Georgia Football: what to look for against the Tennessee Volunteers

The Georgia Football team take on the struggling Tennessee Volunteers this weekend and while the Dawgs remain favorites, don’t sleep on the Vols.

It may not feel like it to some due to the difference in the states of the two programs, but it is Georgia/Tennessee week. This is the week when our hillbilly neighbors from the North will drive down from the hills to Athens with hopes of upsetting the number 2 ranked Georgia Football team. There’s one little problem, however. The Vols are reeling right now. They lost their opening game to West Virginia and just got bludgeoned at home by Florida.

Many, myself included, expect the Dawgs to win comfortably Saturday.  But don’t think for a second that Jeremy Pruitt hasn’t spent the majority of this week telling his Tennessee squad that they can come into Sanford Stadium and win this game.

The 32 and a half point spread that has Georgia favored shows that the majority of the nation, including Vegas, expects this to be a one-sided affair.  Kirby Smart has surely spent the majority of his week trying to keep his team’s ears cleaned of this “rat poison”. Let’s take a close look at the Tennessee Volunteer team that the Dawgs take on Saturday at 3:30pm.

Strengths

Wide Receivers and experience on defense: The WR corps features 2 really good juniors in Brandon Johnson and a guy who haunts many Dawg fans dreams,  Juan Jennings. Marquez Callaway is a talented sophomore receiving threat and could develop into a legit All-SEC player one day. This defense is full of juniors and seniors like Nigel Warrior and Shy Tuttle. Warrior is one of the most talented safeties in the country. The former 4-star recruit had 83 total tackles in 2017.

Offensive coordinator Tyson Helton has proven that he can run a high powered offense and could one day be a strength. He ran one of the most dynamic offenses in the nation in his 2 years as offensive coordinator at Western Kentucky. The issue for Helton is that right now, he’s seriously lacking in offensive line talent. It’s pretty hard to be explosive in the SEC when you can’t hold your own on the lines of scrimmage. Helton has the pedigree to get the Vols offense moving eventually but this season, that’s a very tall task.

Weaknesses

Depth: a first-year unproven coaching staff, obvious rebuilding year and a lack of overall talent. Jeremy Pruitt shouldn’t be expected to win a lot in his first year because his team has a lot of weaknesses. Don’t forget that the Vols didn’t win a single SEC game in 2017. They built up the Florida game as Pruitt’s coming out party and fell flat on their faces. Many Vol fans were not happy and that’s understandable. He’s going to need at least a couple of seasons to turn things around there, so be patient Volnation. There is a lot of work to do in Knoxville and it won’t get done overnight.

Players to look out for

There are two players that really stand out to me on this team. The first is Nigel Warrior. The kid’s name is fitting. This is a possible future NFL 1st round pick safety and by far the best player on the Vols defense in my mind.

Then there’s Juan Jennings.  This wide receiver came to Athens and was part of one of the absolute most brutal plays in the recent history of the Georgia/Tennessee rivalry. I don’t have to go back over it, Dawg fans. You know what I’m talking about.  He will look to ball out once again Saturday.