Greg McElroy hypes ‘elite’ front 7 on 2025 Tennessee defense
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Greg McElroy has his eyes locked in on Tennessee entering the 2025 season, and the ESPN college football analyst specifically has his eyes on the Volunteer defense’s front 7.
During a recent edition of Always College Football podcast, McElroy called Josh Heupel’s front 7 “elite” and believes the unit could carry The Volunteers a long way this fall. Tennessee has some work to do to start this season, with the Volunteers barely sneaking into the preseason AP Top 25 poll released on Monday. Heupel’s team was ranked 24th in the poll, but McElroy is a former Alabama quarterback who’s seen elite SEC defenses up close and he knows what a great SEC front 7 looks like.
So, when McElroy speaks highly of a front 7, even in August before the season has even started, it deserves some special attention.
“I’m starting to feel a little bit better about what Josh Heupel and company bring back this year, and part of that is that I love their front 7 defensively. Now, you see some guys who are poised for a potential breakout season. I think their defensive front remains their strength,” said McElroy, who pointed to Vols defensive coordinator Tim Banks’ ability to play a lot of players along the defensive front.
Here is the full video of McElroy hailing that front 7 in Knoxville:
No.– @Vol_Football
— Always College Football (@AlwaysCFB) August 11, 2025
An elite front seven defensively has @GregMcElroy excited for what the #Vols could do in 2025 #GBO pic.twitter.com/rKhY0X6MIy
Banks has been at Tennessee since the 2021 season, so he has a firm grasp on things in Knoxville, and McElroy believes this could be one of his best front 7’s yet.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
