The Tennessee Vols, for most of the offseason, haven't received a lot of hype from the national media.
Most of that attention has gone to Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss, Missouri, and Alabama.
However, with just a few weeks to go before the start of the 2024 season, it looks like the hype machine for the Vols is starting to gain some momentum.
Always College Football host Greg McElroy, a former Alabama quarterback, said this week that he thinks Tennessee will be in a good position to win the national championship if redshirt freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava can play "at the top of the sport at his position".
"I think if he (Nico) is a Heisman finalist, not only is Tennessee in the playoff, but Tennessee is a legitimate national championship contender," said McElroy. "Because this offense -- and while they learned last year to get by, they did a great job of creating avenues in the run game. And Nico is a pretty capable weapon with his own legs. So I think that if Nico is capable of playing to the top of the sport at his position, Tennessee is going to be in a great position to win the National Championship. It's going to be asking a lot for a guy who has only played one game, but crazier things have happened -- especially with a ceiling like that. It wouldn't shock me if Nico is every bit as advertised."
Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban will be the first to tell you that McElroy (who played under Saban) is passing along some rat poison to the Vols.
Saban famously despised when the media would praise the Crimson Tide -- especially early in the season -- suggesting that the positive press was rat poison for his players.
As far as McElroy's comments on Tennessee, he's certainly right that if Iamaleava plays at a Heisman level, then the Vols are probably going to be legitimate national championship contenders.
But as he noted at the end of his comments, that's asking a lot of player that only has one career start. And it's not that I don't think Iamaleava can do it -- he absolutely looks like a future superstar. I just don't think it's fair to put those kind of expectations on the young quarterback.
McElroy's comments can essentially be translated as "Tennessee's national championship hopes rest on Iamaleava's shoulders".
Straight rat poison.
It's almost as if McElroy is trying to sabotage Tennessee with his positive spin. Or maybe he's trying to make up for his bizarre comments about Tony Vitello earlier this summer.
Either way, McElroy's comments are nothing more than rat poison for Tennessee's locker room. Words in August don't mean anything. The only thing that matters is how hard the Vols compete on every rep/snap this fall. That's what will determine how far this Tennessee advances in the postseason.
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