Abundance of Talent
Few teams in the country have as much talent as the Tennessee Volunteers do at running back. With both Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara entering their junior seasons, it will be interesting to see how offensive coordinator Mike Debord uses his power and speed options. There are a lot of people expecting the rushing attack to be even better than last year. That is saying something considering the 2015 Vols had the best rushing attack of any Tennessee team since the 1951 national championship team. I actually think Tennessee will rush for fewer yards this year simply because the passing game will be better
Power and Speed
Every offensive coordinator wants to have a nice combination of both power and speed at running back. Alvin Kamara averages 7 yards per touch on offense. He is a dynamic playmaker and someone that Tennessee has been missing in years past in this offense. He is a great option coming out of the backfield, especially in goal line situations. Fans will remember the Georgia game last year where he had two receiving touchdowns.
On the other end of the spectrum we have Jalen Hurd. A rare combination of speed, power, and size he brings an attitude to this offense that has been missing. It will be interesting to see how many touches he gets this year. Unless he is injured, he will break the career rushing total by a Tennessee running back at the school. With such a rich history at Tennessee, that is certainly something to be proud of.
John Kelly
John Kelly is entering his sophomore season on the hill. With such good players in front of him, his carrier may be limited this year. However, running backs coach Robert Gillespie has said that he is 100% confident in John Kelly taking snaps in place of both Kamara and Hurd. Odds are that one of those two backs will be hurt in some capacity throughout the course of the season.
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