The sky isn’t falling for the Vols
By Mark Nagi
This season Tennessee’s football team won 10 games. They beat rivals Florida and Alabama, each of them for the second time in three years. They finished the regular season tied for second place in the Southeastern Conference. They earned a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff.
And some Vols fans see the season as a disappointment.
I’m not a clinical psychiatrist… but that’s certifiably insane.
Do they not remember just about the entire period of Tennessee football between 2008 and 2021? How Lane Kiffin left the Vols in the lurch after 13 ½ months? How Derek Dooley was a de facto death penalty? How Butch Jones was more concerned with catchphrases than winning ball games? How Jeremy Pruitt not only cheated in recruiting but had assistants that were awful at it?
Do they not remember losing a football game because they had 13 men on the field, and then losing a football game because their opponents had 16 men on the field? How Florida beat the Vols in back-to-back trips to Gainesville on not one, but two 63-yard TD passes in the closing moments? How the offenses of the Pruitt era looked like the time before the forward pass was allowed?
Do they not remember how quiet Neyland Stadium used to be? Do they not remember games against Alabama when Crimson Tide fans took over the Vols barn, with as many as 15,000 fans finding their way through the ticket scanners?
Tennessee has won 37 games in four seasons under head coach Josh Heupel, 30 of those over the last three seasons. Nowhere is the Vols resurgence seen more than at Neyland Stadium. It has become a fortress for the Vols. They are 25-4 in Knoxville under Heupel, with only one loss in the last three years. Neyland is once again one of the great home field advantages in the sport.
The 42-17 loss at Ohio State, while embarrassing, should not overshadow all the progress that has been made under Heupel. But it is a major sign that Tennessee has a lot of work to do if they are going to be a serious contender for an SEC title and a deep run in the College Football Playoff.
NIL deals have helped Tennessee get players like QB Nico Iamaleava, but that has to expand. Ohio State’s roster cost a reported $21 million. Tennessee’s is reportedly less than half that amount. It goes to follow that recruiting must improve. Heupel is bringing in classes around the top 10… and sometimes good isn’t good enough.
The transfer portal can fill gaps, as it has with players like WR Bru McCoy from Southern Cal and CB Jermod McCoy from Oregon State, guys that made a difference immediately.
You’ll notice that those two guys are at skill positions, and that’s where Tennessee needs a lot of help this offseason. Iamaleava probably looked across the field at Ohio Stadium and looked at the Buckeyes stable of future NFL wide receivers and felt at least a little jealousy. The Vols will graduate McCoy and Dont’e Thornton, with Chas Nimrod and Kaleb Webb jumping in the portal.
Squirrel White and Chris Brazzell II will be back, and big things are expected from 5-star freshman Mike Matthews, but that receiver room better get filled up with quality players for the Vols to move the football down the field in the years to come.
The Vols are relevant again, and I hope that fans realize that truth. They’ve taken a whole bunch of steps up the mountain. The final steps to the top will be the toughest.
But at least they are making the climb.
