Will Tennessee football be in preseason AP and Coaches polls? This outlet says it will.

They say you can judge a coach’s future by his success in the second year, but Tennessee football hasn’t had a coach spend one week of his second year in the top 25 of either poll since Phillip Fulmer. That appears to be changing, though.

College Football News projects the Vols will come in at No. 20 in its projected 2022 preseason AP Poll. It also has UT coming in at No. 20 in its projected 2022 preseason Coaches Poll. Now this would be a huge deal given the program’s recent history.

As Josh Heupel enters his second season on the job with Tennessee football after a pleasantly surprising 7-6 inaugural campaign, reaching the top 25 this year would be a huge accomplishment for the Vols. Only twice since 2008 have they finished in the top 25.

UT is among four teams to finish unranked in both polls last year to be projected in the top 25 of both polls by CFN this year, the other ones being the Texas Longhorns, Florida Gators and Penn State Nittany Lions. Also, the BYU Cougars, who finished last year unranked int he Coaches Poll, are in both projected polls.

More importantly, these rankings suggest a really strong start for the Vols if they happen. Of the Vols’ first five opponents, only Florida would be ranked, and they would be ranked lower than the Vols in both polls. CFN didn’t project the Pittsburgh Panthers or LSU Tigers in these rankings.

That suggests a 5-0 start. In fact, the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs are the only opponents on their schedule projected to be ranked ahead of them. Could you imagine Tennessee football going 10-2 this year?

Here’s the real question, though. Is it possible? Look, given the layout of the schedule, with Pitt losing Kenny Pickett and Florida and LSU undergoing coaching changes, all signs pointed to the Vols having a strong start to the season.

However, that’s not what preseason polls are based on. Those rankings are solely done based on who the media voters and the coaches think the 25 best teams in the nation are. Program prestige does help, and the Vols have it, but being in the top 20 of both polls to start the year would be a major shocker.

At the same time, this team returns a dark-horse Heisman Trophy candidate in Hendon Hooker at quarterback, its go-to receiver in Cedric Tillman, both main running backs to end last year and four of five starters on the offensive line. An experienced offense led by Heupel is something to pay attention to.

On the other hand, you can’t overlook the attrition on defense. Tennessee football lost its best lineman, its best cornerback, its most productive overall defensive back and two other rotational defensive linemen. Those are key issues.

Some people might say that’s irrelevant since the Vols are all about Heupel’s offense, but that’s not true. The defense gives up a lot of points because it plays a lot of possessions, but it actually came through many times last year. UT doesn’t beat the Kentucky Wildcats without Alontae Taylor’s pick-six.

Taking all this into account, there is reason for excitement based on talent and the layout of the schedule. However, the layout of the schedule is not a factor in preseason polls, and there are questions when it comes to talent too, so the Vols being in the preseason rankings is a stretch.