Very Bad News: Tennessee Vols Head Coach Angry and Announced resignation immediately….
Fall camp is upon us, and that means it’s time for preseason predictions and expectations to roll through the internet and grace us with the opinions of the pundits.
One expert from ESPN sees the Tennessee Volunteers as a threat to return to the College Football Playoff for the second straight year. College football writer/analyst Bill Connelly, he of the SP+ ratings, has the Vols in the upper echelon of the SEC and the last team in his tier of College Football Playoff and SEC title contenders.
That goes a little bit against where the media had the Vols tabbed in the preseason poll, which was 9th. The Vols came in behind teams like South Carolina and Florida that they’re ahead of in Connelly’s poll.
But what caught my eye is what Connelly said about Tennessee’s offense and defense in 2025.
I actually that this is a bit of an overstatement for one, but not for the other. First, Tennessee’s defense from 2024 is going to be very tough to replicate as far as week-to-week consistency and dominance. If Jermod McCoy is ready to roll early in the season – which is a complete unknown at this point, the Vols’ secondary will hit the ground running as a team strength.
But last year’s defensive line rotation simply was the engine that drove the unit, and it loses some rare talent in James Pearce, Jr. and Omarr Norman-Lott, with Elijah Simmons also in the NFL now. I will say Joshua Josephs could be set up for a tremendous season at the LEO spot, and Tyre West was terrific in relatively limited pass rushing opportunities last year. There’s talent and potential coming in to fill spots as well. But man, that group last year was a special unit that played tremendously as a unit. It won’t be so easy to match that group, much less surpass it.
