David Pollack reveals who he expects to compete with Georgia at top of SEC in 2023

Georgia‘s stranglehold on the SEC, and college football, is just getting started. That isn’t stopping ESPN College GameDay host David Pollack from ruling out Tennessee to compete in the SEC East in the coming seasons.

It’s all based on what happens in 2023, Pollack told On3’s JD PicKell on The Hard Count.

“To me, this is a prove-it year for Tennesse,” Pollack said. “Are you going to be that next team in the SEC East behind Georgia? Can you be a team that consistently challenges, or are you a flash-in-the-pan excitement, and then you drop back down?

“I think there’s going to be moments of excitement, but I don’t know if Tennessee can recruit at a high enough level to compete with Alabama, to beat Georgia and to beat those teams consistently and in turn not slip up to South Carolina late in the season.”

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Both Tennessee and Georgia will each undergo an identity change under center when the season rolls around in September. Hendon Hooker and Stetson Bennett are gone to the NFL, and you shouldn’t expect either starter to be named out of either camp until fall training is complete.

It’s certainly up for debate, but neither team is lacking talent at the position. Tennessee is choosing between incoming five-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava and Joe Milton, who tore up Clemson in the Peach Bowl. For Georgia, it’s either Carson Beck or Brock Vandagriff.

Recruiting goes deeper than the quarterback position, though. Georgia and Alabama have been dominant in that aspect, but Tennessee is looking more appealing by the hour. The Vols ended the 2023 recruiting cycle with the No. 12 overall recruiting class, according to the On3 Industry Football Team Recruiting ranking.

They’ve already jumped out to a top-10 recruiting class for 2024, but people in Knoxville will tell you this is just the beginning.