Tennessee football is at the podium at 2026 SEC Media Days to preview the upcoming season. One of the player representatives for the Vols is linebacker Jeremiah Telander, who will play a role in a deep position room.
While meeting with the media, Telander was asked about Neyland Stadium, what gets him amped up for this year, where he’s improved and more. Here’s what he said.
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Q. You’re standing in the tunnel at Neyland Stadium, there’s 110,000 people singing Rocky Top, do you still get goosebumps?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: Every single time, man, it doesn’t get old. People might tell you it does, but from the first time I ever did it to all last season, it hasn’t got old man.
Q. Team goals are the most important, obviously. What individual goals have you set for yourself so that the team gets better?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: Yeah, I mean, obviously to become the best linebacker that I can be in whatever that means. But the team goals would help my individual goals. So the main thing that I’m focused on is winning as a team.
Q. What’s one aspect about this 2026 Tennessee team that gets you really amped up for the season?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: So, 40 new players on this team. We’ve got a team that’s extremely hungry. And just thinking on the way here, we’ve got a team that just can’t wait to go play some football. That’s gotta get you fired up. I know I can’t wait to go play.
We’ve got a team full of guys who are ready to prove themselves. And we’ve been putting the work in all summer, building relationships, getting in the gym, and I just can’t wait to go suit up with my guys.
Q. You’re on the leadership council. What does that mean to you, and what have you seen from guys when they’re in that position before you?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: Yeah, it means everything to me. Another reason I play football is to influence others and the fact that my teammates see me in a role that way means the world.
Q. And the guys who were in that position before you, you probably saw what they did and what did they do and what did that impact you with?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: Somebody that comes to mind is Dylan Sampson. He was there my freshman year. He really was a vocal leader, not just a leader through actions. And I looked up to him big time. And he helped me a lot through my leadership journey.
Q. When you talk about culture, unless you’re talking to someone who’s played the game, it’s really hard to express what that is. What is culture at Tennessee?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: It starts with your everyday habits. How you do anything is how you do everything. So the body language you show up with in the morning, the intensity you use to attack a run or a lift.
And then also it’s all about relationships. That’s what builds culture. You have to have shared experiences off the field as well as on the field. And that’s something that we’ve been building every single day.
Q. What’s one thing that you want to tell the Volunteer faithful looking ahead to the 2026 season?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: That this team is going to give it their all. We’ve been putting in the pain and the suffering this whole entire summer. And we’ve got a lot of guys, like I mentioned earlier, that are just hungry and ready to go play some football.
And we slap it every day. I would give my all to Tennessee today. And I can promise you you’re going to get that from the whole entire team.
Q. I know I played back — it wasn’t during the leather helmet days — but when you hit somebody and you really lay a lick on them, is it still that wow feeling for you?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: Yeah, that’s why you play football, and that’s why you play linebacker, man, is to make big plays in big-time moments. There’s nothing better than getting your same foot, same shoulder in the ground and giving it to somebody.
Q. Tennessee has some experience against Big Ten teams the last three years. What do you sort of make of the comparison and maybe even the rivalry between the SEC and the Big Ten, especially given the Big Ten’s recent success?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: Yeah, I think it’s the Power Four, they call it now. It used to be the Power Five. But any team in the Power Four is an extremely well-talented team and have great rosters.
The Big Ten, like you mentioned, I’ve started to learn more from playing them and also getting some transfers that came in. They’re a hard-nosed football team and they have great rosters.
Q. What’s one part of your game that you’ve improved on this offsides or you’re looking to continue to improve in this upcoming season?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: I love the quote, “You can always become a better tackler.” We’re never going to be a finished product as linebackers, but the goal is to become the best linebacker that you can be. And that’s just by getting 1 percent better every single day.
Q. What is your coach like on a daily basis?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: Yeah, Coach Inge specifically, he brings the juice. We say it all the time, jacked up intensity, continuous effort. As linebackers you have to bring that all the time.
He’s also great with us building relationships. He makes us get up in the front of the room and tell each other about some experiences in our life, and that ultimately lets you know your brother a little bit more.
Q. Are you a downhill guy or coverage guy?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: I love downhill but we gotta get in coverage, too, man.
Q. Who is a player who you would say you’ve modeled your own personal game after?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: I think everyone would love to say Luke Kuechly just because of his mindset to the game. The Lord blessed me with my frame and my size. But I think I could really try to relate to him in the preparation. And I think every football player can, because it’s 80 percent mental, you know what I mean? That’s somebody that I really look up to, for sure.
Q. The Buccaneers players would swear that Kuechly would call out over 50 percent of the plays before the snap. How important is the cerebral part of being that linebacker, putting in the time, studying the film?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: Yeah, it’s extremely important. When it’s game day, you’re not sitting back there thinking; you’re letting instincts take over. And that happens from the work that you put in the weeks before that. And it’s a great feeling when it all comes together. It makes every ounce of watching that film worth it.
Q. Do you have any rituals or superstitions that you go through when you’re getting ready to run out of that tunnel and take on a team?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: Yeah, no specific rituals or superstitions. I always have my same stretching routine. Most of the time I listen to the same music. Usually my mom and my dad text me. And I like to see what they have to say and then I usually read a bible verse.
Q. 12 regular-season games, possibly a championship game — bowl game, playoff, whatever. What’s it like playing 13, 14, maybe 15 games on your body?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: That’s why you put in all this work in the offseason. We got into football, we know what we signed up for. It’s the toughest sport to play in America. And that’s why we play it. But that’s why you have to sacrifice a lot of things in the offseason to get your body able to go the whole entire way.
Q. Tell me about your mindset coming into your senior year?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: My biggest thing was no regrets, whether that’s what I eat, how I sleep, the sacrifices I make in film study. Just no regrets. Hanging out with the boys after practice and things of that nature, because there’s a high likely chance that I’ll never get to experience this again. So just give it all I’ve got and have fun while I’m doing it.
Q. The Volunteers have a really fine fun season ahead of them. Is there a specific game that you’ve marked on your calendar that you look most forward to playing?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: Yeah, I’m just ready to strap up the helmet for day one of fall camp. We’re guaranteed 12 games in the regular season, and every single one of them counts just as much as the other.
And while playing only 12 games, you’ve got to treat every single one as like it’s the biggest game of the year. So I’m ready for fall camp and to beat Tennessee versus Tennessee so far.
Q. I’m sure Peyton Manning is around your quarterbacks quite a bit and coaches them with things that he knows. That probably makes them better players. Has that impacted you and made you a better player facing those guys?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: Yeah, it definitely has. And Coach Heupel and his offense, wide splits and things of that nature, has been so great for me, adding on the tempo and thinking how to learn fast while you’re out there. It’s been huge.
And Tennessee does a great job of bringing alumni back, like you said, Peyton Manning. Al Wilson has been in the building the past couple of weeks. But yeah, it’s been definitely a helping hand.
Q. Ever since Coach Heupel has been at Tennessee, the Volunteers have run plays faster than any other team in the country. What’s it like going up against that uber fast offense every day at practice?
JEREMIAH TELANDER: Yeah, I’ll tell you what, freshman year, it was something that I’ve never seen before. You’re just trying to figure out the defense and the offense is right back on the ball and you’re not even ready.
But growing into that, year four, it has been such a huge blessing to be able to go against that. It makes you quick on your feet and teaches you how to think fast. When you see that in a game, you’re prepared for it.
