Tennessee’s ground game is coming in as the kind of problem that can make even the best defense feel a step slow.
The No. 14 Volunteers are averaging 281.3 rushing yards per game, tops in the SEC and fourth nationally behind the three service academies, and that’s the centerpiece of the challenge waiting for No.
1 Texas on Saturday at Neyland Stadium. For Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel, it’s also part of the plan to keep true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon protected.
Heupel’s veer-and-shoot attack is known for those wide receiver splits that stretch a defense from sideline to sideline, but Tennessee has also leaned into a more varied run game than the label might suggest. That was especially true early in the season, when the Vols used a lot of 12 personnel before the season-ending ACL injury to No. 1 tight end Ethan Davis in the Week 2 win against Georgia Tech.
“Early in the season, there was obviously a lot of more two tight end stuff, 12 personnel stuff, and man, it was very intricate stuff with both tight ends and inserts and different things and not to mention the quarterback using his legs,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said on Thursday.
That structure has paid off for Tennessee’s backs. DeSean Bishop is averaging 7.2 yards per carry and has scored three of his four rushing touchdowns out of 12 personnel. Duane Morris has been even more explosive in that grouping, averaging 14.9 yards per carry and scoring both of his rushing touchdowns from it.
The first snap from scrimmage against Georgia Tech showed how Bishop’s patience fits that setup. With condensed splits also pulling attention toward bubble screen action to the field, the result was a 33-yard run.
Still, Tennessee’s personnel mix has shifted. Heupel called runs from 12 personnel 17 times in Week 2, then only 10 times in Week 3. With Davis out, the Vols could lean more heavily on 11 personnel against Texas on Saturday, a grouping in which Bishop has had less success and more negative plays.
Even so, Heupel has another wrinkle available. The Diamond formation with two tight ends produced a big Bishop touchdown run in short-yardage against Georgia Tech, and it could surface again.
The bigger point, though, is the range of Tennessee’s run game. Sarkisian credited Heupel for the creativity baked into it.
“I give Coach Heupel a lot of credit - they’re very creative in the run game whether it’s the counters, the inserts, the same side counter stuff that they do. So they’ve got really good schemes, they’re committed to it,” Sarkisian said.
That versatility is what makes Tennessee so hard to settle on defensively. If Texas tries to crowd the box, the Vols can attack outside and make the Longhorn secondary tackle in space against Tennessee’s athletic receivers. If the Longhorns lighten the box, Heupel can go back to the ground with his varied run schemes, including read-option looks for Brandon.
Brandon adds another layer because of what he can do when plays break down. On 15 scrambles, he has gained 96 yards, a 6.4-yard average that can test the discipline of Texas’ pass rush lanes.
A consensus five-star prospect and the No. 10 player nationally in the 2026 recruiting class, Brandon is one part of a Tennessee offense that Sarkisian sees as loaded with the pieces needed to make those intricate ideas work.
“They’ve got good players. They’ve got a good O-line.
They’ve got an elite left tackle. They’ve got good runners, the tight end before he got injured was an elite player.
So they have people to execute very intricate schemes and they believe in it,” Sarkisian said.
Tempo is part of the stress test too. Tennessee ranked eighth nationally in seconds per play last season, and that pace figures to challenge Texas, especially up front. The Longhorns do have depth to work with, though, even if star edge Colin Simmons is unavailable.
“We’re fortunate - we do have we do have a really good defensive front. We do have the depth in there and the ability to roll guys,” Sarkisian said.
That depth also gives Texas options in how it lines up. Sarkisian said the versatility of the front allows Muschamp to mix and match across multiple looks.
“What I say about our front, too, is we’ve got some very versatile guys, guys that can play, a shade or a nose, but at the same time they can be a three technique or a 4i. We’ve got edge players that can slide in and play five techniques or 4is, and so it allows us to be versatile with Coach Muschamp with the different fronts and packages that that he likes to use,” Sarkisian said.
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