‘25 Recruiting Forum: Official Syracuse vs Tennessee Pre-game/Game Thread

#1
OGbabyaviVol

OGbabyaviVol

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IT’S FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE!!! Ladies and gentlemen, we have made it through another offseason, and our beloved Vols take the field for the first time in 2025 against the fighting Orangemen of Syracuse in ATL for the Chikfila kickoff game at Noon. It was an interesting offseason for our Vols to say the least. Coming off a playoff appearance, we thought we would continue to build, but took a step back, when our coaches were surprised with trying to retain players they were not expecting to leave. First, we had to fight to keep Matthews, then Boo tried to leave, then we didn’t land Carnell Tate (who we expected to transfer to us), then there was a mass exodus of WRs and others we didn’t care to lose. We picked up some keep pieces in the portal, but didn’t land any WRs that we really needed for depth reasons.

And then the biggest unexpected hit came after spring practice, when the centerpiece to our offense tried to leverage more money, and Heup finally had enough of it and told him to hit the road. Great move IMO. That left us scrambling, as we only had 2 scholarship QBs on the roster. We searched high and low, and tried to lure a couple of bigger names from other power 4 programs, but eventually landed on the school’s QB where our starter ended up at for a lot less money (lol…idiot!). Enter Joey Aguilar! He didn’t do anything but put his head down and get to work, which ended up winning him the starting job. It’s time to put it all behind us and see what we have in our 2025 team.

Here are a few keys to victory:

1. Run game is where our bread is buttered. Word is that our OL is even better than last year, especially running the football. That’s great news for our new QB, as we need to lean on it until he can settle in. Word is we have a great RB room, so I think we will see that we run the ball early and often, then set up our shots down the field. I fully expect us to rush for 200+ yards, and for Bishop and PLew to have a very big game.

2. Clean QB play: we don’t need Joey to be a world beater. We just need him to manage the game, don’t make stupid mistakes and throws, hit on a few deep balls, and run the ball when it’s available. Keep the interceptions to 1 or less, and we should have no problem winning this game.

3. Defense wreak havoc! Once again, word is our defense has the potential to be elite again. DL has reloaded, and I expect we will continue to be strong up front and rotate 10-12 guys. I expect Josephs to have a massive breakout game with at least 2 sacks. Our LB group is the best we have had in a very long time. It’s loaded with speed and talent. Can’t wait to watch them light it up. Lastly, our DB group has the potential to be elite. Some of that depends on when McCoy comes back and if he is fully healthy. Some of that also depends on if Boo decides to quit jacking around and shows up to ball out for this team. I expect we don’t see him for at least the 1st half as his punishment for what happened this summer. I really want to see if Banks can call an aggressive game plan every game all year. I want to see those blitzes coming from everywhere like he did the first couple years. Don’t just lean on the front 4 all the time. I think the defense is solid this game, and holds Syracuse under 17 points, which will give our offense time to gain its footing and then explode.

4. What does Syracuse have? Honestly, I’m not sure. I know they had a very successful 2024 season, but lost a lot from that team (as did we). Only thing I know is their starting QB is the transfer from ND, who we were supposedly interested in. Angeli can move around very well, so we will have to spy him with Carter or another speedy LB. Not sure they will have the running game to lean on until he gets his footing, as we have consistently been very good stopping the run game. If they can’t run the ball, it will be a very long day for Angeli, and he may not finish the game.

Prediction:
This game will be closer than we want in the first half, but I expect we pull away in the 2nd half as our depth, talent, and speed really start to show.

TN - 41
Syracuse - 17

LETTUCE GO!!!! It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!
 
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#2
#2
OGbabyaviVol said:
View attachment 766466

IT’S FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE!!! Ladies and gentlemen, we have made it through another offseason, and our beloved Vols take the field for the first time in 2025 against the fighting Orangemen of Syracuse in ATL for the Chikfila kickoff game at Noon. It was an interesting offseason for our Vols to say the least. Coming off a playoff appearance, we thought we would continue to build, but took a step back, when our coaches were surprised with trying to retain players they were not expecting to leave. First, we had to fight to keep Matthews, then Boo tried to leave, then we didn’t land Carnell Tate (who we expected to transfer to us), then there was a mass exodus of WRs and others we didn’t care to lose. We picked up some keep pieces in the portal, but didn’t land any WRs that we really needed for depth reasons.

And then the biggest unexpected hit came after spring practice, when the centerpiece to our offense tried to leverage more money, and Heup finally had enough of it and told him to hit the road. Great move IMO. That left us scrambling, as we only had 2 scholarship QBs on the roster. We searched high and low, and tried to lure a couple of bigger names from other power 4 programs, but eventually landed on the school’s QB where our starter ended up at for a lot less money (lol…idiot!). Enter Joey Aguilar! He didn’t do anything but put his head down and get to work, which ended up winning him the starting job. It’s time to put it all behind us and see what we have in our 2025 team.

Here are a few keys to victory:

1. Run game is where our bread is buttered. Word is that our OL is even better than last year, especially running the football. That’s great news for our new QB, as we need to lean on it until he can settle in. Word is we have a great RB room, so I think we will see that we run the ball early and often, then set up our shots down the field. I fully expect us to rush for 200+ yards, and for Bishop and PLew to have a very big game.

2. Clean QB play: we don’t need Joey to be a world beater. We just need him to manage the game, don’t make stupid mistakes and throws, hit on a few deep balls, and run the ball when it’s available. Keep the interceptions to 1 or less, and we should have no problem winning this game.

3. Defense wreak havoc! Once again, word is our defense has the potential to be elite again. DL has reloaded, and I expect we will continue to be strong up front and rotate 10-12 guys. I expect Josephs to have a massive breakout game with at least 2 sacks. Our LB group is the best we have had in a very long time. It’s loaded with speed and talent. Can’t wait to watch them light it up. Lastly, our DB group has the potential to be elite. Some of that depends on when McCoy comes back and if he is fully healthy. Some of that also depends on if Boo decides to quit jacking around and shows up to ball out for this team. I expect we don’t see him for at least the 1st half as his punishment for what happened this summer. I really want to see if Banks can call an aggressive game plan every game all year. I want to see those blitzes coming from everywhere like he did the first couple years. Don’t just lean on the front 4 all the time. I think the defense is solid this game, and holds Syracuse under 17 points, which will give our offense time to gain its footing and then explode.

4. What does Syracuse have? Honestly, I’m not sure. I know they had a very successful 2024 season, but lost a lot from that team (as did we). Only thing I know is their starting QB is the transfer from ND, who we were supposedly interested in. Angeli can move around very well, so we will have to spy him with Carter or another speedy LB. Not sure they will have the running game to lean on until he gets his footing, as we have consistently been very good stopping the run game. If they can’t run the ball, it will be a very long day for Angeli, and he may not finish the game.

Prediction:
This game will be closer than we want in the first half, but I expect we pull away in the 2nd half as our depth, talent, and speed really start to show.

TN - 41
Syracuse - 17

LETTUCE GO!!!! It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!
Click to expand...
Just WIN and get better game by game . GBO 💥
 
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#5
#5
Nice observations and i agree......help out the new QB and pray 🙏 to sweet baby Jesus the WR room clicks and stays healthy.

Sidenote: Anyone figure out the exodus of that room? Some moves made no sense. Squirrel to FSU, etc......just odd that THAT room is down with Heupels offensive scheme type.
 
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#6
#6
NATHAN05 said:
Nice observations and i agree......help out the new QB and pray 🙏 to sweet baby Jesus the WR room clicks and stays healthy.

Sidenote: Anyone figure out the exodus of that room? Some moves made no sense. Squirrel to FSU, etc......just odd that THAT room is down with Heupels offensive scheme type.
Click to expand...
I wonder if they knew we were bringing Tate, too, until he backed out?
 
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#8
#8
NATHAN05 said:
Nice observations and i agree......help out the new QB and pray 🙏 to sweet baby Jesus the WR room clicks and stays healthy.

Sidenote: Anyone figure out the exodus of that room? Some moves made no sense. Squirrel to FSU, etc......just odd that THAT room is down with Heupels offensive scheme type.
Click to expand...
I suspect Squirrell’s move made a lot of sense. Rumor was that he was looking for more money. With only one year left and Staley waiting in the wings, it made no sense to overpay.
 
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#10
#10
I think this will be a sloppy game offensively trying to get all of our new pieces to gel, but our defense will be stout. P-lew will be our best rb this year I think, and he shows it game 1 running for 85 yards and 2 td’s (splitting carries with bishop and thomas)

Vols- 27
Syracuse- 13
 
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