Athlon Sports has officially released its 2022 College Football Preview magazine online and in bookstores around the nation. The magazine provides college football fans with in-depth looks at all 131 FBS teams across the board.
While the previews are incredibly expansive and informative, one of the most fascinating aspects of the magazine’s publication is the anonymous coach quotes. For most of the teams in the magazine, including all 14 SEC teams, one section of the preview features a quote from an anonymous coach breaking down that particular team.
In Tennessee’s case, the coach that spoke about the Volunteers doesn’t necessarily seem too fired up about Tennessee repeating its offensive success despite giving credit for at least having a program identity now.
The entire anonymous quote about Tennessee, from the Athlon Sports 2022 College Football Preview magazine, is as follows:
“This seems like the team that everyone’s in love with, at least after one season. Any time Tennessee does well, even if it’s clearly because of a one-off situation, there’s an immediate pressure to ramp back up to the Phillip Fulmer national title days. … They’re pretty easy to break down because that offense is pretty easy to break down: You’re a six-win team if your quarterback is decent, and you’ve got a two- or three-game ceiling if he can make plays. Having [Joe] Milton as the backup is a big luxury; you don’t want to be rotating them at all, but if you have an injury, you’ve got a guy with game reps in the system, which is rare in the portal era. … Overall, the defense is average at best for that division, but that’s a luxury Josh Heupel’s system offers because it can hide them a little bit. … They’re missing a really dynamic playmaker right now. Finding that at receiver with one of the signees could be huge for them. … When this staff came in, there was a pretty strong criticism of the simplicity they used at UCF. They did a good job adjusting in some games, but it will be interesting to watch how they advance and wrinkle their stuff as defenses get more and more tape on them. … Give them credit – they’ve got an identity for the first time in years, and the scheme has kept them in games against teams with way more talent, especially at places where it matters most in this league, like the line of scrimmage.”
See Also from RTI: Tennessee Makes Top Three For Four-Star Receiver
There are several fascinating points made by the coach in his statement above, but a few do stand out in particular.
Obviously, the key point heading into year two of the Josh Heupel era is seeing how the Tennessee team and teams around the conference adjust after one year. Now that the Vols’ offense has an entire season of tape (with Hendon Hooker at quarterback) out in the open, it will be interesting to see how Tennessee evolves its offense and how defenses attack the offense from the jump. The Vols did an excellent job of getting the early lead out of the gates on opponents last year and found success throughout the season because of that.
One big disagreement with the coach speaking about Tennessee is the lack of a big-time playmaker on the offensive side of the ball. There are a few ways to break this down, though. On one hand, Tennessee absolutely has a playmaker in wide receiver Cedric Tillman, who is a Third Team All-American heading into next season. Tillman became Hooker’s go-to and number one target last season, racking up gigantic games against Alabama, Georgia, and Purdue. Tillman may not possess the type of quick burst that Velus Jones Jr or JaVonta Payton had, but he still has more than enough speed to combine with his freakish athleticism to be one of the league’s most dynamic receivers. Tillman finished the year as the SEC’s fifth-leading receiver in 2021 and is aiming even higher in 2022.
On the other hand, though, we have yet to see who will be that dynamic speed player on Tennessee’s offense this season. All signs point to Jalin Hyatt after a solid spring camp, but Tennessee will need to find that player with lights-out quickness that they can use to throw a winkle in the offense during games. Finding room in the open field on screen-plays and short passes was a valuable part of Tennessee’s offense in 2021.
The other disagreement with the coach is saying that Heupel’s offensive system offers a bit of hidden protection for the defense. In some ways, that is absolutely true. Tennessee’s defense giving up points is less of a game-changing factor when the Vols’ offense was so proficient in scoring points themselves. Tennessee didn’t have any defensive showdowns last year but had plenty of offensive shootouts. However, at the same time, sometimes Tennessee’s offense put the defense in unfortunate positions.
Tennessee’s offense is built on speed, tempo, and the ability to catch the defense of their heels. The downside to that style of play is that with a three-and-out, sometimes an offensive series only takes 45 seconds off the clock, leading to a tired defense having to go back on the field after just being out there. That’s an issue that Tennessee saw at times last year. While that’s no big panicking concern or reason to change the offense, it is a reasonable counterpoint to the idea that the Vols’ offense provides shelter for the defense. While sometimes that’s true, other times the offense is putting the defense back on the field with less than a minute of rest.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more anonymous coaching quotes from around the SEC this week.
Athlon Sports’ preview has Tennessee Football projected to finish second in the SEC East in 2022.
Athlon Sports College Football Preview is available for purchase in local bookstores today or online by visiting this link.
