As Tennessee football prepares for the 2026 season with the Music City Bowl vs. Illinois on deck and the transfer portal soon opening, one of the priorities will be bolstering the defense. The Vols already made a change at defensive coordinator by hiring Jim Knowles, but will also look to add talent through the transfer portal.
One of the positions that already has some top-end talent is linebacker, though. Even with Arion Carter forgoing his final season of eligibility to enter the NFL draft, redshirt freshman Edwin Spillman has stepped up as an option that the coaching staff really likes.
His position coach and the current interim defensive coordinator, William Inge, noted the development he’s seen from Spillman throughout the season. In moments where Carter was injured and couldn’t play this year, Spillman took full advantage of the opportunity and left a lasting impression.
“We’ve probably seen from him, maybe the biggest jump potentially of anyone on our team, from a growth and development standpoint,” Inge said on Monday. “Seeing him come in, maximize his role. Do the things that he had to do when Arion Carter went down, for him to be able to elevate and continue to keep playing. But the one thing on my end, some of it, it wasn’t a surprise because he was under the wing of Arion Carter. And Arion did a great job of being able to bring the whole group and the whole unit along.
“And Edwin was really someone who really picked up the benefits, and we saw that a year ago. Every day, he’s going to be able to take a step. He’s one of the first guys in the building coming to work, wanting to be good, wanting to be great and wanting to do all the small things to make his game elevate.”
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Spillman is going to be a priority for Tennessee to retain on the defensive end next year. He’s in line to not just be a starter at linebacker, but one of the leaders on the team.
This past season, Spillman recorded a team-high 74 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and an interception. He was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team by coaches and The Athletic Freshman All-America Second-Team.
If UT is able to retain its current group of linebackers, it’ll have an impressive room, even without Carter. That would feature the likes of Spillman, Jeremiah Telander, Jadon Perlotte, Jaedon Harmon, Jordan Burns, Ben Bolton and incoming highly-recruited freshmen Brayden Rouse and TJ White.
That group, besides the freshmen, will first take the field in the Music City Bowl on Tuesday. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET in Nashville and will air on ESPN.
