What's key for the Vols this summer?

Spring practice is over at Tennessee as coaches are hitting the recruiting road. This week we look back at the Vols spring drills. Today we wrap up our look at spring practice with the biggest key for this team this summer.

Get healthy. I could rattle off a number of other important keys (continuing staff continuity, quarterbacks leadership, finding more playmakers, etc.) but the most controllable thing for Tennessee this summer is nursing a lot of injured players back to health.

The Vols finished spring practice with more than 20 guys banged up — many of whom are expected to either start or play a significant role in 2017. They need Rashaan Gaulden, Brett Kendrick, Jack Jones, Micah Abernathy, Kyle Phillips and countless others to get back in the weight room full-go.

As was the case from January to early March, Rock Gullickson once again becomes the most important man on campus. His initial returns have been very promising, and now he gets a whole 3.5 months to really continue pushing and progressing Tennessee’s strength and conditioning program.

Tennessee exits the spring with some confidence about its chances in the fall, but with shotty depth at too many positions, it needs its wounded warriors to be ready when fall camp starts.

Continue team building. This team is the underdog and many of it's best playmakers thrive on playing with a chip on their shoulders. Look at Jauan Jennings and John Kelly as the leaders of not only this team, but also that unit with the large chips. The natural thing for all players will be to align themselves with a quarterback, but that would be a mistake. That battle still has to play out and it's best to just be a team and not be divided by sides.

We started this week with our MVP's of spring and I gave mine to Butch Jones. His change in demeanor and personality has been big for the team and it will continue to help this team bond as they follow him and buy into his new way df handling things. If he can have the reverse luck of last year when it comes to injuries then this team can be plenty good. Flying under the radar, just like Tennessee teams of the past have thrived.

This one is fairly open ended and could go a lot of different ways. I’ll keep it simple though and go with weight room and health.

I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that Rock Gullickson might have been Butch Jones’ most important offseason acquisition, or at least one of them. The veteran S&C coach seems to have gotten the respect of the entire roster in virtually no time and his program has had some obvious effects on a number of guys.

Certainly injuries exposed some young guys before they were ready, but I don’t think the Vols were as physical in the trenches as some of the top teams in this league were a year ago and it’s hard to think that some of that wasn’t simply a strength issue. I’m betting that won’t be the same kind of issue this fall.

Tennessee has a ton of veterans on the offensive line but to this point it hasn’t been a group that’s steamrolled people. They could greatly benefit from a Summer of Rock.

Finally, stating the obvious, this team needs some guys to get healthy. No one needs to make a miraculous return, but guys like Shy Tuttle and Quarte Sapp need to stay on schedule with no setbacks. Tuttle looks like the guy with the ability to be a disruptive force up front and this team will need him back.

What can Kyle Phillips be when he’s 100%? We don’t really know, but he’ll have a chance to show that this fall. The same goes for Sapp as well on the defensive side.

Offensively, once Brett Kendrick, Coleman Thomas and Venzel Boulware are all back on active duty the Vols will have their deepest OL group in years.

This team has to stay on edge. They have to be locked in and have a great summer. Every team says at the end of the summer that they have worked harder than ever before. No team ever says they had a bad summer. This Tennessee football team has to have a great summer. They must physically improve. They must develop in the weight room.

Rock Gullickson has become almost a folk hero in 4 months on Tennessee's campus. Players praised him all spring to the media and clearly there were winter results with guys adding weight and strength. That development must continue this summer as several young players are going to have to help.

Outside of the weight room and Gullickson's program the leadership on the team must keep this team dialed in and focused whether it's throwing sessions, technique work, and extra film stuff.

No one is saying this team can't have some down time and some fun, but when it comes to ball this summer, this team with questions and in an underdog role must be on edge if they are going to prove pundents wrong this fall.