There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the Tennessee Vols in Jeremy Pruitt's second season as the program's head coach.

More experienced players. Highly rated recruits. Time spent in the strength and conditioning program.

Those are all reason that fans should feel good about the Vols' chances to win six or seven (or even eight!) games in 2019.

But perhaps the single biggest reason fans should be optimistic is the addition of offensive coordinator Jim Chaney.

Pruitt hired Chaney away from Georgia for one reason — to bring an elite offense to Rocky Top.

It's something Chaney has done before.

Tennessee's offense in 2012, which was full of stud players at the offensive skill positions, was one of the most prolific in school history.

The Vols averaged just over 36 points per game in 2012. They scored over 30 points in nine of their 12 games (though they only won five of those games).

While Tennessee doesn't quite have the talent at wide receiver and quarterback this season that they had in 2012, there's still enough talent to significantly improve on the 22.8 points per game that UT averaged last season.

But it means Chaney will have to get creative, which is something he's already doing according to one Vols defender.

Senior defensive back Nigel Warrior spoke to reporters on Wednesday and mentioned that Chaney is hitting the defense with all kinds of formations they've never seen before.

S Nigel Warrior on facing Chaney's offense: "They're hitting us with all type of stuff. New formations. Formations we've never seen before. Shifting to stuff we have seen. They're teaching us eye discipline."

— David Ubben (@davidubben) August 21, 2019

This is good news for a couple of reasons. For one, the Vols' offense has been described as "vanilla" in recent years. Even last year, under Tyson Helton, the offense seemed to lack creativity.

Chaney, however, has never lacked in creativity. In 2012, he found some unique ways to use wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, who turned out to be one of the dangerous players in college football. As a result, Patterson was a first round pick. But he didn't find first round success in the NFL. It's abundantly clear that Chaney knew exactly how to use Patterson to get the most out of his talent.

I think we'll see Chaney do the same with running backs Ty Chandler and Eric Gray this season. Both players have the ability to make splash plays and break long runs. But it's going to be up to Chaney to put them in a position to make plays. I have no doubt that Chaney is scheming up something special for those two (along with Tennessee's wide receivers).

The other reason that Chaney's creativity is important is because of something Warrior said — it's teaching Tennessee's defense eye discipline.

If the Volunteers are practicing against a creative offense that is constantly giving them different looks, it's undoubtedly going to make for a better prepared defense.

And Tennessee's defense will need to be prepared. Chaney isn't the only creative offensive coordinator in the SEC.

I'm not expecting the Vols to shock the world and finish in the top 10 in 2019, but I definitely think it's possible they could be much better than most analysts are anticipating.

It'll mean they have to overachieve at times, but this is absolutely a group of players that can play above their perceived ceiling.

Featured image via Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports