Tennessee's Josh Heupel just received a late Christmas gift from the national media that he can use all offseason
Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols received a late Christmas gift from the national media this week that will be useful for the entire offseason. On3's Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman revealed their "way-too-early" top 10 rankings for the 2025 college football season and the Vols, which were No. 7 in the final 2024 College […]
Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols received a late Christmas gift from the national media this week that will be useful for the entire offseason.
On3's Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman revealed their "way-too-early" top 10 rankings for the 2025 college football season and the Vols, which were No. 7 in the final 2024 College Football Playoff rankings, weren't included.
Tennessee didn't make their top 10, but five other SEC teams did — Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and Auburn.
I'm not throwing shade at Staples and Wasserman over these rankings — there's still a long way to go before the 2025 season starts and plenty will change. And who knows, maybe they'll be right.
Heupel, however, should make sure his players take these rankings personally.
Tennessee, after all, was a College Football Playoff team in 2024 and they're returning starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava along with several other key players in linebacker Arion Carter, cornerback Jermod McCoy, safety Boo Carter, and wide receiver Chris Brazzell, among others.
The Vols are losing some key pieces in running back Dylan Sampson, center Cooper Mays, edge rusher James Pearce (Pearce hasn't officially declared for the NFL draft just yet, but he's fully expected to soon), and defensive lineman Omari Thomas.
Those are some tough losses for the Vols, but almost every program is losing some key players.
The fact that Staples and Wasserman are putting a couple of teams who didn't even finish the season in the Top 25 (Auburn and Florida) over Tennessee should get every player in the Vols' locker room riled up.
And look, I know that preseason/offseason rankings don't matter. They don't mean anything. They're nothing more than opinion.
But this is an incredible gift for Tennessee. If there's one common thread among teams that consistently compete for championships, it's the usage of bulletin board material and disrespect from the media. Georgia uses it, Ohio State uses it, Oregon uses it, Texas uses it.
It's easy for fans to dismiss the disrespect from the media as meaningless. And it is. But it's also a tool that the top coaches in the sport use to motivate their players.
One of my favorite quotes from Nick Saban is from 2022 when he talked about "making it personal" on Saturdays because it can give players an edge.
It's an approach that everyone from Michael Jordan to Kobe Bryant to Patrick Mahomes has used at times over the years.
Tennessee needs to make it personal in 2025 if they truly want to compete with the Georgias and Ohio States of the sport.