Wednesday Wonder: Is Tennessee's Uncertainty At Tailback A Good Thing In 2025?
For the Vols to get where they want to go next season, it's all about the passing game, not the running game.
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I haven’t been this uncertain about Tennessee’s running back room since Josh Heupel’s first season on Rocky Top. Star tailback Eric Gray transferred to Oklahoma and the Volunteers rotated Jabari Small, Tiyon Evans and little bit of Jaylen Wright that season. The Vols were 11th nationally running the football in 2021. Tennessee averaged nearly 5 YPC that season and ran for thirty scores on the ground. Tennessee averaged nearly 5 YPC the next season. Then they ran for over 5 YPC in 2023 and 2024 – two seasons where the rushing attack improved but the passing attack declined.
In the two seasons that Heupel’s offense has been in the top-10 in scoring at Tennessee, the Vols were top-10 in passing yards per attempt. In 2021, the Vols were 9th nationally in this stat. In 2022, the Vols were second nationally in this stat joining only Air Force as the only two programs in FBS to average 10-plus yards per attempt through the air. The last time Tennessee was the No. 1 team in the nation, Tennessee had the No. 1 scoring offense in the nation.
Through four seasons, the one constant of Heupel’s offense has been the intentionality to run the football and run the football well. It is fair to project in Year 5 that this intentionality will continue at Tennessee and the Vols will rush for 5 YPC once again.
It will look a whole lot different than it did in 2024, though. Gone is star junior tailback Dylan Sampson to the NFL. When the Vols lost Wright to the NFL following the 2023 season, they were able to replace him with another older, ready tailback to carry the load in Sampson. That won’t be the case in 2025. Former four-star recruit Peyton Lewis figures to be the best bet to be the starting tailback in Atlanta against Syracuse to kick off the 2025 season for Tennessee, but DeSean Bishop figures to be in the mix, too. With Duke graduate transfer Star Thomas in the fold along with true freshman Duane Morris out of Murfreesboro, running backs coach De’Rail Sims has some options. The competition in the spring and summer are going to be very fascinating to follow because this position room has not been this much of an unknown since 2021.
This is probably a good thing for Tennessee, though. Specifically, for former five-star recruit Nico Iamaleava. It was great to have a do-it-all star tailback behind him in 2024, and he was a big reason why Tennessee won double-digit games last season. However, the identity for the Tennessee offense has to resememble more of the first two years than the last two years in Knoxville. Tennessee can’t be the 94th-best passing offense in FBS in conference play again without Sampson and even Dont’e Thornton Jr. around to save the day in Tuscaloosa or Gainesville or even at home against Georgia and Oklahoma. The identity in 2025 needs to revolve around Iamaleava raising that yards per attempt from 7.7 this past season (40th) to the 9.0-10.3 range where Ohio State (4th) and Ole Miss sat (1st). With the uncertainty at running back, a lot is going to fall on Iamaleava in 2025 to make that Heisman-esque leap both with his arm and with his legs, the latter of which he flashed in a major way down the stretch this past season against the Buckeyes and the Bulldogs.
Figuring out how to bring back explosive chunk plays through the air is the story of the offseason for the Vols. The last six national champions in the sport averaged at least 8.9 YPA through the air. Michigan had the lowest YPA in that six-year span, but they were also No. 1 in scoring defense in their championship-winning season. This year, the Buckeyes were No. 4. Georgia was fifth 2022 and sixth in 2021. Alabama was No. 1 in 2020. LSU was fifth in 2019. There is no way around it for the Vols in 2025 – Iamaleava and the young wideouts have to be the story in 2025 like Sampson and Miles Kitselman were for the Vols in 2024.
Only the Boise State Broncos had a better rushing attack than Tennessee out of any of the College Football Playoff teams this season. Both lost their first CFP game against a team whose team QB rating ranked in the top-10 nationally. The Vols were 36th and the Broncos were 42nd. Texas was descimated at the running back position before the 2024 season even began and they reached the final four in the CFP for the second-straight season. The Vols were 53rd nationally in total touchdown passes thrown in 2024, the lowest number of any of the 12 CFP teams.
Tennessee has the blue-chip talent to make the leap in 2025. There is no question about that. Both starting tackles project to be a pair of former five-star recruits in Lance Heard and David Sanders Jr. Their best tight end from a season ago returns in Kitselman. They retained former five-star wideout Mike Matthews and have a plethora of former four-star underclassmen along with him as potential breakout options alongside him with so much offseason turnover in that room. Similar to what happened in the Vols’ secondary last offseason, Tennessee is completely remaking their wide receiver room in 2025. The hope is that the huge turnover produces the same big-time results it had this past season for the Vols.
I don’t know which way it ultimately goes for the Tennessee passing attack, but I do know it’s going to be the biggest offseason storyline to follow right up until the Vols kick things off against the Orangemen at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta on Aug. 30.
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Go Vols,
Chase