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National media outlet points out what Josh Heupel can use to his advantage this summer for the Tennessee Vols and they nailed it

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Zach Ragan | Last updated Jun 2, 2025 11:00 AM ET

CBS Sports pointed out each college football program's top "summer agenda" item for this season and they absolutely nailed their choice for the Tennessee Vols.

The national sports media outlet thinks Vols head coach Josh Heupel needs to find a way to turn the "nobody respects us" narrative and the noise surrounding Nico Iamaleava’s transfer into "motivational fuel" for his team

From CBS Sports: Use motivational fuel: In the aftermath of Nico Iamaleava's transfer to UCLA and Tennessee's subsequent signing of Joey Aguilar as a plug-and-play starter, most have sold their stock on the Volunteers' getting back to the playoff. And Josh Heupel knows it. He lost his two best offensive players from last year's 10-win team and his top defender. He's one of the only coaches nationally coming off a playoff berth that can legitimately use the "nobody respects us" narrative to his advantage this summer.

Tennessee should certainly be motivated in 2025. No one in the national media is giving the Vols much of a chance to return to the College Football Playoff this season. There's essentially no pressure on Tennessee to have a great season due to Iamaleava's departure.

Heupel's teams are typically at their best when they can use the "no respect" narrative -- which is something we saw in 2022 when the Vols went 11-2.

“We play with a chip on our shoulder at Tennessee. We get a lot of disrespect.” — Hendon Hooker at the combine (: College Football Playbook) pic.twitter.com/hwOXWCAo8l
— zach ragan (@zachTNT) March 7, 2023

"I think he (Heupel) likes to play with a chip on his shoulder, or coach with a chip on his shoulder," said VolQuest's Austin Price last month during an appearance on 104.5 The Zone. "I think that Josh Heupel sees this as a real challenge to kind of prove himself a little bit. And Tennessee, in general, is always better when they are the underdog in all sports....when Tennessee has been kind of thought of as middle of the road, like how they'll be picked come July at SEC media days, I think they always kind of perform better."

There should be no shortage of bulletin board material for the Vols this summer.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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