Tennessee Lands in Way-Too-Early Top 25 Rankings

Tennessee Vols Football Lands in Way-Too-Early Top 25 Rankings

As early Top 25 rankings continue to come out with the college football season a little over four months away, a team that has been on the cusp of making the polls is the Tennessee Volunteers.

The Vols are coming off a 7-6 season in year one under head coach Josh Heupel. Tennessee lost controversially to Purdue in the Music City Bowl to cap an impressive first year in the Heupel era. The Vols return starting quarterback Hendon Hooker and look poised to compete as one of the top teams in the SEC East in 2022.

With all that being said, Tennessee makes a compelling case to be ranked in way-too-early polls. The latest 'Way-too-early' Top 25 poll is from Pro Football Focus (PFF). PFF–a website specializing in grades, stats and rankings–included Tennessee at No. 22 in their way-too-early poll released on Monday. Directly above the Vols are BYU (19), Baylor (20) and Wisconsin (21).

The poll can be seen here.

Tennessee comes in as the seventh-highest SEC team out of eight in the poll and the fourth-best in the East. Alabama holds the No. 1 spot in the poll, with 2021 National Champions Georgia not far behind at No. 3. Texas A&M follows at No. 6, with Arkansas checking in at No. 12. No. 15 South Carolina, No. 18 Kentucky, and No. 24 Ole Miss round out the SEC teams in the poll along with Tennessee. The Wildcats finished No. 18 in the AP Poll last season, while South Carolina did not crack the Top 25 once last season.

However, the Gamecocks return second-year head coach Shane Beamer and landed a former five-star quarterback recruit in Spencer Rattler from Oklahoma via the transfer portal. Like Tennessee, South Carolina's program is on the rise, but a Top-15 ranking is the highest early ranking the Gamecocks have received.

If the Vols begin the season with an AP Top 25 ranking like PFF predicts, it will be the first time Tennessee will play a game as a ranked team since October of 2020 (Kentucky, 34-7 L). Going off of PFF's early poll, Tennessee is projected to face five ranked opponents (Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky and No. 13 Pittsburgh).

There have been several way-too-early Top 25 rankings released, and the Vols' highest ranking has been No. 13 from The Athletic.

Sports Illustrated slotted the Vols at No. 16 in Pat Forde's January 10 WTE rankings.

Tennessee will begin their season against Ball State on Thursday, September 3, at 7 p.m. ET in Neyland Stadium. 

Photo Credit: Caitie McMekin

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