It's go time for the Tennessee football team, as the boys in Knoxville are ready to take the field this week for the start of fall camp. Obviously, there are some questions left to be answered for the Vols, incuding who will lead the offense out onto the field come Week 1.
Will Joey Aguilar take over as the team's starting quarterback? Something tells us that will be the case, with his veteran experience helping him win the job. However, regardless of how things turn out there, ESPN's Bill Connelly has some concerns leading up to Aug. 30.
In his SEC preview leading up to camps, Connelly wasn't overly confident that Aguilar will put up the kind of numbers that everyone thinks he will if he's the QB1 for head man Josh Heupel. He also left the door open for Jake Merklinger to take over in what could be the 'worst' offense of the Heupel era for the Vols.
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"Learning a third offense in less than a year isn't optimal, and if Aguilar isn't up to speed, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger could take over," Connelly wrote in his piece. "The Vols are probably fine at running back, where sophomores DeSean Bishop and Peyton Lewis could replicate new Cleveland Brown Dylan Sampson's production, but sophomore Mike Matthews and redshirt freshman Braylon Staley both might start after combining for 10 catches last year, while the second string is littered with freshmen and, potentially, Carter, who played on both sides of the ball in the spring. It's a similar story up front, where the two-deep will consist of Heard, transfers Wendell Moe Jr. (Arizona) and Sam Pendleton (Notre Dame) and an assembly line of redshirt freshmen and sophomores. It feels like the Vols could end up with their best defense and worst offense yet in the Heupel era."
The tools are there for the Vols to have a strong year, but Connelly's preview sure isn't great to see. He makes some good points too. The Vols are replacing a ton of starters on offense on both sides of the ball. On offense specificially, saying goodbye to Dylan Sampson (NFL) and Nico Iamaleava (UCLA) is going to sting this fall.
We can talk about Iamaleava leaving town and deciding to transfer to UCLA all day, and people can be mad at him for it, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he's a former 5-star signee with a ton of talent. Not having him be the starter indeed will hurt for a little while until Aguilar gets up to speed.
With the running game, DeSean Bishop and Peyton Lewis will be fun to watch, while people need to be paying close attention to Duke transfer Star Thomas. He's a bruiser and should play a big role offensively for Heupel. Yes, things are far from perfect for this team leading up to Week 1, but the hope is the group can prove people wrong. There's now extra pressure on the guys on offense to step up and deliver.