With SEC Media Days in the rearview, the preseason predictions are officially out. The conference’s media picked Tennessee to finish in seventh place in the expanded 16-team SEC this season.
The Vols come in behind Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU and Missouri and directly ahead of Oklahoma and Texas A&M.
There is little difference in the poll between the fifth highest voted team (LSU) and the eighth highest voted team (Oklahoma). In fact, the number of points separating those four teams was less than the number of points separating the fourth place team (Ole Miss) and fifth place team (LSU) as well the eighth place team (Oklahoma) and (Texas A&M).
Tennessee is carrying a quiet optimism into Josh Heupel’s fourth season in Knoxville. The Vols are breaking in a number of key starters across the board but are filling a number of the spots with players that have played meaningful snaps off the bench in recent seasons.
Defensively, Tennessee’s secondary will be younger and less experienced this season though it includes a handful of talented underclassmen like cornerbacks Rickey Gibson III and Jermod McCoy as well as safety Boo Carter. The Vols’ defensive line is poised to be one of the best in the conference this season thanks to the return of a number of key contributors.
As is always the case, so much of Tennessee’s success will come down to the play at quarterback. Redshirt freshman Nico Iamaleava is stepping into his first season as the full time starter and expectations are high for the former five-star recruit. Who all emerges as his top targets at receiver will be one of the key storylines to watch early in the season.
The 2024 season is the first of the expanded, 16-team SEC with both Oklahoma and Texas. That’s why there are no longer divisions with the top two teams poised to face off in the SEC Championship Game. The league’s media picked Texas to finish second and Oklahoma to finish eighth in their first seasons in the conference.
Tennessee opens up SEC play at Oklahoma in week four of the season. The Vols seven other conference games come against Georgia (1), Alabama (3), Kentucky (11), Florida (12), Arkansas (14), Mississippi State (15) and Vanderbilt (16).
Check out the full preseason predictions below.
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Preseason SEC Predictions (First place votes)
- Georgia (165): 3,330 points
- Texas (27): 3,041 points
- Alabama (12): 2,891 points
- Ole Miss (4): 2,783 points
- LSU (2): 2,322 points
- Missouri: 2,240 points
- Tennessee: 2,168 points
- Oklahoma: 2,022 points
- Texas A&M: 1,684 points
- Auburn: 1,382 points
- Kentucky: 1,371 points
- Florida: 1,146 points
- South Carolina (1): 923 points
- Arkansas: 749 points
- Mississippi State: 623 points
- Vanderbilt (2): 293 points
