Said what? We went 6-6 in 2011 after losing all those transfers because of Lane. Best O-Line in the SEC with some serviceable backs 7-5 or 8-4 isn't too far fetched. You worry about ya squad winning more than 3 games.
in 2011 Tennessee went 5-7 because Dooley lost to Kentucky, who fielded a WR at QB because they were out of players to start.
It was the first loss to Kentucky by Tennessee in 26 years. Dooley was 17 when the streak started.
Here's what I've heard about practices so far:
-The OL looks good
-The RBs are right where they were last year, for better or worse. They'll be depended on in a major way this year.
-The WRs are coming together nice. They've progressed the most and look like they'll be competitive, despite few of them actually having experience.
-The QBs are bad. They likely won't have their shyt together until late in the season. Hopefully it's not so bad that there's a QB controversy.
-The DL already has three injuries.
-LBs are good, but very thin at the position. Outside of the starters it's not looking good (4th quarter trouble)
-DBs lost Riyahd Jones. WR Vincent Dallas (Jr) was moved to DBs to help with depth issues after the injury. SS Jalen Reeves-Maybin was moved to LB to help with the depth issues at LB too.
Tennessee should win 6 games. If Butch Jones gets 7 out of this team then he's going to be a good coach for UT. Anything less than .500 is worrisome, but like you've pointed out, this season and next season are largely rebuild years (again).
Starting to get old watching Tennessee trying to get back on top of things, but that's just how things work sometimes. Let the Good Ol Boy Network take the wheel for too long and drove UT right into 200+ million dollars of debt and shytty ADs/coaches.