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TSR's 2023 Preseason D1 XC Top 25 Rankings (Men): #11 Tennessee Volunteers
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Aug 24, 2023
- 9 min read
NOTE: Earlier this summer, The Stride Report reached out to nearly every team that was considered for a possible ranking this summer. While we did receive numerous responses and great clarity, we did not get a 100% response rate. On rare occasions, we are referencing TFFRS in order to talk about returners and athletes who are out of eligibility.
Tennessee's first fall campaign under Coach Sean Carlson yielded mostly positives, even if the season didn't end how they wanted it to. In the matter of one relatively short offseason, the former Notre Dame distance coach completely revamped the Volunteer's distance roster with multiple transfer standouts.
And after being somewhat of a non-factor near the top of the SEC over the years, the Tennessee men became a nightmare to deal with on the grass.
But the year is now 2023 and the team's focal superstar, Dylan Jacobs, has opted to turn pro, signing a professional contract with On. This, in turn, leaves Yaseen Abdalla as the main low-stick ace of this team.
However, depth will be the least of Tennessee's problems over the coming months. With a mass number of new additions, all of whom could impact this team in the fall, the Volunteers have sky-high potential and the ability to be even better than last year's group if everything breaks in their favor.
* * *
Last fall, the Tennessee men would first debut their revamped lineup at the Joe Piane XC Invitational, a homecoming of sorts for both Sean Carlson and Dylan Jacobs. And with so much uncertainty about how this new-look group would perform, the Vols were easily the most interesting team to watch at the meet.
In South Bend, Indiana, the men in orange delivered on their potential. Yaseen Abdalla snagged a huge 4th place while Jacobs was slightly behind in 8th place, still shaking off the summer rust. Even so, that firepower gave this team a massive spark.
With Eli Nahom (19th) acting as a key third scorer and Jacob Lewis (33rd) holding his own, the Tennessee men had plenty to be excited about. With veteran Karl Thiessen (40th) closing out the scoring relatively quickly, the Volunteers secured a promising runner-up finish, losing only to Notre Dame.
And for a squad that didn't have sub-13:40 (5k) man Nate Kawalec racing, there were plenty of reasons to be encouraged about the postseason potential of the Knoxville-based men.
The Joe Piane XC Invitational would be the last major regular season meet that Tennessee put their focus on. The SEC XC Championships would be their next priority.
Unfortunately for Tennessee, that race was less productive.
Jacobs (2nd) and Abdalla (3rd) were fantastic while Thiessen (14th) and Kawalec (15th) held their own, offering similar-caliber scoring at the third and fourth scoring spots as their opponents.
However, with Nahom having an "off" day and Lewis recording a DNF result, the depth simply wasn't there for the Vols. With Canaan Anderson posting a decent-ish 30th place finish to close out the scoring, the Tennessee men had to settle for a runner-up result, beating Arkansas on the tie-breaker for silver.
Despite the not-so-great conference meet showing, Tennessee would get through the South Regional XC Championships with relative ease. Their focus was clearly on the national meet.
But the newly constructed team struggled somewhat in Stillwater, Oklahoma. While their underwhelming performance at the SEC XC Championships could be attributed to one or two fluke races, the NCAA XC Championships was a slightly different story for Tennessee.
Jacobs (4th) was brilliant and Abdalla (33rd) validated his All-American result from last fall. Through two scorers, Tennessee was in a great spot. That, however, is where the good news ended for the Vols. With no other men cracking the top-175 in the overall results, and the team's fifth scorer fading to 217th place, the men of Knoxville had to settle for a 20th place finish on the national stage.
It was a result that felt far off from the fringe top-10 expectations that the overall talent of this roster carried.
* * *
Despite their not-so-great postseason, the Tennessee men were so much more talented last fall than what their conference and national meet performances showed. The Joe Piane XC Invitational was a perfect example of that -- and they didn't even have one of their scorers for that race.
However, as we saw on multiple occasions, backend consistency and depth were an issue for this team. Sure, this group could have been prepared if just one of their scorers (not named Jacobs or Abdalla) had an "off" day, but there were often two or three names who never had their best days during their postseason efforts.
But now the Volunteer men could have a new challenge entering the 2023 cross country season given that they are losing Dylan Jacobs. And by not having the guy who was responsible for such an overwhelming portion of this team's scoring, the Tennessee men need to find new ways to approach their lineup structure for this fall.
Luckily, Coach Sean Carlson was well ahead of us.
Firepower may be more limited for the men in orange this fall compared to last year. However, their depth, upside and reinforcements will be far more plentiful than they were last fall. In fact, Tennessee may end up having one of the deeper distance rosters in the entire NCAA over the coming months.
And if certain names make the leap that we think they can, then it's going to be hard for many teams to jump past the Volunteers in our rankings.
* * *
Still having Yaseen Abdalla as the low-stick for this team is extremely important. For as good and as deep as the rest of this roster is, the Volunteers still needed a star name to give them some firepower. Without him, this ranking is way too high.
We'll admit, we weren't totally sure what we were going to see from Abdalla after his 2021 fall campaign with Texas. He earned a great All-American result that season, but the rest of his races didn't match that performance.
However, in 2022, Abdalla was a different animal. He was great in all three of his major efforts (Joe Piane, the SEC XC Championships and the national meet) and his raw fitness showed on the track, running 7:42 for 3000 meters.
While there are still some tactical things that Abdalla could improve upon, it's hard for him to be much better in terms of the points that he scored for this team last fall. As far as Joe Piane and his conference meet are concerned, any improvements in his placement would yield only a few points.
And to be clear, that's a good thing -- Tennessee is (for the most part) getting the most value out of him that they can. And compared to 2021, he's much more reliable.
However, the second scorer on this team could be anyone.
Actually, you could also say that about the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh spots of the Volunteers' projected lineup. Truthfully, you could put their names in a hat, pull them out for each lineup spot and that would be just as effective as us guessing.
Sure, that's maybe a slight exaggeration, but the point stands: The scoring options on this team are seemingly limitless.
* * *
Going through all of the possible men who could crack this lineup and offering paragraphs upon paragraphs of analysis for each of them would be an exhaustive exercise. It also wouldn't answer our question(s) of what exactly this lineup is going to look like.
And yet, at the same time, it's important that these guys also get some kind of recognition. In a lot of instances, these returners and newcomers could have a legitimate impact on their team over the next few months.
That's why I'm going to do something that I've never done before in a team rankings article -- I'm going to utilize a bulletpoint list. It goes against every fiber of what I believe makes effective storytelling, but you can blame that on Coach Sean Carlson given how good he is at recruiting...
Gabriel Sanchez (transfer via Indiana): You could probably argue that Sanchez is favored to be the second scorer in this year's Tennessee lineup. He came over from Indiana after placing 85th at Nuttycombe, 3rd at the BIG 10 XC Championships and 97th on the national stage last fall. He's due for a breakout season even if his performances on the track suggest otherwise.
Brandon Olden (grad transfer via Siena): He's been fine on the grass, but not necessarily great. However, that could be changing after Olden ran 7:58 for 3000 meters this past winter. That time complements his 5k PR of 13:45 from the winter of 2022. He's clearly capable of being a scorer on this team, but he'll need to be at his best consistently in order for that to happen.
Obsaa Feda (grad transfer via Miami (OH)): This guy is sneaky-good on the grass. Finishing 8th at the Louisville XC Classic, 6th at the Bradley Pink Classic and winning the MAC XC Championships was a nice string of results last fall. He placed 21st at the Great Lakes Regional XC Championships, but he could be a solid scorer for this team in 2023 even if he doesn't improve.
Nate Kawalec (returner & grad transfer via NC State): During his time with NC State, Nate Kawalec had a breakout 2022 outdoor track season where he brought his 5k PR down to 13:39. He had a handful of very nice moments last fall, finishing 15th at the SEC XC Championships and placing 9th at the South Regional XC Championships. However, consistency is going to need to be a much bigger priority for him in 2023.
Eli Nahom (returner): A 19th place finish at the Joe Piane XC Invitational was super exciting to see. We also liked that he ran 13:57 (5k) on the indoor oval this past winter. However, his postseason efforts weren't great. We think that'll change as he continues to grow, but we'll need to see his Joe Piane result replicated a bit more consistently throughout this fall.
Jacob Lewis (returner & grad transfer via Grand Canyon): We haven't seen him race since last fall and his 33rd place finish at Joe Piane was the clear highlight of his 2022 fall campaign. But at the very least, he'll bring a veteran presence to this roster and offer some valuable backend support. He could still be a scorer come September, October and possibly November.
Canaan Anderson (returner): He was far from perfect last fall, but a 30th place finish at the SEC XC Championships showed some faint promise. The same could be said for his DMR efforts where he began to look increasingly more comfortable. After a strong year in the 1500 meter and mile distances, don't be surprised if Anderson has a breakout year on the grass.
Christopher Cherry (transfer via Illinois-Springfield): After earning three out of four votes for The Stride Report's "Most Improved" Award (D2) this past spring, Christopher Cherry has shifted his talents to Knoxville, Tennessee. A 78th place finish at the 2022 NCAA D2 XC Championships was solid, but his rise this past spring suggests that he could have been a D2 All-American this fall if he hadn't transferred. At the very least, he'll offer depth. But if he keeps improving, then you're looking at a possible scorer.
Brett Brady (transfer via Navy): Finishing 4th at the Patriot League XC Championships and running 8:52 in the steeplechase are promising developments. Brady could find himself cracking Tennessee's top-seven this fall, but he'll need to continue making improvements in 2023 if he's going to be an impact name.
Will Cahill (transfer via UT-Martin): He's still young and still developing, but after running 14:08 (5k) this past spring, Coach Sean Carlson is clearly aiming to bring in high-upside names in hopes that one or two could break out this fall -- and Cahill may be one of those guys.
Dean Casey (international recruit): This 20-year old ace from Ireland has run 13:58 (5k) and 28:57 (10k), making him one of the better young and rising distance talents to enter the NCAA this fall. If you don't believe me, then just know that Casey finished 3rd at the U20 European XC Championships back in December. He should have no problem entering this program and making an instant impact, potentially as a secondary scorer behind Abdalla.
Jacob Nenow (recruit): The Oregon native was one TSR's top-ranked American distance recruits in the Class of 2023. With personal bests of 8:47 (3200) and 14:35 (5k XC), this long distance harrier could play a key role for this team that just needs one or two men to produce a spark in 2023.
Pavel Vinduska (international recruit): He's more of a middle distance runner, holding a 3:41 (1500) PR for 1500 meters, but this incoming Czech recruit could be talented enough to force his way into this team's top-seven later this fall.
Nathan Atchue (recruit): With personal bests of 8:54 (3200) and 14:49 (5k XC), as well as a 13th place finish at the Champs Sports XC National Championships, this Virginia native could be just as good of rookie as Nenow is later this fall.
Oh, and by the way, there are still 10 guys on this roster who were not mentioned in this article. Yeah, this team is THAT deep.
* * *
We'll fully admit, Yaseen Abdalla is the only guy on this team who we feel 100% comfortable about going into the 2023 cross country season. Everyone else on this roster is either, a) still super young, or b) still developing.
And yet, we refuse to believe that two or three of these guys won't have big breakout seasons. There are so many men with so much upside and almost all of them have shown extremely promising upwards trends over the last year.
I'm surprised that I'm saying this, but there may not be a men's team that we have listed in our preseason rankings (so far) that is expected to have greater depth than Tennessee this fall.
Yes, I would even go as far to say that the Volunteers have better lineup options than Princeton, Portland or Washington this fall -- and they have a better low-stick.
We still need to see how the rest of this roster develops, but the Vols are going to, yet again, be one of the more fascinating teams to watch as we venture into the fall months.
