Wow, the news that many Tennessee fans have been waiting for finally happened. Tennessee's kicker Max Gilbert has entered the transfer portal.
Who's leaving and who's joining: Tennessee football's 2026 Transfer Portal tracker
In his time at Tennessee, Gilbert was actually a good kicker overall, but a few crucial kicks will define his career as a Vol. The most memorable is, of course, the game-winning kick that Gilbert missed versus the eventual SEC champions, Georgia. Gilbert also missed a chip shot versus Oklahoma and a game-deciding field goal versus Illinois.
NEW: Tennessee kicker Max Gilbert plans to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, @Volquest_On3 reports. https://t.co/6wMMhvgMH6 pic.twitter.com/eeVBaKcyKT
— On3 (@On3sports) January 2, 2026
Tennessee needs to find a new Kicker
Gilbert ends his time in Knoxville making 34/45 kicks. He was 5/9 from 50+ yards and had a career long of 53. Gilbert will end up at another Power-Four school, but the relationshuip with Tennessee was starting to get toxic.
After Gilbert missed the kick in the Music City Bowl, fans were fed up, and it was the last straw. Despite having a good overall resume, Gilbert had missed one too many big kicks for Vols' fans liking. Josh Heupel will now have another primary need to address in the transfer portal.
The good news is that kickers are usually easy to find in the transfer portal and don’t require a massive NIL investment. Tennessee will need to be smart with how it allocates its resources this offseason, especially with bigger needs to address. The most notable one is at quarterback, which certainly won’t come cheap.
Finding value at kicker could allow the Vols to spend where it really matters. The defense has already had a plethora of visitors announced, and the nation's leading rusher is going to be on campus, too. Vols fans have plenty to look forward to this January, and we are just getting started.