Tennessee Volunteers

Tennessee to once again feature incredibly young roster

Published Sep. 2, 2015 6:18 p.m. ET

foxsports

Tennessee played Oklahoma last season in a nationally televised game that helped introduce the country to nearly half the roster, as the Vols relied heavily on the presence of a number of true freshmen players.

Fast forward a year and the same will once again be true for the Vols, as they open the season against Bowling Green in Nashville Saturday.

"We anticipate, like I spoke about the other day, playing upwards of 22 to 23 true freshmen Saturday night," Jones said during his Wednesday press conference. "On the travel roster, we have 27 freshmen, and to me, there is a difference between first-year freshman and redshirt freshman.

"22 are true freshmen," Jones continued. "34 individuals have never represented Tennessee nor have taken a snap at the University of Tennessee. 56 individuals on the travel roster have one year or less of SEC football experience, and only 16 individuals played for Tennessee in 2013 that compromise the travel roster."

With so much youth expecting to hit the field for the Vols, the learning curve could be steep for a team some are expecting to compete for the SEC East title. If adversity hits, how the team handles it will be something no one can accurately access at this time.

"When you are a young football team, that is a challenge in and of itself, so you rely on your older players and really rely on the culture of your program," Jones said. "We just concluded doing our travel roster, and we are actually younger this year than we were last year. It's exciting, but it's also a challenge in and of itself."