I Simulated Tennessee’s Transfer Portal Effort, Ensuing Season on College Football 26 Video Game

As Tennessee football prepares to play in the Music City Bowl vs. Illinois, it is also juggling the responsibilities of managing the roster and figuring out what it will need to do in the transfer portal once it opens on Jan. 2.

Before the portal actually opens and Josh Heupel and company can dive into it, I fired up the College Football 26 video game to see what it thinks the Vols will do in the portal and the ensuing 2026 season.

Here are the results of the video game simulation.

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Simulated Players Leaving

Transfers

• CB – Colton Hood (Playing style)
• LB – Arion Carter (Pro potential)
• LB – Jeremiah Telander (Pro potential)
• DB – Marcus Goree Jr. (Playing time)
• QB – George MacIntyre (Playing time)
• LB – Ben Bolton (Playing time)

Draft

• CB Jermod McCoy – Round 1
• WR Chris Brazzell II – Round 2
• EDGE Joshua Josephs – Round 4
• TE Miles Kitselman – Round 6
• QB Joey Aguilar – Round 7

Graduation

• DE – Dominic Bailey
• CB – Jalen McMurray
• RB – Star Thomas
• DT – Bryson Eason
• DT – Jaxson Moi
• S – Andre Turrentine
• DE – Tyre West

Simulated Incoming Transfers

• WR Cayden Lee – Ole Miss
• FS Xavier Smith – UTEP
• LT Khalil House – Stanford
• FS Christofer Noble – MTSU
• SS Antonio Patterson – FIU
• TE Toby Payne – Marshall
• QB Austin Mack – Alabama

Simulated 2026 Results

• 9-3 regular season
• Las Vegas Bowl win over Oklahoma State (31-10)

Simulated 2026 Stats

• Passing
  • Austin Mack
    • 65% comp
    • 3,857 yards
    • 50 TD
    • 1 INT
• Rushing
  • DeSean Bishop
    • 228 carries
    • 1,445 yards
    • 7 TD
  • Peyton Lewis
    • 153 carries
    • 759 yards
    • 8 TD
  • Austin Mack
    • 121 carries
    • 429 yards
    • 3 TD
• Receiving
  • Mike Matthews
    • 65 receptions
    • 1,103 yards
    • 16 TD
  • Braylon Staley
    • 82 receptions
    • 901 yards
    • 9 TD
  • Travis Smith Jr.
    • 39 receptions
    • 665 yards
    • 7 TD
  • Cayden Lee
    • 35 receptions
    • 454 yards
    • 1 TD
  • Toby Payne
    • 33 receptions
    • 444 yards
    • 5 TD
• Defense
  • Jadon Perlotte
    • 78 tackles
    • 6 TFL
    • 1.5 sack
  • Sidney Walton
    • 78 tackles
    • 2 TFL
    • 0.5 sack
  • Caleb Herring
    • 48 tackles
    • 14 TFL
    • 5.5 sacks
  • Daevin Hobbs
    • 47 tackles
    • 12 TFL
    • 5.5 sacks
  • Jordan Ross
    • 35 tackles
    • 9 TFL
    • 2.5 sacks
  • Rickey Gibson III
    • 58 tackles
    • 1 TFL
    • 3 INT
  • Tre Poteat
    • 42 tackles
    • 3 INT