Where ESPN ranks the Tennessee Vols' quarterback situation entering the 2025 season shouldn't be a surprise

ESPN recently ranked all 136 FBS quarterback situations into tiers and where they placed the Tennessee Vols' quarterback situation shouldn't come as much of a surprise to fans. 

The quarterback situation rankings from ESPN include over 20 different tiers, ranging from "top of the class" to "nowhere but up". 

ESPN placed Tennessee's situation in tier nine (the "welcome to the big leagues" tier). 

Other programs in this tier include Colorado, Utah, North Carolina, and Iowa.

Tennessee landed in this tier because none of their starting quarterback options have started a game at the Power-4 level. 

The Vols will feature a quarterback battle this summer between UCLA transfer Joey Aguilar*, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, and true freshman George MacIntyre. 

*Aguilar never played in a game for UCLA. He transferred from Appalachian State to UCLA after the 2024 season and went through spring practice with the Bruins before transferring to Tennessee in the wake of quarterback Nico Iamaleava's departure from Knoxville in April. 

This is certainly a fair ranking for the Vols' quarterback situation. All three scholarship quarterbacks on Tennessee's roster have talent. And Aguilar at least has starting experience from his time at Appalachian State. But none of them have proved a thing in the SEC. 

Is it possible that at least one of UT's three quarterbacks could emerge as a star in the SEC? 

Absolutely. 

But we have no idea whether that will be the case until we see each of them under the bright lights.