Ty Simpson just broke Tennessee fans' hearts, and it is all Josh Heupel's fault

It would have been cool to get one past the Alabama Crimson Tide by potentially landing Ty Simpson in the transfer portal, but the Martin native decided to turn pro. Frankly, he should have, regardless of the state of the Tennessee Volunteers' quarterback room. Somebody has to be QB2 or QB3 behind Fernando Mendoza in the 2026 NFL Draft. It might as well be Simpson, who looked the part at Bama.

Unfortunately for Vols fans, Simpson officially put pen to paper by declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft...

So in the wake of Simpson declaring and former Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt opting to transfer to LSU, this puts teams without an obvious solution under center next season like Tennessee or Miami in quite the predicament. Miami has a national championship to win at home on Monday night. As for Tennessee, the Volunteers have to pick up the pieces entering this offseason.

Here is why Josh Heupel is entirely to blame for the state of the Volunteers' quarterback room today.

Josh Heupel is even more under fire for not landing a transfer portal QB

Although Heupel has brought a winning football culture back to Knoxville, he has also brought with him an offense that does not get its best players ready for the NFL. He cut his teeth starring in the Air Raid system during his playing days at Oklahoma for Bob Stoops within the context of Mike Leach's scheme. Heupel has brought his own spin on it with him from UCF after taking over for Jeremy Pruitt.

While it helped Tennessee get back into good graces with the sport when Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton were the starters, it contributed to Nico Iamaleava jumping ship after one season as the starter following a playoff run. He took the money to come to Tennessee, but may not have realized that most savvy defensive minds can stop this offense with enough preparation. It has limited the Vols' ceiling...

Although Joey Aguilar did play well within this offense, he is out of eligibility, and not much more of a pro prospect than he was coming over from Appalachian State by way of UCLA to even begin with. Yes, Tennessee could have backed up the so-called Brinks truck to pay Simpson Carson Beck-level money in the transfer portal. However, his stock is too high to leave it to chance for one more season.

So what is Tennessee to do? The Vols may need to go forward with George MacIntyre next season to see what happens. He has enough runway to make all of these well-founded criticisms of Heupel's offense a moot point. That being said, Tennessee may not be as big of a player in the portal, or in high school recruitment, until Heupel develops a second pitch. He has to adapt or this could get ugly soon.

2026 is a big season for Heupel to remain in the good graces of Vol Nation after a challenging 2025.