Former Alabama QB Greg McElroy reveals his outlook for the Tennessee Vols in 2025 and he actually nailed it
Former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback turned ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy revealed his outlook for the Tennessee Vols in 2025 and he pretty much nailed it. McElroy thinks the Vols are a team that could either win the national championship in 2025 or go 8-4 in the regular season. "I think Tennessee is one […]
Former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback turned ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy revealed his outlook for the Tennessee Vols in 2025 and he pretty much nailed it.
McElroy thinks the Vols are a team that could either win the national championship in 2025 or go 8-4 in the regular season.
"I think Tennessee is one of those teams that could win the national championship or have an 8-4 season," said McElroy. "It's partly about how much do you value the pieces that were lost? They lost 27 players. The good news is they went out and they brought in 29 players. One of the big questions is how much better can they be on offense? And a lot of this hinges on the continued growth and development of (quarterback) Nico Iamaleava. I liked what I saw from him down the stretch. He's got all the talent in the world. It's just, can he now do it on a consistent basis and potentially carry some relative inexperience around him?
"The defense, I still think they're going to be pretty good there. They might not be quite as star-studded, but (defensive coordinator) Tim Banks is going to find a way to apply pressure. And I look at the playoff forecast, I think it's absolutely possible, but when I say possible, I think it's about 50/50 for Tennessee this year. It's going to kind of hinge on how they play at Florida and how they play at Alabama. But pretty optimistic about the progress they're going to make at a few key positions to make another run at the postseason."
It's hard to argue against McElroy's outlook. The Vols will have a lot of new pieces on the offensive side of the ball in 2025. And those new pieces, while extremely talented, have to go out and prove it. On paper, for example, Tennessee is more talented at wide receiver with guys like Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley set to play an important role in the offense. Five-star offensive lineman David Sanders Jr, a player that could be a future first round NFL Draft pick, is set to start at right tackle as a true freshman. There's plenty of reason for optimism for the Vols. But again, they still have to go out and prove it. They have to prove that their competitive composure is elite enough to win a national championship.
Additionally, the Vols have to figure out how they're going to get by without star cornerback Jermod McCoy, who is out indefinitely after tearing his ACL in January. A big reason that Tennessee beat Alabama last season was because of the job that McCoy did against Crimson Tide star wide receiver Ryan Williams. Who steps up to be a shutdown cornerback for Tennessee while McCoy is sidelined? Is it Rickey Gibson? Or maybe a youngster like Kaleb Beasley?
Tennessee has the talent to make a deep playoff run and possibly win it all. But talk is talk. The Vols will have to make it happen on Saturdays this fall in some big games — Tennessee absolutely has to win at least one out of three against Florida (road), Alabama (road), and Georgia (home) — if they're going to make some serious noise next January.
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