Vols Football: Will Tennessee Have More Of A Pro-Style Offense In 2017?

The Tennessee Vols will have a new offensive coordinator calling plays in 2017.

Jet sweeps and short lateral passes are among the plays that drove Tennessee Vols fans crazy during the tenure of former offensive coordinators Mike Bajakian and Mike DeBord.

Hopefully those plays will be erased from the playbook in 2017.

The offense is expected to largely remain the same under new offensive coordinator Larry Scott, who was a big part of the Vols’ record setting offense in 2016.

Scott, who was promoted to offensive coordinator after serving as the tight ends coach at UT, is still expected to make some tweaks to the offense.

According to SEC Country, Scott has promised to make Tennessee’s offense more physical and improve the run game.

When Butch Jones was hired, he said the Vols would be a physical on offense and run a pro-style offense.

"Jones: We are going to run a no-huddle offense. I don’t like to use the term “spread,” because I think that the word “finesse” is associated with that. We are going to be a physical style of offense and be a pro-style offense. (12/7/12)"

For most of Jones’ four years as head coach, however, the offense has struggled to find its identity.

When you watched a Tennessee game, you weren’t exactly sure what they were trying to be. Were they a spread offense? Were they a team that wanted to throw the ball down the field? It was usually hard to tell.

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To be fair, the Vols’ poor offensive line play prevented the team from being a team that was able generate much of an inside running game, or throw the ball down the field.

But at some point in 2016, the offense’s identity started to become a bit more clear — which resulted in a historically great offensive season for the Volunteers.

Tennessee started stretching the field, utilizing players like Josh Malone and Jauan Jennings.

The hope in 2017 is that Scott will be able to build on the strong 2016 season and continue the evolution of Tennessee’s offense into more of a power running, deep ball/splash play kind of team.

Improved offensive line play will help the running game, and will give the Vols’ starting quarterback more time to allow routes to develop and big plays to be possible.

Next: Vols That Will Breakout In 2017

I think the best is yet to come for the Vols’ offense over the next couple of years.

And a big reason I think that is because of the confidence I have in Larry Scott.

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