With the 2025 college football season just around the corner, the annual preseason Coaches and AP Polls have already been released. In the Coaches Poll, Tennessee football clocks in at No. 18. In the AP Poll, the Vols are down to No. 24.
Former Alabama quarterback and current ESPN analyst Greg McElroy has released his own top 25 rankings, as well. On his podcast, Always College Football, he went through his rankings and discussed what he likes and doesn’t like about each team listed.
In the case of Tennessee, it clocked in at No. 21 in the rankings. This is the 10th-best spot among all SEC teams. Ahead of the Vols are No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Georgia, No. 7 LSU, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 15 Oklahoma, No. 16 Florida, No. 17 Ole Miss and No. 20 Auburn. No SEC teams are inside the top 25 behind Tennessee.
🏈 @GregMcElroy‘s Preseason Top 25 🏈
What stands out? 🤔📝@ESPNCFB | @OmahaProd pic.twitter.com/e9gbQO2Zui
— Always College Football (@AlwaysCFB) August 11, 2025
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As far as what McElory likes about Tennessee, it is the defense. He’s high on the Vols’ defensive line despite losing some pieces, such as James Pearce Jr., who is off to the NFL.
A lot of it comes down to the track record of defensive coordinator Tim Banks, as well.
“This is a team that if you were to ask me about Tennessee a few weeks ago, I don’t think I would’ve had them in the Top 25,” McElroy said. “I’m starting to feel a little bit better about what Josh Heupel and company bring back this year. Part of that has to do with what I love, and that’s their front seven defensively. If you look at the surface of what they had last year, you see James Pearce. You see the first round pick there on the end of the line of scrimmage that at any given point, could end the game, take over the game and cause major disruption for the opposing offense. They also lost a bunch of other guys on the interior where three of their top four from a year ago are gone.
“Then, you gotta dive a little bit deeper. You look at Tim Banks, the defensive coordinator, and his history of playing 10, 11, 12 guys along the defensive front. Trying to keep guys fresh but also accelerate the development of some of your young guys. And now, you see some young guys who are poised, I think, for a breakout season.”
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What McElory is concerned about is the quarterback position. With Nico Iamaleava departing in the spring window, Tennessee had to start from scratch with little time remaining. The Vols are now holding a battle between Joey Aguilar, Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre.
McElroy operated under the assumption that App State and UCLA transfer Aguilar will win the job. He’s seen how good it can look, but also knows how tough this season could be.
“What concerns me is their quarterback,” McElroy said. “And this is not an indictment on Joey Aguilar because I’ve seen Joey Aguilar in college football play high-level football. It was a couple years ago, last year, a little bit down to earth. He went to UCLA, thought he was gonna be the starter there or at least competing for the starting job there after leaving Appalachian State, it now has happened so quickly that when he arrives in Knoxville this summer, you gotta learn the offense at hyper speed. This is a guy that has consecutive 3,000-yard passing seasons, but along with those 3,000-yard passing seasons, he has thrown 24 interceptions and that was against Sun Belt competition that he was up against week in and week out over the last two years.
“Now, he’s gotta learn a new scheme. And this is a scheme that does require some rep equity that you have to be on the same page as your wide receivers. There’s a lot reading, there’s a lot of reacting to what the defense does. Josh Heupel can simplify things, but it’s going to be up to Joey Aguilar to have a great grasp of the offense that he is not going to have a lot of time to learn.”
