By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Going into the 2016 season, much was expected of the Tennessee Volunteeers. Joshua Dobbs was returning, and with a talented team behind him it looked like the Vols could win the SEC over Alabama, but it was not to be.

Beyond failing to take out the rest of the SEC, Tennessee was nearly embarrassed by Appalachian State and Ohio at home in Knoxville.

They managed an incredible victory on the road against Georgia but then suffered three loses in a row, dashing their hopes at a championship. The opportunity of Dobbs and the promise of the season was squandered and expectations have lowered going into 2017

The Vols will have the unenviable task of replacing Dobbs and as of now it’s a two man race for the job. Whoever ends up taking snaps will have a solid running back in John Kelly and Jauan Jennings to make the catches.

Jennings looks to improve upon his 7 touchdowns and 580 yards from 2016 and Kelly rushed for 5 and 630 after taking over from Jalen Hurd, who quit the team. Senior Ethan Wolf returns as well, adding to the viable options for the eventual QB.

That QB will be either Junior Quinten Dormady or freshman Jared Guarantano, a former four-star prospect.

Domady has the advantage of having taken snaps last season, but Guarantano has the potential to lead this team to victories for several years.

Junior Quinten Dormady has game experience while redshirt freshman Jared Guarantano figures to push for that starting job as a former highly-regarded four-star prospect.

The offense could stack up, but how good can the Vols be on the other side of the ball?  In 2016 Tennessee finished a paltry 95^th in total defense. Allowing nearly 450 yards per game is essentially begging to be defeated and that’s exactly what they did last season. It particularly hurt them in SEC play, where they finished 4-4.

The Volunteers return six defensive starters but a couple of the members in the secondary coming back aren’t guaranteed to retain their No. 1 jobs. Senior Emmanuel Mosely, a corner, is one of those guys. He had 57 tackles and six pass deflections last season.

There is some talent among the players that will make up the defense for Tennessee but they need to improve by leaps and bounds if they want to win games. For better or for worse, the bar has been set very low by the 2016 squad.

If there is an advantage that the Volunteers have on the rest of the SEC, it can be found in their schedule. While road games at Alabama and Florida might be lost causes well before the season has even started, the road games against Kentucky and Missouri can be won.

The rest of the SEC matchups will be in Knoxville and that might make a difference in what should be close contests against UGA and LSU.

Neyland Stadium is just not an easy place to play if you’re the road team and that could lead to a couple of upsets.

The other SEC home games against South Carolina and Vanderbilt should be sure wins.

Not only are those teams less talented than Tennessee, but it’s an opportunity for the Vols to exact revenge for losses in 2016.

Possibly the biggest hindrance to Tennessee last year was high expectations – expectations that couldn’t be met. This year, perhaps the biggest boon to the Tennessee could be last year’s disappointment and this year’s low bar.