As Butch Jones gets begins working with his fifth Tennessee football program for 2017, he’s dealing with a lot more than just staff changes this year.
The Vols head coach has to replace more key players than ever before, at least since he got the program back to where it needs to be.
On paper, Tennessee football has a ton of talent returning. After all, Jones’s first real recruiting class was 2014, so even the bulk of the weapons last year were juniors or redshirt sophomores.
But the 2013 class had lots of key contributors who graduated.