Tennessee’s linebacker room has become one of the clearest strengths on the roster, and CBS thinks it stacks up with anybody in the country.
In the network’s 2026 college football superteam built by position group, the Vols claimed the linebacker spot outright. That selection came with a simple explanation from CBS’s Chris Hummer: “The Volunteers have the deepest linebacker unit in the country,” he wrote.
The case starts with the names already in the building. Edwin Spillman and Jeremiah Telander led Tennessee in tackles last year, and both are back for 2026. Hummer pointed out that neither may even crack the starting lineup because of the players ahead of them: Arion Carter, an expected draft pick who returned to school because of injury, and Penn State transfer Amare Campbell, a four-star portal addition who has piled up 179 tackles, 20 TFLs and 9.5 sacks over the past two seasons.
That kind of depth is exactly why Tennessee looks so loaded at the spot. Carter and Campbell are projected as the starters, but Spillman, Telander and Jadon Perlotte all logged meaningful snaps in 2025 and are expected to have major roles again. The group also includes returners Jaedon Harmon and Jordan Burns, along with incoming freshmen Brayden Rouse and TJ White.
Linebackers coach William Inge talked this spring about the challenge of sorting through all that talent.
“The one thing we’re always trying to do is we’re trying to find what we call ‘healthy solutions’,” Inge said. “So, we have to, as a staff and obviously myself as the leader of the group, make sure we find the best tight-knit unit.
Who can do what from a practice standpoint, but also what combinations of guys, who can play well together, how do they play together and who can play what respective positions? So yes, it’s a very good problem, but that’s our challenge in coaching and for everyone in the room.
Our responsibility is to get Tennessee football to where we can be in position to play for and win a championship and I’m just one of the pawns doing our job.”
Tennessee will have a couple of those linebackers front and center at SEC Media Days on Monday. Carter and Telander are set to attend with head coach Josh Heupel and running back DeSean Bishop as the Vols begin laying out their 2026 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 🡒]