One of Tennessee’s 2024 opponents has announced a big move here in early January.
According to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg on Thursday night, Oklahoma is set to hire Jacksonville State defensive coordinator Zac Alley for the same position with the Sooners. Oklahoma filled the role very quickly after firing former defensive coordinator Ted Roof on Thursday.
Prior to his two years spent as the Jacksonville State defensive coordinator, Alley previously worked one season as the defensive coordinator at Louisiana-Monroe, two seasons at Boise State as the outside and inside linebackers coach, and three seasons as a graduate assistant at Clemson.
So, why does this matter for Tennessee fans?
Josh Heupel’s Tennessee Volunteers will be one of Alley’s earliest and toughest challenges with Oklahoma next season. The Sooners and the Vols will play in Norman, OK, in the fourth game of the season in 2024. Jumping from Louisiana-Monroe to Jacksonville State to the Southeastern Conference is hard enough on its own and Alley’s welcome gift will be the task of slowing down Josh Heupel’s offense in Oklahoma’s first official SEC game.
The other tough aspect of playing Tennessee next year relates to the Citrus Bowl that was played this past Monday. The Vols learned what they have in quarterback Nico Iamaleava as a four-quarter starter, and it’s something pretty darn good. The freshman quarterback was not perfect against Iowa but showed plenty of moments highlighting the potential he has been projected with for quite some time now.
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Iamaleava used smart passing, a strong running game, and a high-tempo offense to put up four touchdowns on the Hawkeyes’ strong defense. Iamaleava looked extremely comfortable running Josh Heupel’s offense, which seemed to be going faster than it had been at any other point under quarterback Joe Milton during the regular season.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though. Iamaleava’s start at Oklahoma will be the first true road test of his starting career after playing a neutral site game against Iowa in the Citrus Bowl and the upcoming neutral site game against NC State in Week 2 of the 2024 season. Anyone’s first road start is a challenging task in itself, but doing so on the road against a hungry Oklahoma team will be one to remember.
The Tennessee-Oklahoma game is shaping up to be one of the more exciting games from the September slate with all of the storylines going into the game: Oklahoma DC Zac Alley’s first SEC contest, Josh Heupel’s return to Norman, Nico Iamaleava’s first true road start, and more.
Oklahoma will host Tennessee on Saturday, September 21, in Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma.
