Tony Vitello discusses the 'fresh flavor' on this Tennessee team

Tony Vitello knows that there are huge expectations for the Tennessee Volunteers in 2023. Coming off a year where the Volunteers went 57-9 and won both the SEC regular season and SEC Tournament championships, Tennessee is expected to take the next step forward.

However, as Vitello explained, this team isn’t the same as that team or any of the others that he has coached at Tennessee.

“I think it’s just been a parallel to have they’ve gotten closer as a team,” Tony Vitello said.

“We finally had a couple of guys arguing with each other on the field, which is healthy anytime you’ve got a, in my case, brother-sister relationship. You know, when your family spends time around one another, you’re going to have conflict, you’re going to have resolution. You’re also going to have some fun times that aren’t just, ‘Hey, the coaches are gonna play spiteball today,’ or whatever and have fun.”

Tony Vitello also said that Tennessee has been developing chemistry as naturally as possible, not forcing anything. He pointed out struggles that the team overcame during the 2022 Fall ball that helped bring them together and progress as a unit.

“It’s things that have kind of come organically out of that locker room, in the weight room, and it’s starting to feel more like a team even more so than it did in Jackson, Tennessee. And then, if you date back to September and even prior to that, when we first played Wake Forest, it didn’t seem like a team at all,” Vitello said.

“So, that progression, I think, is at a certain point, but by no means is it kind of where it needs to be, at the end, where it’s going, and not what it was like with a couple of the other teams that we had were just everyone had been around the program and each other for so long.”

Tennessee is, on paper, an incredibly talented team. However, it’s worth remembering that this is a different team than it was last season.

“So, this has a fresh flavor to it, which therein lies means that it’s a new one, and I think there’s days ahead when we’re gonna notice more progress and feel good about it.”

Tony Vitello is excited to see what his team is about

This weekend, Tennessee will kick off its 2023 campaign in the MLB Desert Invitational. The Volunteers are playing Arizona, Grand Canyon, and UC San Diego. Tony Vitello is excited to see what his team is about, particularly against Arizona.

“Well, I know Arizona’s probably been looking forward to this game. I assume our guys have, too. We haven’t built things up too much. You love when an SEC comes to your place, I mean they’re playing in a conference that’s comparable to ours, anyway. And it’s a program with a ton of history, so it’s not like they don’t have a lot to stick their chest out about. But, when you get an opportunity to meet an SEC team, I like to think you get kind of geeked up,” Vitello said.

“And you know, this team is going to have a different personality, but when you’ve got the — whatever the theories were that were thrown out about our team last year, people are probably going to be excited to beat us and say, you know, stick their nose up at us or whatever emoji you want to use, at the start of the year, anyways. So, I think all that’s going to be a part of the storyline. But really, I think what it’s going to be is we’re kind of going down there, towards their home turf — not on their home field — and everyone’s going to be excited, across the country, to start opening. You got a fresh, clean start. So it’s going to be all the excitement you can imagine and let’s see what we’re all about. And no better way to do it than to challenge yourself against an Omaha-caliber club, in Arizona. And then for us, obviously we’ve done some good things lately, so that’ll come with that.”