Phil Steele Ranks Tennessee in Preseason Top 25 for 2020

Phil Steele is known as one of the most knowledgeable people on the planet when it comes to College Football. As the publisher of “The College Football Preview” Magazine, it is his job to know every minor detail there is to know about every single team in the country — which can lead to loads of excitement if he’s high on your team, or a multitude of disappointment if he isn’t. Steele recently released his top 25 preseason rankings, and according to the College Football writer, Tennessee fans should be in the excited camp for 2020.

Steele has the Vols among the top 25 best teams in the country, along with 8 other SEC teams. The Volunteers were ranked at No. 20, just ahead of Kentucky (No. 21), but behind Auburn (No. 19) and Florida (No. 13). Georgia (No. 7), LSU (No. 6), and Texas A&M (No.5) were among the elite teams in Steele’s rankings, but Alabama (No. 3) was the only team who Steele predicted to make the College Football Playoffs.

"I think that this is a team that's close to 9-3," Steele wrote in his new magazine. "Jeremy Pruitt didn't take over an overly talented team. In his first spring, he had eight scholarship offensive linemen. This year he's got 16. When he took over, he had about five scholarship defensive linemen, and this year he says the defensive line is a strength and goes about 10 deep.”

Steele claims that the Vols are as strong as anyone else in the country close to everywhere on the field. During a recent interview with “Press Row,” a Chattanooga-based sports radio show, he made his praise of the Vols clear. “Seven of their eight units rank among the top units in the front of my magazine," said Steele. "The only one that doesn't is at wide-receiver, where they have talent and speed. But can they step up and replace Jauan Jennings and Marquez Callaway and be go-to receivers? They have my No. 6 offensive line nationally and my No. 13 defensive line…”

“(Pruitt) said he believes they can compete and beat any of the teams on his schedule, including Oklahoma and Alabama,” recalled Steele later in the interview. “I'm going to go with that type of confidence, because I didn't hear that same confidence in year one or year two. That’s why I think they’ll be close to that 9-3 range this year.”

Steele’s analysis of the Vols should be very encouraging for Tennessee fans, as they are currently scheduled to have their season opener on September 5th in Neyland Stadium against Charlotte, prior to traveling west to tangle with Oklahoma — who Steele ranks No. 4 — the following week. If the SEC decides to follow in the Big Ten and Pac 12’s footsteps by moving towards a conference-only schedule, then the Vols season opener would be against their bitter rival from the south: the Florida Gators.