The Tennessee Vols' improvement on the offensive side of the ball from 2020 to 2021 was beyond impressive — it was miraculous.

Tennessee had the No. 109 scoring offense in the nation in 2020 (21.5 points per game).

A year later, after losing key offensive players like running back Eric Gray and wide receiver Josh Palmer, the Vols finished with the No. 7 scoring offense in the nation (39.3 points per game).

That's a remarkable turnaround in just one season.

The biggest change, of course, was going from a Jeremy Pruitt-coached team to a Josh Heupel-coached team. Pruitt's team had no offensive identity. Heupel's team, on the other hand, has a unique offensive identity — up-tempo, fast, and efficient.

While Heupel is certainly encouraged by the Vols' offensive turnaround in 2021, he knows there are still a lot of areas where Tennessee needs to improve.

Heupel told the Knoxville Rotary Club this week that UT has to be better in converting short-yardage situations.

And to do that, Tennessee's coaches are spending the offseason self-scouting to see how/where they can improve.

"Right now currently our staff is going back through our cut-ups from the season looking at what we did efficiently and operated at a really high level, things and schemes that we didn’t operate," said Heupel. "You’re trying to anticipate what you think your personnel is going to be for the following year, how do you put those players in the best position."

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The Vols were actually among the best teams in the nation in third-down situations.

Tennessee converted 46 percent of their third-down opportunities (against FBS programs only) in 2021, which was No. 9 in the nation. The only two SEC programs that had a better third-down conversion rate than the Vols were Alabama and Kentucky.

It was the third and short situations where Tennessee struggled in 2021. Those were the only situations where the Vols' offense didn't look crisp and efficient. Often in those situations, we'd see Tennessee abandon their up-tempo attack and let the opposing defense get set before running a play.

This is the biggest area where Tennessee needs to get better this off-season. They were almost better off in a third and long. They either have to go tempo in this situation, or figure out a better plan for picking up a yard or two. pic.twitter.com/v0RhCjtTVi

— zach ragan (@zachTNT) February 13, 2022

That specific situation was easily the Vols' biggest offensive weakness in 2021. If they can get better in that area this offseason — and I think they will, considering Heupel's offensive savviness — then we should see a Tennessee football team that takes a big step forward in 2022.

The Vols have improved tremendously over the last year, but they still have a long way to go. Heupel is aware of his team's shortcomings and it's clear he's working hard this offseason to address them.

It has to be refreshing for Tennessee fans to have a coach that's constantly evolving.

Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK