Vol baseball’s 2025 SEC schedule released; some notes on the roster

On Thursday afternoon, the SEC announced its first-ever 16-team conference schedule for the 2025 season with Texas and Oklahoma officially in the fray.

The SEC grind will be brutal as usual, as Baseball America’s way-too-early rankings has Tennessee opening league play with No. 2-ranked Florida coming to Knoxville to kick off the conference schedule. The Vols will also host No. 5 Texas A&M in a rematch of last year’s CWS Final, No. 23 Kentucky, then get a bit of reprieve with an Auburn squad that finished around .500 last year and won just eight of its 30 SEC games. The Tigers were 18-13 on the road but just 5-12 in true road games.

Vitello’s Vols will finish the SEC slate on the road, but not before No. 19 Vanderbilt comes to town for the next-to-last series of conference ball.

Tennessee’s gonna travel to unranked Alabama and to No 17-ranked South Carolina in Paul Mainiari’s first year as the Gamecocks’ manager. The Vols will also play a weekend series against unranked Ole Miss before heading to LSU to face Baseball America’s No. 1-ranked team in the nation. UT will end the conference season against No. 8-ranked Arkansas.

Looking chronologically, Tennessee’s first three home stands will come against teams that made the College World Series last season.

And Tony Vitello and staff will once again be overhauling the roster once again, as UT had eight players taken in the first two days of the MLB Draft — a figure that tied the 1992 team and 2023 team for second-most players taken in program history.

Christian Moore and Blake Burke gave the Vols two players selected in the first round for the second time in three years. Moore made history going at No. 8 as it gave Tennessee two picks in the top 10 in back-to-back seasons after Chase Dollander went 9th last season to Colorado.

UT’s had at least seven players drafted in each season since 2021 and leads the country with players drafted during that span.

The team certainly won’t be bereft of talent, with position players like Hunter Ensley, Dean Curley, Ariel Antigua, Cannon Peebles, Dalton Bargo and Reese Chapman returning from the Natty team’s roster. One of both of the sophomore pitchers Dylan Loy and Andrew Behnke could figure into the rotation somewhere, with Nate Snead and Marcus Phillips also returning as guys who can pump high-90s fastballs. Snead may get a shot as a starter, depending on how the newcomers perform.

Here’s what Baseball America had to say about the Vols’ and their No. 7 ranking:

It’s been a tough go for reigning champs in recent years. Mississippi State and Mississippi missed the NCAA Tournament in each of the two seasons following their titles. LSU had to scramble after a poor start to the SEC season to get in. Can Tennessee avoid a similar hangover in 2025?

The good news is the Volunteers bring back center fielder Hunter Ensley, Freshman All-American shortstop Dean Curley and a couple of key arms in Nate Snead and Dylan Loy. The bad news is they must replace six regulars in the lineup, their entire rotation and the back end of the bullpen. Tennessee has a high-level recruiting class and hit the portal hard, bringing in high-level players like infielders Gavin Kilen (Louisville) and Andrew Fischer (Mississippi). Figuring out how the pieces best fit together will be critical for Tennessee this fall.

UT added some key pieces via the transfer portal, including pitchers Liam Doyle from Ole Miss, Tanner Franklin from Kennesaw State and JUCO prospect Brandon Arvidson, along with position players third baseman (maybe…?) Andrew Fischer, also from Ole Miss and infielder Gavin Kilen from Louisville. According to 64Analytics, UT added three of the top 14 portal players available.

The Vols are also bringing in the 3rd-best high-school recruiting class for 2025, according to Perfect Game dot com.

Similar to the Texas crop at No. 2, this Tennessee recruiting class was already one of the best in the country prior to November 5th. Why mention the 5th? That’s when the Tennessee staff received the verbal commitment of Carson Brumbaugh, one of the biggest risers on the national circuit this past summer as it’s very real two-way potential with a nice combo of bat speed and strength from the right side of the plate, plenty of arm and actions for the left side of the infield and can also live in the low-90s on the bump. And if the addition of Brumbaugh wasn’t enough, they also snapped up Wisconsin righty Sawyer Deering who continues to add to his heater (up to 92 mph in Jupiter) while still having plenty of room to grow.

A quick up and down of the entire class, 19 players deep, you’ll notice only 6 are listed as primary arms with two-time Select Festival alum Jax Bishop leading the way at No. 108 in the country. That said, the five names you see above in the box above, along with the likes of Dayson Griffis, have all been at least 88 mph on the bump meaning the coaching staff has some options and the talent is there for these players to continue to refine and develop moving forward. Both Hankins and Tracey have been upper-80s on the mound from huge frames, but there’s equally impressive power in their swings as they utilize their size to the fullest, impacting baseballs all over the yard. Tyler Wood and Ty Thompson have been up to 91 mph on the mound but bring very real athleticism to the lineup while Griffis and his 94 mph heater match the strength and impact in his right-handed swing.

This crop once again shows the strength of the Vols on the trails, pulling from all over the country and continuing to tinker and add to the class, from their very first commit in left-handed hitting outfielder Dillon Adkins back in 2021 to Brumbaugh and Deering who came in the last month.

All in all, eight of Tennessee’s 10 opponents made the postseason last year, with the three aforementioned home series against CWS opponents.