Now that Tennessee fans finally know who their next football coach is going to be next season, many are wondering exactly what their favorite team will look like on the field next year. In other words, what does having Butch Jones as the head coach of the Volunteers mean in terms of how the team will actually look and play on offense and defense in 2013.

The short answer, at least on offense, is that Tennessee appears to be moving towards being 'spread' team, or an offense with spread elements. Jones indicated he didn't favor the term 'spread,' calling his attack 'pro-style.'

In any case, whatever you call it, it seems apparent that the Vols are going to look a lot different on offense in the future.

Calling a team a 'spread' offense has taken on different shades of meaning in recent years, becoming more of a generalization than a really descriptive term to fit what a lot of teams are doing out of what would be categorized as spread formations.

At the most basic level, the 'spread' offense involves taking players from traditional spots near the line of scrimmage, say a fullback or tight-end, moving those players out wide or into the slot and forcing the defense to 'spread' out to defend them.

Where things get confusing is that some offenses are looking to spread defenses out so that they can take advantage of them with short, quick passes (think Washington State or Texas Tech under Mike Leach). Others are looking to create space in the interior where linebackers used to be in order to exploit the creases with quick-hitting run plays (think Oregon).

Jones' offenses at Cincinnati over the last three seasons were balanced, but definitely skewed towards being run-first teams.

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