Henry To'o To'o thinks the Tennessee Vols might "arrive" sooner than expected
Nearly everyone in the college football world took notice of the Tennessee Vols during the second half of the 2019 season. After starting 1-4, there were plenty of folks (including myself) that thought a three or four win season was a possibility for Tennessee. There wasn't much hope for the Vols after opening the season […]
Nearly everyone in the college football world took notice of the Tennessee Vols during the second half of the 2019 season.
After starting 1-4, there were plenty of folks (including myself) that thought a three or four win season was a possibility for Tennessee. There wasn't much hope for the Vols after opening the season with back-to-back losses to Georgia State and BYU.
Jeremy Pruitt, however, was able to keep the team focused and UT managed to turn the ship around. The Vols reeled off six straight wins to finish the season with an unlikely 8-5 record.
Most everyone agrees that Tennessee is trending up. But most college football analysts still believe the Vols are a few years away from being a serious threat to crash the College Football Playoff.
Not everyone, though, thinks the Volunteers are still a few years away. I don't know if UT linebacker Henry To'o To'o thinks Tennessee is College Football Playoff bound, but he believes the Vols are in for a "special" season.
To'o To'o recently appeared on Tennessee's The Slice and he said the whole team knows they have "something special going on".
Sometimes special seasons come out of nowhere. I'm not saying we should expect a playoff appearance from the Vols in 2020, but crazier things have happened.
I've mentioned this before on several occasions, but there are a lot of parallels between the 2019/2020 Vols and the 2016/2017 Georgia Bulldogs (the Bulldogs reached the national championship game in 2017).
- 2016 Georgia won eight games/2019 Tennessee won eight games.
- 2016 Georgia barely beat Nicholls State at home/2019 Tennessee lost to Georgia State at home.
- Offensive coordinator Jim Chaney was in his second season at Georgia in 2017/Chaney will be in second season at Tennessee in 2020.
- Georgia had a true freshman (Jake Fromm) take over as starting quarterback in 2017/Tennessee has five-star quarterback Harrison Bailey waiting in the wings.
Georgia obviously had a better foundation when Kirby Smart took over as the Bulldogs' head coach than what Tennessee had when Jeremy Pruitt took over as the Vols' head coach (Mark Richt didn't leave the cupboard bare at UGA like Butch Jones did at UT). Which makes it unlikely that UT will be able to reach the playoff in 2020.
But To'o To'o can feel something special on Rocky Top. It's usually best to listen to those inside a program to figure out where a program is going.
And right now, the sounds from within the Vols' program suggest that Tennessee's stock is going up in a hurry.
Featured image via Bryan Lynn-USA TODAY Sports
