Through the T: Where does Tennessee land in the Team Talent Composite rankings?

Good morning, and welcome to gameday eve. Tennessee is now in final preparations before hosting Bowling Green on Thursday night, which will officially kick off the Josh Heupel era. Our long, football-less summer is almost over, but right this second, all I’ve got is more links.

At 247Sports, SEC quarterback power rankings are live. Newly named starting quarterback Joe Milton slotted in at No. 10, beating out Mississippi State’s Will Rogers, South Carolina’s Luke Doty, Vanderbilt’s Ken Seals and Arkansas’ KJ Jefferson. It’s a fair ranking for Milton, who has a big chance to move forward on this list throughout the year, playing in a quarterback friendly offense.

Speaking of quarterbacks, South Carolina is set to start one that was a graduate assistant just a few weeks ago. Following an injury to Luke Doty, the Gamecocks will turn to Zeb Noland, who just joined the quarterback depth chart two weeks ago. South Carolina opens with Eastern Illinois on Saturday. Noland is a former quarterback who spent time with North Dakota State and Iowa State, and had one year of eligibility remaining. He now becomes a fascinating storyline for week one.

Also at 247Sports, they revisited their Team Talent Composite rankings ahead of the start of the season. The list, which ranks total rosters using high school evaluations, placed Tennessee 19th, surprisingly. We all know what the Vols lost this offseason, but it’s not totally dry for Josh Heupel. Now it’s time to see what he can do with it.

Quick Hitters

Neyland’s light show leaked on Monday night. Expect to see it in full action on Thursday.

Josh Dobbs, who is back with the Steelers, was placed on IR on Tuesday. Dobbs is dealing with turf toe.

The SEC officially outlined their COVID cancellation policies for the 2021 season. Let’s hope this fall is a little cleaner than last fall.

Vol Calls are back and Josh Heupel was on location Monday night to field them. Tim Banks also made an appearance.

Teammates reacted to Joe Milton winning Tennessee’s quarterback battle on Monday.