5 Positive Takeaways From The 2025 Tennessee Football Season
There was a lot of good that came out of Josh Heupel's fifth season on Rocky Top.
We are just two weeks away from it being four months since Tennessee football opened the season in Atlanta with a 45-26 victory over the Syracuse Orangemen. We say it every year because it is true every year– the college football season flies by.
Just like that, head football coach Josh Heupel’s fifth season on Rocky Top has come to a close, as the Volunteers finished the regular season with an 8-4 record overall, the fourth-straight season where the Vols have won at least eight games in the regular season.
Yes, the home finale beatdown at the hands of in-state rival Vanderbilt was not how you wanted to finish what was largely another successful season for Heupel and the Volunteers. Still, there were several extremely positive takeaways to have following the conclusion of the 2025 regular season for Tennessee.
Let’s dive into five of them.
Year 5 was a critical season for Heupel offensively. After finishing the 2022 season No. 1 in scoring in all of FBS, the Vols dropped to 35th the following season. In 2024, Tennessee was 74th in scoring vs. conference opponents. While the scoring dropped, the production on the ground did not for Tennessee, which finished in the top 10 in rushing yards per game in 2023 and 2024. Surprisingly, it was the passing game that struggled mightily over the course of those two seasons, with the Vols’ passing attack finishing 51st and 77th, respectively. Tennessee needed to look under the hood this past offseason and make some adjustments based on how defenses were playing them now, as opposed to the first two seasons under Heupel. To the latter’s credit, those adjustments did happen this season. The Vols were the No. 3 passing offense in the country this season, and finished No. 5 in FBS in that same metric against conference foes. The evolution of the Tennessee offense this season was something that needed to happen to continue to instill long-term faith in Heupel’s program in Knoxville, and he checked that box.
Speaking of the offense, Tennessee put up these prolific offensive numbers with a quarterback who arrived in late May, in Joey Aguilar. The former Appalachian State & UCLA quarterback threw for nearly 3,500 yards, tossed 24 touchdowns, and finished 20th in QBR. The veteran quarterback’s ability to adapt to his new surroundings quickly was critical not just for his individual success, but it was also paramount for players like Chris Brazzell II, who may have played his way into being a first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Aguilar’s willingness to push the ball down the field was huge for the Vols, especially early in the season. Aguilar may not have finished as strongly as he started, but he certainly had an all-around great season for Tennessee, and he did so on a very short timeline. Aguilar finished 7th overall, per PFF, among qualified quarterbacks offensively. With the issues the Vols had defensively all season long, Tennessee had to have the kind of season Aguilar gave them to push for nine or ten wins, and that’s what he did.
I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to say that Braylon Staley looks to be the best all-around wideout Tennessee has had during Heupel’s tenure on Rocky Top. Brazzell II was certainly the most dangerous weapon down the field for Tennessee this season, as the former Tulane star reeled in six touchdowns on balls thrown 20-plus yards down the field this season. Unsurprisingly, Brazzell II graded the highest on those deep throws from Aguilar and provided Tennessee the replacement they needed from Dont’e Thornton Jr.’s production from the season prior. Staley is a bit different, as he’s not the burner Jalin Hyatt was in the slot three years ago. He’s not like Velus Jones Jr. or Squirrel White, either. He’s just a wideout that looks and plays like he’s going to play on Sundays sooner rather than later. The redshirt freshman was consistent when targeted everywhere on the football field this season, as he earned a 91.1 on deep throws, 94.4 on medium, and 91.5 on short throws. Staley reeled in touchdowns from each of those three areas this season. The former blue-chip recruit was so consistent all season long that he earned SEC Freshman of the Year honors for good measure. Outside of David Sanders Jr., is there not a more exciting and vital core piece to Tennessee than Staley going into 2026?
No, you did not beat Georgia, but you were a missed field goal from doing so inside Neyland Stadium this year. In fact, Tennessee played so well against Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs that expectations among Vol fans collectively changed, even in agonizing defeat. For the first time in the Heupel versus Smart battles, the Vols and the Dawgs were in a highly-contested game late into the fourth quarter. Heupel has beaten Alabama and Florida twice. If there were a 12-team CFP in 2022, he’d have taken the Vols to the CFP in two of his five seasons in Knoxville. But beating Smart and Georgia is hard. It’s the hardest thing left outside of winning a national championship for Heupel to accomplish at Tennessee. A little over a week ago, the Dawgs won the SEC championship for the second year in a row. There is no bigger goliath in the conference than Georgia, and Heupel had the Vols right there at the very end. That loss is always going to hurt, especially now that Tennessee won’t play Georgia every season anymore — but you can’t deny it was not a huge positive development for both the fans and the players to see they’ve reached a point in their program’s trajectory where they can slay the dragon in this conference.
Tennessee is going to need a lot of help out of the transfer portal in the secondary this offseason. The Vols are likely to lose two cornerbacks who could both be first-round picks in the 2026 NFL Draft in Jermod McCoy and Colton Hood. Tennessee will need to replace the two players who got the most snaps at STAR in Boo Carter and Jalen McMurray. They will also have to replace a two-year starter in Andre Turrentine as well at safety. Still, barring absurd injury luck in 2026 as Tennessee had in 2025, the Vols should return one of the best cornerback duos in the conference in sophomore Ty Redmond and redshirt junior Rickey Gibson III. The former earned a top-100 PFF coverage grade along with Hood this season. Gibson III was a top-100 graded corner last year, along with McCoy and Gibson III as well. The Vols really struggled at safety all season long, but the corners, for the second year in a row, held their own once again. It shouldn’t be a surprise if they’re one of Tennessee’s best position units in 2026 once again.