After spending the last few months trying to make things work with Boo Carter, things appear to be souring once again. It was always expected that the two sides would split after this season, but both
sides needed each other considering the timing of the situation that unfolded earlier this season.
Carter and his camp made plenty of noise late in the summer, missing team meetings and ramping up transfer portal speculation. However, with nowhere to go and the season about to begin, Carter and Tennessee mended fences and made it work for the next couple of months.
Two weeks ago against Oklahoma — following a dreadful performance against Kentucky — Carter didn’t take a single defensive snap. Carter did handle punt return duties, which was something Josh Heupel seemed frustrated with during his Wednesday press conference.
“There’s times during the course of the year where we haven’t won out on the edges, and they’ve forced some fair catches,” Heupel said. “The other night, we had a couple of opportunities, didn’t take advantage, didn’t maximize.”
This Saturday against New Mexico State, Carter was unavailable. Despite some chatter about an injury, Heupel seemed to suggest otherwise.
“At the end of the day, there’s a standard that you have to meet to be in that locker room,” Heupel said. “He was not out on the field with us. That will be the last— my last response to anything related to that for right now.”
Freshman Daune Morris handled punt return duties this week.
Carter, a prized four-star prospect from Chattanooga, exploded onto the scene as a true freshman and was thought of as one of Tennessee’s best defensive players coming into the season. There’s always been drama there, however. Carter flirted with the transfer portal after the season ended, but eventually announced a new ‘deal’ to stay in Knoxville. The drama returned this summer with Carter missing team activities with fall camp set to begin.
Carter has been rumored to Colorado since he committed to Tennessee, fueled by some not-so-subtle social media posts by his mother. I’m not sure anyone would be surprised if that’s where Carter ultimately ended up in 2026.
Tennessee, still with two big games left to play along with a bowl game, is already thin at cornerback. It remains to be seen if Jermod McCoy will give it go in the final games, while Rickey Gibson remains sidelined. The Volunteers have been working Colton Hood, Ty Redmond and Jalen McMurray all season long and that appears to continue to be the plan going forward.
Nothing is official or set in stone just yet, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Carter has played his final down as a Volunteer.
