Top 5 moments of the Butch Jones era at Tennessee

Entering his third season as Tennessee’s head football coach, Butch Jones certainly has experienced the highs and lows that come with coaching a major college football program.

Jones has compiled a 12-13 record since he arrived in Knoxville, and while that may not seem impressive, back-to-back top 10 recruiting classes and the momentum surrounding the Vols program says otherwise.

These are the top 5 moments of the Jones era:

5. Jones and Tennessee put together 2014’s 7th ranked recruiting class

The 2014 recruiting class was what got the ball rolling for Tennessee under Jones.

Jones’s first full recruiting class included highly ranked prospects Josh Malone, Jalen Hurd, Todd Kelly Jr., and Dillon Bates, as well as lower ranked players Jashon Robertson, Ethan Wolf, and Derek Barnett that turned into big contributors for the Vols.

This class established very quickly that Jones would not have a problem with recruiting at the SEC level.

4. Tennessee knocks off No. 11 South Carolina in Jones’s first season

The signature win that eluded former Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley for three seasons wasn’t quite as hard to find for Jones.

One week after falling to No. 5 Georgia in overtime, Tennessee beat the Gamecocks 23-21 on a game winning field goal by Michael Palardy to end the program’s 19-game losing streak against ranked opponents.

This win was another early indication to Tennessee fans that Jones would have more success with the Vols than their previous coach.

3. Jones’s second full recruiting class finishes ranked 4th overall

It remains to be seen exactly how the 2015 recruiting class turns out on the field, but the momentum around the Tennessee program continued to grow with this 30-player class.

Five-stars Kahlil McKenzie, Kyle Phillips, Preston Williams, Alvin Kamara, Shy Tuttle, and Drew Richmond headlined the 2015 class, which was ranked 2nd in the SEC.

The 2015 class certainly indicated that the 2014 class was no fluke, as further established Jones as one of the SEC’s top recruiters.

2. Tennessee demolishes Iowa in the 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl

From the moment Jones was hired as Tennessee’s football coach, the goal for the program was to make a bowl game, something that before this past season had not happened since 2010.

The Vols did not accomplish that goal in Jones’s first season, but in his second season, Tennessee achieved a 6-6 regular season record and earned an invitation to the TaxSlayer Bowl, where they defeated Iowa, 45-28.

The bowl game win, Tennessee’s first since the 2007 season, is what started all of the offseason hype around the Vols, and what gave them their first winning season since 2009.

1. Tennessee comes back to shock South Carolina

Though the bowl game win over Iowa was a big one, it never would have happened if it weren’t for the come from behind win over South Carolina that helped propel Tennessee to bowl eligibility.

The Vols trailed by 14 points with just 4:52 remaining in the game, but Josh Dobbs, who was making his first start of the 2014 season, led two quick touchdown drives to send the game to overtime, where Tennessee won, 45-42.

If Tennessee doesn’t make the miraculous comeback to win this game, the Vols would have finished 5-7 for the fourth straight season, and the momentum that surrounds the program right now would not be present.

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