Ollie Lane breaks down the improvement of Tennessee program

The Tennessee football program is coming off an 11-2 season in which it was just a hair away from the College Football Playoffs, and the effect that season had is still having ripple effects on everyone involved.

It has only further encouraged the kind of buy-in that coach Josh Heupel was already beginning to get en masse in Year 2.

“Honestly I still think it’s pretty wild,” offensive lineman Ollie Lane said. “I came in recruited by coach (Butch) Jones way back in the day, played three years for coach (Jeremy) Pruitt. Now seeing where we’re at from where we were, it’s a night-and-day difference.”

And it’s no lie to say that the improvement in the Tennessee program was absolutely tremendous.

The Volunteers knocked off the long-time rival Crimson Tide in one of the most thrilling games of the college football season. If not for a somewhat inexplicable upset at the hands of South Carolina, Tennessee would have been a playoff team.

But even that upset wasn’t met by the same kind of unraveling as previous seasons at Tennessee have included late in the year.

Despite losing star quarterback Hendon Hooker late, Tennessee managed to absolutely annihilate in-state foe Vanderbilt before cooking Clemson pretty good in the Orange Bowl.

Lane explained the difference has been palpable.

“I mean the attitude in the complex is completely different,” he said. “Everybody has a different mindset when they come in here, that it’s time to work. There’s nobody that’s kind of wishy-washy about it. Everybody’s bought in.”

The improvement in the Tennessee program will get an early test next year.

Hooker will be replaced by quarterback Joe Milton, who filled in admirably for the Volunteers after Hooker was injured. Milton went 53-of-82 passing for 971 yards and 10 touchdowns. He did not throw an interception. He also ran for an additional 77 yards.

The early season slate should show where Tennessee is at. A non-conference opener against Virginia will kick things off, then there’s a road trip to Florida in Week 3.

But if Lane’s comments about the improvement in the Tennessee program are any indication, the Volunteers will feel pretty good about their chances to win both.

“It’s a whole new mindset, a new culture that coach Heupel is doing a really good job of kind of investing in and kind of building that team chemistry with everyone,” Lane said. “Like I said, it’s just a night and day difference from what it used to be.”