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Tennessee football’s spring game storyline centers around hope, CFB writer says

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 22: Smokey the live Tennessee Volunteers mascot on the sidelines during the game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium on September 22, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Florida won the game 47-21. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 22: Smokey the live Tennessee Volunteers mascot on the sidelines during the game between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium on September 22, 2018 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Florida won the game 47-21. (Photo by Donald Page/Getty Images) /
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For the fifth time since firing Phillip Fulmer, Tennessee football enters the Orange and White game with a new head coach. It’s the third straight time the new coach, Josh Heupel in this case, is changing up the schemes dramatically, making the game worth paying attention to.

However, the Vols enter this one with a major cloud over their head. They are still waiting on the results of an NCAA investigation that got their previous head coach, Jeremy Pruitt, fired, and they also have to deal with losing lots of transfers in the offseason that surround them with questions.

Taking all of that into account, David Cobb of CBS Sports has one word to describe Tennessee football’s biggest spring game storyline: Hope. Cobb said looking for hope, to be exact, was the storyline. Here’s a bit of what he wrote.

"After all the setbacks and self-inflicted woes Tennessee has suffered over the past 15 years, Volunteers fans need something to be excited about. The prospect of first-year coach Josh Heupel implementing a system that actually produces points is appealing.…Seeing just one or two players from either side of the ball emerge as legit playmakers during the spring game might lift the spirit of a downtrodden fan base."

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Obviously, given the way things have gone the past 15 years, this is definitely true. The Vols have tried everything to try to get back to the top. They hired multiple former Nick Saban assistants, a young, brash offensive mind and a proven coach at a smaller level who brought a brand new offensive scheme to Rocky Top.

None of these things have seemed to work. We can point to lots of reasons for them not working, but the end result is still the same. The last three full-time head coaches, and four of the last five, were fired after having a losing season their final year on the job, and two of them didn’t even finish that season.

As a result, at this point, it’s all about faith. The Vols are entering a new era with new athletic director Danny White, who hired Heupel from the UCF Knights less than a week later. White is the fifth full-time athletic director at UT as well and the sixth overall if you count Joan Cronan’s interim tenure in 2011 between Mike Hamilton and Dave Hart.

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Anyway, hope is the big thing with Tennessee football, and that’s what the fans need coming out of this spring game. Heupel’s offenses will at least be fun to watch, which does provide some semblance of hope, but fans need to see that Saturday. If they do, it’ll go a long way when it comes to lifting the morale of everybody in Big Orange Country.

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