Tennessee Football: Resurrecting Passing Game Holds Key to Vols Turnaround

Tennessee's wide receiving corps of scholarship players is comprised of 11 pass-catchers who account for 40 total recruiting stars.

That's a talented stable of targets by anybody's standards.

Quarterback Joshua Dobbs is a former 4-star prospect himself, one who burst onto the scene as a full-time starter a season ago and was anointed the leader to take the Volunteers offense back to a quality level.

So why can't all that promise breed production?

It's a question UT fans have to be asking themselves even more frequently this week following a 28-27 loss to Florida that saw the Vols attempt just 19 passes, with only 17 of those coming via the right arm of Dobbs.

Just like they have for much of the season, the receivers struggled mightily, which belies what coach Butch Jones says he wants to do offensively.

Entering Saturday night's must-win tilt against Arkansas at Neyland Stadium, UT's receivers appear (yet again) to match up extremely well with the Razorbacks' struggling defensive backs. But if you're not in show-me mode with the Vols at this point, you've got more faith than most.

They haven't produced for so long that it's difficult to depend on them.

Even so, the Hogs appear to come at just the right time for Tennessee. They're 100th nationally in pass defense and have allowed nine passing plays of more than 30 yards. In losses to Texas Tech and Texas A&M, the Razorbacks allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete an astounding 81 percent of their passes.

For the season, Arkansas sits 123rd nationally in completion percentage allowed (71.6 percent), 119th in yards allowed per attempt (9.1) and 118th in sacks. They aren't getting to quarterbacks, and quarterbacks are making them pay.

In other words, UT must take advantage to turn around its passing-game misfortunes and get back on the winning track.

Starting with this game against the Hogs, Tennessee offensive coordinator Mike DeBord must make it a priority to stretch the field to loosen up opposing defenses. If he doesn't, Tennessee is staring straight at a 2-5 start to the season with Georgia and Alabama on the horizon.

As the Vols try to find their identity under a new offensive coordinator, they've strayed too close to being one-dimensional. It's something UT's coaches understand.

DeBord even told GoVols247's Ryan Callahan that he's sure Tennessee's receivers are "frustrated" with the way the Gators game wound up:

"

I mean, if I was a receiver, I would be, too, because they’re competitors. They want the ball. Everybody wants the ball. And that day's coming, so we're going to get the ball to them. I told them that today. Again, it's what happens in a game. They want the ball. I mean, the receivers want to catch the ball and all that, and I told them today that’s going to happen. … Every game has a story to it. The story was we were running the football very effectively, and we were wearing their defense down. That’s what was going at the time, and we stayed with it.

"

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

In fairness to DeBord, Tennessee did run the ball 51 times for 254 yards against the Gators, which was good enough to win.

But decisions at key moments in that game underline a fact that has been obvious all season: Tennessee is reluctant to throw the football down the field.

Whether that's because the coaching staff is concerned that Dobbs can't do it following his 13-for-31 performance against Oklahoma, whether the receiving corps can't get consistent separation or because DeBord is an old-school, run-first coordinator is debatable.

What isn't debatable is that the Vols have to get the passing game going in a positive direction. Now.

"We've got to get our passing game involved," DeBord told Callahan. "We will do that. We're going to do that, and that’s part of it, so we'll see that happen."

Wide receiver worries are nothing new for the Vols. Last year, an injury-riddled group struggled all season. They disappointed again this spring, regularly drawing the ire of Jones.

Now, here it is, a season when the Vols are expected to break out, and they haven't been able to get going.

Marquez North, Pig Howard and Jason Croom have all missed games with injury. Von Pearson and Preston Williams didn't get a bunch of preseason reps because of different issues. Josh Smith is just now getting healthy.

For whatever reason, UT can't get its pass-catchers at full strength. But that shouldn't matter. There is enough talent there that it should be able to put elite targets on the field in every game. Everybody just needs to get on the same passing page.

If anything, maybe passing game coordinator Zach Azzanni is rotating too many players into the game to the point where none of the receivers can get into the flow.

It's a puzzling situation. While Dobbs won't ever be mistaken for Peyton Manning, he is extremely talented and possesses good enough arm strength to provide an offensive balance. 

Nobody expects him to throw BBs down the field, but Tennessee can't expect to just throw horizontal passes all season and keep defenses honest. If they can get things going in the 15-to-20-yard range, it would open things up exponentially. 

DeBord knows what he's talking about when he refers to the running success Tennessee has enjoyed all season. The Vols and Hurd have proved they can generate yards on the ground. But with games on the line and in tight situations, both Florida and Oklahoma loaded the box and dared the Vols to pass.

They didn't, and the Vols went from controlling games to losing them.

With all that talent in the passing game, it's baffling that the Vols can't get more going downfield, and it's up to DeBord and Azzanni to find ways to do it. If they don't start throwing, they're going to wind up throwing away a season full of promise.

All stats gathered from UTSports.com unless otherwise noted. All recruiting information gathered from 247Sports unless otherwise noted. All quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee lead writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.