"I'm very high on Tennessee program": CFB insider drops his assessment of Josh Heupel heading into 2025 season

The Tennessee Volunteers have high expectations for the upcoming 2025 season after they managed to make the college football playoffs last year despite being in a highly competitive SEC. Coach Josh Heupel was confident about his team's progress until they got kicked out by Ohio State in the first round.

Even though they could not make the championship game, the 2024 season holds a significant place in the history of the program. According to CFB insider Josh Pate, Heupel is now progressing in an upward trajectory. He just needs to make some fixes to his team which will help him get where he wants to be.

The 47-year-old coach is arguably one of the most successful coaches the program has ever had. Even though he still lacks a championship title, what he has done in the last three years holds great importance. He secured 30 wins during that stretch, with an average of 10 wins per season.

Pate believes the key thing for them to fix is their defense. Last season, Tennessee saw a glimpse of what could happen if they managed to outsmart opponents defensively.

“I'm very high on Tennessee's program, and I'm extremely high on what happened last year. All people remember is they got blown out at Ohio State. That's the way they ended the year. But that's, that's one game,” Pate said on his show on Saturday. [Timestamp - 3:00]

“What I remember is, for all the talk about how big an offensive genius Josh Hepel is and he is that, how'd they win last year? They were good offensively, but there were several extended periods last year of offensive drought.

“Defense is what won a game. They had a top 10 defense last year. To me, one of the surest signs of upward mobility, of upward trending as a team and a program, is when the side of the ball you don't specialize in, starts to elevate. Lincoln Riley is a classic example of the other side of this coin,” he added.

Josh Heupel will have a new QB at the center

This offseason has been filled with drama for the Tennessee coach after longtime QB Nico supposedly demanded more NIL money. He was making roughly $2.4 million, but his pitch for $4 million put him under the fire. After weeks of back and forth, the passer made his way to UCLA.

Within days, Heupel managed to bring in UCLA commit Joey Aguilar to the team, who is expected to be the starting QB in 2025. The 21-year-old comes with a lot of experience at Appalachian State and a previous stint at Diablo Valley. Expect nothing less than an 11+ game winning season for Heupel in 2025.