🏈 Top 10 Tennessee?

Another playoff pick for the Vols

Josh Ward
July 12, 2024

Hello. This is the Josh and Swain Newsletter, a quick roundup of the week’s top stories and topics involving Tennessee and the sports world.

Here’s what we have for you today:

Tennessee’s shot at 10 wins and a top-10 ranking in 2024
Tony Vitello and Tennessee Baseball stay hot in the transfer portal
Josh Heupel’s next big recruit… and the Vols’ chance at a big prize
Tennessee’s most underrated basketball prospect?

HYPE BUILDS FOR TENNESSEE IN 2024

Dylan Sampson and Tennessee have their eyes on the CFB Playoff

Today’s newsletter begins with positive attention on Tennessee from someone “who shall not be named.”

ESPN analyst Greg McElroy, a former quarterback at Alabama, produced his top 10 college football teams entering the 2024 season on Thursday.

No. 10 on the list: the Tennessee Vols.

McElroy cited his excitement for quarterback Nico Iamaleava as a big reason he’s buying the Vols hype.

We brought up McElroy’s ranking on the show on Thursday and the response from Tennessee fans was almost unanimous:

We don’t care what McElroy says. And he’s just trying to get back in our good graces!

That’s because a few weeks ago on WJOX radio, McElroy criticized Tony Vitello for the way he celebrated Tennessee winning the national title… even calling Vitello “classless.”

McElroy came back the following day and apologized, but the damage has been done with the UT fanbase.

➡️ Personal opinion: I think McElroy was being honest in his football assessment and believes Tennessee belongs in the top 10.

I did NOT begin the newsletter with this topic to stir up more controversy.

The point was to show McElroy is the latest national voice to heap praise on Tennessee.

Last week’s newsletter began with Andy Staples of On3 predicting five SEC teams will make the playoff, with Tennessee being that fifth team.

The Vols project as a top-15 team and a playoff contender entering the season.

The playoff talk feels real.

It will also be a big challenge to make it.

Recent history shows Tennessee will need to go 10-2 to make the playoff.

So what will it take to get there?

Former Tennessee linebacker and staff member Kevin Simon identified a few items during Thursday’s show:

“Basically, it’s gonna take either Nico playing as well as Hendon Hooker did in 2022 — that’s a big ask — that and a position group that maybe we don’t expect to play above or to produce above what we see.

So, whether that’s wide receivers or whether that’s the defensive backs — guys getting their hands on a bunch of footballs (and) turning the ball over. There’s going to have to be a huge team effort to be able to push ourselves up to that level to where we’re getting 10 wins in the regular season.”

There’s also the health factor: several players must avoid injury.

Iamaleava, Cooper Mays and Dylan Sampson come to mind.

But Tennessee has a big-time talent at quarterback, an elite edge rusher, and legit depth on the defensive line.

That should give the Vols a real chance to make the 12-team playoff this year.

A lot of people believe that’s true.

Greg McElroy just happens to be one of them.

📆 Programming Note: Phil Steele of the Phil Steele Preview magazine will join Friday’s show at 1:00 ET. Tune in to hear his opinion of Tennessee and the Vols’ playoff competition in the SEC.

TENNESSEE BASEBALL’S ELITE STATUS

Hunter Ensley wants to leave his mark on Tennessee Baseball

It was another good week for Tennessee baseball.

The first bit of good news came Tuesday when outfielder Hunter Ensley announced he’ll return for another season with the Vols.

There was an expectation that Ensley would return.

But the confirmation ensures Tennessee will have a proven player to help lead the Vols’ new-look roster next season.

“It’s massive,” Ben McKee of GoVols247 said of Ensley’s return to Tennessee.

The return of Ensley was followed up by commitments from two Ole Miss players: Andrew Fischer and Liam Doyle.

Fischer hit 20 home runs last season and was named second-team All-SEC as a designated hitter/utility.

Doyle is a left-handed pitcher with high-level talent.

His numbers from the 2024 season won’t wow you: he was 3-4 with a 5.73 ERA.

But with pitching coach Frank Anderson, Doyle stands a good chance to improve next season.

Tennessee beat out Florida to land Doyle and Fischer — continuing the Vols’ hot portal run.

Last week, Louisville infielder Gavin Kilen announced he’ll transfer to Tennessee.

The Vols also landed Niagara first baseman Eric Rataczak, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference player of the year.

Tennessee will have to fight off the MLB draft to ensure Rataczak makes it to campus.

Tony Vitello’s Vols are on top of the college baseball world right now.

And Vitello wants to keep it that way.

“Is this how it feels to be an Alabama football fan?” a friend asked me earlier this week.

The Vols obviously have a long way to go to catch the Tide’s number of titles.

But Tennessee has been the nation’s top baseball program over the last four years and the Vols are recruiting as well as anyone.

Compared to football, college baseball has more teams that can win a national championship year in and year out.

That will add to the challenge for Tennessee.

But if you’re looking for a comparison to late 2000s Alabama or Georgia football from a few years ago (when they were getting started), Tennessee has:

• Brought in elite talent
• Won four combined regular season and tournament SEC titles
• Won a national title
• Recruited at the highest level in the sport

Who knows how many national championships Vitello will win at Tennessee.

Winning one is HARD.

Winning multiple is rare.

But Vitello will give Tennessee a chance to keep adding to the trophy case.

➡️ Check out Tony Vitello’s appearance on SportsTalk with John Wilkerson and Carlos Lopez earlier this week.

SPORTS NUGGETS

🏈 ESPN highlighted sleepers for each team in its top 25, which includes a sleeper for Tennessee.

🏈 Tennessee QB commit George MacIntyre has dropped from a 5-star to a 4-star in the 2025 rankings. 247Sports analyst Cooper Petagna explained why.

🏈 The Big 12 remains “open for business” as questions about more conference realignment remains.

🏈 Tennessee has two of the SEC’s top 10 conference games, according to Jesse Simonton’s list.

🏈 Legendary coach Monte Kiffin died on Thursday at the age of 84. “He’s free of pain and smiling down on us from above,” his grandson Knox said.
➡️ Bruce Feldman wrote this story on Monte Kiffin and Eric Berry in 2009.

🏀 The NCAA tournament selection process will be enhanced with more analytical consideration, now including Torvik and Wins Against Bubble rankings.

🏀 Kim Caldwell landed her first high school commitments at Tennessee… twin guards Mia and Mya Pauldo, who are already talking about bringing a national title back to the Lady Vols.

⚽ Jürgen Klopp appears to be out as a candidate to replace Gregg Berhalter as the coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team.

THE NEXT TENNESSEE VOL

Tennessee hopes to land WR Travis Smith this weekend | via On3

Tennessee’s next big recruiting target will announce his decision on Saturday.

And the Vols feel good about their chances.

Four-star wide receiver Travis Smith from Atlanta will choose from a group of finalists that includes Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn and Georgia.

It looks like a Tennessee-Alabama battle with the UT the favorite going into the weekend.

Smith would be a big get for the Vols, offering another recruiting win over top SEC programs.

Tennessee hopes to land Smith and then continue its momentum for the next several weeks.

Other Tennessee targets announcing in July include:

◼️ July 20: 4-star linebacker Christian Gass
◼️ July 27: 4-star safety Shaedy Hayward

There’s also the anticipated flip of linebacker Jaden Perlotte.

Perlotte is still listed as a Georgia commit but is expected to commit to Tennessee — with that announcement coming at any time.

Then there’s the BIG prize.

Five-star offensive tackle David Sanders Jr. will announce his choice on Aug. 17.

➡️ The finalists: Tennessee, Ohio State, Georgia and Nebraska.

Expect this to come down to Tennessee and Ohio State.

“I think Tennessee continues to be in the best spot of any team,” Austin Price of Volquest told us on Wednesday’s show.

It’s difficult to overstate the importance of Tennessee landing Sanders.

He’s only one player, but he’s a big one — literally and figuratively.

Securing a major talent like Sanders at offensive tackle would have a major impact on Tennessee’s offense.

And help close out what Tennessee hopes will be a very successful recruiting summer.

TENNESSEE’S CARR VALUE IS RISING

NBA Draft evaluators are intrigued by Cameron Carr

With the 2024 NBA Draft behind us, we’re already seeing 2025 mock drafts come out.

The popular site NBADraft.net released their mock draft earlier this week… and there was a name included that might surprise Tennessee fans.

At No. 8: Tennessee shooting guard Cameron Carr.

Here’s what Aran Smith wrote in the mock draft:

“Following a freshman season in which he played limited minutes, in just 14 games, and averaged less than 2 points, you won’t find Carr’s name being mentioned in many first round mock drafts. But expect that to change as the season gets underway. Carr lit it up at the Jayson Tatum Elite Camp in early July and oozes potential with his huge wingspan, explosiveness and body control, plus outside shooting potential. He also shows a lot of potential to break opponents down off the dribble, in isolation, with a strong handle and explosive first step, it’s an ambitious comp, but there’s some Kobe to his game, just a little.”

Some Kobe to his game!

That might be a stretch, at least this early in Carr’s development.

But there is a lot of excitement about Carr and the jump he could make from his freshman to his sophomore season.

Carr’s performance at the Jayson Tatum Elite Camp, referenced above, has added to the intrigue of Carr heading into the 2024-25 season.

Jon Chepkevich, the Director of Scouting for DraftExpress.com, shared this:

At the very least, this backs up the idea that Tennessee will have real competition for playing time and starting positions among returning players and incoming transfers.

The hype is building around Tennessee basketball again.

Add Cam Carr’s name to the list of reasons.

We talked about Carr and Tennessee’s excitement over its new transfers with Grant Ramey of Volquest earlier this week. Check out the conversation below or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

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