There used to be three seasons at Tennessee: Football season, recruiting season and spring practice.

Now that we’ve taken one of those off this year and replaced it with this odd round-ball sport they call “basketball,” where the object is to throw said ball into a metal rim with a net attached to the bottom, we Vols have been a little perplexed.

We’ve embraced this “basketball,” because it’s entertaining, and we’re good. But now that spring practice has started, everything seems right with the world again. And we can still enjoy that other sport with the same passion and excitement because we’re embarking on this thing they call the “NCAA tournament,” which we’ve grown accustomed to participating in the past three years.

Anyway, on to spring practice:

First of all, it was very encouraging to hear the news that the seniors — tired of the off-the-field problems that plagued the Vols at the first of the year and quashed any chance of any recruiting momentum — drafted a contract and made every player sign it. The contract said there would be an 11 p.m. curfew, and if anybody got caught out after that time, they would be fined money from their scholarship checks.

Since they drafted the contract, which every player wasn’t for, by the way, no players have been in trouble. If it’s indeed always darkest before dawn, many UT fans including myself were very disappointed in the way things were going. However, it seems the players were equally as disappointed and embarrassed, and this is how leaders emerge.

At the forefront of the movement were two seniors, Arian and Ramon Foster, who drafted the curfew contract and made a change. Then, Phillip Fulmer did some things other than the 6 a.m. runs to let this team know that it isn’t a “team” until it starts acting like one.

Hopefully, that will be the foundation for leadership in a program needing some right now.

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Here are some links about the first day of spring practice to get you started, and then we’ll go over 3SIB’s top five questions the Vols need to go a long way in answering this spring.

• Former Vols wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor likes to talk. He did in Knoxville, and he does in Stillwater, too, now that he’s Oklahoma State’s offensive coordinator. Taylor made some comments last week that were taken the wrong way by some Vols’ faithful, essentially saying UT’s offense was vanilla and “three yards and a cloud of dust.” When word got back to Trooper that some Vols weren’t happy, he responded.
• Some juicy tidbits from the Tennessean notebook, chiefly the one about Eric Berry getting the ball on offense and calling Dave Clawson’s offense a “West Coast” offense. Seems nobody really knows what to call The Claw’s offense.
• Evan Woodbury’s little brother has a nice feature on Jon Crompton and the “Smoky Mountain Offense??” This is getting a little out-of-hand…
• Finally, though it’s not football, something funny from that “basketball” sport. Maybe Wayne Chism is a future contestant on “Dancing With the Stars.” I love Wayne Chism.

TOP FIVE QUESTIONS FOR UT THIS SPRING

1. How will the players embrace the new offensive coaches?

So much has been made of former Richmond head coach Dave Clawson taking over for departed David Cutcliffe as the Vols’ offensive coordinator, and rightfully so. Though there are similar aspects of Cut’s and Claw’s offenses, it appears that Claw is going to try to throw the ball downfield a little more and “get the ball into the playmakers’ hands.” This sounds fine and dandy in print and all, but if that isn’t the goal of every offensive coordinator, then I’m missing the boat.

The fact of the matter is as good as Cut was as an OC, his offense was more methodical than miraculous. Part of the reason was the throw-it-away-before-throwing-an-interception mentality of Erik Ainge, though he regressed somewhat in the SEC Championship Game, and it cost us a chance for a win. It seemed at times that Cut was a little afraid to trust Ainge with reading through his progressions, so we ended up getting an offense where Ainge threw to who he was comfortable with and not to the guys who could make the most happen. Also, Cut abandoned the run too much, and you don’t do that when you have Arian Foster, Montario Hardesty and Lennon Creer in the backfield. All UT fans want to see is an OC going with what works and making adjustments on the fly when things aren’t working. Hopefully, Claw will bring that. This is where we should start seeing the players reacting to the new philosophy.

Also, new WR coach Latrell Scott already helped UT close on a couple of prospects during recruiting season (not a small task last year …). No, he wants to see the receivers more physical and blocking downfield better, much like Josh Briscoe did last year. The slate is clean with Trooper gone, so youngsters Gerald Jones, Denarius Moore and Ahmad Paige should have an equal opportunity to see playing time alongside Briscoe, Lucas Taylor and Austin Rogers. Stan Drayton will be a wholesale upgrade over Kurt Roper, and Jason Michaels is known as an Xs-and-Os guru coaching tight ends. He’s got to learn to recruit, but that’s not important during spring practice.

2. Can and will Jonathan Crompton be the guy?

It’s the junior’s team if he seizes the opportunity. In my opinion, nobody was happier to see Cut go than Crompton because he reportedly had an I-don’t-give-a-flip attitude at times last year and (also reportedly) has matured. The slate is clean with Clawson there, and Crompton made the first step by continually picking the new OC’s brain and organizing throwing sessions with his receivers since the end of last season.

Love him or hate him, Ainge provided results. With the game on the line, though, you never felt comfortable with him. Crompton is more of a gunslinger and a playmaker, but he’s not as smart at grasping the offense. He doesn’t have much margin for error because B.J. Coleman is a coaches’ darling who redshirted last year and has (unfairly) drawn early comparisons to Peyton Manning. Nick Stephens has a laser-rocket arm. So, we’ll see what happens.

3. Beyond Demonte Bolden, Dan Williams and Walter Fisher, are there any dependable defensive tackles?

It was the biggest need in recruiting season, and the Vols got just one DT, Murfreesboro’s Montori Hughes. And it’s unsure if he’ll be around to help next year with grade issues. Still, the important thing is he’s not around right now, but there are plenty of capable — and vastly unproven — big bodies who are.

The guy who every UT fan wants to see emerge is four-star redshirt freshman Donald Langley, who wowed coaches in early drills last fall but fell way behind and redshirted because he wasn’t ready for prime time. Langley has the body — 6-2, 290 — and the credentials, but he doesn’t have the experience. He needs to step up.

Chase Nelson is a rising junior who looked good in spots last year before a season-ending injury forced him out of action. He absolutely must be in the rotation. Then, there’s Victor Thomas, who at 6-4, 270, is a little undersized, and he’s gone to the Bolden School of Underclassman Pansiness the first two years. As a rising, third-year sophomore it is essential that he starts getting better to provide some depth, though he has shown coaches nothing in the way of dependability as of yet.

4. Who will replace Jerod Mayo and Ryan Karl at LBs?

It’s nearly impossible to replace a player good enough to leave after his junior year for the NFL, much less a player who is projected by Mel Kiper Jr. to be a first-round lock, but that’s what UT is facing this year in trying to fill the shoes of Jerod Mayo. Almost as difficult is replacing defensive quarterback Ryan Karl. Karl wasn’t uber-talented, but he called all the plays and was a big part of the defensive scheme.

Rico McCoy will have to be the monster that he was at times last year and live up to the immense expectations that have him potentially leaving a year early as well. There are no worries when it comes to McCoy.

As far as able bodies, UT is always loaded at linebacker. Nevin McKenzie and Adam Myers-White, two big, quick seniors, are battling to replace Karl, and both of those guys are definitely capable linebackers. Also at OLB is a player that coaches drooled over last year as a true freshman — sophomore linebacker and Huntsville native Savion Frazier. Frazier will get into the rotation this year, especially now that Dorian Davis has been dismissed. Also on the way in (apparently) are Gerald Williams and Marlon Walls, but you can’t count on them until they arrive.

Williams is like Sasquatch. I’ll believe he exists when I see him. He’s been trying to get into UT for three years, and Walls’ academics are so much in question that he enrolled at a junior college for the fall as well as UT, just in case.

As far as MLB, the obvious choice is Ellix Wilson, who was an absolute star in the making and playmaker late in the season last year. As another senior, he has the potential to give UT the same one-year excellence that Marvin Mitchell did two years ago. This position appears to be solid, especially if Williams’ 6-4, 250-pound self makes it in academically. Throw in freshman Austin Johnson, who has wowed coaches so far, and it could be a strength.

5. Which young players will be able to provide depth?

We’ve already discussed the young DTs, B.J. Coleman and Savion Frazier as players who have not seen much action that must, must, MUST step up. But there are plenty of others …

UT is in desperate need of a deep threat, and 6-2, 180-pound Ahmad Paige — who chose UT over Florida, USC and LSU two years ago — is out of his redshirt year, 20 pounds heavier and just as fast. Coaches have been thrilled with him so far, and it’s sooner rather than later impact-wise for Paige.

At running back, Lennon Creer looked good in a couple of games last year, but he’ll carry more of a load this season for certain. Daryl Vereen is a scatback type who can make things happen with the ball in his hands. Throw in freshman mid-term enrollee Tauren Poole, whom Phillip Fulmer said was as ready physically to play as any RB he’s had since Jamal Lewis, and you start to get excited.

The weightroom injury to Chris Walker at defensive end is a big blow to the Vols this spring, but he’ll be back to participate some before spring practice is over. Will Ben Martin live up to the considerable hype while we’re at the defensive end position? Everybody in Knoxville thinks so, so we’ll see. Then, there’s Cody Pope, who’ll get some action at center with Josh McNeil’s injury this spring, and Chris Donald — a former five-star who struggled to grasp the defense last year — who has been moved back to his natural position of MLB.

Then there’s the freshmen who started in the defensive backfield last year, Eric Berry, Brent Vinson and Dennis Rogan, who will be depended on greatly, along with junior DB Demetrice Morley, whose All-SEC potential returns after a year-and-a-half academic sabbatical.

Should be an interesting spring …