Anonymous SEC coach rips Tennessee’s chances of a big year in 2026

Tennessee took a step back last year. In some ways, how could it not have with Nico Iamaleava blindsiding the program with his spring transfer portal departure and star cornerback Jermod McCoy missing the entire year with an injury. In other ways, though, Josh Heupel’s 2024 College Football Playoff appearance was supposed to be a stepping stone, and instead, the Volunteers are staring down another potential retooling year with a freshman quarterback and a new defensive coordinator, Jim Knowles. 

Will Tennessee be better than its 8-5 record in 2025? For Heupel’s sake, it better be. He set a high bar in 2022 and 2024. Now, there’s serious pressure to live up to it. One anonymous SEC coach who spoke to Athlon Sports doesn’t think he can. 

“They’re unproven at quarterback” 

That’s undeniably true. Joey Aguilar sued for an additional season of eligibility and lost, so Heupel is spending his offseason evaluating redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and five-star true freshman Faizon Brandon. While they’re both talented players, more physically gifted than Aguilar, Tennessee is heading into a crucial year unproven at quarterback, and that’s undeniably a problem. 

However, looking around the rest of the SEC, there aren’t a ton of sure things at QB. Arch Manning at Texas certainly seems as close as you could get, and Trinidad Chambliss proved his mettle in the CFP for Ole Miss. However, Alabama is breaking in a new QB, either Austin Mack or Keelon Russell, LSU transfer Sam Leavvit is coming off a significant foot injury that has cost him much of his first offseason with Lane Kiffin, Byrum Brown is making the jump from USF to Auburn, and Vanderbilt is breaking in a five-star freshman too with Jared Curtis. 

There’s even a strong argument to be made that you’d rather bet on the upside of MacIntyre or Brandon over a flawed returning starter like Marcel Reed or a known commodity like Gunner Stockton. I’m not saying it’s the right argument to make, but there’s a case. 

“They want to run the ball, but do they have enough of a threat downfield”

Again, like quarterback, Heupel has taken swings on upside at wide receiver. In the backfield, DeSean Bishop is coming off a 1,000-yard season, and the offensive line is strong, but Chris Brazzell II left for the NFL after leading the SEC in receiving last season. That leaves Mike Matthews, Braylon Staley, Radarious Jackson, and Tristen Keys, the five-star freshman Tennessee flipped from LSU. 

This time last year, it was unclear who would step up, but Matthews and Staley both had 800-yard seasons last year, and the fact that Tennessee didn’t make a serious portal move at wide receiver speaks to the strength of that group. 

Maybe the critique about a downfield threat is about the quarterback position more than the wide receiver room. But at this point, with Heupel’s offense, which doesn’t require receivers to be precise route-runners or tacticians, and wide receiver coach Kelsey Pope’s ability to develop that room, there’s not much reason to question whether or not the Vols will have playmakers. 

“I don’t think they’ll be better”

On defense, Tennessee can’t be much worse. That’s why it brought Jim Knowles from Penn State. Though he’s known for having a longer onboarding process when he takes a new job, he was conscious about keeping pieces of the defensive staff intact and bringing assistants with him from Penn State to expedite that transition. 

Will Tennessee be a CFP contender in 2026? Probably not. The odds are against it, especially with Texas, Alabama, Texas A&M, and LSU all on the schedule, not to mention whatever version of Vanderbilt exists post-Diego Pavia and a resurgent Kentucky program under first-year head coach Will Stein. Will it be better than last season, when it had to insert a new quarterback in May, and the defense fell apart? That seems pretty likely, even if some anonymous coach taking shots in the media doesn’t see it.

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