Tennessee quarterback Keller Chryst walks off the field after the Vols' loss to Florida on Sept. 22 in Knoxville.NASHVILLE - It would be easy to look at the University of Tennessee's less-than-stellar finish this season and glean the conclusion that there's no end in sight to the woes that have clouded the football program for years.
Some of the departing players don't see it that way.
The Volunteers failed to reach bowl eligibility for the fifth time this decade with Saturday's 38-13 loss at Vanderbilt in the regular-season finale, finishing 5-7 overall and 2-5 in Southeastern Conference play in the final college season for 13 Tennessee seniors.
How far has the program fallen? The Vols had a 98-23-3 record from 1990 to '99, with five seasons of at least 10 wins, including the 1998 national championship campaign. There was a dip in the 2000s, but the program still won 80 games and had three 10-win seasons.
Tennessee is 55-57 with one season remaining in this decade, a span marked by turnover at head coach for the Vols. Lane Kiffin started the trend when he left in January 2010 after coaching one season in Knoxville, and he was followed by Derek Dooley (2010-12), Butch Jones (2013-17) and Jeremy Pruitt, who took charge last December.
The Vols are expected to return all 11 offensive starters next season, plus offensive lineman Brandon Kennedy, who was the starting center until sustaining a season-ending knee injury during practice after this year's opener. The defense will lose only four players who started against Vanderbilt.
Whether that's a good thing, considering the record, remains to be seen. But among at least some of the players who are leaving, there was optimism for those who remain.
"They're headed in the right direction," senior defensive lineman Shy Tuttle said. "Coach Pruitt, (defensive line coach Tracy) Rocker, those guys, those coaches are going to get it rolling for Tennessee again."
Pruitt said the players' effort in practices improved as the season progressed, and now with a full offseason ahead for the first time in his tenure, he said coaches expect to start working on quality control regarding the whole season. After that comes recruiting and important signing periods in December and February.
Backup quarterback Keller Chryst, a graduate transfer who played three seasons at Stanford before joining the Vols this past summer, said there's a lot of work that must be done to get the Vols back to some level of prominence. He also believes Pruitt is capable of ensuring that work gets done.
"Coach Pruitt is a no-nonsense type of guy. He has similar principles that I've seen around winning programs," said Chryst, whose uncle Paul Chryst is the head coach at Wisconsin and whose father Geep coaches tight ends for the Denver Broncos.
"The formula is simple, but it's not easy to execute, and that goes with everything in life. It's hard to go through that daily struggle of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. You're in February, grinding out a really hard workout or a spring practice, but those are the days that are going to make you better."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.