It’s been a rough offseason for Tennessee football with some unfortunate developments in the transfer portal, most notably the loss of quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
But there’s still plenty of reasons for optimism for Tennessee under Josh Heupel’s guidance. ESPN released its “college football future power rankings” late last week, ranking the 67 power four teams plus Notre Dame based on how much success they project them to have over the next two seasons.
Rankings teams more than one year out has become much more difficult in recent seasons due to the emergence of the transfer portal. So what is ESPN using to project future success? Here are the six areas— returning quarterback, likelihood of multi-year quarterback on roster, offensive line/defensive line outlook, roster management, star power and coaching staff.
With those six areas being the criteria, ESPN ranked Tennessee No. 9 nationally and No. 4 in the SEC in future success. The Vols come in behind SEC foes Texas (No. 1), Georgia (No. 3) and LSU (No. 8). Tennessee is ahead of a number of SEC foes including No. 10 Alabama, No. 15 Florida, No. 16 Ole Miss, No. 18 South Carolina and No. 22 Missouri.
Tennessee does not earn high grades when in the quarterback category. Iamaleava’s departure to the transfer portal means the Vols do not have a returning starting quarterback. Jake Merklinger is a potential multi-year quarterback but that also doesn’t seem overly likely.
The status of the Vols’ offensive line is up in the air as Tennessee looks to replace four starters from a season ago. But after adding talent on the interior of the offensive line in the portal and signing five-star offensive tackle then there’s reasons to believe Tennessee’s offensive line can avoid taking a step back.
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Tennessee’s defensive line remains a strength and has been the lynchpin of the Vols’ ever improving defense during Heupel’s tenure.
Roster management is a middle ground for Tennessee. The Vols continue to recruit well in the high school ranks and have mostly avoided major departures to the portal. But Tennessee has not been overly effective landing players in the portal. Tennessee’s 2025 roster has some star power including Jermod McCoy and Boo Carter while also having a number of other players who could break out into staring roles this season.
Perhaps Tennessee’s best strength is coaching. Heupel continues to impress on the sidelines and the Vols have largely kept his staff intact year after year.
“After leading Tennessee to its first playoff appearance, Heupel has exceeded most outside expectations with a 37-15 record in Knoxville,” Adam Rittenberg wrote. “He brings back primary coordinators Tim Banks (defense) and Joey Halzle (offense), while making a few changes to the group of position coaches.”
Under Heupel’s guidance, the Vols have won 10 games in two of the last three years and made the College Football Playoff this past season. Despite major losses from last season’s team, Tennessee is looking to get back to the playoffs again in 2025.
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