Alabama head football coach Kalen DeBoer and UGA’s Kirby Smart make major statements with year-end ranking of Vols

Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer was one of three college football coaches who ranked Tennessee at No. 7, the Volunteers’ highest ranking in the year-end coaches poll. Georgia’s Kirby Smart was another.

“No coaches were impressed by Tennessee football more than Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, Georgia’s Kirby Smart and former Vols coach Butch Jones,” the Knoxville News Sentinel’s Adam Sparks wrote.

“Each voted Tennessee No. 7 on their US LBM Coaches Poll final ballots, which were collected and released by USA TODAY Sports.

“There were 54 coaches who voted on the 2024 poll as members of the US LBM Board of Coaches. UT coach Josh Heupel was not a voter this season.

“Tennessee ranked No. 8 on the final coaches poll of the 2024 season. The highest it appeared on a ballot was No. 7 and its lowest was No. 13.”

DeBoer and Smart ranking them so high is self-serving for both.

For DeBoer, Tennessee was the Crimson Tide’s least embarrassing loss. Alabama lost to Vanderbilt as the No. 1 team in the country and as three-score favorites. Later, DeBoer’s squad scored three points against Oklahoma in an even worse loss that cost the Crimson Tide a CFP berth.

For Smart, the Volunteers were his team’s most important win of the season and likely punched the Bulldogs’ ticket to the CFP. Beating Texas was a bigger win in both the regular season and SEC Championship Game, but losing to Tennessee would’ve also served as an elimination game for UGA after losses to Alabama and Ole Miss.

While Tennessee is one of Alabama and Georgia’s biggest rivals, it’s not shocking that they overrated the Volunteers.