KNOXVILLE - While Tennessee's offense is focused on selecting a new starting quarterback and identifying potential playmakers at the skill positions this offseason, the Volunteers' defense is aiming for a rebound.
If Bob Shoop's second season as defensive coordinator is going to be better than the first, the Vols will have to overcome the departures of Derek Barnett, Jalen Reeves-Maybin, Cameron Sutton and a couple of other key contributors.
The more immediate challenge is maximizing a spring in which a handful of important defensive players are sidelined or limited in practice as they recover from last season's injuries or offseason surgeries.
Shoop was successful with defenses with less than talent than what's left over at Tennessee, and he'll need to tap into that formula if the Vols are to improve heading into 2017.
"When you have two or three superstars but no one else on a defense, you can't really play well together," safety Todd Kelly Jr. said last week. "Just having 11 sound guys that can play Tennessee defense and orange swarm football, that's what it's all about and that's what we're trying to build each and every day."
Tennessee's defense was ravaged by significant injuries throughout the 2016 season, and the bottom fell out entirely during a miserable November as the Vols set a dubious program record for the most yards allowed in a game, surrendered more than 400 rushing yards twice and made Vanderbilt's Kyle Shurmur look like Tom Brady.
The Vols hit the reset button in December and recorded a respectable performance in their Music City Bowl victory against Nebraska, though the Cornhuskers were playing with a backup quarterback and without their leading receiver. For a defense completely devoid of confidence by the end of the regular season, though, even modest success such as holding Nebraska to 24 points and 318 yards can be significant.
"I think we finally put it on the field," linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. said. "We were very close throughout the season, had some missteps here and there, but to be able to hold a good football program in the Big Ten like Nebraska to 24 points and to be able to do the things rushing the ball like we did against Nebraska in the bowl, I feel like it was definitely a confidence booster for us."
The fallout from Tennessee's 11th-place Southeastern Conference finish in total defense included two changes among Shoop's defensive assistants, with Brady Hoke taking over the line from Steve Stripling, the successful coaching veteran who moved into another role within the program, and Charlton Warren replacing the dismissed Willie Martinez.
Hoke brings head coaching experience from his tenures at Ball State, San Diego State and Michigan, and Warren has coordinating experience from his time at Air Force. Tennessee's defensive backs have raved about Warren - whose primary focus will be on the cornerbacks, with Shoop remaining in charge of the safeties - since his arrival in January.
"Change can be good," Kelly said. "You have to find the good in everything that change is about. I've seen the good in it, and there really hasn't been anything bad. He came in, he said, 'Look, guys, I know you don't know me and I don't know you all that well, but I want us to win ballgames and I want to make you the best player that you can possibly be.'
"As soon as he told me that, I had all the respect for him in the world."
Neither new coach is getting the opportunity to evaluate his full arsenal during spring practice. Along the line, Kyle Phillips, Shy Tuttle and Kendal Vickers are sidelined and the Vols are keeping close tabs on Kahlil McKenzie; the secondary is without Micah Abernathy, Evan Berry and Rashaan Gaulden.
Those absences certainly were reflected during Saturday's first contact practice of the spring, when the offense was in control as quarterbacks Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano, second-year receiver Latrell Williams and the offensive line all stood out.
Tennessee's defenders remain confident, though, a bounce-back season is theirs for the taking.
"It's (Shoop's) second year, and as he's gotten his feet wet after this last season, I feel like he's a lot more comfortable with putting his own stamp on this defense," Kirkland said. "It definitely has shown, and I feel like we've all embraced it."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.