Where the Tennessee Vols fall in early top 25 rankings for the 2025 college football season
There's still a long way to go until the 2025 college football season gets underway, but some early top 25 rankings already popping up. 247Sports revealed their early top 25 rankings on Monday and the Tennessee Vols are ranked inside the top 10, coming in at No. 9. From 247Sports: Now that Tennessee tasted the […]
There's still a long way to go until the 2025 college football season gets underway, but some early top 25 rankings already popping up.
247Sports revealed their early top 25 rankings on Monday and the Tennessee Vols are ranked inside the top 10, coming in at No. 9.
From 247Sports: Now that Tennessee tasted the playoff, the 2025 goal is to get back to the postseason and win under the guidance of Josh Heupel and quarterback Nico Iamaleava. The Vols haven't tapped the portal like other SEC elites this cycle with only two additions, so there's a certain level of confidence from this coaching staff that the current roster and those who got important reps in 2024 are ready to take over.
That feels like a fair ranking for the Volunteers.
Tennessee has plenty of talent returning in 2025, but the program has plenty of questions to answer, too. Who starts at center with Cooper Mays moving on? How will the Vols' young wide receivers perform? How much will Tennessee miss James Pearce and Dylan Sampson? Does Nico Iamaleava take a big step forward in his development? Is Jermod McCoy able to contribute at all in 2025 after tearing his ACL earlier this offseason?
Those are the questions that will ultimately determine whether the Vols reach the College Football Playoff in 2025.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about 247Sports' rankings is that Alabama is ranked at No. 8, one spot ahead of Tennessee.
Alabama will have a new quarterback in 2025 after looking a bit shaky at times in Kalen DeBoer's first season as the Crimson Tide's head coach. I don't think we can completely write off Alabama under DeBoer, but it feels like the Tide are getting the benefit of the doubt this offseason more than they probably should be.
