The offseason grind has begun in Knoxville, and Tennessee football is already looking ahead to spring. The Vols announced that their annual Orange & White Game will return to Neyland Stadium on Saturday, April 11. It’s a familiar spring tradition-and this year, admission is free, with more details expected in the coming weeks.
After a few years of disruption, it’s a welcome return to normalcy for the Vols. Back in 2022, the spring game was scrapped entirely due to major renovations at Neyland.
The next two years saw limited attendance-just 10,000 fans in both 2023 and 2024-as construction continued to impact stadium access. Last year, Tennessee charged $10 for tickets and capped attendance around 45,000, but the game wasn’t streamed, leaving many fans in the dark.
That 2025 edition of the Orange & White Game also came with off-field turbulence. Quarterback Nico Iamaleava, once seen as the face of the program, parted ways with Tennessee just before the spring game wrapped. It was a dramatic end to what had once been a promising partnership.
Now, the Vols are looking to turn the page.
They’re in their third week of winter workouts under new Director of Football Sports Performance Derek Owings, with spring practice set to begin March 16, right after the university’s spring break. Over the following four weeks, Tennessee will ramp up toward that April 11 scrimmage-an opportunity not just to shake off the rust, but to give fans and recruits a sneak peek at the future of the program.
And there’s plenty to be excited about.
Tennessee is ushering in a wave of new talent-44 new players in total-including five-star quarterback Faizon Brandon and dynamic wide receiver TK Keys. Both are expected to be key pieces of the Vols’ next chapter. Defensively, there’s a new voice in the room: Jim Knowles, who takes over as defensive coordinator following Tim Banks’ departure after a season that saw the unit take a step back.
The Orange & White Game will be the first real look at Knowles’ system in action, and while coaches won’t show much (especially with rosters now capped at 105 players), it’s still a valuable window into the development of this team. These spring showcases may not carry the weight they once did-especially with the SEC no longer requiring them to be televised-but they remain a key touchpoint for fans and recruits alike. It’s a chance to walk through the gates of Neyland, feel the energy, and get a glimpse of what fall Saturdays might look like.
Across college football, the future of spring games has been a bit murky. In 2025, several powerhouse programs-Ohio State, Texas, Oregon, USC, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Florida State among them-opted not to hold a traditional spring game.
But with the NCAA’s spring transfer portal window now eliminated, there’s renewed hope that these games can stick around. Coaches no longer have to worry about a breakout spring performance turning into a transfer portal audition.
For Tennessee, this spring is about more than just tradition. It’s a reset after an 8-5 season that fell short of expectations.
The Vols finished unranked for the first time since Josh Heupel’s debut in 2021, a sharp contrast from their top-10 finishes in the three seasons prior. Still, Heupel enters his sixth year with a 45-20 record and a program that’s shown it can compete at a high level.
Now, the focus shifts to building the next contender.
April 11 will be more than just a scrimmage-it’ll be the first step in showing that Tennessee is ready to bounce back.