Through Aug. 22, Sports Illustrated will count down its preseason college football Top 25 with overviews of each team. Here are the full rankings so far.
There was a point this offseason where Tennessee became the main character in college football over the course of several weeks.
Day after day, there would be a rumor or even a few morsels of concrete information surrounding the departure of quarterback Nico Iamaleava and his eventual transfer to the UCLA Bruins. To call it a saga might be an understatement, as the Vols suddenly became the center of attention in the football world with a storm they very much did not anticipate after making the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff last year.
Yet for all the drama that went on in Knoxville, Tenn., the program has seemingly turned the page on a turbulent final few weeks of spring ball that shifted the outlook of the 2025 season by a decent amount. The focus internally, as always, is about moving forward and focusing on what’s at hand in the always-competitive SEC. Tennessee is now considered a difficult out on the upcoming conference schedule.
“Ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s never about who’s not in your building but about who is in your building,” coach Josh Heupel said. “I’m really excited about who we have in there. The addition of Joey [Aguilar] to who’s already inside of that group—highly competitive guys that are smart, that have the physical traits to be successful. Teammates have grown to have great trust in those guys through the course of this offseason during the summer, and now it’s about getting to training camp and going and competing.”
Just how competitive the Vols wind up being is expected to come down to how much Heupel can spin his magic yarn as a quarterback guru. The roster is in as solid of a place as it has been coming into the season in ages, and the schedule is manageable.
How all that plays out is anybody’s guess, but most around Neyland Stadium would be up for allowing for all the drama of the season to be concentrated in the past instead of what’s ahead.
Fast Facts
2024 record: 10–3, 6–2 SEC
Offense: 35.7 ppg (12th in FBS), 6.07 yards per play (45th)
Defense: 16.1 ppg (seventh in FBS), 4.56 yards per play (fifth)
On the Headset
Josh Heupel, entering Year 5 in Knoxville (eighth as a head coach), 65–23 overall record, 37–15 with the Volunteers
Heupel felt like far from the Vols’ first choice when he was picked to replace Jeremy Pruitt, but he has guided the program to a point that hasn’t been reached since Phillip Fulmer was at the helm, back around the turn of century.
The former national title–winning quarterback has been a welcome presence for his casual, no-nonsense style in running the program and has impressively won over much of the notoriously fickle fan base with the way he dealt with things like the Iamaleava transfer. The team is once again a mainstay in the Top 25, is fun to watch with an up-tempo offense and has assembled some of the best defenses in the SEC.
Most of all, he’s won a lot of games and notably started to turn the tide on a few of the team’s historic rivalries. There were some Tennessee fans who waited nearly an entire generation to light up cigars during the Third Saturday in October against Alabama, but Heupel has now won two of the last three in the series. On top of that, making it to the College Football Playoff over others in the SEC is always the best way to ensure the seat underneath stays plenty cool.
The biggest question left for Heupel: Can he take Tennessee to another level and go from winning consistently to truly competing for conference (and national) titles?
Key Returning Starter
CB Jermod McCoy, Jr.
Heupel may be known as an offensive-minded head coach, but the Vols defense has been the strength of the team as it has developed into one of the best units in the SEC. McCoy has played a pivotal role since arriving from Oregon State. He might be Tennessee’s best player when it comes to NFL potential and the ability to boost a good defense into an elite one.
McCoy tore his ACL in January, which puts his availability into significant wishcasting territory. With him, the team is set to return seven starters on a defense that was one of the best in the country. Without him, the Vols still have defensive back Rickey Gibson III and safety Andre Turrentine but will have to make do without a corner who is capable of locking up opponents’ No. 1 wide receiver and walling off a side of the field.
There’s some optimism about McCoy’s rehab, but his timeline will determine how good the back end of the defense will be.
Key Transfer
QB Joey Aguilar, from Appalachian State (via UCLA)
The offseason drama had two sides to it in what was unofficially college football's first trade of players. Iamaleava’s departure directly led to Aguilar coming to Tennessee after spending spring ball with UCLA. The former App State quarterback was far from being as highly touted as his predecessor coming out of high school, but he was solid as a starter for the Mountaineers and had back-to-back seasons with over 3,000 yards and 20-plus touchdowns.
“We’ve found a way to win with a lot of different quarterbacks throughout my career on the offensive side of the ball, and we’re going to find a way to win with the guy that earns a starting spot as we go through training camp here in August,” Heupel said.
Aguilar will compete with Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre for the starting job but is considered the favorite. Of all the x-factors that will determine what the Vols do in 2025, the play of their new signal-caller is going to be paramount.
Key Departure
QB Nico Iamaleava, transfer to UCLA
Tennessee lost four NFL draft picks—all within the first four rounds—including tailback Dylan Sampson who was the SEC Offensive Player of the Year. But the seismic loss this offseason had to be the quarterback the program had quite literally invested so heavily in and decided to part ways with just before the end of spring practice.
Iamaleava’s first full season as a starter was a quality one (2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns against just five interceptions) and was a step toward becoming the quarterback the recruiting services had pegged as one of the best in the country. Part of the reason why the exit stings so much for the Vols is how reliant the team was expected to be with him given all those personnel losses. That will no longer be the case after the sophomore returned to the West Coast.
Circle the Dates
- Sept. 13, vs. Georgia
- Oct. 18, at Alabama
- Nov. 1, vs. Oklahoma
- Nov. 22, at Florida
Bottom Line
Some natural regression from being a fringe SEC and CFP contender is probably to be expected for Tennessee this season, but the schedule and a salty defense still keep the Vols’ floor pretty high in 2025.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Sports Illustrated’s College Football Preseason Top 25: No. 19 Tennessee .