Is Tennessee football on track to be a top-10 team in the country for a second-straight season?
According to PFF’s preseason power rankings, this may be the case. The Vols were listed as the No. 10 team in the country in the rankings, good for the fifth-best mark in the SEC. UT is behind just Texas, Georgia, Alabama and Ole Miss in the conference.
Atop the list is defending champion Ohio State. Second place goes to Oregon, with the Longhorns rounding out the podium. Georgia clocks in at fourth with Notre Dame in fifth.
PFF took a deeper look at what Tennessee’s season may look like, as well. The site gave the Vols a projected win total of 8.03 with an 88.13% chance to make a bowl game. To win the SEC, UT is given just a 7.86% chance. The odds of being one of the 12 programs to make the playoffs are at 26.05%.
To go all the way and win Tennessee’s first national title since 1998, the Vols are listed with a 1.87% chance.
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Tennessee enters the upcoming season after a turbulent end to spring camp. With Nico Iamaleava expected to be the starter after helping lead the Vols to the College Football Playoffs, he entered the transfer portal after controversy surrounding reported NIL negotiations.
After Iamaleava picked UCLA in the spring portal window, the Vols snagged Joey Aguilar from the Bruins to enter the quarterback room. He’ll now compete with redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre for the starting job this fall camp.
Whoever wins the quarterback job will work with a group of returning weapons. At wide receiver, Tennessee is projected to start Chris Brazzell II, Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley. Tight end sees Miles Kitselman and Ethan Davis set to return. At running back, Peyton Lewis and DeSean Bishop are coming back, joined by transfer Star Thomas.
The offensive line will see four new starters with left tackle Lance Heard entering his junior season. David Sanders Jr. is likely to oppose him on the other side of the line as a five-star freshman. On the interior, transfers Wendell Moe Jr. and Sam Pendleton are joined by returners William Satterwhite and Sham Umarov as potential starters.
Defensively, the Vols return the likes of Jermod McCoy, Rickey Gibson III, Arion Carter, Jeremiah Telander, Joshua Josephs, Tyre West, Dominic Bailey, Bryson Eason and Andre Turrentine.
