It's Great To Be A Tennessee Vol

It feels almost weird to come on here and constantly praise Tennessee, because there really hasn’t been a lot to get excited about in Knoxville over the last decade-plus, unless "Brick by Brick" was your thing. With their victory tonight in Columbia, the Vols have won four in a row, their longest winning streak since the Dobbsnail Boot, a sentence I never thought I’d be typing back in September.

The Vols have rebounded thanks to the best senior class they’ve had in years. Jauan Jennings (5 catches, 115 yards, 1 TD) and Marquez Callaway (6 catches, 110 yards, 1 TD) dominated the Mizzou secondary, and Daniel Bituli and Nigel Warrior were all over the field tonight defensively.

Jennings is slowly working his way onto the list of most beloved Vols of the century. He was already involved in two of the most famous plays in Tennessee history (the receiver on the Dobbsnail Boot and his TD against Florida), but now, his leadership and high level of play on the grittiest Tennessee team since the Fulmer era has pushed him to another level. I never would’ve thought his Vol career would end this way after he got booted off the team two years ago.

He’s not the only Vol on a redemption tour; how about Jarrett Guarantano? 415 passing yards and 2 TDs against Missouri, one of the best defenses in the SEC? A major (sometimes deciding) factor in the last five Tennessee wins? The Vol receivers (Palmer, Jennings, Callaway) were great tonight, but they don’t become the first trio in program history to each have over 100 receiving yards in the same game if JG doesn’t play like he did tonight. Sure, he missed too many throws tonight, but he always seemed to rebound on the next play with a 20 yard laser in a place where only his guy could catch it.

The whole second half of the year has been completely unexpected. After four weeks, Jeremy Pruitt was going to get fired, Phillip Fulmer was going to take over, and Tennessee was never going to win anything substantial ever again. Now, they’re bowl eligible and are going to beat the crap out of a horrible Vanderbilt team in Knoxville next week, and then go to Capital One Bowl or the Outback Bowl or somewhere in January.

Look, they were far from perfect tonight, and there’s a ton they need to clean up, but dammit, it’s just nice to win games again. I know, beating a 5-5 Mizzou team isn’t the same as beating Florida or Alabama, but hell, I just want to enjoy this one and the way the season is ending. 

Yeah, it’s going to be difficult to replace the seniors. Darrell Taylor is the best pass rusher on the roster, Bituli is the best tackler and the leader on the defense, and Jennings is the most beloved Vol in years. But let’s just appreciate what these guys have done for the program this season, a year where they could’ve just packed it in after the horrific 1-4 start. These guys could end up being the leaders of the team that restores the program into what the fanbase has been clamoring for. Not quite the Sugar Vols, but close.

Pruitt and the staff just need to keep recruiting well, coaching the guys hard, and never being satisfied. Cole Cubelic basically had to beg Pruitt to get excited and praise this team on the field after the game. Nick Saban’s post game comments always make it sound like Alabama lost by two touchdowns. Pruitt sounds the same way.

Pruitt really seems to be growing into the job, and I think he’s done a lot better with the CEO type stuff that comes with running a big time program like Tennessee. I think he struggled a lot with the off-field responsibilities that comes with the job earlier in the season (rats on the Titanic), but of course, it’s easy to botch that stuff when the fanbase is turning against you and you’re losing to Georgia State.

Tennessee isn’t “back” yet, but they appear to be on the way. This has been a nice season for a team that looked dead two months ago. Let’s hope they don’t need a five game warmup in 2020.