Joel Klatt Names "The Team That Has Impressed Me the Most"

Fox College Football analyst Joel Klatt tabs the Tennessee Volunteers as "The team that has impressed me the most" after two full weekends of play.

"This team I'm high on," Klatt said on this morning's edition of his podcast, The Joel Klatt Show, the biggest reason being the eye-popping emergence of Nico Iamaleava as the full-time starter at quarterback.

"I didn't have a ton of questions. I like Josh Heupel as a coach. I thought their defense would be pretty good and to me it was all about quarterback. Would you get Hendon Hooker style of play, or not? Because when they had a really good quarterback they were one of the better teams in all of college football. Carried the goal posts right down into the river after beating Alabama."

About Iamaleava, Klatt said, "I know he threw a couple of picks against North Carolina State, but this kid looks legit. All the hype about his NIL and his recruitment and all that it at times was a bit of a sideshow but this guy is a really good player-- almost 75% completion percentage, 5 touchdowns, two interceptions on the season and they are explosive."

"I think right now this is one of the better teams in the SEC."

"We're going to know for sure when we start looking at their schedule. They've got at Oklahoma, they've got at Arkansas, Alabama and at Georgia."

Klatt points to their September 21st game at Oklahoma. "That's the date we're gonna know for sure."

Currently the Vols are 7th in the AP Poll behind Alabama, Ole Miss and Missouri with Georgia sitting at number one. This weekend's game against Kent State is another opportunity to build the hype, but after that it quickly gets real. They face three ranked opponents in the #16 Sooners, the #4 Tide and #1 Bulldogs.

With a offense that's cranked out 120 points in their first two starts, they certainly look the part of a contender so far. The key will be Iamaleava's continued development against tougher defenses with elite players in the secondary.