Expert analysts, stationed in far-away places, are looking at Tennessee football through telescopes. They can somehow see six months ahead, past the Florida game, all the way to Vanderbilt.
They are near unanimous in saying the Volunteers probably won’t be all that good but they think they have spotted exciting, tasty potential – maybe even the Pop Tarts Bowl.
They do not rank Tennessee among the top 25 teams in the country. They do not see Josh Heupel’s fifth edition earning a place in the playoffs. One headline said “Major SEC program plummets.”
Oh my, what do you think of that?
Did Nico’s dad do it? Is this the beginning of a recession? Did that blasted transfer portal backfire? Drifting down is not nearly as much fun as firing up.
Expert analysts have names. ESPN’s Mark Schlabach is famous. He was covering Georgia football for the Atlanta Journal Constitution while still a student. Call that a landmark.
Joel Klatt of Fox Sports was a three-year starter at quarterback for Colorado.
Bryan Driskell of Athlon played for the Salisbury Sea Gulls. He coached at Duquesne, Muhlenberg College, Christopher Newport University, Wittenberg and Defiance. I had to look up two of those places.
Brad Crawford only delivered the numbers from the latest poll of 247 writers. Do not shoot the messenger.
The Southeastern Conference is well represented in their top 25s. Generally speaking, Texas is ranked ahead of Georgia, improved Alabama and surprising Florida. Rapidly rising LSU, South Carolina, Auburn and Ole Miss are honorees. Some experts included Texas A&M and Oklahoma on their lists.
The 247 survey said a lot. It awarded points based on votes. Tennessee had 20. Alabama had 110.
How can this be, you ask? Well, Heupel is 0-4 against Kirby Smart and Georgia. Tennessee plays at Alabama and Florida. George W. Bush was president the last time the Vols won in Tuscaloosa and the swamp.
There is another pattern. Tennessee under Heupel has lost one game each season it shouldn’t have lost. Pitt, Arkansas, Missouri and South Carolina were the upsets.
The experts’ logic for downgrading Tennessee fits my questions and reservations – uncertainty at quarterback (Joey or Jake), youth at wide receiver, offensive line reconstruction, best cornerback sidelined by injury.
I had expected linebackers to improve during spring practice. Too many missed too much time. I was disappointed that Rickey Gibson went public with his transfer threat to squeeze a raise from the NIL fund. That caused me to wonder about the dressing room culture, togetherness and loyalty.
There was other spillage. Dont’e Thornton didn’t really help recruiting by saying Tennessee doesn’t have the same wide receiver route tree that most pro-style offenses have.
Big Nic Iamaleava said Tennessee shortchanged Nico in not providing adequate blockers to protect his millionaire son or playmakers to catch his almost perfect passes. I thought the supporting cast was about as good as the quarterback but daddy did make a point.
Better tackle play and receivers with better hands could have made Nico look better. More accurate deep throws might have increased Thornton’s draft status and made him happy.
I expected Tennessee to add an experienced playmaker to the returning receiver group. It didn’t. The Vols have come up short in four years of evaluations, recruiting or development of offensive linemen. They have had to backfill with transfers. They acquired two probable starters. I thought they needed three.
The Nico clan trapped Heupel’s roster management at the quarterback position. There were rumblings of Nico renegotiations at the end of last season. If the coach had guessed Iamaleava might go for greener grass, if he had immediately sought a potential starting replacement, he likely would have lost a young QB who is waiting in line.
Indeed, Tennessee football lost ground from 2024 to 2025. The Vols got embarrassed at Ohio State. The Buckeyes dominated both lines of scrimmage. The Tennessee passing game didn’t do much.
Tennessee’s recruiting class was ranked 11th in the country. That sounds good – but it was eighth in the SEC.
247 Sports said 12 SEC teams acquired more transfer talent than did Tennessee. Ole Miss brought in 28 transfers. The Vols didn’t need that many but I thought they needed more than seven. Aguilar may prove to be the key addition.
This entire discussion was tied to a few expert opinions. If Tennessee exceeds expectations, if it does better than 8-4, top 25 talk will be moot. As the coach often says, go Vols.
Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com.
All the pundits have to go on is the team roster and schedule. Based on that, I would probably agree with 8-4. And If Coach follows his pattern, 7-5. Mr. West is no sunshine pumper, HE acknowledges that there are glaring weaknesses on the Oline, Tennessee hasn’t knocked anyone off the ball since a RT named Wright. There is a problem at those 5 positions and at WR. Why? Coaching? Recruiting? Cash? Tennessee used to be known for its Oline and receivers. WR U anyone? Thanks for writing this, Marvin, it is up to your usual standards. JWF
It’s hard to have an exciting outlook for the 2025 season…unless excitement results from having no idea what to expect and any uptick from our low expectations brings euphoria. I’m in that camp. It can hardly be as bad as the “all-knowing Carnac-like pundits” predict. I’m also excited for the day that UCLA is playing a more eastern opponent and they are laying the wood to the Bruins and the score is relayed over the Shield’s Watkins PA system at half-time. Podunk U 17 – UCLA 3.
I also look forward to seeing if Heupel is as good a coach when he doesn’t have the horses as he is when his players are not 4 and 5 stars out of high school. After the rise of Tennessee Football from 1949 through 1956 and Johnny Majors there was quite a lull until Doug Dickey showed up. It may look like we have gone from the penthouse to the outhouse. I’m hoping for some real positive surprises from one or more of the hungry QBs to step out and step up. Hope rings eternal.
Yeah well 2005 we had a team that was supposed to run through the field according to these numb nuts!
Reading college football forecasts in May reminds me of the the time my older cousin talked me into eating a green persimmon. Moral of the story: Always wait.
Sometimes pundits from afar look through the wrong end of the telescope. See: NFL draft projections. Local eyes, however, often do not need glasses. Names, numbers, facts. We were humbled last year by the national champions to be; that was with Nico & others since departed. One might wonder: how much worse could they look if they do their best with what they have? It would probably be prudent to adjust our expectations to those suggested above.
Sometimes pundits from afar look through the wrong end of a telescope; see: NFL draft projections. Local eyes usually have a better picture; names, numbers and facts. We were humbled last year by the national champions to be. That was with Nico and others since departed. One might ask: how much worse could we look if we play our best with what we have? It is likely prudent to adjust our expectations to those suggested above.