College football's preseason polls won't come out until closer to the start of the season in September, but various media outlets and publications already have released their preseason Top 25 rankings.
At least two of them - Athlon Sports and Bruce Feldman of FoxSports.com - have Tennessee in the top 10.
The Volunteers being placed in those lofty spots was news to Butch Jones, who's guided Tennessee from irrelevant afterthought to the verge of the nation's elite in three-plus years as the head coach.
"They keep that away from me," Jones deadpanned when a reporter asked him about those rankings before the Big Orange Caravan stop at Bristol Motor Speedway last week.
"With rankings it's not where you start; it's where you end. These rankings are really the benefit of last year's football team, Team 119, and the way we finished strong with six consecutive wins and a great performance in the Outback Bowl. This football team, Team 120, has not accomplished one thing.
"We've not taken one snap, but I do like what I see so far."
In particular, Jones likes the drive his players have shown this month.
More than 30, he said, have remained on campus in Knoxville to work out with new strength coach Mike Szerszen and his staff, while a handful of others have gone other places to train in advance of the team's summer workouts. Those will begin when the team reconvenes on campus later this month.
Running back Jalen Hurd has been working out in California and recently posted video clips of him running on a treadmill at 19 and 23 mph. Quarterback Josh Dobbs also trained on the West Coast before heading to Montreal for his internship with an aerospace manufacturer. Safety Todd Kelly Jr. has been training in Florida.
Offensive linemen Drew Richmond and Venzell Boulware were in Arizona working at the training facility of former NFL offensive lineman LeCharles Bentley.
Linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin, who continues to recover from shoulder surgery in the spring, was in the complex prior to Jones' departure for Bristol watching video of the tackles he missed last season.
This part of the offseason also affords other players time to continue to heal from winter surgeries or spring injuries.
"This football team's very committed right now," Jones said, "but we have to make sure that as excited as we are right now, when we get into the days of July when they've been working for quite some time, do we have that same energy, that same leadership, that same desire?
"We're responsible for what we create, and what we have to do is just work to be a better football team every day."
With his assistant coaches on the road recruiting, Jones spent time in Florida this past week visiting with former NFL coach and current ESPN analyst Jon Gruden. It was the second time Jones has visited Gruden to watch video and talk football since the end of spring practice last month. Gruden attended Tennessee's Outback Bowl win in January.
That performance against 10-win Northwestern only fueled the offseason hype for Tennessee, which appears to be the clear-cut favorite to win the SEC East Division this season.
The Vols haven't been picked to win the division at the league's media preseason poll since 2005. Before last year, when they were slotted second behind Georgia, they hadn't been picked to finish higher than fourth in the East since 2008.
Those rankings and polls, of course, mean nothing when the season starts.
"If you tell me that's where we're ranked, I do think it's exciting for our fans, because we've come a long way," Jones said. "You look at the accomplishments that these players have had since coming here we've come a long way, but still have a long way to go.
"Those don't really mean anything. It's good for the program. I think it shows the respect that our program now has generated across the country, but that's no more, no less with that."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com