This offseason, Tennessee football lost one of its top additions through the transfer portal. Out of Penn State, edge rusher Chaz Coleman picked the Vols to follow defensive coordinator Jim Knowles to Knoxville.
However, after a dramatic offseason with UT, he was medically disqualified and removed from Tennessee’s roster. Now, the Vols will look elsewhere for production following the departure.
During a meeting with local media at SEC Media Days, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel was asked to tie a bow on the Coleman saga.
“At the end of the day, we’re here to help our guys inside of the building,” Heupel said. “Chaz, being one of those guys, and these young men deal with so many different things in today’s landscape of college football. Pressures that they feel, see, hear, whatever it might be. We’re here to help them and there was a good portion of while he was with us on our roster where he wasn’t necessarily integrated into the locker room because of some of the things that he was dealing with.
“And you always wanna do right by kids and we certainly have done that, and as a program, I probably feel like it was a bigger story outside of the building than it necessarily was even inside of the building. And, you know, we’re ready to move forward.”
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Coleman projected to play a big role at the LEO position under position coach Andrew Jackson, also from Penn State. However, without him, other players will have to step up and play an increased role off the edge.
When asked about his confidence in edge rushers on the roster, Heupel name-dropped Tyree Weathersby, Jordan Norman and Mariyon Dye, though Weathersby and Dye played defensive end last season. Norman is projected as the starting LEO as a Tulane transfer.
“We absolutely are (confident),” Heupel said about his confidence in edge rushers. “We have some guys that have played a lot of football, Tyree (Weathersby) and (Jordan Norman), we have young players, Mariyon Dye, for example, that we feel really good about their development. So, absolutely feel good about who we have there. Young players gotta continue to grow and be ready to play at an elite level, but I like the guys that we have inside the building.”
Tennessee returns for fall camp on August 5 to get ready for the 2026 season. Then, it’s a season-opener at home against Furman scheduled for September 5 in Neyland Stadium.
