Tennessee Football announced the signing of 20 players from the transfer portal this week as the Volunteers reload their roster for the 2026 football season. Tennessee saw its fair share of departures through the portal itself, but Josh Heupel and his staff addressed some big needs by bringing in nearly two dozen new players.
Many of those impact players are on the defensive side of the football. With Tennessee overhauling its defensive staff with the hiring of defensive coordinator Jim Knowles in December, the Vols needed to bring in some new pieces to compete on his side of the ball. More than half of Tennessee’s incoming additions are defensive players.
ESPN’s Max Olson, Steve Muench, and Tom Luginbill had the tall task of ranking the Top 100 transfer portal players during the cycle this week. Out of those 100, three of Tennessee’s additions landed on the list, with one player in the Top 15.
The first Tennessee player in ESPN’s rankings is star EDGE rusher Chaz Coleman, who comes in as the 13th-best portal player in the cycle. The 6-foot-4 lineman played his true freshman season under Knowles at Penn State last year and will be able to maintain his familiarity with the system when he begins play with the Vols.
“Coleman is an ascending pass rusher who can keep blockers’ hands off him, turn the corner as a speed rusher and drive tackles when he transitions from speed to power,” Muench writes. “He can work inside when tackles try to take away the edge and he is fluid enough to win with weave moves. He slips blocks, shoots gaps, and closes well chasing from the backside as a run defender.”
Coleman only has one season of college football under his belt, and parts of that year saw him sidelined with an injury. So while the former five-star prospect is still learning and growing at his position, the belief is that his ceiling is incredibly high. Coleman led all freshman EDGE rushers with a 90.6 pass rush grade last season from PFF.
“New Vols defensive coordinator Jim Knowles won the battle for one of the most exciting freshmen available in the portal and will get to keep coaching him in Knoxville,” Olson writes. “Coleman joins fellow Penn State transfers Amare Campbell and Xavier Gilliam in making this move and is a nice upgrade right after former top-25 recruit Jordan Ross opted to transfer to LSU.”
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The next Tennessee player who appears on ESPN’s list is cornerback Kayin Lee. The former Auburn defensive back is ranked as the No. 58 overall player in the portal. Lee’s addition to the Tennessee roster is one of the biggest in the class because of the position. With Tennessee losing Jermod McCoy and Colton Hood to the NFL, plus Rickey Gibson III’s transfer to Texas A&M, the Vols entered the offseason with a need to get better at cornerback. Rising-sophomore Ty Redmond returns to Knoxville next season, but adding Lee to the other side of him is a huge win for the Vols.
“Lee, an ESPN 300 recruit in the 2023 class from Georgia, started 27 games over his three seasons on the Plains and has shown he can play at a high level in the SEC,” Olson writes. “He has allowed just two touchdown catches and a 44% completion percentage since 2024 while compiling 17 career pass breakups and three interceptions, according to ESPN Research.”
McCoy and Hood were both transfers before upping their draft stocks with the Vols, and Lee is hoping to do the same with his final year of eligibility next season.
The final Tennessee player on the list snuck into one of the final spots in the rankings. Former Penn State defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam is ranked as the No. 98 player in the class and also fills a position of need on the Vols’ roster. Gilliam is one of four former Nittany Lions players, including Coleman, who will be reuniting with Jim Knowles in Knoxville.
“Gilliam is a disruptive run defender with the explosive first step to get into gaps and the agility to slip blocks in tight spaces,” Muench writes. “He plays with good pad level and stacks blockers. He’s quick with active hands and he’s a better pass rusher on tape than that statistics would suggest.”
Tennessee’s got plenty of time to figure out what Rodney Garner wants to do with the starters and the rotation for the defensive line, but it would be surprising not to see Gilliam landing one of those starting roles.
As for Tennessee’s outgoing players, three made ESPN’s Top 100 list. Kentucky offensive tackle Lance Heard comes in at No. 33, LSU EDGE rusher Jordan Ross lands at No. 71, and Texas A&M cornerback Rickey Gibson III is ranked at No. 76.
Check out ESPN’s full Top 100 list here.
