The College Football Playoffs don’t start today, but if they did, ESPN has Tennessee football as one of the 12 teams in the field. The publication slotted the Vols as the 10-seed, meaning they’d have to go on the road for the first round. Tennessee would see some familiar faces if this did become a reality, too, as 7-seed Florida State is the listed opponent.
The Seminoles roster three former Tennessee players, two of whom were at UT just a year ago. Wide receiver Squirrel White and defensive end Jayson Jenkins both play significant roles at the new stop. Linebacker Elijah Herring is also on the roster. He transferred out before the 2024 season, winding up at Memphis, before making the change to FSU this season.
If Tennessee were to survive the hypothetical road trip to Tallahassee, it’d face Miami, the theoretical ACC champion and 2-seed in the bracket. The winner of that game would play either 3-seed Georgia, 6-seed Oregon or 11-seed Iowa State for a spot in the national title game.
Other teams in the projected field are 1-seed Ohio State, 4-seed LSU, 5-seed Texas A&M, 8-seed Oklahoma, 9-seed Penn State and 12-seed USF. This makes Tennessee the fifth and final SEC team in the field. It also means Alex Golesh’s (the former offensive coordinator with the Vols) USF squad would be the Group of Five representative.
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White spent three seasons at Tennessee before transferring to Florida State for his final year. He started in the slot in both 2023 and 2024, but battled injury. His best year was 2023, when he posted 803 receiving yards on 67 catches with two touchdowns. So far at FSU, White has two catches for 47 yards and no scores.
Jenkins played three years at UT, as well, before transferring to the Seminoles. He will have an additional year of eligibility after this year. In 2024, he was in the defensive end rotation and posted nine tackles with two sacks and a forced fumble. This year, he has three tackles to his name.
Herring played a pair of seasons with Tennessee, including a massive role as a sophomore. With Keenan Pili going down with an injury, Herring led the team in tackles with 79, to go with a sack. After leaving for Memphis, he posted 60 tackles with the Tigers with four passes defended, 3.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and two picks. This year, he has earned four tackles so far.
