KNOXVILLE - The next three-plus months will fly by.
That's the hope of the Tennessee Volunteers, at least.
The football program's fourth set of spring practices under head coach Butch Jones concluded Saturday with the Orange & White Game at Neyland Stadium.
The defense emerged with the "win" in the modified scoring system, but that's entirely inconsequential in the grand scheme of things with the Vols missing two dozen players - many of them starters or key contributors- and 17 members of their 2016 signing class not on campus yet.
The progress Tennessee has made under Jones was on display, however, as the Vols speed toward a season where the minimum expectation is the program's first Southeastern Conference championship game appearance in nearly a decade.
"We have our own expectations and how we expect to play every time we step on the field," quarterback Josh Dobbs said. "We understand we have a lot of talent on this team, and we can be as good as we want to be. The goal for us is to take it day by day, focus on the process and embrace the grind, especially during the summer as we get ready for fall camp.
"Every time we step on the field, we're looking to win, and that's our mindset going into the fall."
What became clear this spring, despite the large number of absences and injuries, is Tennessee has the team to make a championship run.
There's finally talent across the board. There's depth, too - Tennessee has some capable players who may not be forced into major roles this season, and they showed up during Saturday's intrasquad scrimmage.
John Kelly, the backfield's third fiddle behind Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara, looked like an SEC running back. Quart'e Sapp is a redshirt freshman linebacker who was everywhere on defense. Defensive end Darrell Taylor, another redshirt freshman, made his presence felt as a pass rusher.
"We've come so far in such short periods of time," Jones said. "It's all a tribute to our players. It's all a tribute to our support staff, our fans. We have something very, very special here, and nobody should ever take this for granted."
Like any coach, Jones is likely to go into the season thinking that he still doesn't have enough talent or depth to get Tennessee into college football's elite, that there is work to be done, but he believes strongly enough in this team's leadership that he named permanent captains.
The quartet of Dobbs, Kamara, linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin and cornerback Cameron Sutton earned those roles via a team vote earlier this spring. Tennessee last had permanent captains in 2011.
"We look forward to being captains this season," Kamara said. "I think we all take it as a challenge. We've got to be better, we've got to be greater, we've got to hold ourselves to an even more high standard. This is the first time Coach Jones has done this, naming permanent team captains. It's a lot of pressure, but it's good pressure."
Dobbs, Sutton and Reeves-Maybin were members of the first class Jones signed in 2013, two months into the job. They were there for the Vols' 45-point loss at Oregon in 2013 and their 3-4 start in 2014.
Now they hope to lead the rebuilding job to fruition.
"It's been fun to see it all grow," Reeves-Maybin said. "I came in as soon as Coach Jones got here. I was an early enrollee, and to see us take that climb from the bottom of the SEC to where we are now and have the expectations placed on us now, it's been a fun process. I want to take it to the highest we can go."
Whether it was after their Outback Bowl win in January or this offseason on social media, the Vols have been fairly open about their aspirations for the 2016 season. Dobbs even referenced Tampa, Fla., where the national championship game will be played, while addressing the crowd Saturday.
The expectations, internally or externally, won't die down during the summer.
"We can't assume anything," Jones said. "Yeah, we're now an older veteran group, but you never assume anything. That's why the leadership and the captains are very important. This football team has been pretty focused all spring.
"We don't concern ourselves with hype and expectations. That's what you want. That's why you come to Tennessee, but it's focusing on the process of being a better football player and a better football team every single day. The minute you get caught up in worrying about (expectations) and thinking about that, you're going down a wrong path."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.