‘A few weeks ago, I don’t think I would’ve had them in the top 25’ – Greg McElroy explains his ranking of the Tennessee Vols
Former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback/ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy revealed the first part of his preseason top 25 rankings this week. McElroy, who played at Alabama from 2007 to 2010, has the Tennessee Vols at No. 21 in his top 25. The California native explained that he wouldn’t have had Tennessee ranked that high […]
Former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback/ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy revealed the first part of his preseason top 25 rankings this week.
McElroy, who played at Alabama from 2007 to 2010, has the Tennessee Vols at No. 21 in his top 25.
The California native explained that he wouldn’t have had Tennessee ranked that high a few weeks ago. McElroy, though, is a big fan of the Vols’ defensive front seven, which is the primary reason why he has the Volunteers inside his top 25.
“If you were to ask me about Tennessee a few weeks ago, I don’t think I would have had them in the top 25,” said McElroy. “But I’m starting to feel a little bit better about what Josh Heupel and company bring back this year. And part of that has to do with what I love — and that’s their front seven defensively. If you look at the surface of what they had last year, you see James Pearce, you see the first-round pick there on the end of the line of scrimmage that at any given point could end the game, take over the game, and cause major disruption for the opposing offense.”
“They also lost a bunch of other guys on the interior, where three of their top four from a year ago are gone. Then you got to dive a little bit deeper. And you look at Tim Banks, the defensive coordinator, and his history of playing 10, 11, 12 guys along the defensive front, to kind of keep guys fresh, but also to accelerate the development of some of their young guys. And now you see some young guys who are poised, I think, for a potential breakout season. Bryson Eason, there on the interior, is a big time star. He might be an All-American candidate by season’s end. And Jaxson Moi last year made a lot of really nice plays. You got a five-star in Daevin Hobbs that can add some firepower. Their number two edge rusher from a year ago, Joshua Josephs, he’s now going to be thrust into that lead role…So I think the defensive front remains a strength.”
So if McElroy is such a big of fan of Tennessee’s defensive front, why doesn’t he have the Vols ranked higher?
That’s because of concerns at the quarterback position, a position where the Vols are currently in the midst of a three-man quarterback battle between UCLA transfer Joey Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, and true freshman George MacIntyre.
“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.
“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, especially when you take into account the loss of (running back) Dylan Sampson and four offensive linemen from a year ago. Dylan Sampson was an all world running back — he was amazing last year. And collectively, as a team, last year, they ran for nearly 3,000 yards.
“So I think it’s kind of unlikely with that much turnover, that they have that type of production running the football, which is going to put an even heavier emphasis on what’s expected from Joey Aguilar to keep Tennessee at the top of college football. I still really like them, but that’s why they’re at No. 21 and not somewhere in the top 15, because there are some question marks within their quarterback room and along their offensive line.”
That feels like a fair take from McElroy. There are certainly some big questions that Tennessee has to answer this fall. And while it seems that the Vols have the talent to make another College Football Playoff run (UT is one of 18 programs that has enough blue chip talent to win a championship in 2025), this group of Tennessee players has to prove it on the field before most of the national media is going to buy into UT as a legitimate playoff contender.
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