Tennessee football left Columbus with one big offseason question following a 42-17 season-ending blowout loss against the Buckeyes. The Vols offense had to make adjustments.
Tennessee’s offense had lackluster production the previous two seasons. Some of that had to do with personnel not making plays there were there. But the SEC and top competition had also adjusted to Tennessee’s wide splits and fast tempo. It’s not that the style of play couldn’t be affective but the Vols couldn’t lean on it for top 20 offenses like they had Josh Heupel’s first two seasons.
“We left the playoffs and as an offensive staff, man, we felt like we got to evolve,” Tennessee receiver’s coach Kelsey Pope said earlier this week. “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.”
Josh Heupel brought Seth Littrell on his staff over the offseason and there were some small changes to what Tennessee does offensively during spring practice. But there weren’t any sure signs that Tennessee’s offense would look dramatically different.
Then Nico Iamaleava entered the transfer portal following spring practice and the second offseason question emerged. Could Tennessee find competent quarterback play this season? The Vols kicked the tires with a few quarterbacks in the Big 12 and Big 10 but ended up with Joey Aguilar by way of Appalachian State and UCLA.
That left Josh Heupel and his staff with two big questions. Could Tennessee make the needed adjustments to its offense? If so, would they have good enough quarterback play for it to even matter?
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Through three games, Tennessee has answered both questions in the affirmative. The first was evident from the first play of the season, when Tennessee’s receivers didn’t have wide splits. Both answers looked positive through two games. The offense looked different and Aguilar played well in lopsided wins over Syracuse and ETSU.
But there was a wait and see surrounding both Aguilar and the offense as a whole until Tennessee’s week three showdown with Georgia.
The Vols’ offense looked different and had success against Georgia that it simply had not had in the past. Tennessee was in different formations with receivers bunched and the Vols lined up in the pistol. Routes trees were more diverse and Heupel and his staff were able to scheme receivers open in a way they simply hadn’t against Georgia in the past.
Of course, Aguilar did his job. Facing live bullets in the SEC, Aguilar processed things quickly and threw the ball accurately underneath, in the intermediate and down the field. When Aguilar made mistakes, he shrugged them off and moved to the next play. That helped Tennessee overcome a mid game slump and regain its form after its fast start.
The two positive answers has Tennessee’s offense humming early in the season. It also has the Vols’ offensive potential higher than most could have expected.
