Syracuse LB giving Tennessee Vols bulletin-board material will age poorly for him

With Week 1 sneaking up on us, the Tennessee football team is a double-digit favorite going up against Syracuse. If all goes to plan, the Vols will take care of business and remind everyone that it can be a special year even if so many new faces are in town.

Well, Syracuse linebacker Fatim Diggs won't be going down without a fight. At fall camp this week with the Orange, Diggs was asked about what he's looking forward to once Aug. 30 gets here. He didn't hesitate in saying he'll show Tennessee how things get done in the ACC. He also delivered a message that head man Josh Heupel needs to show the locker room as soon as possible:

Syracuse LB Fatim Diggs just gave Tennessee football extra motivation for Week 1

Well then, that's certainly a way to get people even more fired up for the season-opener. Diggs isn't talking trash or anything about Tennessee. He respects the Vols, but he definitely raised eyebrows with what he said, especially with UT being such a strong favorite.

If anything, the Vols will be ready to showcase to Diggs and Syracuse how things get done in the SEC, a conference which has nine teams featured in the Preseason Coaches Poll. Oh and Tennessee also reached the College Football Playoff for the first time ever last season.

Sure, a lot can be said about Nico Iamaleava leaving for UCLA, but Heupel has said consistently that he's confident with the signal-callers in Knoxville currently in a three-man battle for the starting job. Will it be Joey Aguilar, Jake Merklinger or George MacIntyre to start vs. the Orange?

That remains unknown, but Diggs is going to want to back up his latest talk by giving the Tennessee offense all kinds of issues. That's not going to be an easy task, as Heupel will have his guys ready to rock for this one. On top of that, the Vols will likely see what Diggs had to say soon and be quite fired up to make him eat his words.