Signing Day has come and gone for Tennessee football with the Vols making some big-time flips on Wednesday afternoon and finishing with a top 10 class. The highest ranked in the Josh Heupel era. Now, the attention for most of the fanbase will shift to transfer portal needs as the ‘free agency’ window in college football will officially open next month.
“It’s different this cycle. Just the timing of the portal in general. I think it’s a positive for us,”
Josh Heupel said Wednesday of the portal.
“We’ll look at what we signed in this class, what we have coming back and then attack the portal. How we continue to grow our roster to be ready to go compete and win a championship.”
Tennessee bounced back offensively in 2025 as the Southeastern Conference’s
highest-scoring group with the second-best passing attack. Defensively, it was a different story as the elite numbers of 2024 took a backseat with the group struggling in all areas.
With opportunity to improve the roster in certain spots, is there any specific area Heupel has targeted when the portal officially opens?
“I wouldn’t say anything as of right now, but certainly here over the coming days and weeks, we will look hard at that,” Heupel said.
“We’re finishing up exit interviews with our current players now and then be ready to attack that when it comes.”
Below are a couple of positions Tennessee will likely explore when the transfer portal opens in January.
Safety
For the first time under this defensive regime, Tennessee had a true safety rotation in 2024 with four players. That quickly evaporated this fall by shrinking down to basically two with senior
Andre Turrentine and sophomore
Edrees Farooq.
Turrentine was a two-year starter and saw plenty of action towards the end of the 2023 season as well. This season, the safety logged 709 total snaps (third on team) with a Pro Football Focus grade of 59.1. He also missed 10 tackles, which was tied for second on the team.
Farooq was a first-time starter in 2025 and can be a good football player. He certainly had some bright spots along the way this fall as well. Still, he was charged with playing 677 snaps (fourth most) with a PFF grade of 68.8. The sophomore also missed a team-high 19 tackles, which was nine more than the next closest.
Farooq has a lot of football in front of him and the hope is he continues to get better. Turrentine is out of eligibility.
Kaleb Beasley logged 284 snaps as the third safety while freshman
Sidney Walton got a taste of the action with 102 snaps in six games at safety.
Tennessee needs more bodies to fill a true rotation at safety, but more than anything, the Vols need an impact player or two in the back end. Tennessee would love to find an eraser in the portal and there will be plenty of attention focused on finding one.
Cornerback/STAR
We’ll start at cornerback where the Vols would probably like to add some depth.
Jermod McCoy, who missed all of 2025 with an offseason injury, will be drafted early this spring. Same is likely true for
Colton Hood, who played well in his place and has earned early draft consideration. Veteran reserve
William Wright will also be leaving the program as he has exhausted his eligibility.
The good news for Tennessee is
Rickey Gibson is expected back. The junior missed all but 19 snaps this season after suffering an injury in the opener. Freshman
Ty Redmond was forced into action and will be better for it. He ended up leading the team with three interceptions and 10 pass-breakups while being targeting a team-high 70 times through the air.
Still, some depth is needed as Hood (774) and Redmond (726) led the team in defensive snaps.
Boo Carter is no longer with the football team and
Jalen McMurray, who was the nickelback (STAR) starter, has exhausted eligibility and is off to
the Senior Bowl. There’s no sure answer at the STAR position right now looking ahead to 2026.
Defensive Line
You can never have enough defensive linemen and that is even more true with the large rotation Rodney Garner likes to play.
Tennessee will lose its best pass-rusher
Joshua Josephs at LEO. Defensive end and the team’s most productive defensive lineman
Dominic Bailey is also out of eligibility. Same for tackles
Bryson Eason and
Jaxson Moi.
Barring any portal activity, Tennessee brings back some experience at LEO with
Caleb Herring and
Jordan Ross. Tyree Weathersby and
Mariyon Dye played some at defensive end. In the interior,
Daevin Hobbs, Ethan Utley and
Isaiah Campbell should return.
There’s just a lot of production being lost for a group that did not play its best in 2025. Tennessee will likely try to add a few transfers to fill in across all spots on the defensive front.
Quarterback
This one is interesting because it is currently unclear which direction Heupel will choose to go. It’s also the first time since he has been here where he enters the offseason with no starting quarterback ready to roll. Remember last year,
Nico Iamaleava was still on roster prior to his abrupt departure on the final day of spring practice.
Joey Aguilar has been listed as a plaintiff on Vanderbilt quarterback
Diego Pavia’s lawsuit to try and do away with the JUCO years counting against you. There’s no timetable on when this could be resolved and even so, Aguilar would have a decision to make. So, this one is truly a wildcard.
If Aguilar is in the picture, one would assume he is your starting quarterback this offseason. He did lead the SEC in passing this year, after all. If not, Heupel could turn to the youth on his roster where there’s plenty of talent, just no experience. Those options right now would be
Jake Merklinger,
George MacIntyre and incoming five-star signee
Faizon Brandon.
If Aguilar is not in play and Heupel wants a qualified quarterback to command his predominantly experienced offense he has returning, the transfer portal is an option to find a signal-caller. There should be plenty of options, but they won’t be cheap. Still, you got to have a quarterback.
