How Vols fans should view Tennessee's 8-4 season in Josh Heupel's third year
If the Tennessee Vols win their bowl game, the program will match its second best record since the end of the 2007 season (9-4, which was accomplished in 2015 and 2016). And yet for many fans, Tennessee's 2023 season feels like a big disappointment. Watching the Vols go 11-2 in 2022, combined with players openly […]
If the Tennessee Vols win their bowl game, the program will match its second best record since the end of the 2007 season (9-4, which was accomplished in 2015 and 2016).
And yet for many fans, Tennessee's 2023 season feels like a big disappointment.
Watching the Vols go 11-2 in 2022, combined with players openly telling reporters that their goal was to win the SEC East in 2023, created some unreasonable expectations for Tennessee this fall.
The Vols lost a significant amount of talent to the NFL from their 2022 roster. Quarterback Hendon Hooker, wide receivers Jalin Hyatt and Cedric Tillman, EDGE rusher Byron Young, and offensive tackle Darnell Wright were all selected in the first three rounds of the 2023 NFL Draft. That's a lot of talent to replace — especially for a program that didn't have the benefit of multiple years of top five recruiting classes.
Tennessee wasn't quite as good this season at quarterback and at wide receiver as they were in 2022 due to the losses of Hooker, Hyatt, and Tillman.
That loss of talent combined with the inordinate amount of injuries that Tennessee suffered in 2023 is what led to an 8-4 season for the Volunteers.
Key injuries in 2023:
- Cooper Mays — OL
- Bru McCoy — WR
- Dont'e Thornton — WR
- Keenan Pili — LB
- Kamal Hadden — CB
Along with those significant injuries, the Vols also dealt with a plethora of nagging injuries to the entire offensive line, as well as players like quarterback Joe Milton (he was severely banged up in September) and wide receiver Ramel Keyton (he dealt with a bone bruise in his foot for the first month of the season).
It was essentially a perfect storm of bad luck combined with a roster that wasn't elite in a couple of key areas that led to a "down season" season for the Vols.
And "down seasons" are something that happen to every program outside of the current "top tier" programs like Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, and Michigan. The only programs that seem immune to those types of seasons right now are the programs that are routinely landing top five recruiting classes.
But enough about the excuses for why the Vols finished 8-4 (excuses that aren't coming from within Tennessee's program, by the way).
The fact that 8-4 (potentially 9-4 with a bowl game win) is a "down season" for Tennessee shows just how far the program has come under Josh Heupel the last few years. These are the types of seasons that were celebrated on Rocky Top less than 10 years ago. And now some fans are frustrated with that kind of year.
That's progress. Significant progress.
The rebuild under Heupel was never going to be easy. There were always going to be ups-and-downs (the middle part of UT's roster is essentially missing, with less than 20 combined juniors and redshirt sophomores on the team). If this is a down season for Tennessee — and this definitely feels like the floor for the Vols under Heupel — then UT football is very much back where it was in the early 2000s. That doesn't mean that a national championship is inevitable — those are impossible to predict for any program not named Alabama or Georgia right now — but Tennessee is in a position to be a threat to make the new 12-team College Football Playoff on an annual basis.
It's fair for Vols fans to frustrated by the loss to a not-very-good Florida team in the swamp. And it's fair to be frustrated by the second half collapse at Alabama and the poor performance against Missouri. But if those are the worst moments in a down season, then it's clear that Tennessee has rapidly upped the standard under Heupel.
The program is still moving in a great direction under Heupel's watch. And the culture is as strong as ever.
Tennessee football is just getting started in the Heupel era. And it feels like there are going to be some great seasons on the horizon. Remember, Heupel took over a disaster. And he's quickly brought the stability that the program was missing for nearly 20 years. The only thing Vols fans should be upset about right now is that they have to wait nine months to see Tennessee take the field at Neyland Stadium again.
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