Vols start Heupel’s third season vs. Cavaliers
Tennessee football is back for coach Josh Heupel’s third season after going 11-2 in 2022.
The No. 12 Vols open against Virginia on Saturday (noon ET, ABC) at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
Here is what to know about the matchup:
Tony Muskett is the new Virginia quarterback
Tennessee’s Joe Milton isn’t the lone new starting quarterback in the matchup. Tony Muskett is starting for the Cavaliers. The senior quarterback transferred from Monmouth and is taking over following Brennan Armstrong’s transfer and Jay Woolfolk’s decision to focus on baseball.
Muskett threw for 5,687 yards and 51 touchdowns during three seasons at Monmouth, which plays. in the Football Championship Subdivision. He threw for 1,997 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2022.
“Been a really good decision-maker, threw for a bunch of yards, has good pocket awareness,” Heupel said.
The Vols are breaking in new specialists
Tennessee has a blend of new starters and experience on offense and defense. On special teams, it’s new faces at punter and kicker. Redshirt freshman Jackson Ross is the new punter while senior Charles Campbell is the kicker.
Campbell transferred from Indiana after starting for the Hoosiers for multiple seasons. He has made 39 of 51 fieldgoal attempts. He is a Jackson, Tennessee, native and attended University School of Jackson.
UT is replacing punter Paxton Brooks and kickers Chase McGrath and Toby Wilson.
Tennessee is playing first regular-season neutral-site game under Josh Heupel
Tennessee is playing its first neutralsite game in the regular season under Heupel and its first since the 2018 season opener against West Virginia in Charlotte. The Vols have played in bowl games at neutral sites in both of Heupel’s first two seasons, including the Music City Bowl in the 2021 season.
UT has more neutral-site games in the regular season scheduled. The Vols will play North Carolina State in the Duke’s Mayo Classic in Charlotte, North
Carolina, in Week 2 of the 2024 season. UT will open the 2025 season against Syracuse in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta.
UT was originally scheduled to open the 2023 season at BYU, but its move to
the Big 12 caused the scheduling change.
Tony Elliott was in mix of 2021 UT coaching search but was not offered job
Virginia coach Tony Elliott was a candidate in Tennessee’s 2021 coaching search that resulted in UT athletics director Danny White hiring Heupel. He was interviewed but was not offered the job. Only Heupel was, according to White, who took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to refute Elliott’s suggestion that he was offered the UT job.
“Interesting … don’t remember offering,” White said in response to a video of Elliott talking about the UT job Monday night on X. “Ignored this the first time, can’t do it again. An interview doesn’t constitute an offer. Interviewed several candidates, offered 1.”
Elliott was the Clemson offensive coordinator at the time of that UT coaching search.
Tennessee score prediction vs. Virginia
Tennessee 48, Virginia 17: The Vols have different key offensive weapons, but that is no matter in an opener against an average Virginia team.