‘I no longer have significant questions’ – Greg McElroy explains why he moved the Tennessee Vols way up in his Top 25
ESPN analyst and former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy moved the Tennessee Vols up eight spots in his post-Week 1 Top 25 rankings. McElroy had Tennessee at No. 21 in his preseason rankingsh, but now has the Vols at No. 13 following Tennessee’s 45-26 season-opening win against Syracuse. Part of the reason McElroy moved […]
ESPN analyst and former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy moved the Tennessee Vols up eight spots in his post-Week 1 Top 25 rankings.
McElroy had Tennessee at No. 21 in his preseason rankingsh, but now has the Vols at No. 13 following Tennessee’s 45-26 season-opening win against Syracuse.
Part of the reason McElroy moved the Vols up is because he was impressed by Vols quarterback Joey Aguilar in the win against Syracuse.
“At number 13, I have Tennessee,” said McElroy on the latest edition of Always College Football. “I had them at 21 in the preseason. I’ve moved them all the way up. And I know people will say, ‘Well, Syracuse is not high level competition’ — it was how they looked. I no longer have significant questions about Joey Aguilar and how comfortable he’s going to be in the offense.
“I thought he made a lot of great throws in this game against Syracuse. Some down the field, [some] low percentage, [some] requiring big time accuracy, [and] hitting guys in stride. I felt like he was actually better on the downfield [throws] in the one game than what I’ve seen from Tennessee in the last two years. Is there stuff to clean up? Absolutely. But I was pretty encouraged with what I saw from the offensive line. I knew the defense would be good, and they constantly harassed (Syracuse QB) Steve Angeli, but I’m really excited about what I saw from Tennessee’s offense. I think that’s a replicable recipe and something they can continue to build on moving forward.”
I know Vols fans don’t always agree with McElroy, but he’s usually pretty spot on with his analysis (to be fair, no one bats 1.000 when it comes to college football takes).
By the way, here’s what McElroy said about Aguilar and Tennessee before the season, when explaining why he ranked the Vols at No. 21.
“What concerns me is their quarterback, and this is not an indictment on Joey Aguilar, because I’ve seen Joey Aguilar in college football play high level football,” said McElroy in August.
“There’s a lot of reading (in Tennessee’s offense), there’s a lot of reacting to what the defense does,” continued McElroy. “And Josh Heupel can simplify things, but it’s going to be up to Joey Aguilar to have a great grasp of this offense, and he’s not going to have a lot of time to learn it. So that remains a concern for me.”
I guess McElroy saw everything he needed to see from Aguilar in Week 1. Now it’s up to the rest of the national media to catch up to the former Alabama quarterback’s evaluation of the Volunteers.
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