Tennessee Football has had no shortage of storylines this offseason, which began with a loss to Illinois in the Music City Bowl last December. Since then, Tennessee saw a number of players depart the program through the portal, while also bringing in plenty of players itself. The Vols also made a number of coaching staff changes, including four new additions on the defensive side of the ball with Jim Knowles, Anthony Poindexter, Derek Jones, and AJ Jackson.
But the Vols have also had a lot of questions around the program this offseason. How quickly can its freshman quarterback battle get settled? How soon can the Vols’ players adopt Knowles’ new defensive scheme? Will Chaz Coleman play for Tennessee this year after a rocky start to his tenure?
These mostly aren’t questions we’ll have answers to until the season, but they have been at the forefront of Tennessee fans’ minds.
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg released his annual college football futures power rankings on Tuesday morning, which looks at programs’ potentials through the 2027 season. He uses five main categories of assessment to determine his rankings: Quarterback situation, offensive/defensive line outlook, roster management, star power, and the coaching staff.
Tennessee lands as the No. 18-ranked team in the futures rankings, which is a nine-spot drop from its placement last year at this time. The Vols come in as the ninth-ranked team from the SEC, behind the usual suspects such as Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and so on.
Rittenberg has a massive write-up for Tennessee, so you’re welcome to read the entire thing for yourself here. Otherwise, though, here are some of the high (and low) points from his thoughts on Tennessee.
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The ESPN expert starts out by recapping Tennessee’s quarterback situation, going from Joey Aguilar to a new freshman quarterback in either George MacIntyre or Faizon Brandon: “The Vols’ inability to land an experienced transfer quarterback could jeopardize their 2026 season if MacIntyre or Brandon don’t blossom.”
But while there’s plenty of mystery in that situation on its own, Rittenberg says that Tennessee “will pin much of its hopes for 2026 on a seasoned offensive line that returns four starters, including David Sanders Jr.”
The Vols’ defensive line will “rely” on Penn State transfers Xavier Gilliam and Chaz Coleman, but there are reported doubts about the latter’s status after missing parts of spring camp and summer workouts. Rittenberg doesn’t have the same optimism for the defensive line that he did for the offensive line.
One area that Tennessee succeeded with over the last few months was finalizing a recruiting class that ranked No. 8 in the nation, highlighted by players such as Brandon and WR Tristen “TK” Keys.
As far as star power goes, Tennessee doesn’t have an Arch Manning-type of name heading into the season. But Rittenberg does mention a few key players for the Vols, such as DeSean Bishop, Arion Carter, Ty Redmond, and Mike Matthews.
Rittenberg goes through the Vols’ coaching staff additions on defense, but one important behind-the-scenes name that he doesn’t mention is new strength coach Derek Owings, who has reportedly revamped and revitalized the Vols’ strength and conditioning program. He helped build Indiana’s championship team last year. So while it may not be an on-field hire to mention with the others, it’s one of the most important program-wide additions that Tennessee made this year.
Again, there’s a lot more detail that Rittenberg put in his write-up, but it does seem like the quarterback situation and turnover on the defense are aspects that made him drop Tennessee by nearly 10 spots compared to last year. There’s optimism about what Tennessee’s No. 8 recruiting class can turn into down the road, but perhaps that’ll be more prevalent in next year’s futures rankings.
Tennessee will kick off its 2026 season against Furman on Saturday, Sept. 5, in Neyland Stadium.
