National media outlet names Tennessee Vols' biggest strength ahead of 2024 college football season

Ahead of the 2024 college football season, 247Sports named the biggest strength for each top 25 program.

When it comes to the Tennessee Vols, 247Sports thinks the front seven will be UT's biggest strength in 2024.

From 247Sports : Everyone knows where Tennessee's bread is buttered on defense — starting and ending with James Pearce Jr., who might be college football's top returning defensive player. He accumulated 14.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage with 10 sacks last fall, one of the best individual seasons in program history. Now, if the Vols can get dependable production from Joshua Josephs behind him, this defense will be elite. Five-star freshman Jordan Ross is a summer enrollee and adds to the talent at the Leo position. Tennessee feels great about seniors Bryson Eason and Omari Thomas at defensive tackle and Dominic Bailey is expected to get first dibs at the other edge opposite of Pearce.

There's no doubt that Tennessee's defensive line has elite depth entering the 2024 season. The Vols lost starting defensive lineman Tyler Baron to the transfer portal this offseason (he transferred to Louisville before eventually landing at Miami). But otherwise, they return the key players from a defensive line that played extremely well in 2023. They also added Stanford transfer Jaxson Moi from the portal this offseason. And they'll hope to get some production from true freshman edge rusher Jordan Ross (a former five-star recruit).

Tennessee, by the way, isn't shying away from the big expectations surrounding their defensive line.

Vols defensive coordinator Tim Banks said earlier this offseason that he thinks Tennessee should have the best defensive line in the nation.

"We should really have the best defensive line in the country," said Banks in March. "I feel really good about our depth that we’re building. I feel really strongly about their attitude and determination that those guys have played with. I’m not even talking as much about football -- just great guys. They’re great human beings and they’ve really worked hard. As coaches, we want to see guys develop to their full potential. Being able to see these guys go from year one to where they are right now has been huge and we’re super excited about those guys."

Winning in the SEC is all about winning in the trenches. And it looks like the Vols are going to have a defensive line this fall that can win against any offensive line in the sport.

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