On Monday afternoon, Tennessee football was named the No. 18 team in the country, according to the Top 25 Preseason Coaches Poll. On the same day, an AP Top 25 voter also included the Vols in his rankings.
Brett McMurphy released his preseason picks, exactly a week before the official poll is released. He placed UT at No. 19, coming off an appearance in the College Football Playoffs and a 10-2 regular season under Josh Heupel.
McMurphy featured nine SEC teams in his top 25, with the Vols landing as the eighth-highest ranking in the conference. Tennessee sits behind No. 1 Georgia, No. 3 Texas, No. 5 Alabama, No. 10 LSU, No. 12 Texas A&M, No. 15 Florida and No. 18 Oklahoma. No. 21 Ole Miss is behind the Vols.
Of these teams, Tennessee will play Georgia and Oklahoma at home. The Vols will travel to play Alabama and Florida on the road.
Syracuse and the other SEC teams UT has scheduled are not ranked.
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This comes after a turbulent offseason for Tennessee. After the spring window, the Vols lost returning starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava to the transfer portal after reported NIL negotiations. In response, UT landed signal caller Joey Aguilar out of UCLA and App State.
Now, the Vols are in the midst of a quarterback battle between Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre. Tennessee has a little less than a month to iron out its quarterback situation before the season opener. The Vols will head to Atlanta for a neutral-site clash with Syracuse on Aug. 30 at noon ET. That game will air on ABC.
Tennessee’s home-opener will be held the following Saturday on Sept. 6. The Vols will welcome in-state FCS program ETSU to town for a game scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network+ and ESPN+. The following week, Tennessee will begin its SEC slate by hosting No. 4 Georgia at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
