Future Vols: Merklinger, the quarterback, leads the squad to the state semifinals
GoVols247 examines the performance of Tennessee’s Class of 2024 pledges last week, with quarterback Jake Merklinger leading his team to victory once more.
In this weekly series, GoVols247 examines the most recent individual performances by Tennessee’s current football commits for the 2024 class. Last week, the majority of the Vols’ commitments were back in action.
Jake Merklinger, a four-star quarterback from Savannah, Georgia’s Calvary Day School, led his team to the state playoffs last week. The season ended in a loss in Tennessee’s Class 6A semifinals for four-star athlete Boo Carter of Bradley Central High School in Cleveland, Tenn., and teammate Marcus Goree Jr. Additionally, four-star offensive lineman William Satterwhite and defensive lineman Carson Gentle of McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tenn., assisted their teams in reaching state championship games.
Bowl projections: Compiling the most recent estimates while the Vols await their playoff assignment
Now that Tennessee has completed the regular season, let’s see where a dozen various estimates have the Vols finishing in the postseason.
Tennessee completed an 8-4 regular season with a rather routine rout of in-state rival Vanderbilt last week, pulling away in the second and third quarters to win 48-24 at Neyland Stadium. Now the Vols are awaiting the assignment for their bowl game, which the SEC will release on Sunday afternoon. With Tennessee learning its destination and opponent in just a few days, it’s a good time to round up where the Vols are projected to land – and one matchup and game in particular continue to be the most popular.
With three teams in the top nine of the latest College Football Playoff rankings, the SEC appears to be in good shape to get at least three teams into the CFP semifinals or New Year’s Six games, which is good news for Tennessee’s chances in landing in one of the league’s three Florida-based bowls.
A quick refresher on the SEC’s bowl process: The two semifinal games (Sugar and Rose this season) and the New Year’s Six bowls (Fiesta, Orange, Cotton and Peach this season) are slotted based on the final CFP rankings. The Citrus Bowl in Orlando gets the first pick from the remaining SEC teams. Next is the group of six bowls – Reliaquest (Tampa), Gator (Jacksonville), Music City (Nashville), Liberty (Memphis), Texas (Houston) and Duke’s Mayo (Charlotte) – and the league office slots teams into those games after getting feedback from the bowls and the schools on their preferences and evaluating other factors such as performance, ticket sales, proximity, etc.
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