Excitement is beginning to ramp up ahead of this year’s fall training camp, but that also means questions are starting to arise.
While we do have fair expectations about some of Tennessee’s position groups, particularly on the defensive side of the football, there are still questions to be answered across the offense this year.
The biggest one, and the one people will be talking about most throughout August, is Tennessee’s quarterback battle. Will it be App State/UCLA transfer Joey Aguilar? Or will returning quarterback Jake Merklinger step up and take the reins in his second year in the program? We’ll have to wait until fall camp to see how those things shake out, but there are plenty of discussion points about Josh Heupel’s fifth team on Rocky Top to be had.
The quarterback conversation is just one big piece to the puzzle, though. In a recent episode of the Always College Football podcast, SEC Network’s Greg McElroy named his two position groups that need to be successful for the Vols to “remain a problem” (in a good way) on the offensive side of the football.
Here’s what he had to say:
“Tennessee is one of those teams that is the biggest unknowns in the entire SEC. We don’t know exactly what things are going to look like at quarterback. We think Joey Aguilar, two years ago at Appalachian State, had a really good year. Last year it wasn’t so good, tried to do a little too much. Took a few too many risks. Maybe he can now get back, in a quarterback-friendly system, to playing rock-solid football. I still think they’re going to be great at running back, even though Dylan Sampson is gone. I still like what they have at wide receiver, I think they should be just fine there… If they can adequately replace the pieces lost along the offensive line, and Joey Aguilar can look like he did in ’23 as opposed to ’24, this team will remain a problem in the Southeastern Conference.”
If @Vol_Football‘s offensive line & Joey Aguilar reach their potential, the #Vols will be 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙮 in the SEC once again 🍊👀#GBO pic.twitter.com/q1EJhbpXwO
— Always College Football (@AlwaysCFB) July 21, 2025
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McElroy’s two position groups highlighted were the quarterback and the offensive line. We touched on the quarterback already, as did he. But the offensive line is a group that’s going to have to rebuild quite a bit after losing some substantial pieces in the offseason.
Starting things off, Tennessee only has one returning starter with offensive tackle Lance Heard. On the opposite side of Heard, we’ve already penciled in true freshman David Sanders Jr. He’s going to have some growing pains as a first-year player, but he also came to Tennessee as one of the most highly-touted recruits in the nation. There’s a thought that if he can hold up well here in his first season, he’ll shape into a foundational piece for the Vols’ line in the coming years. We’ll have to see how he does at camp, though.
Tennessee went to the portal to address two starting spots on the line, specifically with the guard spots. The Vols brought in Notre Dame offensive lineman Sam Pendleton and Arizona State offensive lineman Wendell Moe Jr., both of whom bring a good bit of experience to the line. That just leaves the battle for the starting center, which we will see unfold throughout spring camp. It looks like redshirt freshman William Satterwhite and redshirt freshman Max Anderson could be the leading candidates for that spot early on. But, again, we’ll have to wait and see.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for complete fall camp coverage once training camp kicks off for more Tennessee news, notes, and coverage.
