Tennessee Football: 5 Ways Butch Jones' 2nd Season Was a Success

While the Tennessee Volunteers aren't yet bowl eligible and are sitting on what appears to be a mediocre 5-5 record, what second-year head coach Butch Jones has accomplished this season will pay dividends in the future for his football program.

When Jones took over as head coach of the Vols on Dec. 7, 2012, the program was in disarray. The team was coming off a disappointing season, going just 5-7 despite fielding one of the most prolific offenses ever assembled in Tennessee history.

Jones immediately started changing the culture at Tennessee, which culminated in a huge win over the eventual No. 4 South Carolina Gamecocks on Oct. 19, 2013. The Vols couldn't carry the momentum from that win the rest of the way, however, as they dropped games to Alabama, Missouri, Auburn and Vanderbilt to miss yet another bowl game.

In his second season, Jones is proving that his entire philosophy of building a football program works, and some analysts are even pointing to Tennessee as the favorite to win the SEC East in 2015. 

Although the 2014 Vols haven't exactly set the SEC on fire, it's obvious the team is vastly improved, and that's almost exclusively due to Jones and his staff's relentless work ethic both on and off the field.

Here are five ways Jones has changed the culture at Tennessee and made his second season a success. 

His Recruits Are Making Big Impacts

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As the season has progressed, it's clear that Jones' two recruiting classes—only one of which is completely his—are making a huge impact on the team.

Jalen Hurd, Joshua Dobbs and Von Pearson are Tennessee's best offensive players at the moment, and they're all Jones' recruits.

On defense, his recruits are also stepping up across the board. Freshman Derek Barnett may be the team's best overall defensive player, while Emmanuel Moseley and Todd Kelly Jr. are poised to be leaders in the defensive backfield next season.

One of the biggest questions about Tennessee's impressive 2014 recruiting class was how well it would translate to the field.

Considering that many of the Vols' best players are freshmen and sophomores, it's obvious Jones has an eye for pulling in recruits with stars and talent. 

He Notched Vols' First Road Win Outside Tennessee or Kentucky Since 2007

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It's hard to understate the importance of Tennessee's win against South Carolina on Nov. 1. 

The Vols have played terribly on the road since they opened the 2008 season with a loss to UCLA, and since then, they've only managed to win true road games at Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

To mount a late fourth-quarter comeback while down 14 points on the road shows Tennessee has turned a corner with Jones at the helm. Even last year's team likely would have folded when the pressure turned up, but this team made plays when they counted and pulled off an improbable upset.

Jones frequently mentions learning opportunities for his team, and being able to point to a game like that to motivate his players is important as the pressure and expectations increase in the years to come. 

His Team Doesn't Quit

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As good as last season's win over South Carolina was, the Vols also suffered some humiliating losses that were due to a lack of effort and a willingness to lay down when games turned against them.

Losing to Oregon 59-14, Alabama 45-10, Missouri 31-3 and Auburn 55-23 were all black eyes for a once-proud program.

Although the Vols were outmatched in those games, they also had a tendency to fold as soon as the game appeared to be getting out of hand. In a self-fulfilling prophecy, two-touchdown leads for opponents quickly turned into three-, four- and five-touchdown deficits for the Vols.

This year, things are different. Tennessee played tough against Oklahoma for four quarters, and just two or three plays in that game were the difference between a one-possession contest heading into the final minutes and a comfortable victory for the Sooners.

Alabama jumped out to a 27-point second-quarter lead against Tennessee before the Vols rallied and battled back, limiting the Tide's offensive production and exposing weaknesses in their defense. 

The win-loss column certainly isn't where Jones wants it at this point in his tenure at Tennessee, but getting his team to play hard for 60 minutes no matter what the scoreboard shows is an important step toward regaining conference and national relevance. 

His Staff Has Stayed Intact and Works Well Together

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One of Jones' few missteps during his first offseason as head coach of Tennessee was when he said he would "put together the best football staff in the country" at his introductory press conference. 

That statement left him and his assistants wide-open for criticism as Tennessee's losses piled up in 2013. 

In fact, the criticism reached an all-time high early this year when the offense, led by Justin Worley, appeared to be completely inept after it went two SEC games in a row without scoring a touchdown.

However, now that Tennessee has a quarterback who fits offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian's system, it's clear the scheme wasn't necessarily the problem—it was the issue of trying to force a square peg in a round hole.

There's plenty to debate about whether Jones and Bajakian should have started Dobbs sooner, but Tennessee fans should be able to rest easy knowing this team's offense has the potential to be highly prolific.

In addition, defensive coordinator John Jancek has completed a remarkable turnaround on a defensive unit that was historically bad just two seasons ago. Tennessee's defense is now anywhere from respectable to downright great in many statistical categories, and what was once a major liability is now a bona fide strength. 

He Has Tennesse in Position to Make Its First Bowl Game Since 2010

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The surest signs of progress in a football program are wins.

And at 5-5 with two games to play, Jones has put Tennessee in position to finish with a potential eight-win season. 

The Vols face a tough test against the Missouri Tigers on Saturday, but even if they drop that game, they still have another highly winnable game against the Vanderbilt Commodores to close out the regular season.

A win in Nashville would send the team bowling for the first time in four seasons and give the Vols an excellent chance of finishing with a winning record for the first time since 2009. 

With so many young and talented players on the roster, a bowl game wouldn't just be beneficial from a national-perspective standpoint for Jones—it would also give his team invaluable practices and experience to roll over into a 2015 season that has the potential to be Tennessee's best since 2007.