For weeks, reports have leaked that the new Tennessee football model has been a focus on returning talent and experience over buying top talent in the transfer portal. The idea is that in this era of player movement, Josh Heupel’s Vols could have an advantage just with enough chemistry.
That idea seems nice on paper…until you realize it’s not an advantage for Tennessee either. In the recent ranking of teams by returning production ahead of spring practice by Bill Connelly of ESPN, the Vols came in at No. 58, returning exactly 58 percent of their production.
That’s 11th in the SEC. More importantly, seven of the eight SEC teams on the 2025 Tennessee football schedule have more returning production than the Vols. The only one who doesn’t is the Georgia Bulldogs, and let’s be honest, they have the talent to outweigh that.
However, the Alabama Crimson Tide still, based on recruiting data, are significantly more talented than the Vols, and not only are they returning more talent, 63 percent in fact (No. 35), but they are also likely to take an even bigger leap this year under Kalen DeBoer. Oh, and UT has to visit Bama.
Speaking of visiting teams, the Vols also have to visit the Florida Gators, who are No. 18 in returning talent with 66 percent of their production back. The Oklahoma Sooners may visit the Vols, but they are No. 10 in this ranking with 69 percent returning.
When you take everything into account, that’s three realistic losses for this team plus Georgia. Heupel has recruited well, but he hasn’t loaded up on talent to outweigh teams with more experience yet, particularly those teams. This could turn into a disaster.
Now, there’s a caveat to this. Tennessee is returning 67 percent of its production on defense, which is 22nd in the nation, and while they are returning just 49 percent of their offensive production, part of that is the most important player on the team, Nico Iamaleava. Also, some of the losses were at receiver, where productivity was limited anyway.
At the same time, though, the offensive line departures can’t be ignored, and with the recent NCAA ruling on Andrej Karic’s eligibility waiver, it’s only worse. All three interior linemen have to be replaced, including the heart and soul of the unit the past three years in Cooper Mays.
Simply put, Tennessee has a ton of work to do to if that chemistry advantage Heupel is going for will take hold. New starters who were in the system last year could help, and that’s where a guy like Mike Matthews comes into play, but the real pressure will be on Iamaleava to deliver.
