Tennessee is set to open fall camp on Wednesday, and the first preseason ranking already gives a clear picture of where Josh Heupel’s team sits heading into the 2026 season.
The Vols landed at No. 18 in the USA Today Coaches Poll preseason top 25, placing them eighth among SEC teams. Tennessee checks in behind No.
3 Georgia, No. 4 Texas, No.
8 Texas A&M, No. 9 Oklahoma, No.
10 Ole Miss, No. 11 Alabama and No.
13 LSU, while sitting ahead of No. 25 Missouri.
That ranking also underscores the kind of schedule Tennessee is staring at this fall. Heupel’s sixth SEC team will face four preseason ranked opponents: Texas, Alabama, LSU and Texas A&M. The Longhorns, Crimson Tide and Tigers all come to Neyland Stadium, giving Tennessee a home slate with plenty of weight to it.
The Coaches Poll placement is familiar territory for the Vols. Last season, Tennessee climbed as high as No. 12 after its overtime road win at Mississippi State. The team stayed in the poll through the regular season, even after a loss to Vanderbilt in the finale, but dropped out of the final Coaches Poll after the Music City Bowl loss to Illinois.
A lot of the conversation around this team starts at quarterback. True freshman Faizon Brandon and redshirt freshman George MacIntyre are battling for the starting job in fall camp, and neither has meaningful college experience. Still, Tennessee has built plenty around that uncertainty.
The Vols return seven starters on offense, with several names positioned to be major contributors in the SEC race: David Sanders Jr, Wendell Moe Jr, DeSean Bishop, Braylon Staley and Mike Matthews.
Defensively, Tennessee took a different route. The unit was reshaped this offseason with Jim Knowles hired as defensive coordinator and several new staffers brought in around him. The roster changed along with the coaching staff, as the Vols were aggressive in the transfer portal.
There’s a lot to like about Tennessee’s back seven, but the defensive line remains the biggest question mark, especially after Penn State transfer Chaz Coleman left the team earlier this offseason.
Tennessee will host its in-house media day on Tuesday before camp officially begins Wednesday. RockyTopInsider.com will have full coverage of media day, including press conferences from Heupel, Brandon, MacIntyre, Knowles, Joey Halzle and others.
In Other News...
Josh Heupel Blasts Arion Carter Fallout Tennessee Fans Will Hate
Arion Carters return to Tennessee should have been a clean football story, the kind coaches use to point to a player betting on himself and coming back for another season. Instead, the linebackers offseason has been clouded by an NCAA ruling tied to a $427 flight from the pre-NFL draft process, a benefit Carter later repaid after choosing to head back to school. The situation has already put the Volunteers in an awkward spot, with one of their linebackers facing a penalty after doing what programs usually celebrate.
Josh Heupel did not hide his frustration with how the case was handled, and he made it clear he believes Carters character and decision to stay in Knoxville deserved a different outcome. Tennessee now has to move forward with Carter unavailable for two games this season, a setback that lands harder because the issue stems from a narrow recruiting-and-draft process technicality rather than anything on the field. It leaves the Vols dealing with the practical cost of a ruling their coach clearly thinks missed the point. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee's Secondary Just Took A Tough Hit Before Jim Knowles' Debut
Tennessees secondary took an early blow before Jim Knowles has even settled into his new role, with cornerback Jadais Richard set to miss the 2026 season because of a season-ending injury, according to Adam Sparks of Knox News. Richard arrived from Miami as a versatile defensive back who could move around the back end, and his history of injuries made durability a quiet concern even before this latest setback.
For a defense that had counted on offseason portal additions and returning players to stabilize the rotation, losing Richard narrows the margin for error at corner. Knowles is trying to reshape a retooled secondary, and one less experienced piece in that mix makes the job a little more complicated before the season even gets going. [Read more 🡒]
Deion Just Put Former Vol Boo Carter Back Under The Spotlight
Boo Carters move from Tennessee to Colorado was always going to keep him in view, but Deion Sanders has now turned the attention up another notch. The former Vol defensive back, who was dismissed from the program before transferring, is working under Sanders with the Buffaloes, and the Hall of Fame coach has been openly bullish on what Carter can become as he settles into a fresh start.
Sanders went so far as to suggest Carter has the kind of athletic tools that could put him in first-round NFL Draft territory in either 2027 or 2028, a striking vote of confidence for a player still early in his development. For Tennessee fans, it is another reminder of both Carters upside and the reasons his path changed in the first place, and for Colorado it adds a little more intrigue around a transfer whose ceiling is being discussed long before the story is finished. [Read more 🡒]