Tennessee ‘s new head coach Lane Kiffin has been grabbing all of the headlines this offseason in the SEC and while it may come as a surprise to many he does actually have athletes who play the football games. Last year under Phil Fulmer the Vols finished a dismal 5-7(3-6), the low point being the loss at home to Wyoming. The Vols have had 11 players leave the team since January including two starters which really won’t help their cause this year. We shall see if Lane Kiffin can back up all the talk when the Vols have to go on the road to play all three of the best teams in the SEC (Florida, Alabama, Ole Miss).

On Offense: Quarterback play was one of the many reasons for Tennessee’s rough year in 2008. This year senior Jonathan Crompton will return as the starter and will be pushed by junior Nick Stephens who started about half the games last year but was benched after the Wyoming disaster. Crompton is nothing special, but he cannot be much worse than last year.

The offensive line returns three starters including preseason All-SEC pick, senior center Josh McNeil. McNeil will have to anchor a line that allowed 13 sacks in the last four games in 2008. Seniors tackle Chriss Scott and guard Vladimir Richard also return and should be passable SEC lineman, but nothing outstanding. Senior guard Jacques McClendon is penciled in to start at guard and has considerable experience, playing 36 games in his career. The other starter at tackle looks to be junior Jarrod Shaw who has no real experience. The line won’t be great, but should be improved from last season.

True Freshman Bryce Brown was ranked by many as the number one overall high school player in the nation. He is an NFL sized back at 6 feet 215 pounds and will see the field early and often. Brown is Tennessee’s hope to carry them to a winning season. If he produces immediately, then the Vols could surprise some people- but if not, they might be in trouble early. Senior Monterio Hardesty should get a good amount of carries as well if this team runs the ball as much as they should.

At wide receiver, junior Gerald Jones is the big playmaker. He was hurt for about half of last season but he is the most explosive wideout. Senior Austin Rodgers is also a proven SEC wideout who has produced over his three years. Junior Denarius Moore averaged a whopping 24.6 yards per catch last year and senior Quintin Hancock was the go to guy in the spring despite a lack of game experience. Senior Jeff Cottam is a mauler at tight end, but he’s definitely more of a blocker.

Offensive star: Freshman RB Bryce Brown. One of the most highly touted players ever to come to Tennessee he has the tools to be great. Brown was a huge recruiting coup for Kiffin and will be counted on to be a star early.

On defense: After losing star pass rusher DE Robert Ayers to the NFL the Vols will need to find a new pass rushing threat. The guys who will try to fill that role are juniors Ben Martin and Chris Walker. Walker has the highest sack total of any returning player with 3, while Martin produced 18 tackles in limited action. For the line to create pressure on the QB one of these guys needs to become a big time playmaker. On the inside both starters seniors Wes Brown and Dan Williams return. Williams is an above average nose tackle and was able to produce 7 tackles for loss last year.

Senior Rico McCoy leads the linebacker crew having put together back to back 2nd team All-SEC seasons. He was second on the team with 87 tackles and flies around the outside. He will be joined by freshman Jerod Askew who looks to be the starter in the middle after having a good spring. The outside guy should be junior LaMarcus Thompson who was a member of the SEC All- Freshman team two years ago, he produced 20 tackles in limited action last year.

Junior safety Eric Berry is definitely the best defensive back in the nation and considered by some as possibly the player in the country period. He had 72 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, and 7 interceptions in 2008. Berry also holds the career INT return yardage record for the SEC after only two seasons. He was a first team All- America and named defensive player of the year by pundit Phil Steele. Berry will be joined at safety by highly touted freshman Darren Myles. The corners, juniors Derrick Rogan and Brent Vinson, have good experience both having started at least seven games in a season.

Defensive Star: Junior safety Eric Berry. I don’t need to say too much else about arguably the best defensive player in the nation.

Predictions: Tennesse can’t be much worse than last year and besides the games against the big three they don’t have too bad of a schedule. However they will still not be anything to write home about and teams will have it out for them after Lane Kiffin’s offseason antics. I see them going 6-6 (2-6).

Quotable: "I'm really looking forward to embracing some of the great traditions at the University of Tennessee, for instance the Vol Walk, running through the T, singing Rocky Top all night long after we beat Florida next year, it will be a blast.” – Lane Kiffin….Really Lane? Can’t wait until September 19th.

Ben Pettito is a columnist for GatorTailgating.com