Tennessee's days as an SEC afterthought are nearly over. Butch Jones' Volunteers are the easy choice as the conference's program that will rise within the next few years -- possibly as soon as this season.
It's not just that Jones is guiding the program with a steady hand, providing Tennessee's first legitimate coaching stability since the days of Phil Fulmer. It's not just that the Vols play in the SEC East, which is a much easier division to win than the difficult West. And it's not just that Jones' staff is recruiting at a high level, inking back-to-back top-five classes in 2014 and 2015.
It's the combination of all of those factors that makes Tennessee an obvious pick to reclaim the status as an Eastern Division power it enjoyed for much of Fulmer's tenure.
The situation Jones inherited in 2013 was far from perfect, as the Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley years were awfully lean in Knoxville. The Vols hadn't enjoyed a winning season since 2009 and hadn't won a bowl game since the 2007 season.
Although Tennessee still had some major holes to fill -- for one thing, the Vols broke in an entirely new starting offensive line in 2014 -- both of those embarrassing trends ended last fall. Tennessee won four of its last five games, including a thrilling overtime victory against South Carolina and an impressive bowl win over Iowa, to finish at 7-6.
Now the Vols are getting some preseason attention as dark-horse candidates to win the East this fall. And why not? If the offensive line manages to build off of last year's rocky introduction, the Vols have reason to be optimistic.
They have a superstar in the making in sophomore defensive end Derek Barnett, and some impressive young talent surrounding him on defense. They appear to have found an answer at quarterback in Josh Dobbs and could boast one of the SEC's top backfield duos in Jalen Hurd and junior college transfer Alvin Kamara. And for the second straight year, a large group of early-enrollees from those dynamic recruiting classes received invaluable experience by participating in spring practice.
Last year, a number of their 14 early-enrollees -- Hurd, defensive back Todd Kelly Jr., receiver Von Pearson, tight end Ethan Wolf and right tackle Coleman Thomas among them -- used that experience as a springboard to playing time as newcomers. There were 10 more early enrollees this year, and don't be surprised to hear from some of them (Kamara is the most obvious choice, and defensive tackle Shy Tuttle is another candidate to play a larger role thanks to those invaluable spring reps) during the season.
We should know by midseason whether Tennessee will be a legitimate contender in 2015. The Vols host Oklahoma in Week 2 and then open a demanding four-game SEC stretch (at Florida, Arkansas, Georgia and at Alabama) two weeks later with a road trip to Florida.
It might be more reasonable to expect another season of steady growth in Year 3 under Jones, but not a trip to Atlanta in early December. That spot in the SEC championship game is coming, though. Even if it's not this season, Jones will have the Vols there before long. He and his staff have made too much progress in a relatively short period of time to expect anything less.