Over the last 12 years, the Tennessee Vols have been almost unrecognizable to longtime fans of the program.

That's mostly because the Vols haven't had much of an identity during the last decade.

Lane Kiffin wasn't in town long enough for his team to establish an identity. Derek Dooley's team could never get over the six win hump. And Butch Jones was never sure who he was as a coach — so it's no surprise that his teams looked like a MAC program that got lost in the SEC.

Under second year head Jeremy Pruitt, however, the Vols finally look like a team that has a distinguished personality — and it's a throwback to the Tennessee teams that once dominated the AP top 25.

The Vols are turning into a physical team that desires to own the line of scrimmage.

And recruits are taking notice.

2021 four-star offensive lineman Eli Sutton recently discussed his recruitment with VolQuest.

Sutton said he believes Tennessee is on an upward trend, while adding "Tennessee’s philosophy upfront is to be nasty……they are really mauling dudes up front right now".

This is how teams win the in the SEC — being nasty up front. No gimmicks, no finesse, just owning the man across from you.

The stats back up Sutton's observations, by the way.

Tennessee gave up only 20 sacks this season. By comparison, in 2016, the Vols' best season under Butch Jones, UT gave up 25 sacks.

It's not just the offensive side of the ball that is trending in the right direction, either. Tennessee's scoring defense was ranked No. 77 in the nation in 2018. This past season, the Vols were ranked No. 30 in the nation. That's an impressive improvement in Pruitt's second season.

Now, just imagine when Pruitt has a full recruiting cycle under his belt. Imagine when the Tennessee players have been in Craig Fitzgerald's strength program for more than two years.

Sutton is right that Tennessee is on an upward trajectory. It's clear after the way Tennessee performed in the second half of the season that the program is moving in the right direction.

What's exciting for fans, however, is that Tennessee still has an enormous amount of room to grow under Pruitt. The Vols are nowhere close to their ceiling yet. In fact, they've basically established the floor of UT football under Pruitt as an eight win program.

Considering where the program has been in recent years, I'd say fans should be extremely happy with the current state of UT football.

Featured image via Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports/247Sports