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247Sports picks Tennessee football to finish third in East

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 29: The Tennessee Volunteers run onto the field before the start of their game against the South Carolina Gamecocks on October 29, 2005 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - OCTOBER 29: The Tennessee Volunteers run onto the field before the start of their game against the South Carolina Gamecocks on October 29, 2005 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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How does third place in the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division sound for the Tennessee football Volunteers?

Predictions across the board are calling for Tennessee football to repeat where it finished in the SEC last year: Third place in its division. On Friday, another media outlet got in on that prediction for the Vols.

The 247Sports Media Days SEC Preseason preview has Rocky Top coming in behind the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs. Those two schools tied for a predicted first-place finish by the writers. However, Florida got more first-place votes, as they had seven to Georgia’s six.

Coming in at fourth were the Kentucky Wildcats, at fifth were the South Carolina Gamecocks, at six were the Missouri Tigers and at seventh were the Vanderbilt Commodores. Here’s what was said about Tennessee football in the rankings.

"Tennessee might have the best offensive line in the SEC, and our panel has a great amount of respect for coach Jeremy Pruitt’s rebuilding job in Knoxville. The Vols return Trey Smith at offensive guard, where he might be the best offensive linemen in the conference, and both their top running backs (Ty Chandler and Eric Gray) are back, too. The question is whether quarterback Jarret Guarantano can be more consistent and lead the Vols to a couple of upsets after helping them finish the 2019 season with six straight wins, including a bowl victory."

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Rocky Top also made a couple of interesting storylines. One of the 13 voters picked Jeremy Pruitt to win SEC Coach of the Year. Florida head coach Dan Mullen was the favorite to win the award, but only by a plurality with five votes.

Alabama Crimson Tide head coach received three votes for the predictedCoach of the Year award. In addition to Pruitt, Gus Malzahn of the Auburn Tigers, Mike Leach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs, Jimbo Fisher of the Texas A&M Aggies and Mark Stoops of Kentucky all received a vote.

Meanwhile, Tennessee football as a surprise team was listed as one of the storylines of the year thanks to Jake Rowe of Dawgs247. Rowe picked the Vols to beat Florida, just barely miss out on winning the East to Georgia and make a New Year’s Six Bowl. If that happened, Vols fans everywhere would be ecstatic.

In the West, Alabama was once again the favorite. Auburn came in at No. 2, and the defending national champion LSU Tigers came in at No. 3. Behind those three were Texas A&M at No. 4, Mississippi State at No. 5, the Ole Miss Rebels at No. 6 and the Arkansas Razorbacks at No. 7.

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With Alabama and Florida predicted to meet in the SEC Championship game, Alabama was the favorite to win. So, at least by 247Sports standards, the Nick Saban dynasty is expected to resume in 2020 after missing out on the title in 2019. The Tide were the unanimous pick to win the West and the conference overall.

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