National college football guides give Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols some substantial preseason motivation with an extremely poor outlook

Josh Heupel has brought the Tennessee Vols a level of continued success they haven't had in decades since his arrival in 2021.  With an 11-win season and Orange Bowl championship to a 10-win playoff appearance two years later, the Vols have been finding themselves in the top half of the playoff rankings in recent years. 

However, a pair of outlets see a major falloff from that success in 2025.  Lindy's Sports, who is known along with Athlon sports for their preseason college football guides, has the Vols well into the bottom half of the SEC next year, ranking them eleventh.  

Lindy's has Missouri 10th, then the Vols, followed by Texas A&M, Arkansas, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Mississippi State. Steven Lassan of Athlon Sports has Tennessee one spot higher at 10, a place behind Oklahoma and ahead of Auburn, Missouri, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Mississippi State. 

Although the divisions were eliminated in SEC play after the 2023 season, Tennessee's overall SEC record during Heupel's tenure is nowhere near 11th in the league.  Tennessee came in tied for second last year to Georgia (lost head-to-head tiebreaker), tied for 6th in 2023, tied for second in 2022, and tied for fifth in 2021. 

The Vols, to be fair to some degree, have significant roster losses that they'll have to account for.  Dylan Sampson is gone.  So is James Pearce, Jr., Omarr Norman-Lott, Dont'e Thornton, Jr. and a host of starting offensive linemen. 

However, the departure of Nico Iamaleava and replacement by Joey Aguilar might not be the major loss that Lindy's and Athlon seem to think.  And Tennessee's schedule sets up pretty nicely with four games against teams that have been universally projected below them in Arkansas, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Mississippi State - all matchups the Vols should be favored to win. 

Players leave and arrive every offseason, and despite that, Tennessee has avoided laying a total stinker with Heupel in charge. And Heupel getting respect is something that hasn't happened from the national media, with him being an afterthought in coaching rankings despite an Orange Bowl win and a playoff appearance in two of his last three seasons. 

Players and coaches look for motivation wherever they can get it, whether they admit it or not.  And the Vols should have these rankings posted inside the locker room in August.