Tennessee football’s offense looks completely different than it did a year ago. That’s not just a look at stats, either. The formations and splits of the offense have consistently looked like nothing Josh Heupel has done before at UT. While a decent bit of the concepts are the same, it’s not hard to notice wide receivers are often much closer to the hashes than the sideline compared to the past.
The result has been a return of some of the explosive plays Tennessee has been missing in recent seasons. With receivers all the way split to the sideline, there are plenty of advantages, but it did limit the extent of routes they were able to run. Now, with the pass catchers shuffled around, it can be much tougher to defend down the field.
There were two primary reasons the Vols decided to make these significant tweaks to the offense. First, it was the coaching staff who got together after the loss to Ohio State in the playoffs a year ago. They decided it was time they took a step forward and adjusted parts of the offense.
The second reason was the players. The wide receivers, coached by Kelsey Pope, wanted to add routes and other factors in the pass game to what Tennessee was doing through the air.
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“Last season, we left the playoffs and as an offensive staff, man, we felt like we got to evolve,” Pope said. “We got to go seek and learn get some different things. We had to take accountability and look in the mirror as coaches. And I think we did that with the things that we’re showing on offense. It’s completely foreign to what Tennessee offenses has looked like here so far.
“I think the other part of that is I think the players, they wanted that. They wanted some more concepts, route patterns, route dips, like whatever. But I think they got to take accountability and be able to master that and handle the workload and capacity. And I think those two things had married and now we’re in a really good spot. Like the creativity, you can go get to anything. You can move guys in different spots. Braylon Staley’s playing outside. Mike’s playing slot. Chris is playing slot. I think that just helps you as an offense, not only be cohesive, but your multiple and it’s hard for defenses to like pick one spot and guard one concept and guard one guy. It just helps us stay multiple.”
So far, Tennessee has produced 52.67 points per game on an average of 568.7 yards per outing. This isn’t against cupcakes, either. The Vols opened the season against an ACC foe in Syracuse and just finalized a tough 44-41 overtime loss to Georgia at home. Stats were certainly padded in the dismantling of FCS foe ETSU, though.
Through the air, Joey Aguilar has been a breath of fresh air, as well. He’s thrown for a combined 906 yards to go with nine touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s also punched it in for a score.
The result is a 2-1 record with the lone loss being a narrow defeat to one of the top teams in the country. With the offense rolling, UT is the No. 15 team in the nation and projected to make another run at a spot in the playoffs.
