Tennessee opens its 2021 season with Bowling Green on Thursday (8 p.m., SEC Network), looking to kickstart the Josh Heupel era with a comfortable blowout win.

Despite having their roster raided by the transfer portal this offseason and a first-year staff looking to mesh with a new group of players, the Vols are 5-touchdown favorites against Scot Loeffler’s bumbling and stumbling Falcons.

So with so many moving pieces in Knoxville, here are 5 things I’m interested watching in Tennessee’s opener, starting with the new quarterback:

1. How is Joe Milton’s deep ball accuracy?

The former Michigan transfer won the QB derby in Knoxville, beating out Va. Tech transfer Hendon Hooker and sophomore Harrison Bailey, among others.

By all accounts, Milton earned the first look for the Vols due to his consistency in practice and some “wow” plays in the two preseason scrimmages. Now can his strong play translate to gameday?

Milton is a tantalizing athlete at 6-5, 245 pounds with a howitzer for an arm. He’s mobile and has drawn comps to Cam Newton since his high school days.

But has he solved his accuracy and touch issues? A cannon for an arm is great, but if you can’t harness it, then it doesn’t do Josh Heupel & Co., much good.

Heupel’s scheme relies on the quarterback’s ability to control the RPO game and hit vertical shots down the sidelines. Milton certainly checks box No. 1, but he’s yet to prove he’s a capable deep-ball thrower — both in high school and early in his collegiate career.

In 2020 at Michigan, Milton completed just 56.7% on all passes, and he particularly struggled on throws over 10 yards outside the hashes. Per PFF, Milton was just 10-of-32 on such throws with 1 touchdown and 2 picks.

Obviously, that won’t cut it in Heupel’s aggressive scheme, so we’ll find out Thursday if Milton has improved that facet of his game.

2. Does the Vols’ tempo look fluid?

There are bound to be some kinks to sort out in Week 1, especially in a new offense, but by playing a poor Bowling Green squad, Tennessee has a prime opportunity to test its go-go tempo before a big Week 2 matchup vs. Pitt.

Last season at UCF, Heupel’s Knights led the nation in plays per game with 86. Comparatively, Tennessee ran just 66 snaps per game.

Heupel wants that figure to jump dramatically in 2021, spending his first offseason reshaping (literally) the physical makeup and mentality of Tennessee’s offensive line and QB room.

So can the Vols avoid silly penalties (false starts, misalignments) and play with Heupel’s super speed Thursday? How many pre-garbage time snaps can they get in?

3. How will the running back rotation sort out?

Despite losing its top 2 rushers from last season (Eric Gray to Oklahoma and Ty Chandler to North Carolina), Tennessee likes its collection of tailbacks entering this fall.

Sophomore Jabari Small, a one-cut gasher, is the presumed starter, but the Memphis native will share plenty of snaps with newcomers Tiyon Evans and Jaylen Wright.

Evans is the former No. 1 JUCO tailback prospect in the 2021 class, and while he had a slow spring, has really surged in fall camp. The 5-11, 2200-pound tailback was recently called “a pleasant surprise” and “every down back” by the staff, so Evans could truly push Small for the RB1 job.

So how will Tennessee share the carries Thursday — particularly in the first 2 1/2 quarters or so before the game gets out of hand? Brian Van Gorder is no longer the DC for the Falcons, but their rushing defense — worst nationally in 2020 allowing 310 yards per game — is likely to still stink.

I like Small’s skill-set, but if Evans proves he’s a viable north-south runner with some speed (especially at 220), then he could become the primary option in Heupel’s heavy interior power run game.

4. What exactly does a Tim Banks defense look like?

For the past 3 seasons, Tennessee fans had a pretty good idea on what a Jeremy Pruitt defense looked like: A hybrid 3-4 scheme with a steady rotation of defensive linemen. Lots of pattern-matching in the secondary. And a unit that routinely struggled to get off the field on 3rd downs.

But there’s a lot of unknown as to what new first-year DC Tim Banks’ unit will be in 2021.

Banks, who came to Tennessee after serving as the co-DC and safeties coach the past 4 seasons at Penn State, has said all the typical soundbites of a new coach: The Vols want to be aggressive and have their defense be an offensive defense.

OK, but in reality, what does that actually look like? With a thin depth chart, Tennessee is going to give up a boatload of points this season, but it has a chance at least to gain some early confidence Week 1.

Bowling Green ranked 111th nationally in offense in 2020, so the Falcons won’t challenge the Vols, but Thursday is a chance for folks to see how UT simply lines up on defense — 4-2-5? Some traditional 4-3?

How does the new linebacker duo (Texas transfer Juwan Mitchell and Jeremy Banks) play together? It’s also a chance for Banks to introduce Vol Nation to new transfers like DL Da’Jon Terry, DL Caleb Trembley (USC) and CB Brandon Turnage (Alabama).

5. How will the Vols utilize pass rushers Tyler Baron and Bryson Young in Week 1?

On Monday, Tennessee released its Week 1 depth chart and it was notable that Baron and Young — 2 of the most hyped UT players all offseason — had an ‘OR’ next to their name at DE rather than both guys earning first-team opportunities.

Perhaps it was nothing more than some roster chicanery and both will play together a bunch Thursday, but I’m curious how two of the highest upside players on a thin defense are utilized in a new scheme under Banks.

Earlier this offseason, I wrote the following:

“Ideally, Banks figures out a way to get Baron and newcomer Byron Young, a JUCO transfer hybrid outside linebacker who had a strong spring, on the field together as much as possible, giving a unit desperate for pass rush productivity as much juice as possible.”

We’ll find out if that’s the case tomorrow.