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Posted by Marvin West | Jan 6, 2025 | westwords | 9
I have adjusted the old English idiom about the fly in the ointment to fit the unrest I sense in the amen corner.
To continue in that confusing direction, this is not to say the whole sky is falling but there seems to be something unsettling going on inside and around Tennessee football.
On-going gripes about the playoff loss are to be expected but there is something else. Things just don’t sound, look or feel right. The new year is not off to a happy start.
It helped that five-star receiver Mike Matthews got enough “encouragement” to withdraw from the transfer portal he was never officially in. Favorable decision.
Could be meaningful. Remain alert. The spring door opens April 16.
There is a busy rumor going around, maybe just wishful thinking, that Nico’s dad, Nicholas Iamaleava Sr., asked for a meeting with Josh Heupel and wanted to know what the heck the coach was going to do about the stale or predictable offense, the one Ohio State and some of us thought we saw.
Good question, be it fact or fiction. Could be there really is a situation on the horizon without Dylan Sampson, with blocking instability and seven departures from a so-so group of pass receivers.
I have not heard alarm bells or that Nico’s dad said anything about the multi-million-dollar quarterback who was certainly a factor in the underachieving passing game. If there was even a hint that he might seek “greener” pastures … let’s don’t go there.
We can go to what Heupel has said about focusing on younger Vols, even the incoming prep stars, instead of spending big in the transfer market to fill voids.
This is not a maybe or perhaps: Tennessee seriously needs two receivers who can get open, catch and run; two dependable offensive tackles with life-saver ability and a linebacker who might, on occasions, cover tight ends or running backs over the middle.
Development takes time. Development has not been a staff strength. Development does cost less than portal recruiting – if money is suddenly a concern.
The upheaval among pass receivers is not a rumor. It is a matter of record. Too many players have fled. Gone or going are once very popular Squirrel White, somewhat promising Chas Nimrod, Nathan Leacock, Kaleb Webb and Nate Spillman. Tough guy Bru McCoy and Dont’e Thornton are out of eligibility.
How to explain the mass exodus of younger guys? Could be Heupel, in a kind and gentle tone, suggested one, two or three go elsewhere – to make space for more talented receivers.
Could be there was a difference of opinion about value to the Vols, or strange, lucrative offers from outsiders, come and get it.
Could be there are hurt feelings or ambitious agents or the burning desire for more opportunities to catch a football. That would point a finger at Nico and his inclination to aim at more established targets. It could point to position coach Kelsey Pope and the distribution of playing time. He was publicly criticized by one or more of the former Vols.
It could point to the offensive scheme that depended on the best man, Sampson, record-setting running back. The long-ball passing threat really was anemic.
Squirrel, 5-9 and 167, very good slot receiver in 2023, endured an injury-plagued 2024 season. He caught 34 passes for 381 yards and two touchdowns, about half what he previously produced. He suffered a bad shoulder injury at Arkansas but wouldn’t give up. His left arm was damaged against Vanderbilt. He was knocked out of the playoff game with a right knee injury.
There was another complication. He became a father. He seemed pleased.
“It was amazing, a great feeling knowing that my son was up there in the stands watching me … while I’m on the field, I do it for him.”
The simple truth is he needs more money.
If you look only at statistics, not a lot was lost in the other departures – except possibilities, depth, future.
Nimrod, a three-star prospect, caught 10 passes for 121 yards in 12 games this season. His best day was three for 45 against Kentucky. He caught 19 for 194 and one touchdown in 13 games last season.
Webb arrived as a four-star prospect in 2022. Last season he had 16 receptions for 166 yards and a touchdown. This season he caught six passes for 48 yards. I don’t think he was a happy camper.
Leacock was a four-star, the No. 12 wide receiver in the country in the class of 2023. He appeared in just one game as a freshman. This season, he caught one pass for 13 yards.
Spillman, a walk-on, played a little in four games but had no stats. He had a few things to say.
So, what do you suppose Heupel told Nico’s father about projected team improvement (if there was a question-and-answer session)? Where do the Vols throw from here? Expected returnees are two tight ends plus Chris Brazzell (29 receptions for 333 yards and two TDs) and promising redshirt freshman Braylon Staley (three catches for 21 yards in four games).
Tennessee signed prep wideouts Joakim Dodson, Radarious Jackson and Travis Smith. Boo Carter has expressed an interest in playing some offense. Any volunteers in the audience?
Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com
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Marvin West has lasting credentials. He was sports editor of the student newspaper at the University of Tennessee in 1954. In what was then considered progress, he became sports editor and then managing editor of the Knoxville News-Sentinel. He went to Washington as national sports editor of Scripps-Howard News Service. He organized and directed coverage of World Series baseball, Final Four basketball, Super Bowls, Masters golf and seven Olympics. In Washington as in Knoxville, West was promoted to managing editor. He oversaw a staff of 90 and edited a daily news wire. Scripps had 410 newspaper and radio station customers. West was inducted into the U.S. Basketball Writers’ Hall of Fame. He is a member of four other halls and was named a “Distinguished American” by the National Football Foundation. Vol athletes chose him as an honorary letterman. In semi-retirement, he wrote four books and a few hundred columns for MexConnect. Marvin and Sarah had a winter home in Mexico for more than two decades. The Wests, married 70 years, live in Union County, on Norris Lake. Sandra Clark interrupted his budding career as a bass fisherman and recruited him for The Shopper. He followed her to KnoxTNToday.
As long as players can transfer for any reason as many times as they want it’s just going to be like this.
I think it also hurts our teams chances of sticking together with all the negativity and conspiracy theories in the social media. As soon as the game starts people are online pleading to fire everyone. How quick some fans forgot what it’s like winning 6 games and not even mentioned in the national media.
Heupel record at UT
2021 (7–6)
2022 (11–2)
2023 (9–4)
2024 (10–3)
Did we have some disappointing losses, or course!
If you throw out his inaugural 7-6 season (not bad at that time) he is 30-9 his last 3 seasons. That’s an average of 10-3 each of his last 3 years. We’ve beaten Alabama and Florida twice each over that same period. If Ohio State had played an SEC regular season schedule (9 SEC teams), they would’ve been beaten up and bruised like the rest of the teams and likely with another loss or two. National Championships are rare and due to NIL, it’s agents and the changing landscape of college football, domination by one or two teams like Alabama and Georgia the last 10 years are over. There is still more reconfiguring of conferences as well as the CFP to come. Unfortunately we need to get used to this new era of college football and the unfolding drama (we’re all in the middle of) for at least 3-4 more years.
There’s no drama… Not if you understand roster management in collegiate program! 26 out and 26 + 1 portal transfer in leaving about 4 total spots to fill via portal. VolNation needs to calm thr fk down and stop making Chicken Little look calm!
This is the new norm for college football. Most schools will lose quiet a few players and they will replace them with new players. Tennessee is no different. The problem I see with the team is lack of development on the offensive line and underperforming receivers. I suspect those issues will not change since those coaches will not be replaced.
26 out via no eligibility, transfer, or NFL Draft… 26 freshman recruits and 1 portal transfer in… Do we think those numbers are a coincidence?! No! They aren’t! Matthews was the only unplanned departure that almost happened and is back now! VolNation needs to calm the fk down and stop making Chicken Little look like a calm and even-keeled human being!
Everyone needs to step back and take a deep breath. Heupel is not an offensive genius one year and a dunce the next.
We forget the shape the program found itself in under Dooley, Jones and Pruitt. Lane Kiffin also comes to mind. Yes, he left us in the lurch, but then got drummed out of Southern Cal only to gain respect in the SEC at Ole Miss, a school not built to win in the age of NIL. There are 134 teams in the CFP. The odds of winning it all are never going to be great. If my math is correct, 89.5 percent of the those 134 teams don’t even make it to the playoffs. Remember, breathe deeply.
I did check: that’s 8.9 that does make it and 91.1 that does not.
Our curse is: being among that 8.9 is not good enough: we scorn the 91.1. Agree with all you said, but we do have several moving parts needing some oil.
EXCELLENT article. However Heuple’s continued silence is somewhat puzzling.
Why does he need to say anythung?! Everything is LITERALLY working as intended! VolNation needs to calm the fk down and stop making Chicken Little look calm and sane!
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