Tennessee football might be heading into the summer without its quarterback of the future and a quarterback battle that could decide the fate of the season, but that doesn't mean the Vols should be counted out quite yet.
The Vols will spend the summer determining who its quarterback will be for the 2025 season and building its offense around the new quarterback and different new faces throughout the offense.
That doesn't mean Tennessee will or should have a bad season this year. In fact, in its first June ranking, ESPN's Football Power Index 2025 college football rankings rated Tennessee highly.
Tennessee currently ranks No. 10 on ESPN's computer-generated rankings. According to ESPN, the FPI consists of a "predictive rating system that estimates team strength by measuring the average number of points a team would beat an average FBS team by on a neutral field."
The Vols are one of five SEC teams in the top ten and one of 13 SEC teams in the FPI's top 25. Tennessee currently sits ahead of No. 12 LSU, No. 13 Ole Miss, No. 14 Auburn, No. 15 South Carolina, No. 16 Oklahoma, No. 18 Florida, No. 22 Arkansas, and No. 23 Missouri in the rankings.
That has to relieve Vol Nation as we head into the summer. Tennessee is currently behind No. 9 Miami, No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 7 Notre Dame, and No. 6 Oregon.
The top five isn't very surprising, with Texas again holding the top spot, followed by No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Alabama, No. 4 Ohio State, and No. 5 Penn State. Those teams have consistently lived in the top five over the past few seasons.
We are now less than two months away before the college football season begins. Tennessee's first matchup is scheduled for August 30 against Syracuse in Atlanta, Georgia, with a Noon ET kickoff.