Start the countdown; only 50 days remain until the start of the 2026 Tennessee Football season.
While the AP Top 25 preseason poll won’t come out until August, college football writer Phil Steele has all the information he needs to go ahead and put out his own preseason list.
Steele has Tennessee ranked as the No. 18 team in the league, one spot behind BYU and one spot above Penn State. Tennessee is the eighth highest-ranked SEC team on the list, behind No. 3 Georgia, No. 5 Texas, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 8 Ole Miss, No. 11 Alabama, No. 12 Texas A&M, and No. 16 South Carolina. The Vols are ranked higher than No. 21 LSU and No. 23 Florida.
Tennessee will play four of the SEC teams on Steele’s preseason Top 25 rankings, including the Longhorns, Crimson Tide, Aggies, and Tigers. All of those games are slated to take place in Knoxville, except for Texas A&M.
The Vols’ No. 18 spot is higher than ESPN’s No. 25 slot, but lower than ESPN FPI’s No. 16 slot.
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Tennessee enters the 2026 season with some power units on the field, such as the offensive skill players and the linebackers, but there are certainly questions as well.
The biggest question to be answered this fall is Tennessee’s quarterback situation. With Joey Aguilar not returning to the team this season, the Vols will turn to either redshirt freshman George MacIntyre or true freshman Faizon Brandon for the starting duties. Both players competed side-by-side during spring camp, but the competition will roll into fall camp next month.
ESPN named the quarterback battle as Tennessee’s biggest question entering the season on Friday.
“Entering spring, redshirt freshman George MacIntyre — he of nine career pass attempts — appeared to be the favorite, but five-star recruit Faizon Brandon showed out and now seems to have the edge in the competition. Of course, a lot can happen between spring ball and fall camp, and both QBs figure to have sanded off some rough edges. MacIntyre has a slight edge in experience, but Brandon’s rapid rise has Vols fans dreaming big,” ESPN’s David Hale writes.
The other big question to note is the new defensive scheme that Tennessee is implementing this fall. With Tim Banks and multiple members of his defensive staff fired this offseason, the Vols are turning to defensive coordinator Jim Knowles to get the unit trending in the right direction. While a new scheme can be tricky in itself, Tennessee also brought in several defensive players from the transfer portal to compete for starting and rotational spots this season. Additionally, the highest-ranked transfer of the group, Chaz Coleman, won’t be playing for Tennessee this year.
Fortunately for Tennessee, the Vols do return a number of quality, proven players from last year’s roster. That includes a stout offensive line, thousand-yard rusher DeSean Bishop, two experienced receivers in Braylon Staley and Mike Matthews, and an ultra-deep linebackers room.
With the mix of ongoing questions and returning production, a spot in the Top 20 feels about right for Tennessee’s preseason ranking. We’ll see how the AP voters see things next month.
