Tennessee football: Five encouraging signs from 2021 spring practice

3. Offense adjusted to the tempo

Jim Chaney’s slow-paced offense that didn’t require the passing game to take blitzes into account and focused on ball control was never going to prepare Tennessee football for what Josh Heupel was bringing to the table. Everybody knew there would be a learning curve, and the expectation was that it would be extremely difficult in the spring.

That turned out not to be the case. In fact, some of the players who thrived the most were players better built for Chaney’s offense, particularly Harrison Bailey, who was the best quarterback in spring ball. Hendon Hooker and Brian Maurer both performed well in the spring game too, though, and that’s a big deal.

Beyond the quarterbacks, the offensive line didn’t show any real breakdowns throughout spring ball when it came to blocking schemes. That’s where the adjustments will be the biggest beyond the quarterback position, so this was a major positive sign.

It’s fair to point out that the efficiency of the offense could be attributed to how depleted the defense was and the fact that the defense was making its own adjustments. However, everybody seemed to have command of what Heupel was doing throughout the spring, and that became evident during the Orange and White game.