Tennessee kicks off the highly anticipated 2022 campaign Thursday at home against Ball State. It will be the start of Josh Heupel’s second season atop the Volunteer program, trying to build off a 7-5 regular-season that ended with an overtime loss in the Music City Bowl to Purdue.
The Cardinals will get the first look at this version of Tennessee and it’s a game the Vols are predicted to win easily, upwards of 31 points in some books.
“[They] are a hard-playing bunch. They won their conference two years ago,” Tennessee offensive coordinator Alex Golesh said last week. “I've known Coach (Mike) Neu for a long time. They're going to play really, really hard. They have the ability to score a lot of points. They play really aggressive on defense, so we're going to have to go play."
Coming off a season of surprise for Ball State, winning the MAC in the COVID shortened campaign, the 2021 season was a step backwards. The Cardinals finished with a 6-7 record with a loss to Georgia State in bowl season. Mike Neu returns for his seventh season and is seeking his third-straight bowl game.
Offensively, Ball State finished ninth in the MAC with an average of 24 points per contest. It was better defensively, surrendering 28 points per game, which was fifth-best in the league. Still, some key positions said goodbye to starters as the Cardinals will have a new look in several areas.
“Our starter [at quarterback] a year ago was a three-year starter, led us to a championship and back-to-back bowl games. He had a great career,” Mike Neu said on The Nation Sunday evening. “John Paddock is our starting quarterback now and he’s been with us for several years, working hard behind the scenes to study the offense. We are all very confident in John. He’s a tremendous leader and I’m excited about this opportunity for him.”
Though Paddock has been around the program for a while, he hasn’t seen much playing time. A season ago, the backup was just 18-for-26 for 132 yards with no touchdowns. However, the redshirt senior will have the luxury of throwing to two experienced receivers this fall.
Jayshon Jackson was recently named to the Biletnikoff Award Watch List after a solid junior campaign, where he tallied 829 yards off 69 receptions with five touchdowns. On the other side, 6-foot-3 graduate Yo’Heinz Tyler reeled in six touchdowns on 49 receptions.
Expect the passing game to be on full display with those receivers – especially with the run game ranking ninth in the conference with just 130 yards per game in 2021. Carson Steele returns after scoring six touchdowns as a true freshman while graduate Will Jones will see some time running behind an offensive line that welcomes back two starters, including tackle Corey Stewart.
There’s opportunity through the air for Hendon Hooker, Cedric Tillman and the rest of the Volunteer ariel attack as the Cardinals gave up nearly 250 passing yards each game a season ago. The strength, however, will come in the front-seven.
“Tennessee does a great job of trying to keep you on the field not switching out personnel a bunch to give you a chance to substitute,” Neu continued. “We know that and we’ve been practicing versus tempo for a long time, starting back in spring practice and here in training camp every day. But there’s no doubt we want to try to play and rotate as many guys as we can to stay fresh. They make it a challenge basically running three plays a minute.”
Linebacker Clayton Coll is a good player, finishing north of 100 tackles in 2021, while seventh-year player Brandon Martin was named to the Wuerffel Award Watch List prior to training camp. Defensive end Tavion Woodward registered five sacks with 8.5 TFLs last season and will get help from Michigan State transfer Kyle King this go-around.
“Our defensive line – for us – is as deep as it’s been since I’ve been here. Obviously, we are going up against an SEC opponent that is playing high-level football right now,” Neu said. “It all starts in the trenches and for us and we have to make sure we give ourselves the best chance by playing with tremendous effort and matching up with the speed Tennessee plays with. It will be a great challenge.”
Though it wasn’t a productive secondary a season ago, Malcomb Lee is an experienced player. The safety hauled in two interceptions and collected 50 tackles in 2021.
“I think for us, we pride ourselves on playing with a good attitude and great effort,” Neu concluded. “We have a little bit of turnover compared to our team last year, but we set out night one of training camp making sure we were going to play hard and with relentless effort.”
Tennessee and Ball State kickoff Thursday at 7 pm ET on the SEC Network and Vol Radio Network.
