Coming off a loss to Illinois in the Music City Bowl to close down the previous season, Tennessee Football enters its 2026 campaign after making some big changes around key aspects of the team.
The biggest storyline since Joey Aguilar’s ineligible court ruling is the Vols’ starting quarterback competition. Tennessee was unable to land an experienced transfer in the portal this offseason, so it rolled into the spring camp slate with a three-man battle between redshirt freshman George MacIntyre, true freshman Faizon Brandon, and Colorado transfer Ryan Staub. Reports around the team suggest that the two freshmen are the likeliest candidates.
There are still talented pieces on the offensive side of the ball, but we’ve seen just how much of Tennessee’s offense revolves around the quarterback position in the past.
The biggest question on the defense doesn’t pertain to one single player, but more so the defensive scheme as a whole. After a disappointing defensive season last year, Tennessee overhauled its staff with four new defensive coaches, including national championship-winning defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. He was able to bring some coaches and players along with him from his time at Penn State, but there’s a learning curve at play and the ticking clock of the offseason is winding down.
For these reasons and more, SEC Network analyst Roman Harper is a bit puzzled about his projections for Tennessee this season.
“Tennessee is a team that I don’t know if I’m concerned or excited for for the opportunities (on the schedule), because of the unknown at quarterback,” Harper said on SEC Now. “Also some of the wide receivers. And I know that they’re going to be a run-first team, but Tennessee’s always good and explosive when they’re creating turnovers on defense and throwing the football down the field on offense.”
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The truth is, the answer probably lies in the middle of concerned and excited. Perhaps even both simultaneously at times. That’s just the nature of the beast when you’re dealing with major offseason storylines in the way that Tennessee has been over the last few months.
Tennessee will kick off the season in a home game against Furman on Saturday, Sept. 5, in Neyland Stadium. The Vols will then have two more non-conference games, including a road showdown at Georgia Tech in Week 2, before starting the newly installed nine-game conference slate.
Here’s a look at Tennessee Football’s schedule this fall:
