Volquest 2-minute Drill Recaps Josh Heupel’s Presser, Injury News On Cam Seldon And More I Gbo

Tennessee Football came in at No. 14 in ESPN’s College Football Preseason Power Rankings on Monday, one spot ahead of where the Vols were ranked in both the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 and US LBM Preseason Coaches Poll. 

Four opponents on Tennessee’s schedule made ESPN’s top 25, with No. 1 Georgia coming in ahead of No. 5 Alabama, No. 17 Oklahoma and No. 20 North Carolina State. Georgia was also ranked No. 1 and Alabama No. 5 in the Coaches Poll and AP Top 25.

Oklahoma was ranked 16th in both polls while North Carolina State was ranked No. 22 in the Coaches Poll and No. 24 in the AP Top 25.

“Tennessee’s 27 wins in three seasons under Josh Heupel represents the program’s best three-year run since Phil Fulmer won 28 games from 2002 to ’04,” ESPN’s Eli Lederman wrote. “Still, pressure hangs over the Volunteers, who enter 2024 with College Football Playoff expectations. Nico Iamaleava takes over under center, tasked with rejuvenating an offense that dipped from its historic 2022 levels last fall, while Dylan Sampson (5.7 yards per carry in 2023) returns in the backfield. 

“There should be stability on the offensive line as LSU transfer Lance Heard settles in next to three returning starters, but Tennessee’s strength lies with a defensive line that led the SEC in tackles for loss in 2023, a group set to be powered again this fall by potential first-round draft pick James Pearce Jr.”

Tennessee was ranked No. 15 in ESPN’s final preseason SP+ rankings last week with an overall rating of 19.2, an offensive rating of 37.7, defensive rating of 18.6 and special teams ratings of 0.2.

ESPN’s Football Power Index has Tennessee ranked No. 9 overall with a projected win-loss of 8.6-3.5. The FPI gives the Vols a 95.4% chance to win at least six games, a 5.5% chance to win the SEC, a 36.9% chance to make the 12-team College Football Playoff, a 6.0% chance to make the national championship game and a 2.7% chance to win the national title. 

Season Opener: No. 15 Tennessee vs. Chattanooga, August 31

Tennessee opens the season against Chattanooga on August 31 (12:45 p.m. Eastern Time, TV: SEC Network) and faces North Carolina State on September 7 in Charlotte (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC), 

After hosting Kent State on September 14, the Vols open SEC play with road games at Oklahoma (September 21) and at Arkansas (October 5). 

Tennessee hosts Florida and Alabama back-to-back on October 12 and October 19, respectively, then has home games against Kentucky (November 2) and Mississippi State (November 9) before going to Georgia on November 16.

“A Week 2 neutral-site meeting with NC State will be a litmus test for the Volunteers,” Lederman wrote. “Can Tennessee navigate a relatively favorable SEC schedule on the way to the program’s first College Football Playoff appearance?”

The Tennessee Volunteers should be considered the biggest winners of the summer recruiting period in college football.

Since the beginning of summer, a lot of moves have been made in the 2025 recruiting class and quite a few programs made some massive strides toward getting their class wrapped up before the season even starts. However, there might not be a program that made as many big waves as Tennessee did this summer on the recruiting trail.

Since the start of June, Tennessee has landed 13 commits in the class out of 23 total. It isn’t just the quantity though that makes the Volunteers stand out though, it’s the manner in which they won some of these recruiting battles and the caliber of players that they have landed over the last couple of months. Here is a recap of the players that have committed to Tennessee during that time period:

Let’s start with the biggest name in the class: David Sanders Jr. This is one of the most recent commits for the Volunteers and it was a massive victory for the program. Sanders is rated as the second-best player in the country and he chose Tennessee over Georgia, Nebraska and Ohio State. Tennessee survived a late push by Nebraska and separated itself from two major powerhouses in Georgia and Ohio State.

Lagonza Hayward, Christian Gass and Travis Smith all fall in the same category: Georgia kids who didn’t stay home. The Bulldogs were in the mix for all three of these athletes, but Tennessee came out on top for all three of them. It’s not often that Georgia isn’t able to hold onto prospects from their own roots, but the Volunteers not only went head to head with the Bulldogs, but they asserted themselves and won. Three major recruiting wins for the Volunteers.

Jaedon Harmon and Da’Saahn Brame are part of the final category that made the Volunteers stand out this offseason. Both Harmon and Brame were committed elsewhere until Tennessee swooped in and swayed them to come to Knoxville. Harmon was an Alabama commit until this past weekend when he announced he was flipping to Tennessee and Brame was committed to Oregon and then flipped his commitment to the Volunteers.

This list of players doesn’t even include the commitments of quarterback Faizon Brandon and tight end Carson Sneed who are part of the 2026 recruiting class and both committed to the Volunteers this summer. If head coach Josh Heupel and his staff were looking to make some waves this offseason and prove they belong with the other elite recruiters, then they certainly accomplished that.

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – After being held scoreless for over an hour on Sunday, Tennessee used a pair of second half goals and a stifling defensive performance to take down in-state foe Chattanooga 2-0 in the team’s home opener.

The win puts Tennessee in the win column for the first time this season after falling to Indiana 1-0 in Thursday’s season opener.

An own goal from UTC gave the Lady Vols their first lead of the night before Sammi Woods iced things with her first career goal at Tennessee in the 89th minute of play.

The Lady Vols held Chattanooga to just one shot on goal for the entire match.

Tennessee improves to 1-1 on the young season and will travel to Johnson City on Thursday to battle ETSU.

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