Tennessee Team Preview: 2010 Season

The University of Tennessee has been in a whirlwind this past off-season. Lane Kiffin has bolted after a year and in comes Derek Dooley a Nick Saban "disciple". To say the least Derek Dooley is in a mess in Knoxville as he lost his top returning runningback in Bryce Brown and top offensive lineman in Aaron Douglas. He might surprise a couple of people this year in how close he comes in winning some games but I would not expect much to come from knoxville this year. He named Matt Simms his starting quarterback coming out of spring and Simms will be able to throw to All-SEC caliber wide receiver Gerald Jones this year. Just because Brown left Tennessee does not mean their runningbacks are something to sleep on as Tauren Poole and Davis Oku are a dangerous tandem. Defense lost is best player of the decade in Eric Berry but rising star Janzen Jackson has a year under his belt and easily has the intagibles to become the best safety in the SEC. This will not be Tennessee's year but next year you could start seeing Dooley's plan unfold.

2010 Schedule and Predicted Results:
September 4 Tennessee-Martin W 56-0
September 11 Oregon L 21-28
September 18 Florida L 3-27
September 25 UAB W 28-0
October 2 @ LSU L 7-28
October 9 @ Georgia L 10-14
October 23 Alabama L 38-7
October 30 @ South Carolina L 7-31
November 6 @ Memphis W 42-35
November 13 Ole Miss W 21-14
November 20 @ Vanderbilt L 28-31
November 27 Kentucky L 21-28

Predicted Results: 4-8 Overall, 1-7 SEC 6th place in Eastern Division

Depth Chart:

Offense
QB- Matt Sims
RB- Taureen Poole
FB- Kevin Cooper
WR- Denarius Moore
WR- Gerald Jones (pictured left)
TE- Luke Stocker
OT- Jawuan James
OT- Dallas Thomas
OG- JerQuan Schofield
OG- Jarrod Shaw
C- Cody Pope
K- Daniel Lincoln

Defense
DE- Ben Martin
DE- Chris Walker
DT- Marlon Walls
DT- Montori Hughes
LB- LaMarcus Thompson
LB- Greg King
LB- Nick Reviez
CB- Eric Gordan
CB- Art Evans
FS- Darren Myles
SS- Janzen Jackson (pictured right)
P- Chad Cunningham

2009 State Leaders
QB- Jonathan Crompton 224-384 cmp-att, 2800-yards, 58.3-cmp%, 27-13 td-int
RB- Montario Hardesty 282-car, 1345-yards, 4.8-ypc, 13-td
RB- Bryce Brown 101-car, 460-yards, 4.6-ypc, 4-td
WR-Gerald Jones 46-rec, 680-yards, 14.8-ypr, 4-td
WR- Denarius Moore 40-rec, 540-yards, 13.5-ypr, 7-td

2010 Recruiting Recap

Top 3 Recruits:
WR-Da'Rick Rogers *****
QB- Tyler Bray ****
WR- Justin Hunter ****