ESPN makes strange prediction for the Tennessee Vols in 2024
The Tennessee Vols are expecting to compete for a spot in the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff in 2024 after going 9-4 this past season. After going 11-2 in 2022, the Vols took a small step back last season thanks mostly to losing a significant amount of talent to the NFL (Hendon Hooker, Darnell […]
The Tennessee Vols are expecting to compete for a spot in the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff in 2024 after going 9-4 this past season.
After going 11-2 in 2022, the Vols took a small step back last season thanks mostly to losing a significant amount of talent to the NFL (Hendon Hooker, Darnell Wright, Jalin Hyatt, Byron Young, Cedric Tillman).
The feeling among Tennessee fans is that the Vols, with highly-touted quarterback Nico Iamaleava under center, will be ready to take a big step forward in 2024.
ESPN's Bill Connelly, however, disagrees.
Connelly put together his "returning production" rankings this week. And according to him, Tennessee is No. 94 in the nation in returning production in 2024.
Because of those results, Connelly thinks Tennessee is one of the college football programs that's "most likely to regress" this fall.
From ESPN: Tennessee was all over the place in 2023, losing to three SP+ top-10 teams by an average score of 36-12 but otherwise going 9-1 with mostly comfortable wins. It was a bit of a reloading year after 2022's 11-win breakthrough, but it appears 2024 might require further reloading. Everyone's excited about the possibilities of blue-chip quarterback Nico Iamaleava replacing the outgoing Joe Milton III, but that will still produce a drop in experience levels, and despite the addition of explosive Tulane receiver Chris Brazzell II, the skill corps, defensive line and secondary will all start the 2024 season relatively unproven thanks to both NFL departures and transfers.
I can't agree with Connelly at all on this one. This is a situation where "data" doesn't tell the whole story. Tennessee is upgrading at quarterback with Iamaleava replacing Joe Milton. But that's not something that's reflected in these rankings. Additionally, the lost production on the defensive side of the ball is another situation where the Vols should actually be improved. Tennessee is replacing secondary players that departed via the transfer portal with more talented options (the big loss there is cornerback Kamal Hadden, who didn't have any eligibility left).
I'm also not sure what he's talking about when he says Tennessee's defensive line will start the season relatively unproven. The Vols return Omari Thomas, Elijah Simmons, Omarr Norman-Lott, James Pearce, Joshua Josephs, Tyre West, Bryson Eason, and Dominic Bailey. That's basically the entire defensive line!
Connelly's comment about the skill positions is also a bit misguided. Sure, the Vols lose Jaylen Wright, Jabari Small, Ramel Keyton, Jacob Warren, and McCallan Castles. But they return Dylan Sampson, Bru McCoy, Squirrel White, Dont'e Thornton, Kaleb Webb, and Chas Nimrod (and they're bringing in some serious talent in Chris Brazzell, Mike Matthews, and Braylon Staley).
Connelly says the Vols were all over the place last season, but he's the one that's all over the place with this prediction.
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