Perhaps it’s because new Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt already has gone on record as liking his team. And praising his returning quarterbacks. And sounding like his defense, especially the secondary, might be vastly improved from the first eight-loss Big Orange bunch in school history.
Or maybe it’s because all that speculation about whether Tiger Woods can become Tiger Woods again on the back nine of Masters Sunday can wait until next week. Maybe it’s also because it’s at least a day or two early to speculate whether Final Four Cinderella Loyola-Chicago – which knocked off Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA tournament – can become the first-ever team to win a national championship after beating the Volunteers in the tourney.
But whatever the reason, especially with the football Vols’ spring game still more than three weeks away (April 21), this seems like the perfect day to consider what kind of record the 2018 team can compile once the season kicks off against West Virginia in Charlotte, N.C., on Sept. 1.
Head coach Jeremy Pruitt of the Tennessee Volunteers is shown during spring practice on Haslam Field in Knoxville, Tenn. (Photo: Kyle Zedaker/University of Tennessee Athletics)After all, a new coach brings new hope and new expectations, however outsized. And this year’s schedule, though still filled with the usual collection of Southeastern Conference heavyweights, also offers a realistic shot for the Vols to win no fewer than six regular-season games and perhaps as many as eight, possibly even nine.
Really.