tennessee football: Surprises from Vols season-opening depth chart

Here’s what stands out for the Tennessee football Volunteers’ roster.

Given the level of gamesmanship Jeremy Pruitt has deployed in previous years, the most surprising part of what was revealed in the 2020 Tennessee football season-opening depth chart was how predictable it was. Most of what stood out, we all saw coming.

The new receiver rotation has the three guys who were the favorites to take over in Brandon Johnson, Josh Palmer and Ramel Keyton, Ty Chandler and Eric Gray are co-starters at running back and Jaylan McCullough and Trevon Flowers are the two starters at safety. These are new developments that most people thought would come.

Almost everywhere else on the offensive and defensive sides returns last year’s starters. Jarret Guarantano, Henry To’o To’o, the cornerbacks and nickel all back, Kivon Bennett and Deandre Johnson offsetting Darrell Taylor and most of the specialists all make up that story. Here is a look at Tennessee football’s depth chart.

As you can see, though, there are some exceptions, and some surprises. Cade Mays not being on the depth chart is not one of them, but Jerome Carvin winning the starting job in his place could be a bit of a shock. The same could be said for Bryce Thompson listed as a kickoff and punt return specialist. We knew Velus Jones Jr. would return kickoffs while Thompson returned punts.

Still, the most surprising part of the depth chart is the fact that 22 of the 30 spots in all three phases of the game had one starter penciled in. That’s something we never expect from Pruitt given his history, a history that can be annoying for those of us covering the team.

Still, among the few standout surprises, where to they fall? What does it say about the team overall? Let’s go ahead and take a look at them here. These are the five biggest things that were unexpected in Tennessee football’s 2020 depth chart.