There's been a lot of talk about depth and having experience regarding the Tennessee Volunteers. However, it looks like there's still plenty of room for true freshmen to make an impact this season. Head coach Butch Jones was asked how many of those fresh faces we might see get serious playing time this season and he wasn't quite ready to put an exact number on it.
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"I was looking at that today, and I wouldn't want him to put a number on it right now, 'cause we're still relatively early in training camp. I believe this is Practice 11, so I'll know a little bit more [later]. And it's all how they develop. Every day they get better, and special teams is obviously very, very critical for them, having important roles, as well."
Several true freshmen have worked with Tennessee's first-team and second-team units on both sides of the ball, and several more have gotten in work with the Vols' special-team units, but determining an exact number remains a tough task considering the number of players who have missed practices in the past week with various injuries.
Jones did go on to say that you you generally see great teams in the SEC win with juniors and seniors on the field, but if the freshmen can distinguish themselves in practice and in games they can certainly earn more time.
