Tennessee Football: 3 bold predictions for the 2019 season

With football season coming right around the corner and Tennessee camp heating up I have three bold predictions for the 2019 season.

The Tennessee football program has hit the lowest of lows the past couple of seasons, and Jeremy Pruitt is trying to rebound from that and get the Vols back to bowl season.

With that being said, my first bold prediction is:

Tennessee wins eight games. 

You’ve heard people say it and maybe you have said it yourself, but here I’m putting it on paper and declaring the Vols will go bowling again and have an eight-win season for the first time since 2016.

Pruitt is getting this program on the right track with what he’s doing both on and off the field. He’s changing the culture, which is something the program desperately needed.

He is transforming the defense into something we haven’t seen since Phillip Fulmer‘s hay day. The defense is still young which means even though they will likely be the leading force for the Vols on Saturday and they still haven’t peaked.

Jarrett Guarantano will throw for 2,500 yards and 20 touchdowns

Jarrett Guarantano hasn’t exactly been great in his first two years at Tennessee. The jury seems to still be out on him with two years left at Tennessee, but I think we will see the best version of him since coming to Knoxville.

Obviously, it would be disappointing if Guarantano didn’t take that next step as a junior, but with Jim Chaney as the offensive coordinator and Tee Martin on the staff, Guarantano has everything he needs to be successful.

JG only threw for 1,907 yards and 12 touchdowns last season. He’s going to need to play better for the offense to be successful in Chaney’s system.

Luckily for him, I have no doubt Chaney will do what needs to be done to get JG and the rest of the offense ready for Week 1.

Junkyard Dog wrecks the SEC

One of the most entertaining signings Tennessee got in last year’s class was “The Junkyard Dog” Elijah Simmons. In the least biased way possible, he is the absolute perfect player for Tennessee’s defense.

Simmons is going to be Tennessee’s breakout star on the defensive side of the ball as a freshman, and at this point, there’s nothing you can do about it.

Simmons was just a three-star coming out of high school, but after going through Craig Fitzgerald’s “Gym for Muscles,” Simmons looks like an absolute monster.

Yes, that’s a college freshman. If he’s not lining up as the only defensive lineman and tearing through the offensive line by himself, then Tennessee isn’t doing it right.

Simmons gives me hope, and that’s why he’s my final prediction for Tennessee’s 2019 season. The Tennessee season kicks off in almost two weeks which means we’re almost two weeks away from seeing Simmons destroys Georgia State’s offense.