Former Alabama QB makes bold statement about the future of Tennessee football
Former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy, who now works for ESPN as an analyst/announcer, made a strong statement this week about the future of Tennessee Vols football. McElroy was recapping the 2022 season and discussing the most surprising teams of the year when he made an observation about Tennessee that should have Vols fans […]
Former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy, who now works for ESPN as an analyst/announcer, made a strong statement this week about the future of Tennessee Vols football.
McElroy was recapping the 2022 season and discussing the most surprising teams of the year when he made an observation about Tennessee that should have Vols fans excited.
McElroy admitted that he expected Tennessee to win only seven or eight games in 2022 before suggesting that the Vols will be a "thorn in the side of Georgia" for the foreseeable future.
"I did not see them winning 10 in the regular season," said McElroy this week. "Not even close did I see them winning 10 in the regular season. Thought seven or eight would be progress with a win in the bowl game, maybe get to 9-4. That would be a great, great season in year two for Josh Heupel."
"I thought their offense would be able to score with everybody," added McElroy. "I just thought they'd give up 40 a game. But that wasn't the case. They played pretty well on that side of the ball most of the time. Like 75 percent of the time. Now just gotta get them to play at that level 85 percent of the time. And if the offense continues to ramp things up — maybe a little ball control from time to time as well — they could be cooking with gas. And could be the thorn in the side of the Georgia Bulldogs for the foreseeable future in the SEC East."
The SEC East will probably cease to exist in a couple of years when Texas and Oklahoma join the conference, but McElroy's point remains — the Vols are going to be a headache for Georgia moving forward.
Tennessee is still in the building phase — that's something I think opposing fan bases forget. This is far from the finished product under Heupel.
The Vols haven't "arrived" yet. They're still working toward being a championship program. This season was just a little sneak peek into what to expect from Heupel and the Vols in the coming years.
2022 was a fun season for Tennessee, but it was just the start of a potentially great run under Heupel.
Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel
