A frustrating season ended with a frustrating loss on Tuesday night in Nashville for Tennessee. The Volunteers allowed Illinois to control the game for much of the night and failed to capitalize on a big kickoff return touchdown late. The Illini did whatever they wanted offensively all night long, bullying Tennessee up front to control the clock and ultimately come away with the win.
It was a familiar feeling to the result Tennessee posted a month ago against Vanderbilt. Outside of a thumping handed
out to a really bad Florida team, Tennessee limped home down the stretch and didn’t show much of a pulse in the final two games.
“Obviously everybody’s disappointed,” Josh Heupel said after the loss. “But this has gotta be something that you take with you through the off-season and use as motivation and give us a chance to get better and get stronger and we’ll be back ready to roll in ’26. I can promise you that.”
Josh Heupel has already taken a step to change things up, firing defensive coordinator Tim Banks. Veteran Jim Knowles now takes over following the bowl, set to finalize his staff which could come with more changes. After that comes the transfer portal, where Tennessee obviously needs to attack.
Tennessee will be losing veteran faces like Bryson Eason, Dominic Bailey, Jaxson Moi and Joshua Josephs up front, they’ll lose Arion Carter at linebacker, along with Jermod McCoy, Colton Hood and Jalen McMurray at cornerback. Tuesday night’s preview with a handful of those key pieces missing was less than impressive.
“We got to get better, absolutely,” Heupel said of attacking the transfer portal. “But there’s a lot of really good, young talent inside of that locker room. One of, if not the youngest teams in our league. There’s an influx of guys that we just signed that are highly talented.”
Tennessee is bringing in the 7th ranked class in the 2026 cycle, headlined by five-stars Faizon Brandon, Tristen Keys and Gabriel Osenda. You can’t go wrong by adding talent, but we really haven’t seen freshmen make a huge impact for Heupel over the last five seasons, outside of Boo Carter and David Sanders.
“Yes, we have to go in the portal and get some guys, too,” Heupel stated. “The talent is one thing, the development of it is the second part of it. But there’s a connection and work mentality and mental toughness and every trait that it takes to go win has got to be developed, as well. And, I feel really good about what we have coming back, what we have coming in, and then we got to go get some guys here in the portal and then we got to go build a football team, which is what you have to do every year when we get back in January.”
This will be the first time the transfer window opens in January, as opposed to the mess it was the last couple of seasons in December. Heupel and his staff were forced to balance game-planning for Ohio State with the portal last season, along with everyone else in the playoff field. That changes this season and it will have Heupel’s full attention.
Heupel is going to need a quarterback, running back, defensive line help, a linebacker and a handful of upgrades in the secondary. Jim Knowles loves his safeties, and Tennessee undoubtedly needs an infusion of talent there to fit his scheme. Proven depth at cornerback, like they added with Colton Hood last offseason, has to be a priority as well.
Of course, all of that is playing second fiddle to quarterback. Joey Aguilar’s lawsuit won’t be resolved in time to give Tennessee an answer, meaning the staff is going to have to opt for the sure thing. The Volunteers have been connected to veteran passers like Anthony Colandrea, Sam Leavitt and Brendan Sorsby already.
So Tennessee’s football season might be over, but the always entertaining and sometimes unpredictable transfer portal is about to throw it into high gear and set the stage for 2026. For Heupel, it’s a big-time moment that he needs to nail after a disappointing 2025 season.
