Tennessee football listed right where it belongs in Preseason Top 25 coaches poll

Soon enough, the Tennessee football team will be on its way to Atlanta to take on Syracuse in some highly-anticipated Week 1 action. Yes, much of the talk this offseason has been about Nico Iamaleava leaving for UCLA, but this team is still loaded with talent.

So much in fact, coaches across the country know that it'd be foolish to overlook the Vols. On Monday, the Preseason Coaches Poll came out and Tennessee has checked in as the No. 18 team in the country. From our chair, we think this is a perfect landing spot for the Vols. Do Tennessee fans agree?

Tennessee is ranked the No. 18 team in the country in the Preseason Coaches Poll

It stings seeing Florida one spot ahead, but that will be settled on the gridiron. The Vols are one of nine SEC teams featured, which speaks to how loaded the conference is. Before the season does get here, there are plenty of questions that need to be answered by head man Josh Heupel.

At the top of this list, of course, is who Tennessee's starting quarterback will be this season? Now that Iamaleava is with UCLA, the door is open for someone else to take the spot and lead the offense. Joey Aguilar, Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre continue to battle it out.

In the end, however, it looks like it will be Merklinger and Aguilar who will give Heupel the most to think about. Aguilar has the advantage experience wise after starting the past two seasons at App State and throwing for more than 3,000 yards in each campaign.

Merklinger doesn't care about that, as he wants the job. Replacing Dylan Sampson and James Pearce Jr. won't be easy too, but big years are coming for Mike Matthews, Star Thomas, Boo Carter, Jermod McCoy (once healthy) and others once the season gets rolling. Again, No. 18 feels like a strong spot for Tennessee, but work will need to be done if this squad wants to be in the Playoff again once December rolls around.