Tennessee Offensive Coordinator Larry Scott
Unlike fellow SEC head coaches, Tennessee football’s Butch Jones did not bring in a new offensive coordinator. Instead, he chose to promote assistant Larry Scott. Scott is a respected recruiter, but his promotion suggests to many Volunteer fans that Butch wants to remain hands-on with the offense.
Jones had Tennessee on a roll last season starting with five wins against no losses. Tennessee fans boasted the program was back to its historical stature as a SEC powerhouse. Three straight losses to Texas A&M, Alabama and South Carolina brought the Volunteers back to reality.
Even more damaging to the Tennessee reputation was a November loss to Vanderbilt. Volunteers may choose to celebrate the team as “Champions of Life” to use Butch’s phrase. On the football field, they were not even champions of the state of Tennessee, despite trouncing an outmatched Tennessee Tech team earlier in the season.
Unlike recent seasons, Larry Scott is confident his offensive line will be a strength. New team leaders must be established at quarterback and running back but Scott is bullish on the 2017 Vols rushing attack. He told Mike Griffith of SEC Country:
"“We will be able to run the football,” Scott said. “You’re only as good as those five guys up front, so as they go, we go. We’re going to continue to build it, continue to challenge them and continue to develop them.” (Per) preseason All-SEC candidate Jashon Robertson “We’re in the process of building a bully, that’s what we say and talk about every day. It’s our demeanor, our attitude, the way we come out every day and approach things.”"
Tennessee must replace Josh Dobbs at quarterback and Alvin Kamara at running back. Neither Jones or Scott are in a hurry to choose a new starting quarterback. Junior Quinten Dormady may have a slight lead over redshirt freshman Jarrett Guarantano. Redshirt sophomore Sheriron Jones cannot be completely ruled out.
The competition may continue into September with at least two signal-callers splitting time in the opener against Georgia Tech.
While 2017 will be Scott’s first time as an offensive coordinator, he has coached offensive line, tight ends and running backs. He will focus on fundamental execution. He and the returning players already understand Jones’ offensive system.
It will be interesting to watch these new coaches and their teams evolve in 2017. An early guess is that all five of the new offensive coordinators were excellent choices for their new teams. Even so, many different factors will determine which of them succeed in their new positions.
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