There’s never really a quiet offseason around Tennessee football, and this year has definitely kept that trend alive. Reports have surfaced that Chaz Coleman has been homesick, and with Tennessee rumored to have invested heavily in the star edge rusher through NIL, there’s obviously a lot of attention on the situation. Because of that, the Tennessee staff and boosters are continuing to work hard to keep Coleman in Knoxville and fully bought into the program moving forward.
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Given that, next week, the Tennessee Vols will report back to campus to begin summer workouts and prepare for this fall. Everyone will have their eyes peeled to see if Coleman makes it back to campus to get ready for the season. Austin Price of On3 had an encouraging update for Vols fans on the Josh and Swain show yesterday regarding Coleman. He said, "I'll be shocked if he's not back out there. There's even some positive momentum there behind the scenes over the last several weeks, so I'm going with he'll be there next week. Maybe I'll be shocked, but that's where I'm going."
Will Chaz Coleman be with Tennessee's football team when summer workouts begin early next week?@AustinPriceless weighed in during @JoshandSwain on Wednesday pic.twitter.com/XVlA9ma4yA
— Josh Ward (@Josh_Ward) May 21, 2026
Chaz Coleman should be back for Josh Heupel and the Vols
Honestly, I can’t think of a much better update for Tennessee than this one. Price basically gave Vols fans the best possible news regarding Chaz Coleman. For one, it’s awesome to hear that Coleman isn’t feeling homesick anymore because that’s a tough thing for any young player to deal with. At the same time, it also means Tennessee’s big investment in him looks like it’s going to pay off, which is obviously massive for the program moving forward. $3 Million isn't cheap, and had that money gone to waste, it could have deterred people from investing in the program again.
Plus, there’s a reason the staff invested so heavily in Chaz Coleman. The Vols needed more talent and explosiveness on the edge, so why not go out and get an athletic freak who can completely change a game with his pass-rushing ability? Coleman has the explosiveness, speed, bend, and size to be a menace on the edge. Tennessee needs this, as they had a solid pass rush last year, but they lost Joshua Josephs, Caleb Herring, Jordan Ross, and others.
If Coleman sticks around as expected, Tennessee should have a really intriguing edge duo with Coleman and Tyree Weathersby. Coleman may not have had huge production as a freshman, but the flashes were obvious. His pass-rush win rate and overall athleticism jumped off the screen at times. Meanwhile, Weathersby is more of a physical, set-the-edge type player rather than a pure pass-rushing specialist. But with Coleman demanding attention on the opposite side, it could really open things up for him.
All in all, things are really starting to trend for the Vosl on defense. They should have a revamped secondary under Knowles, and the pass rush situation now looks 100 times better than it did during spring ball. This should get Tennessee fans pumped up.
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