Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel greets players during warms up before the Orange & White spring game, Saturday, April 12, 2025. Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tennessee Volunteers Ranked Inside Top 20 in Latest College Football Rankings

Originally posted on Tennessee Volunteers on SI
By Jonathan Williams | Last updated Jul 29, 2025 9:45 AM ET

The Tennessee Volunteers were ranked inside the top 20 in Sports Illustrated's preseason college football rankings.

College football season is quickly approaching, which means preseason rankings will start rolling in soon. As for Sports Illustrated, they got a head start on theirs as they have been releasing a new team every day. The latest team was the Tennessee Volunteers, who came in at number 19.

"Some natural regression from being a fringe SEC and CFP contender is probably to be expected for Tennessee this season, but the schedule and a salty defense still keep the Vols’ floor pretty high in 2025," Bryan Fischer wrote.

The Volunteers will have several hurdles to get over this season in order to make the college football playoff again. A new starting quarterback, a new starting running back and a new difference maker will be needed as James Pearce is now in the NFL.

On top of that, some big games for the Volunteers included Georgia, which is their first conference game on the schedule, the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Oklahoma Sooners and the Florida Gators. The Bulldogs and Sooners will be making the trip to Knoxville while Tennessee will be paying visits to the Gators and Crimson Tide.

Head coach Josh Heupel has brought some consistency to Tennessee's program, but 2025 season might be the biggest test yet to find out just how consistently good the program actually is.