As the season gets closer, it is time to continue with my season previews. In this article, I will preview the SEC East. If you are looking for a specific team, they are listed in alphabetical order.

Florida

Last Season

After falling in their second game to Kentucky for the first time in 1986, Florida looked to be in for a rough season. Thankfully for the Gators, they were able to turn the tide. They first conquered Mississippi State, head coach Dan Mullen’s old team. After that, they took down fifth ranked LSU. A win over Vanderbilt put the Gators at 6-1 and set up a big matchup with Georgia in the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Unfortunately, the Gators fell 36-17 and lost to Missouri in their next game. After ending the season with three wins and a win over Michigan in the Peach Bowl, Florida finished the season with an encouraging 10-3 record.

Offense

While he is still far from perfect at quarterback, Feleipe Franks made quite a few strides at quarterback in 2018 and left fans feeling better about having him as their starter. Franks has a strong arm, large frame, and can make plays with his legs. If he can just be able to improve his accuracy, he should end up being a very good quarterback for Florida. Franks also has the benefit of having quite a bit of skill position talent returning. While the loss of Jordan Scarlett decreases the running back depth, Lamical Perine led the team in rushing last season and will return in 2019. Malik Davis and Dameon Pierce will look to fill Scarlett’s spot in the running back rotation. Something that should improve the passing game is that Florida returns their six leading receivers from last season. Since transferring from Ole Miss, Van Jefferson has been a major impact player for Florida. Trevon Grimes, another player that transferred to Florida, (from Ohio State) will also be a key target on this unit and was last season. Freddie Swain and Josh Hammond both return from 2018 and will be impact players. Kadarius Toney was more of a gadget player that Florida used as a runner, receiver, and return specialist. Toney is a speed demon that can change a game in many different ways with his athleticism and will always have a use in Florida’s playbook. True freshman Arjei Henderson was a nice addition for the future at receiver, but he might find it hard to crack this loaded rotation of players. The loss of C’Yontai Lewis at tight end will be disappointing, but Kyle Pitts looks up to the task. On the offensive line, Florida loses four starters. The lone returning starter is center Nick Buchanan. Tackles Jawaan Taylor and Martez Ivey anchored this unit for the last two seasons and will be tough to replace.

Defense

On the defensive line, both defensive tackles return in Kyree Campbell and Adam Shuler. Defensive end Jabari Zuniga is definitely the star of the show though as he had more tackles than any defensive lineman last year and had 11 tackles for loss. That being said, part of the reason for Zuniga’s success was the attention put on fellow defensive end Jachai Polite who is now gone. Polite might have been a bit inconsistent, but he was an excellent pass rusher who had 11 sacks last season and was a major force behind Florida’s upset win over LSU. Polite’s replacement will likely be Jonathan Greenard. Greenard started nine games across 2016 and 2017, but only played in one game last season before suffering a season ending injury. In the linebacking corps, Vosean Joseph led the Gators in tackles last season and will be gone. Joseph filled his role at linebacker, but also was able to make big plays as well, which is a valuable skill to have. Amari Burney seems to be the next man up at the spot, but has just 11 tackles to his name. David Reese is back at middle linebacker after missing some time last season. Reese could have definitely been the leading tackle last season if he was fully healthy. Trey Dean is being moved from cornerback to the star position on Florida’s defense, meaning he will be more of a nickel corner. Dean’s athleticism and field vision will definitely be tested at this spot, but it looks as though Mullen and his staff have faith in him. Chauncey Gardner-Johnson was a very good player at the star position last season and will leave big shoes for Dean to fill. Gardner-Johnson was third on the team in tackles and first in interceptions last season. CJ Henderson and Marco Wilson will make up one of the best cornerback duos in the country. Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham called Henderson the best cornerback he has ever coached. Wilson started every game as a true freshman but missed almost all of 2018 after going down with an injury in week two. Both starting safeties return in Jaewon Taylor and Brad Stewart. Donovan Stiner is another solid player at safety that held down the fort well when Stewart was out with injury. Kicker Evan McPherson, who was a perfect 50/50 on extra points last season and 17/19 on field goals, will be nice to have back. The same goes for punter Tommy Townsend who averaged 45.4 yards per punt and downed 24 inside the 20.

Coaching Staff

Dan Mullen held the offensive coordinator job in Gainesville from 2005-08, a time frame in which the Gators won two National Championships. After that job, he returned the program at Mississippi State to prominence and consistency, a tough thing to do with the division they play in. Mullen did well in his first year as head coach at Florida, and should only get better from here. Billy Gonzales and Jon Hevesy return as co-offensive coordinators with Gonzales leading the passing game and Hevesy leading the run game. Mullen still calls plays. Todd Grantham has held multiple defensive coordinator jobs at SEC schools and has done pretty well at each one.

Final Prediction

Florida looks to be moving along further in their rebuild than most would have expected. When it seemed like he would need one rebuilding season, Dan Mullen took a Gators team coming off of four wins and made them a NY6 team. With this success, will come high expectations. Florida has taken a backseat to in-state rival Florida State and SEC rival this decade. Florida seems to have passed up Florida State, but Georgia is still a bit ahead of them. While I think this team is better than last season’s, they still have to play a fairly tough schedule. I expect Florida to go 9-3 this season, but show even more signs of future success.

Georgia

Last Season

After making the National Championship game in 2017, Georgia came into last season with a ton of hype. Georgia seemed to have lived up to the hype after they won their opener and what appeared to be a trap game at South Carolina. After stumbling a bit against Missouri, the Bulldogs won their next two games to finish the first half of their season without a loss. Unfortunately, their hopes of an unbeaten season ended when the Bulldogs lost at LSU 36-16 in a very shaky game for their offense and defense. Georgia was able to right the ship with a win over Florida in the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Georgia secured an SEC East title with a win over Kentucky the following week. After winning their last two games, Georgia finished the regular season 11-1 and set up a matchup with Alabama in the SEC Championship game. Unfortunately for Georgia, they blew a 28-14 lead and missed out on a repeat at the playoff. Georgia could not end their season on a good note after they lost to Texas in the Sugar Bowl.

Offense

Jake Fromm returns at quarterback for the Bulldogs, and has made tremendous strides the last two seasons. After being a glorified game manager his freshman season, Fromm took a leap in 2018. He completed 67.4% of his passes on nine yards per attempt for 2,761 yards. Fromm also showed he is quite reliable and not one to make many mistakes as he had a touchdown to interception ratio of 30/6. Fromm is going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the country this season. At running back, D’Andre Swift will be back and looks to finally be the main guy in the backfield after splitting carries last season. Despite that, Swift went over 1,000 rushing yards on 6.4 yards per carry. Elijah Holyfield, Swift’s partner in crime at running back, will be gone though. Georgia will look to Brian Herrien, James Cook, (brother of Vikings running back Dalvin Cook) and Zamir White to fill that hole. White is the player I am most interested to see as he was the top running back recruit in the country in the class of 2018, but has torn his ACL twice in the last two years. The running back group might be needed more this season as Georgia loses their three leading receivers from last season and four of their top five. Riley Ridley and Mecole Hardman were two of Fromm’s favorite targets and are now on to the NFL. The same goes for tight end Isaac Nauta. Jeremiah Holloman is the only returning receiver from last season that had over 200 receiving yards in 2018. Holloman and Demetris Robertson will be looked to often this season. Robertson, a transfer from California, did not have a catch last season, but was a five-star recruit in 2016, and has game changing athleticism as shown by how deadly he is on jet sweeps. Charlie Woerner will fill in for Nauta at tight end. Georgia returns four starters on what could be the best offensive line unit in the country. Tackle Andrew Thomas will likely be a top 10 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Fellow tackle Isaiah Wilson and guard Solomon Kindley have also caught the eyes of many NFL scouts. The only starter they lose is center Lamont Galliard. Trey Hill who played in every game last season, will take that spot.

Defense

On the defensive line, the Bulldogs will have to replace defensive end Jonathan Ledbetter, their best defensive lineman from 2018. Filling in that spot will be Jordan Davis, who was a freshman all-American in 2018 and did very well as a rotational player. Tyler Clark and Julian Rochester return at defensive tackle after being starters for the majority of last season. Where Georgia loses a ton of production is at linebacker. D’Andre Walker led the team in tackles for loss in 2018. Juwan Taylor and Natrez Patrick are two other players that made a big impact last season who will need to be replaced. Monty Cox and Tae Crowder both have some experience starting, and finished in the top five on the team in tackles last season. While Cox and Crowder fill two of the four spots with not much concern, the other two spots could be given to someone with little experience. For the strong side linebacker spot, Walter Grant is more experienced with Georgia’s program as he has eight starts over his career. That being said, the spot could go to Jermaine Johnson who was the highest rated junior college player in the country last season. At the jack linebacker spot true freshman Nolan Smith was the number one high school prospect in the country in the class of 2019, and will likely start. While linebacker has some uncertainty, there will be consistency in the secondary. Safeties Richard LeCounte and JR Reed were the top two finishers on the team in tackles last season respectively. With both of them back, there can be a security blanket for the inexperienced linebacker unit. Tyson Campbell returns at cornerback and will be the best one on the team. Unfortunately for Georgia, they will have to replace Jim Thorpe Award winner (top defensive back in the country) Deandre Baker. Baker was very much a shutdown corner and made an impact that will not be easily replaceable. Filling that spot will likely be Eric Stokes. Rodrigo Blankenship returns at kicker and could be a contender for the Groza award. Jake Camarda is back at punter after a decent freshman season. The Bulldogs will have to find a new kick and punt returner, and I suspect it will be Robertson.

Coaching Staff

Kirby Smart is back for year four as head coach in Athens. Smart, the former Alabama defensive coordinator, has really turned Georgia into a powerhouse but they have not quite taken the next step when it comes to being a consistent playoff team. Then again, that is a bit of a challenge with Alabama in your conference. James Coley was a co-offensive coordinator in 2018 and will take sole possession of that job after Jim Chaney left. Defensive coordinator Mel Tucker left to take the head coaching job at Colorado. This leaves Dan Lanning and Glenn Schumann to take the job as co-defensive coordinators with Lanning being the final decision maker. They were both linebackers coaches in 2018.

Final Prediction

In his three seasons at Georgia, Kirby Smart has elevated this program to an elite level. Georgia is near the top of the college football hierarchy, something that seemed very tough to do before Smart was hired. That being said, Georgia is getting a bit restless in their spot below Alabama. Taking down the Crimson Tide is the new goal for this team. They also need to hold off Florida and win the SEC East to even get their shot at Alabama. This team should definitely be able to do that. The recent recruiting classes have been good enough for me to know this team has amazing talent. Couple that with Smart’s coaching and this team should contend for a National Championship this season. I expect them to contend, but ultimately fall short again. I think the Bulldogs will slip up once in the regular season and fall to Alabama in the SEC Championship. Hopefully they will show up in their bowl game this time though (as a Texas fan, I had to bring it up). That being said, it would not surprise me at all if this team was hoisting the crystal ball at the end of the season either.

Kentucky

Last Season

Kentucky got off to a good start in 2018 by ending a 31 game losing streak to Florida after nearly pulling off the feat in 2016 and 2017. The Wildcats also beat Mississippi State and South Carolina en route to a 5-0 start. Unfortunately, they were unable to hold off Texas A&M and ended their unbeaten streak. Kentucky then had to struggle for wins over Vanderbilt and Missouri before setting up a matchup with Georgia that had the SEC East Championship on the line. The Wildcats were unable to best Georgia and lost 34-17, and had more of the same against Tennessee the next week. Kentucky still salvaged things as they won their last two regular season games and beat Penn State in the Citrus Bowl. All in all, this was a very good season for Kentucky that should be remembered for awhile.

Offense

Quarterback Terry Wilson made strides in the passing game last season, but still has work to do before he can be trusted to consistently throw balls into the teeth of an SEC defense. Wilson completed 67% of his passes, but many of those were short dump-offs and he only had a touchdown to interception ratio of 11/8. Wilson does make an impact with his legs as he ran for over 500 yards in 2018. Wilson will need to make some improvements throwing the ball this season as the Wildcats lose the heart and soul of their offense last season in running back Benny Snell. Snell was a bell cow back that often carried Kentucky’s offense. Snell had 1,449 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns in 2018 and could always seem to get Kentucky’s offense out of tough spots. In Snell’s absence, the Wildcats will likely look to Asim Rose. Rose ran for 442 yards and five touchdowns on six yards per carry in 2018, but will have to get used to a heavier workload this season. Redshirt freshmen Kavoisey Smoke and Christopher Rodriguez should expect to get reps at running back as well. Lynn Bowden returns at receiver after leading Kentucky in receiving yards last season and being their main return specialist. While Bowden returning is great, the Wildcats lose their next four leading receivers. Tight end CJ Conrad was a very important player in their offense who will be missed. Receivers David Bouvier, Dorian Baker, and Tavin Richardson will all be gone as well. Isaiah Epps and Josh Ali will take the other two starting receiver spots. One player I will be interested to see is Ahmad Wagner. Wagner played basketball for three seasons at Iowa, and decided to switch sports and play football for Kentucky. Wagner saw limited game action for the Wildcats last season, but could improve with a season of football under his belt. Kentucky loses three players on what was a very good offensive line last season. Center Drake Jackson will be the best player on this unit, and guard Logan Stenberg will be another impact player. Tackle Landon Young is a very talented player who started some in 2017, but was out all of last season with a torn ACL.

Defense

On the defensive line, (he also played jack linebacker) Kentucky will have to replace last season’s Nagurski award winner and SEC Defensive Player of the Year in Josh Allen. Allen had an astounding 17 sacks, 21.5 tackles for loss, and seven quarterback hurries last season and also led the Wildcats in tackles with 88, which is very rare for a defensive end. TJ Carter has experience as a starter and will fill in the spot left by Allen. At defensive tackle, Quinton Bohanna and Calvin Taylor will both return after starting last season. Both are over 310 pounds and do pretty well as run stuffers. Jordan Jones will be gone at linebacker after being named second team all-SEC last season, and will be replaced by DeAndre Square. Kash Daniel is back at middle linebacker and will be the leader of the defense. Daniel is a very hard nosed player who will step up and make big hits but also is solid in pass coverage. Jamar Watson also returns at linebacker. Jordan Wright and Florida State transfer Xavier Peters are other players to watch in this position group. In the secondary, Kentucky loses a lot of production. Mike Edwards was one of the best safeties in the SEC and will have to be replaced. Darius West will also need to be replaced. At strong safety, (where Edwards played) former linebacker Jordan Griffin is being moved to the spot, while Davonte Robinson will fill in West’s spot at free safety. The Wildcats also lose their best three cornerbacks from 2018. Lonnie Johnson and Derrick Baity were a solid one-two punch at the position and Chris Westry was also an important piece to the secondary. Those spots will likely be filled by players with little experience. The main newcomers in this group are junior college transfers Brandin Echols and Quandre Mosley and true freshmen Taj Dodson and MJ Devonshire. One of them will most likely have to start and be able to make an impact. The other cornerback spot will likely go to Cedrick Dort or one of the other newcomers. Chance Poore had some game experience last season but will be in his first season at Kentucky’s main kicker in 2019. Max Duffy returns at punter.

Coaching Staff

Mark Stoops has done a pretty impressive job at Kentucky and last season was just a culmination of that. Stoops inherited a rough situation with an uphill battle to success, but he has improved each season. Wildcats fans should be very happy with the job he has done. Eddie Gran returns for his fourth season as offensive coordinator and will have a bit of a challenge this season in terms of finding sources to big plays. The Wildcats will have a new defensive coordinator in Dan White. Matt House, last year’s defensive coordinator, took a job with the Kansas City Chiefs as their linebackers coach. White coached the outside linebackers for Kentucky last season, and his ability to coach an entire defense is a bit unknown.

Final Prediction

Kentucky had a magical season in 2018 that should be remembered for awhile. The bad news is that they lose a number of major contributors to that team. Mark Stoops has done well at Kentucky but I think it will be difficult to get near the mark set by the team in 2018. With Snell gone on offense and Allen gone on defense, the team loses their stars. They also lose quite a few role players on both sides. On offense they will need to adjust their game plan without Snell, and their defense will need a retooling. I expect Kentucky to benefit from an easy non-conference schedule and go 6-6.

Missouri

Last Season

Missouri got off to a solid start in 2018, winning their first three games. Unfortunately, the level of competition on their schedule took a step up and they lost their next three games to Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina. The Tigers got on track enough to beat Memphis, but lost their next game to Kentucky. After that, Missouri ended the regular season on a four game win streak as they demolished Florida in an upset win, survived a scare against Vanderbilt, and laid waste to Tennessee and Arkansas. The Tigers could not keep that streak alive unfortunately as they fell to Oklahoma State in the Liberty Bowl. Early in the offseason, Missouri was hit with a bowl ban for this season. While it is being appealed, I am not sure that it will be a success.

Offense

At quarterback, Missouri will have to replace Drew Lock who has done very well the last two seasons for the Tigers. Lock was a fearless quarterback who could regularly burn SEC defenses with his strong arm. His absence will be felt, and Missouri will need the offense to change their philosophy a bit. While Lock’s absence is disappointing, it is not as though the Tigers have nobody good to replace him with. Kelly Bryant started for Clemson in 2017 but was moved to the bench in favor of Trevor Lawrence (who I hear is pretty good). Bryant decided to transfer to Missouri for an opportunity to start. While Bryant did get benched at Clemson, he has some talent. While his arm is not nearly as strong as Lock’s, he is a better athlete and has good short range accuracy. Larry Rountree is back at running back after rushing for 1,216 yards last season. His sidekick in the backfield, Damarea Crockett, is gone leaving the Tigers in need of a secondary back. The likely next man up is Tyler Badie. Emmanuel Hall led Missouri in receiving yards last season and will be gone. Johnathon Johnson will be back though and he finished close behind Hall. Jalen Knox had a solid freshman season and could be a breakout candidate in 2019. Missouri will also have one of the best tight ends in the country in Albert Okwuegbunam. Okwuegbunam became an increasingly used target as the season went on and will definitely be a nice security blanket for Bryant. On the offensive line, Missouri returns three starters from last season. The loss of Kevin Pendleton and Paul Adams will still be felt. The best player on the line will be guard Tre’Vour Wallace-Sims who will be entering his fourth season as a starter and was named first team all-SEC last season. Center Trystan Colon-Castillo and tackle Yasir Durant will also be impact players.

Defense

The Tigers will have to replace some talent on the interior defensive line. Terry Beckner led the team in tackles for loss in 2018 en route to being named second team all SEC. They also have to replace Walter Pallmore, leaving both starting defensive tackle spots open. The likely candidates for each spot are Kobie Whiteside who has been a backup for the last two seasons and Jordan Elliott (who wears number 1 as a defensive tackle which is weird) who transferred from Texas before playing a rotational role last season. Akial Byers and junior college transfer Sci Martin will occupy the two defensive end spots while Chris Turner will also see significant time. In the linebacking corps, Cale Garrett returns after leading the Tigers in tackles last season with 112. The Tigers do lose their second leading tackler from last season in Terez Hall. Brandon Lee also started some last season and will return. Sophomore Nick Bolton will be the next man up for Hall’s spot at linebacker after being a backup last season. Tyree Gillespie is being moved from a pure safety to the boundary safety position which is a bit of a linebacker/safety hybrid. Gillespie was third on the team in tackles last season. At cornerback, Missouri returns two starters from last season in DeMarkus Acy and Christian Holmes with Acy being the number one cornerback on the team. Adam Sparks will be another cornerback that will see a lot of reps. The Tigers lose free safety Cam Hilton, who will be replaced by Joshua Bledsoe. Tucker McCann returns at kicker. McCann will also take over punting duties after the loss Corey Fatony who started last season.

Coaching Staff

Barry Odom is back for his fourth season as head coach. Odom has had a better record with each season he has been in Columbia. Former Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley is back for his second season at offensive coordinator. While many were not too hopeful about his ability after his head coaching tenure at Tennessee was an abject disaster, Dooley did pretty well with Missouri’s offense last season. Ryan Walters returns at defensive coordinator, but Odom remains the defensive play-caller.

Final Prediction

Missouri will be a tough team to predict here. Since they are likely banned from playing in a bowl game, it is hard to predict the mindset their players will have. Some teams can still thrive despite a ban like USC in 2011 and Ohio State in 2012, but many others just fold and underperform. Barry Odom’s ability to motivate a team will be shown this season as he will have to encourage a team with little to play for. Missouri returns quite a bit of talent still. The Tigers have been improving under Odom, and this could be his most talented team yet. I expect the Tigers to go 9-3 this season and give Florida and Georgia a scare.

South Carolina

Last Season

South Carolina entered last season as a team with some hype as a darkhorse SEC contender. All of this hype was mostly erased after the Gamecocks lost 41-17 to Georgia in the second game of the season. In their next four games, South Carolina saw wins over Vanderbilt and Missouri but losses to Kentucky and Texas A&M. The Missouri game started a streak of five games that were decided by four or fewer points. After the loss to Texas A&M, South Carolina beat Tennessee and Ole Miss, but lost to Florida. After wining against two cupcakes (sorry Chattanooga and Akron) and losing to Clemson, the Gamecocks finished the regular season with a 7-5 record. They were unable to add to the win column as they lost to Virginia in the Belk Bowl to end an interesting season.

Offense

While he might not have been as good as he was expected to be last season, Jake Bentley is a good quarterback and will be nice for the Gamecocks to have back. Bentley has a lot of talent, but he needs to be more consistent. While he threw for over 500 yards against Clemson and led a comeback win over Tennessee, he has also been booed by his own fans at times. South Carolina aired it out more than usual in 2018. I expect that trend to continue, meaning Bentley clearly does have the trust of the coaching staff and I think will get a lot better in 2019. Rico Dowdle returns at running back after leading the team in rushing yards last season. South Carolina also adds Clemson transfer Tavien Feaster in the backfield. Feaster showed flashes of being great at Clemson but could never take the number one running back spot. I expect him to do that at South Carolina. At receiver, the Gamecocks will have to replace Deebo Samuel. Samuel was a game-breaking athlete and led the team in receiving yards in 2018 as well as being a very good kick returner. While they lose Samuel, South Carolina does return three of their four leading receivers from 2018. Bryan Edwards and Shi Smith are both nice players but one of them will need to settle into the number one receiver spot. Josh Vann will fill in Samuel’s starting spot. Kiel Pollard returns at tight end. South Carolina returns three starters on the offensive line. The bad news is that Zack Bailey and Dennis Dailey, the two best players on the unit last season, are the two who have to be replaced and they will likely be replaced by two redshirt freshmen. Guard Donnell Stanley looks to be the best player on this offensive line.

Defense

At defensive tackle, Javon Kinlaw is back and will likely be the best player on this defense. Despite being double teamed consistently, Kinlaw had 10 tackles for loss last season and also an impressive five pass deflections. Kinlaw will play an important role as the anchor of the defensive line. The other defensive tackle spot will likely go to Kobe Smith but five-star true freshman Zacch Pickens and junior college transfer Devontae Davis will also get looks. At defensive end, DJ Wonnum is back and is hoping to channel the success he had in 2017. Wonnum could be a very good player, but there is a bit of concern as he only played five games in 2018, missing time due to injury. Aaron Sterling and Kier Thomas will rotate at the other defensive end spot. Middle linebacker TJ Brunson led the Gamecocks in tackles last season and will be back. Brunson and Sherrod Greene lead a group of linebackers that will be solid. Brunson plays the role of a run stuffer while Greene is used more in pass coverage. Daniel Fennell will take the other linebacker spot after being a backup for the last two seasons. South Carolina loses two key cornerbacks from last year’s team in Keisean Nixon and Rashad Fenton. Nixon led the team in pass deflections last season and was their fourth leading tackler while Fenton led the team in interceptions. Jaycee Horn (son of former NFL receiver Joe Horn) returns at cornerback after starting as a true freshman last season. Israel Mukuamu will take the other cornerback spot and freshmen Cameron Smith and John Dixon will likely see time there. At safety, the Gamecocks lose Steven Montac. Montac was third on the team in tackles last season. Despite that, South Carolina has quite a bit of talent at safety. USC transfer Jamel Cook will take Montac’s spot, but Rice transfer JT Ibe also started last season before going down with an injury. RJ Roderick and Jamyest Williams both have starting experience at the other safety spot and will battle for the starting position. Parker White returns at kicker while Joseph Charlton returns at punter. Deebo Samuel was a second team all-American as a return specialist, and will need to be replaced.

Coaching Staff

Will Muschamp is entering his fourth season as head coach for South Carolina. Muschamp has led the Gamecocks to a bowl game in each of his three seasons as head coach. Muschamp has had success as a defensive coordinator, but has yet to truly prove himself as a head coach. That being said, I think he definitely could at South Carolina. Bryan McClendon was a co-offensive coordinator last season and will take the spot of sole offensive coordinator this season. Travaris Robinson will enter his fourth season as defensive coordinator and ninth season working under Muschamp.

Final Prediction

South Carolina is in a decent place under Will Muschamp, but they have struggled to take the next step forward for awhile now. South Carolina is definitely in a position where success is not as easy with so many great programs near them, but it does not mean that there are not expectations of success. Unfortunately, the Gamecocks will play a schedule in 2018 that is an absolute murderer’s row. South Carolina will make trips to Georgia and Texas A&M while hosting Alabama, Florida, and Clemson. They will be heavy underdogs in all five of those games. While this team would be good enough to make a bowl game with almost any other schedule, I think the Gamecocks will fall victim to their brutal schedule this season and go 5-7.

Tennessee

Last Season

After opening the season with a loss to West Virginia, Tennessee beat down two lesser opponents. They unfortunately could not do the same against Florida and Georgia. The Volunteers bounced back from those games with an upset win over Auburn. Unfortunately, that win could not channel momentum as they lost to Alabama and South Carolina. At that point, Tennessee was 3-5 and needed three wins in their last four games in order to make a bowl game. They got two wins in their next two games as they beat Charlotte and upset Kentucky. They fell to Missouri, leaving their bowl eligibility on the line against Vanderbilt. For the third straight season, Tennessee lost to their in-state rivals and thus missed out on a bowl game for the second straight season.

Offense

At quarterback, Jarrett Guarantano returns for what will be his third season as the starting quarterback for Tennessee. Guarantano completed 62% of his passes and had a touchdown to interception ratio of 12/3. One reason I would trust Guarantano as a Tennessee fan is that he has had to prove himself on multiple occasion. He won the quarterback battle over Quinten Dormady in 2017, and beat out Keller Chryst when he transferred last season. I think he will have more success this season with Tennessee knowing he will be the starter and being able to tailor the offense around him more. Ty Chandler returns as the starting running back after leading the Volunteers in rushing yards last season. Chandler and Tim Jordan will be a solid backfield duo this season for Tennessee. Tennessee also returns every significant receiver on their team from last season. When healthy, Jauan Jennings has been a playmaker for the Volunteers the last few seasons and should hope bounce back well from an injury filled 2017 and 2018. Marquez Callaway and Josh Palmer both return after starting for Tennessee last season with Callaway leading the team in receptions and receiving yards. Tight end Dominick Wood-Anderson is also back. The Volunteers return four starters on the offensive line. They lose tackle Drew Richmond but replace him with Darnell Wright, a true freshman who was a five-star recruit and top 10 player in the country. Fellow five-star freshman Wanya Morris will also battle for a starting gig. Guard Trey Smith looks to be the best player on the line if he is cleared for the season opener. Smith missed the last half of 2018 due to blood clots in his lungs, and he is still awaiting clearance to practice. Tennessee fans and staff are hopeful for Smith’s return, but they are running out of time. Morris could take Smith’s spot if he is not cleared. Guard K’Rojn Calbert will have to pick up some slack if Smith is unable to play.

Defense

On the defensive line, Tennessee loses all three starters from last season. Kyle Phillips, Alexis Johnson, and Shy Tuttle were all consistent players and starters for every game last season, leaving very little starting experience at defensive line. Another big blow for the team was that Emmit Gooden, the projected starter at defensive tackle, tore his ACL in fall camp. This leaves a big hole at defensive tackle for the Volunteers. The next man up at defensive tackle will likely be true freshman Kingston Harris. At one defensive end spot, Matthew Butler will take the job after playing a rotational role last season. Michigan transfer Aubrey Solomon will have the other spot if he is granted eligibility. Solomon will be the best player on the line, but Tennessee is still unsure if he will be able to play in 2019. If Solomon is unable to play, the starting gig will likely go to junior college transfer Savion Williams. While the Volunteers lose Darrin Kirkland at linebacker, they get back Daniel Bituli who has led the team in tackles for two straight seasons. Bituli also added 6.5 tackles for loss. Will Ignont will fill in at Kirkland’s spot. There is a lot of young talent and depth at linebacker as well for Tennessee with redshirt freshman JJ Peterson and true freshman blue chippers Quavaris Couch and Henry To’oto’o. Tennessee returns both starting cornerbacks from last season. Bryce Thompson and Alontae Taylor both started as true freshmen. Taylor has more tackles but Thompson filled the stat sheet more. Tennessee loses free safety Micah Abernathy, leaving Trevon Flowers to fill in. At strong safety, Nigel Warrior (awesome name) returns. Warrior finished second on the team in tackles last season and will be a major contributor on this defense in 2019. Kicker Brent Cimaglia is back after going a perfect 31/31 on extra points in 2018. Cimaglia will hope to gain the trust of the coaching staff as he only attempted 13 field goals in 2018, hitting 10 of them. Joe Doyle returns as punter. Callaway and Chandler will return with punt and kick returning duties respectively.

Coaching Staff

In his first year as head coach, Jeremy Pruitt looked to change the culture around the team. This season, Pruitt hopes that task is behind him, and I believe it is. Pruitt was the defensive coordinator at Alabama, Georgia, and Florida State before taking the head coaching job at Tennessee. With this experience, he should be more than ready to coach big time SEC football. After Tyson Helton took the head coaching gig at Western Kentucky, Jim Chaney was hired on as offensive coordinator. Chaney held the offensive coordinator job at Georgia last season, and shocked some people with his move to Knoxville. Derrick Ansley takes over as defensive coordinator this season after serving as the defensive backs coach for the Oakland Raiders in 2018 and under Pruitt at Alabama before that.

Final Prediction

Tennessee has been an underperforming program for awhile now and Pruitt is finally looking to change that. Tennessee hired Pruitt after many other coaches turned them down, but I think he still looks like a very good hire as of now. Tennessee needed a winning culture, and Pruitt is bringing in the same no-nonsense and hardworking culture that has led many great defenses during his coaching career. With the recruiting talent brought in, Tennessee still has the tools to succeed and now I feel like they have a coach who knows how to use his players well in Pruitt. This team returns a ton of contributors from a team that nearly made a bowl game last season. I expect this team to take a big step up and finish 8-4, surprising some people.

Vanderbilt

Last Season

After getting two wins over Middle Tennessee and Nevada, Vanderbilt fell back to earth after they lost to Notre Dame and South Carolina. Losses to Georgia, Florida, and Kentucky put the Commodores at 3-5, meaning they would need three wins in their last four games to make a bowl game. The Commodores won at Arkansas to inch closer to six wins, but hit a roadblock when they lost a close game to Missouri, leaving them with no margin for error. An overtime win over Ole Miss set up a battle for bowl eligibility in their rivalry game with Tennessee. Luckily for Vanderbilt, they beat down Tennessee 38-13 to make it three straight wins over their rival. The Commodores were not quite as lucky in their bowl game as they fell to Baylor 45-38. Vanderbilt finished the season 6-7, a solid season for a team typically at the bottom of the SEC ladder.

Offense

Vanderbilt loses the leading passer in their school’s history in Kyle Shurmur. Shurmur was a three-year starter for the Commodores and a reliable passing threat. Filling in at quarterback is Ball State graduate transfer Riley Neal. Neal was a solid dual threat for the Cardinals but will still be a clear step below Shurmur in the passing game. The best player on the offense will likely be running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn. Vaughn ran for 1,244 yards on the season and should be riding high after a spectacular performance in the Texas Bowl. Vaughn will be leaned on a bit more this season as they bring in a new quarterback and the Commodores also lose their best pass catching back in Khari Blasingame. Vanderbilt also returns their three leading receivers from last season. Kalija Lipscomb had 87 catches for 916 yards last season. Lipscomb is definitely a breakout candidate this season and will be one of the best receivers in the SEC. Tight end Jared Pinkney will also be back and be one of the best in the conference at his position after going for 774 receiving yards and seven touchdowns last season. CJ Bolar will start at the other receiver spot after finishing third on the team in receiving yards. The other starting spot will likely go to Justice Shelton-Mosley, a graduate transfer from Harvard who had 1,921 receiving yards in three seasons with the Crimson. On the offensive line, Vanderbilt returns just two starters from last season. The loss of Justin Skule especially will hurt as he was drafted this past April. Devin Cochran and Cole Clemens return after starting last season. Cochran will shift to left tackle after playing right tackle in 2018. Clemens will shift to right tackle after playing guard in 2018. South Alabama graduate transfer Rowan Godwin will fill in one of the guard spots.

Defense

Two of three starters return on the defensive line for Vanderbilt. The only starter they lose is defensive end Dare Odeyingbo. At defensive end, they do return Dare’s brother Dayo who started at the position and led the team in quarterback hurries in 2018. Brandon Maddox will fill in at the other defensive end spot. At defensive tackle, Drew Birchmeier is back after being a starter last season. At linebacker, Jordan Griffin will be gone after he led the team with 119 tackles last season, and was a very versatile player at inside linebacker. Griffin’s production will be tough to replace, especially since the likely starter at his spot will be sophomore Brayden DeVault-Smith, who has just eight tackles to his name. Josh Smith is gone at outside linebacker, and was a nice pass rushing threat. Returning at inside linebacker is Dimitri Moore who finished second on the team in tackles. Vanderbilt also had quite a bit of attrition at defensive back. Cornerback Joejuan Williams was a second round draft pick, something you do not see often at Vanderbilt. Williams was the best player on their defense last season and will be tough to replace. Fellow starting cornerback Donovan Sheffield is also gone. The two projected starting cornerbacks are junior college transfer Dontye Carriere-Williams and Illinois transfer Cameron Watkins. Allan George will return as the nickel corner. Tae Daley will shift from free safety to strong safety to fill in for LaDarius Wiley who has graduated while Frank Coppet will start at free safety. Riley Guay hit all 47 of his extra points last season but was an abysmal 13/22 in field goals. Guay will hope to improve this season. Punter Parker Thorne is gone and replacing him will be true freshman Jared Wheatley. Backup running back Jamauri Wakefield will be the return man for Vanderbilt in 2019.

Coaching Staff

Derek Mason is entering his sixth season as head coach at Vanderbilt. Mason’s record is just 24-38, but his teams have been improving. As a school with strict academic standards and little history in football, Vanderbilt is not a team that can be led to success immediately in the SEC. I think Mason has done a good job, and could take the Commodores a step further with more time. They did make two bowl games the last three seasons, which is a solid feat. After being the quarterback coach for the last three seasons, Gary Gdowski takes over as offensive coordinator. Gdowski had success coaching Shurmur, but he will have a bit more on his plate in 2019. Jason Tarver returns for his second season as defensive coordinator after spending some time as the defensive coordinator for the Oakland Raiders. It is still clear that Mason works a lot with the defense as he held the defensive coordinator title himself before Tarver was hired.

Final Prediction

Vanderbilt is probably one of the tougher coaching jobs in the country. With the conference they are in and the disadvantages they have, James Franklin winning nine games there in 2012 and 2013 seemed like a miracle (and it almost was). Mason has a chance to do some similar near miracles at Vanderbilt as well and looks to be building for that. This team has a lot of talent and running back and receiver. Their offense will all come down to how well Neal can play. Defensively, it comes down to if they can get competency out of their secondary. I think they can can work around those issues to an extent, but their coaches will have some work to do. I expect Mason to keep slowly building something and for the Commodores to go 6-6 (but unfortunately snap their three game win streak over Tennessee).

Here are my projected division standings:

Georgia 11-1 Florida 9-3 Missouri 9-3 Tennessee 8-4 Vanderbilt 6-6 South Carolina 5-7 Kentucky 6-6

To be notified when I post, follow me on Instagram @impassionedsportsnerd. Up next I will preview the Big 10 West.

Share this: Twitter

Facebook

Like this: Like Loading...