College football expert Phil Steele is buying into the Tennessee hype this year. He hopped on 180 Sports on Monday to preview the Volunteers' 2016 season. He is all aboard the hype train because he has this year's Vols as the most experienced Power 5 team and believes they are ready to win.
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"They're definitely a legitimate national title contender," Steele said.
"They [Vols] are the No. 1 most experienced Power 5 team," he said. "We can't hear Butch (Jones) say how young they are this year, because they're not. (...) Tennessee has got good players at every single unit, every single position across the board."
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Of course there was only one issue he has with this team and that's the "keeping leads at the end of games" thing the Vols couldn't seem to do last year.
"You look at the fact that if you win the SEC East, you find yourself in the SEC title game," Steele said. "And if you win the title game, you're basically one game away from being right there in the playoffs. I think Tennessee's got a good shot, provided they don't let those leads slip away and play up to their talent level."
That will be the key this year as running backs Alvin Kamara and Jalen Hurd return —- with Hurd having a legit shot at breaking Tennessee's all-time rushing record —- and quarterback Josh Dobbs has learned from last season's mistakes and will hopefully be an even bigger factor this season for the Vols.
This is definitely the year the Vols have to win some sort of title, whether it be SEC East or overall SEC, or Butch Jones could find himself on a considerably hot seat come next summer.
[h/t Saturday Down South]
