In your opinion, are Vols even preseason top 25 at this point?

Will Tennessee be preseason top 25?

  • Yes

    Votes: 158 68.7%

  • No

    Votes: 72 31.3%
  • Total voters
    230
#7
#7
D-Line improves every year, and it will this year too. With C-Hood, Gibson, and eventually McCoy, corners still rock solid. Turentine and new blood Beasley coupled with Boo should be tight up the middle, plus hopefully improvement at LB, this defense should carry us. The O-line and run game could be a strength once again this year, which means all we might need under center is game-manager, like last year. Playoffs?
 
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#8
#8
harrit4 said:
D-Line improves every year, and it will this year too. With C-Hood, Gibson, and eventually McCoy, corners still rock solid. Turentine and new blood Beasley coupled with Boo should be tight up the middle, plus hopefully improvement at LB, this defense should carry us. The O-line and run game could be a strength once again this year, which means all we might need under center is game-manager, like last year. Playoffs?
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D Line is not getting better this year after losing its 3 best players and replacing them with honorable mention Great Lakes conference guys. It should be a decent line but won’t be close to as good as last year.

I think we are probably ranked in the preseason Top 25 based on being a playoff team last year. I think we will finish the regular season either barely in or barely out of the top 25. I was thinking 8-4 before Nico left. Now I’m thinking 7-5 and 8-4 are equally likely.
 
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#11
#11
VolFanNC09 said:
We have a top 25 roster. Our depth isn’t great, but barring injury we are a top 15 team.
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It would be great if we could bar injuries, but that ain't likely to happen. Tennessee has improved the talent every year since Heupel arrived. In truth, there are ?marks all over the field. Let's all hope the upgraded talent shows up and shows out this season.
 
#12
#12
Unofficial numbers say you had 18 players leave in the portal, and signed four (with additional new players added). How can you possibly tell where you ought to be ranked when a quarter of your team goes to the portal and is replaced by transfers-in, plus newbies?

(Note: I'm not provoking you. UF is only in slightly better shape in terms of stability, with 5 incoming portal players, and 13 scholarships players having left).
 
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#13
#13
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
D Line is not getting better this year after losing its 3 best players and replacing them with honorable mention Great Lakes conference guys. It should be a decent line but won’t be close to as good as last year.

I think we are probably ranked in the preseason Top 25 based on being a playoff team last year. I think we will finish the regular season either barely in or barely out of the top 25. I was thinking 8-4 before Nico left. Now I’m thinking 7-5 and 8-4 are equally likely.
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There's not 5 teams on next season's schedule that will be us..........very doubtful there's 4.
 
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#14
#14
OffTackleVol said:
There's not 5 teams on next season's schedule that will be us..........very doubtful there's 4.
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Under Heupel you can count on 3 things: getting dog walked by Georgia, losing to any good team we play on the road (with just a couple of exceptions in 4 years), and losing one we shouldn’t. So that would come out to 8-4. Given everything we lost and the fact we have a tougher home/away split to the schedule, 8-4 is very likely. 7-5 is very possible if QB is a disaster.
 
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#16
#16
lawgator1 said:
Unofficial numbers say you had 18 players leave in the portal, and signed four (with additional new players added). How can you possibly tell where you ought to be ranked when a quarter of your team goes to the portal and is replaced by transfers-in, plus newbies?

(Note: I'm not provoking you. UF is only in slightly better shape in terms of stability, with 5 incoming portal players, and 13 scholarships players having left).
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I'm not thin-skinned, so I'm not provoked by your assessment. I realize it's going to be a nail biter season, but I also think Garner's defense will be very good again this year, which should keep us in most games. How they end up is anyone's guess.

Hey lawgater 1, your okay.
 
#17
#17
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
Under Heupel you can count on 3 things: getting dog walked by Georgia, losing to any good team we play on the road (with just a couple of exceptions in 4 years), and losing one we shouldn’t. So that would come out to 8-4. Given everything we lost and the fact we have a tougher home/away split to the schedule, 8-4 is very likely. 7-5 is very possible if QB is a disaster.
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8-4 is the floor...........
 
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#19
#19
Quick story: A friend of mine was a professional Muay Thai fighter. He started his career 8-0. As he won the pressure to continue winning increased. By his 9th fight, I heard him say “if I lose a fight it’s no big deal.” He never would have said something like that previously. You guessed it. He lost his 9th fight. He later told me that when he was the underdog there was no pressure it was just fun. He lost his desire to compete due to pressure. Take it for what it’s worth.
 
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#20
#20
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
D Line is not getting better this year after losing its 3 best players and replacing them with honorable mention Great Lakes conference guys. It should be a decent line but won’t be close to as good as last year.

I think we are probably ranked in the preseason Top 25 based on being a playoff team last year. I think we will finish the regular season either barely in or barely out of the top 25. I was thinking 8-4 before Nico left. Now I’m thinking 7-5 and 8-4 are equally likely.
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I think you are assuming a big DL drop off, but IMO, there is a tremendous amount of young talent in that room! Some stars will emerge, IMO.
 
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#21
#21
Yes, but more difficult to compute than ever before. In the past, you had the base returning team as a foundation to predict, now that is gone and you have the hundreds of plus-minus transfers to add in. At this point, you must say UT lost much more talent than it gained in the off-season. My thought is that the staff can adapt.
 
#22
#22
Here's my two cents...add that to another 148 and you might be able to procure a cup of coffee though...so that's what it's worth.

As far as preseason, or 'way to early' polls, I think UT should come in around the 14 to 20 range. I've seen a CBS poll that has us at 18 and a poll form 'pundit' Joel Klatt that has us unranked. I believe we end up around 17 or so to start the season.

As far as record of ceiling and floor, I'm going to say our floor this year is 6-6 and making a winnable bowl game. Right now there are too many variables with QB, O Line, D Line, etc. That said, I trust in Heupel and this staff as well as some of the pieces returning and acquired and I think our ceiling could very well be another 10-2 season with a return to the CFP.
 
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#23
#23
jeff1vol said:
I think you are assuming a big DL drop off, but IMO, there is a tremendous amount of young talent in that room! Some stars will emerge, IMO.
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I expect a notable drop off. I still think it will be better than serviceable, but you just don’t lose all the talent and depth we lost off that line and not take a step back without bringing in some proven heavy hitters as replacements, and we didn’t do that.
 
#24
#24
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
8-4 is not the floor. Even in 2022 when we went 10-2 in the regular season, we won three games on the final play. Last year we went 10-2 in the regular season and could have lost 3 of those wins. The floor is missing a bowl game. I doubt we hit the floor though.
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Now, I'll admit my glass is almost always half full and I do own a pair of orange colored glasses. Yes, 8-4 is the floor. We'll have another strong, talented defense albeit with some inexperience. Another thing you can always rely on is the running game will be effective in a Josh Heupel's offense. Receivers are very talented, they simply need experience. Lots of potential on the o-line. We won 10 games last year despite Nico. From the film I've seen, it looks like the transfer QB MAY process things a little faster than Nico, which would allow for Heup to be more aggressive in his play-calling (think Gas Pipe 2nd half of the Miss. State game). IMO, 8-4 is the floor.
 
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#25
#25
LegionnaireOfTheMiserable said:
Under Heupel you can count on 3 things: getting dog walked by Georgia, losing to any good team we play on the road (with just a couple of exceptions in 4 years), and losing one we shouldn’t. So that would come out to 8-4. Given everything we lost and the fact we have a tougher home/away split to the schedule, 8-4 is very likely. 7-5 is very possible if QB is a disaster.
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You forgot a few things you can count on under Heupel (With only a couple of exceptions during his first season) : Beating every team not named Georgia at home, winning all our regular season non conference games, and beating Kentucky and Vandy no matter where we play. So, that would come out to a minimum 8 wins and only needing to beat Mississippi State on the road to get to nine.
 
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