SEC Coaches are Dead Wrong about Tennessee
Lucas Panzica highlights a report recently made by Athlon Sports indicating that Tennessee Volunteers' offense will struggle this season due to their inability to stretch the field. In reality the Vols have multiple receivers and other weapons they can utilize in Josh Heupel's offense to stretch the field and make big plays on any given play.
Video Transcript
One anonymous SEC coach dropped a quote about Tennessee football going into 2026 that just is not factual.
Hey, Lucas Panzica here from 104.5 The Zone and A to Z Sports.
So Athlon Sports talks to anonymous coaches across the SEC every off-season, and drops an article with anonymous quotes about every SEC program.
And one of these quotes about the Tennessee Vols was just straight up incorrect, reading, quote, "They want to run the ball, but do they have enough of a threat downfield to open up the run lanes?
The last time they were extremely potent was when former offensive coordinator Alex Goluich was there," end quote.
Now, there are a couple of things wrong with this statement and with this question.
Asking if they have enough of a downfield threat to open up run lanes, to me, that answer very much is yes.
Tennessee brings back wide receivers Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley that both had breakout campaigns in 2025.
And yes, there's a question about how much five-star freshman Tristan Keyes can help right off the bat.
And of course, there's a question about who the starting quarterback is going to be and what his ceiling is going to look like as a first-year starter, whether it's Brandon or McIntyre.
But saying that Tennessee has not had a potent offense since Alex Goluich, now the coach at Auburn, was the offensive coordinator, is just not factual.
Last year, Tennessee had a top 10 offense.
Last year, Joey Aguilar led the Southeastern Conference in passing in the regular season.
No, the Vols were not a complimentary football team.
The defense dropped off in a big, big way, and that contributed to ultimately an eight and four season that ended with a loss in the Music City Bowl to Illinois.
Certainly not up to the standards of the Josh Heupal era.
But it does make you wonder about what some of these coaches' perspective is when they say something that is just straight up untrue.
Let us know in the comments, what do you think about the anonymous quotes that have dropped from Athlon Sports this week talking about the Tennessee Vols?
