Former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback turned ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy is optimistic about the Tennessee Vols in 2025 despite the program recently parting ways with starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
McElroy said during the most recent edition of Always College Football that he thinks Tennessee will be ok at the quarterback position in 2025, though he also noted that he doesn’t necessarily think the Vols “upgraded” at quarterback by moving on from Iamaleava.
“I think they’re going to be ok with their quarterback situation,” said McElroy. “Am I super bullish on (Jake) Merklinger or (George) MacIntyre? Not necessarily. I’m not sure that at this point that they’ve upgraded at the position. Probably didn’t. But I also look at team continuity, and I could see a scenario where if a difference-making quarterback hopped in the portal, Tennessee would be really, really aggressive in trying to add that piece for a one-year rental before they eventually pass it off to either MacIntyre or Merklinger, depending on who wins that backup quarterback battle.
“I think Tennessee is in win-now mode. I think they can win right now. Do I think they could regress a little bit this year? Perhaps, but that’s mostly because of what they lost on defense and the quality that they lost at running back. Everything else has a chance to be pretty dang good. And I look at Tennessee, and how the schedule sets up, and they might very much be in the mix for some opportunities to knock some teams off that maybe you don’t anticipate them knocking off going into this upcoming season. But it is entirely dependent on getting quality play at the quarterback spot. Josh Heupel’s offense demands it. And [the quarterback at Tennessee] doesn’t have to be able to throw it a country mile. We’ve seen that happen a million times. How many times in the last two years have we seen Tennessee quarterbacks miss on deep balls, and I’m not talking under-throws. I’m talking about throwing it 15 yards over guys’ heads, or throwing it out of bounds. Joe Milton did it a million times, and we saw it an awful lot from Nico Iamaleava last year.”
“So I don’t think you need that crazy, ridiculous arm,” continued McElroy. “You just need a guy that knows how to get the ball up and down, and that can hit guys in stride. So I think Tennessee’s offense can operate at a high level with Merklinger and MacIntyre. But I also think it’d be beneficial if I knew for certain that the guy I’m bringing in can play college football at this level, because Merklinger or MacIntyre, they haven’t gotten enough reps at this level for me to feel confident about them taking over as the face of my franchise. Tennessee will absolutely be buyers in the quarterback market, but even if they miss and don’t get a guy, I think they have a chance to be ok at that position.”
Tennessee still has a high ceiling in 2025 thanks to the talent on the roster. But there’s a big unknown at the quarterback position with Iamaleava no longer in the mix. Whether that’s a positive or a negative for Tennessee remains to be seen. Unfortunately, that’s a question that no one will be able to answer until we see the Vols take the field later this fall.
But after listening to McElroy’s take, I think there are still plenty of reasons for Tennessee fans to be optimistic about what the Vols can potentially accomplish in 2025.
