‘I think this is a 7 or 8 win Tennessee team’ – Longtime Vols reporter explains his lackluster outlook for UT football in 2025
Longtime Tennessee Vols reporter Jimmy Hyams doesn’t have high expectations for the UT football program in 2025.
And it’s not just because the Vols lost their starting quarterback, redshirt sophomore Nico Iamaleava (transferred to UCLA), just before the end of spring practice.
Hyams joined Another Dooley Noted Podcast this week and he explained why he thinks Tennessee will be just a “seven or eight win team” this fall.
“Would Tennessee have been a College Football Playoff team with Nico? My strong opinion is no,” said Hyams. “I don’t think Tennessee was a College Football Playoff team even with Nico, because, and here’s my argument on that — while I think Nico can get better than he was, I don’t think he can carry a team. And in my opinion, there is not one position group on Tennessee’s team that is better than it was last year, not one.
“I don’t know how you would be a College Football Playoff contender if you are not as good at running back, receiver, offensive line, defensive line, and the secondary. You may be as good or better at linebacker. That might be it. Other than that, I just think this is a seven or eight win Tennessee team.”
“They have missed on some guys (in recruiting),” continued Hyams. “The other thing is, in this offense, first year receivers do not come in and flourish. This offense, it looks pretty simple, but it’s complicated from the standpoint that there’s a lot of reading (defenses). The receivers read the defense [in deciding how to] run their routes. The quarterback reads the defense and has to be on the same page as the receiver. It takes more time to develop that chemistry. Even if you look at a guy like Jalin Hyatt, who won the Biletnikoff Award a couple years ago, his first year he got benched in this system. It has taken receivers, typically, at least a year in this system before they start to flourish. So now, Tennessee is counting on a transfer from Alabama and three freshmen receivers to be in the rotation. I think that’s a hard ask.
“The offensive line — Tennessee has done a poor job of developing players they’ve recruited. I don’t know why, but they’ve recruited four-star offensive linemen who don’t flourish, and they end up transferring. And then Tennessee has to keep relying on transfers. They got a transfer from Miami that they started a year ago, a transfer from LSU. Now they got a transfer from Arizona. They got a transfer from Notre Dame coming in. They lost four starters on the offensive line, and they’ve not done a good job of recruiting it. At running back, I think they’re pretty good, but they just lost Dylan Sampson. He was the SEC offensive player of the year. The defensive line will still be pretty good, but you lost a first-round draft pick and a second-round draft pick. The secondary, they lost six or seven players who transferred out of here the year before. They’ve had more transfers and attrition in the secondary again this year. And their best cornerback suffered an ACL (injury) at the beginning of spring ball or in the off season, and they don’t know when he’s coming back. So when I add up all those things, I just don’t see a team that is as good or better than it was last year.”
