I'll go with a 7 because:
CRB started out with a complete dumpster fire/train wreck. He was the 3rd coach in 3 years and 4th in 6 and the three previous coaches left their programs in a mess.
Last year the regular season ended badly, but Punter had a season ending injury just before the bad finish and Baulkman was playing through his injury for most of the second half of the season. Still managed to get a couple of SECT wins.
This year was even worse for player attrition. Started out with Bone missing 9 games. Then Fulkerson only played in 10 games. Then Mostella was dismissed with half the season remaining. Then Hubbs played the last few weeks with an injured knee. Then Bowden caught pneumonia. Not only did 5 of 12 scholarship players miss a significant portion of the season, but those 5 plus Williams were the best players. The attrition also included 2 of the 3 upperclassmen.
50% of the roster are freshmen and 7 of 12 are in their first year in the program. Only 3 of the 12 were upperclassmen.
I like the roster that's been put together for 2017-18.
He's beaten Kentucky twice.
TN competed with, and could have beaten, four of the top teams in the country (Gonzaga, UNC, Wisconsin, Oregon).