It’s about ready to get going.
Finally, football is here. Tennessee is set to open fall camp this week in Knoxville with preparation underway for the August 30th opener against Syracuse. It’s a new-look roster, just like every single program seems to have these days.
Josh Heupel and his staff will continue to get answers to questions over the next few weeks. Here’s what we’ll be watching for.
Boo Carter
The drama has been all over social media for a week, with very few concrete details. What seems to be the case — at minimum — is that Carter missed a couple of team activities and it clearly didn’t sit right with team leadership. You’ve probably seen other things, but we’ll just leave it there for now.
There seems to be some positive momentum on retaining Boo this weekend, but we’ll see what Heupel says when he addresses the media to open camp. The bottomline here is that both sides need each other. Carter can’t play anywhere else this year and Tennessee could use that talent (potentially) on both sides of the ball.
But work will need to be done within the locker room to mend those fences.
The quarterback battle
We won’t spend too much time here — everyone knows the deal. Joey Aguilar will get his first shot in an official team setting when camp opens this week. He’s the favorite to land the job after spending the last couple of months getting a crash course in the offense from the coaching staff. From all reports, Aguilar has worked overtime to build as much chemistry as possible, but does that translate to the field?
Jake Merklinger has spent over a year more in the offense than Aguilar at this point. Even true freshman George MacIntyre has been in it since December. It does seem like Aguilar’s job to lose, but he’s got to go prove it on the practice field.
Jermod McCoy
Josh Heupel gave a positive update on McCoy at SEC Media Days, but it remains to be seen how quickly Tennessee will bring him along in a practice setting. The star cornerback is coming off of a torn ACL suffered back in January. With a month to go until the opener, is it possible we see McCoy on the field in Atlanta?
We probably won’t get that answer right off the bat, but it will be interesting to see how he progresses over the next four weeks. Tennessee does have nice depth at cornerback now, so rushing him back doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Who emerges at receiver?
The biggest non-quarterback question on this roster is at wide receiver. Tennessee brings back a known commodity in Chris Brazzell, but that’s about it. Former top prospects Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley are expected to step into starting roles, but haven’t shown us too much in game settings just yet.
And then from there it gets very interesting. Josh Heupel hasn’t played a ton of freshmen at the position since arriving in 2021, but that’s going to have to change this season. Travis Smith has had positive reviews since arriving this spring and should have a decent role to start. Radarious Jackson and Joakim Dodson will have to come up to speed quickly. And then there’s Amari Jefferson, who transferred in from Alabama after being hurt his freshman season in Tuscaloosa.
The pecking order seems set, but how comfortable the staff feels playing these freshman early will be something to follow. They very well could need to out of necessity later in the year, so getting those guys up to speed over the next month will be a massive objective for Kelsey Pope.
What does the safety spot look like?
Tennessee was hit hard late in the portal at safety, killing the depth of the position. Andre Turrentine is back, but Jakobe Thomas, John Slaughter and Christian Charles all hit the portal. That’s in addition to Will Brooks graduating and exiting the program.
That leaves Andre Turrentine and sophomore Edrees Farooq, along with Kaleb Beasley, who has shifted to safety during the offseason. Those three can be penciled into the rotation, but who else? Building out that depth is an absolute must during these camp weeks.
Sorting out the interior offensive line
Gone are Cooper Mays, Javontez Spraggins, Andrej Karic, John Campbell and Dayne Davis. It’s a new era for Tennessee up front, which is something that will obviously be leaned on with questions at quarterback and receiver.
Tennessee has the tackle situation set with Lance Heard and true freshman David Sanders. Left guard is set with transfer Wendell Moe. Notre Dame transfer Sam Pendleton is a likely starter somewhere, but will that be guard or center? That’s for Glen Elarbee to figure out over the next few weeks.
Elarbee worked Pendleton at both center and guard, while William Satterwhite and Max Anderson both also received reps at center. Finding that right combination is a big key ahead of the Syracuse matchup with the Georgia SEC opener looming. Building out that top seven or eight will be another objective of the fall camp session.