This fall, Butch Jones will face a monster of his making. It has grown in size each offseason since his hire, like a Godzilla that began as a gecko.

As with all monsters, the expectations for Jones’ Tennessee Volunteers are difficult to control. Thursday, they became official when SEC media members picked the Vols to win the East, with several predicting they would win the conference championship.

Jones and others in Knoxville can try to contain the expectations, try to marginalize them, try to bring them back down to Earth.

But at some point, the beast becomes big enough to snap even the strongest constraints.

This is where Jones and his program stand at the moment. The Volunteers are staring down a daunting creature before them. It’s a creation of their own advances under Jones since 2013 and others’ visions – fair or unfair – of them this season. Their task will be tall.

“We have higher expectations for ourselves than anybody,” senior linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin said at SEC Media Days. “We see each other and work out with each other every day, so we know how capable we are.”

Knowing it is one thing. Proving it is a whole different ballgame.

This challenge for Tennessee has been a long time coming. There were the five victories in 2013, seven a year later and nine last season. There was the No. 26 overall recruiting team ranking by 247Sports in 2013, the No. 7 in 2014, the No. 3 in 2015 and the No. 17 this year.

At first glance, this looks like the season that Tennessee graduates from TaxSlayer Bowl and Outback Bowl appearances and enters a master’s class of achievement. Finally beating Florida after 11 consecutive losses in the series. Finally winning the SEC East for the first time since 2007. Finally shedding memories of the Dark Ages under Lane Kiffin and Derek Dooley when life in Knoxville was a lesson in hard knocks.

Certainly, Jones should have enough capital earned to survive the storm that will roll in if none of those checkboxes are filled this year. Unless the orange is crushed in spectacular fashion and Tennessee fails to qualify for a bowl, he should live to fight the monster another day. Let’s not be unreasonable.

But we’ll learn the strength of Jones’ stomach in short order.

What separates coaches like Nick Saban and Urban Meyer from the rest is their ability to beat back their beasts year after year. They are experts at slaying King Kongs of static to keep their respective programs chugging toward college football’s Mount Everest. Their tunnel vision makes them the sport’s kings.

Does Jones have what it takes to turn Tennessee into one of the nation’s elite? If so, can he do it time and time again?

It’s a fair question, and the answer is unknown. Expectations are a compliment as well as a burden. There are two phases in program building. First, you slug your way into the national conversation and earn praise. Next, you fight the dragons that contenders face each season: The attention, the distractions, the weight that comes with being knighted as a Chosen One.

Oh, Jones has lifted the Volunteers back to relevance. Tennessee’s 9-4 record last year was its best since going 10-4 in 2007 under Phillip Fulmer. Kiffin and Dooley never delivered more than seven victories in a single season during their forgettable tenures. And the Volunteers’ offense looks oh-so delicious with Joshua Dobbs at quarterback and Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara as a strong one-two right hook at running back.

The opening is there. The SEC East beyond Tennessee, though rising, has plenty of holes. Florida has curiosity at quarterback. Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina will have new identities after regime changes. Kentucky has yet to prove that it can threaten under Mark Stoops. The same goes for Vanderbilt under Derek Mason.

But will the Volunteers melt within heat made possible by their hype? There’s a chance.

That’s why this season will go a long way toward shaping Jones’ future in Knoxville. He can either enjoy the buffet of satisfaction that will come with winning the SEC East or face a searing seat at this time next year. He can either prove that Tennessee can manage the monster that all powerhouse programs stare down each fall or enter a winter of discontent in which dirt won’t be the only rocky thing on Rocky Top.

Jones, your Godzilla awaits.