Josh Heupel didn’t wait long to throw a jab at Lane Kiffin.
At SEC Media Days on Monday, the Tennessee coach made it clear he’s already thinking about Kiffin’s return to Knoxville later this season. Heupel even had a message for Volunteers fans.
“I certainly hope our fan base hasn’t cooled off,” Heupel said Monday at SEC Media Days. “So you know whether it’s the grocery stores being fully stocked with mustard or, you know, our sports stores making sure that they got reinforcements on the golf balls, hopefully, Knoxville’s ready for his arrival.”
Kiffin is set to make the rounds at his former stops this year, with LSU bringing him back to Ole Miss in Week 3 before the Tigers face Tennessee later in the fall. Heupel’s interest is obvious: he wants Knoxville ready to greet Kiffin the same way it has before, only this time with a loss waiting at the end of the night.
Kiffin has long leaned into his villain role in the SEC, and the theatrics seem to suit him just fine. He was back at Tennessee a couple of years ago, and the reception was anything but friendly. Fans pelted him with golf balls and mustard.
Anything Tennessee supporters might have planned for Kiffin will probably pale next to what Ole Miss has waiting for him. Less than a year after leaving Ole Miss for LSU, Kiffin is headed back to Oxford for a primetime game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. It will be his first trip back since departing the Rebels after the 2025 regular season.
In Other News...
SEC Power Shift Talk Should Have Mississippi State Fans On Edge
Greg Sankey did not exactly pour cold water on the idea of the SEC rethinking its place in college sports, and that alone is enough to make people around the league pay attention. The commissioner said the conversations are real, which underscores just how much frustration has built up inside the conference over the sports current direction, from the messiness of NIL oversight to the broader tug-of-war over how the College Football Playoff is structured.
Still, Sankey stopped short of framing a split as the answer, even as he pointed to the SECs recent success across the board as proof the league is not operating from a position of panic. His comments suggest the bigger issue is whether the national system can be made to work in a way that keeps the SEC invested, because if those concerns keep piling up, the pressure around the conferences future is not going away anytime soon. [Read more 🡒]
DeSean Bishop Just Weighed In On Tennessees Future Backfield
DeSean Bishop is already thinking about what Tennessees backfield could look like down the road, even while he keeps his own attention on the season in front of him. The All-SEC running back said he would be open to sharing snaps with a highly ranked 2027 recruit, a sign that the Volunteers pitch on the trail is not just about landing talent, but about selling a future in which elite backs can coexist.
For Tennessee, that kind of message matters because the backfield picture is far from settled. Bishop has NFL aspirations, and his own return in 2027 is anything but certain, which means any long-term plan at running back could change quickly. Even so, his willingness to embrace the idea gives the Vols a little more credibility as they try to stay in the mix for one of the nations top young backs. [Read more 🡒]
Josh Heupel Finally Addressed Tennessees Most Frustrating Defensive Exit
Chaz Colemans brief run in Knoxville has become one of the more frustrating defensive footnotes of Tennessees offseason, and Josh Heupel finally offered a little clarity on it at SEC media days. The former five-star prospect arrived with real buzz, but his time with the Vols ended after only a few months, leaving the staff to reset at a position that was supposed to get a boost from his arrival.
Heupel said Coleman was never fully integrated into the team because of personal challenges, which helps explain why the situation felt bigger from the outside than it did inside the building. Now Tennessee has to move forward with a thinner group at LEO, where Jordan Norman is expected to lead the rotation and the Vols will need the rest of the room to settle in quickly. [Read more 🡒]