Well, there is a thread on optimism for 2020 so I might as well post the pessimism one.
The biggest concern I have for 2020 is we are not getting any better in few key positions to be better than 6-6 or 7-5.
a) Wide Receiver Playmakers: We will be losing a lot of starters and depth on WR. With starters Juan Jennings and Callaway gone and depth guys Byrd and Jordan Murphy (transfer) gone too we will primarily rely on Josh Palmer, Brandon Johnson, Remmel Keyton and Cedric Tillman. Now, Palmer is good to get open but drops a lot of passes. He has atleast dropped two easy TDs this season already. Keyton hasn't done much and Brandon Johnson has been quiet last year and last year. Deangilo Gibbs is a converted WR and Cedric Tillman is a project. Tennessee currently does not have immediate contributor kind of recruit committed for 2020. Passing game will be a big worry.
b) ILB Depth: With Bituli graduating and 3 ILBs leaving team (Ignot, Reid and Banks), depth at ILB will become a deep concern in 2020. So far we only have Henry T as a contributor at that position for 2020. May be Crouch will slide into inside position but that still leaves us with two guys. Aaron Beasly is new and unproven, Salon Page was overtaken by unproven Aaron Beasly so there we go. JJ Petersen is yet to show up and has been underachiever so far. To add to misery Tennessee does not have a highly touted commit for that position. Sewell Smalls is gone and Noah Swell is unlikely to come. We will have two good starting ILBs in Henry T and Crouch but with no depth we will be susceptible and suck in late games.
c) OLB/DE Playmakers : We already are really horrible at pass rush and will lose WGWTFA Taylor. Roman Harrison looks promising but behind that its almost no one of impact. Kevon Bennet and Deandre Johnson have been mostly average.. filler materials but nothing so far shown to rush QBs. Now, few good commits here with BJ Obijulari and some good targets (Hardy etc) but how ready they will be as freshman in SEC. We really do not have any pass rush and do not see it improving soon.
d) DL Quality: This could go either way. We have some good talent there on paper. With Solomon potentially coming back and all the guys from this year getting SEC experience we may get better but again just one injury to Gooden and we look lost this year. My guess is we will be a middle of the pack SEC team in terms of DL play. Not elite but much better than this year.
e) QB concerns: Now the best situation for us is Brian Maurer keeps his job, balls out and does good behind an improved O-line and rushing attack. However, what if Brian Maurer isn't the guy ? We just have small sample size. We could be looking at a new QB with bunch of new WRs in place with second game of the season against Oklahoma. Remember, JG was supposed to take that next step (or so was the team) but how badly that went for us ? What if Harrison Bailey bails out on us or what if he is not ready ? Again, Maurer can take make us middle of the pack (6-6 or 7-5) but nothing shown yet that he can be elite (I did love some flashes from him against GA though).
Few Goods:
O-line will definitely improve (or should atleast in theory) with such talent and not losing much. I expect running game to be better with Gray as sophomore and Chandler most likely returning behind a better line.
I expect secondary to be better and play like veterans. Some depth concerns but will be better next year over all.
Given all this, do you really expect us to do more than Bowling (7-5) in Jeremy Pruitt's third year ? Do you expect us to be competitive against rivals Georgia, Florida and Bama ?(atleast we consider them rivals but given how we have lost to Candy 6 out of 8 tries may be we should change the level) ..
Here is my bottom line:
2020 is a rebuild regardless of who is at helm. Would you be comfortable with a guy who is rebuilding again in year 3 or a new guy ?