A Program Reborn: Tennessee Football Chases Redemption in Spring Practice

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The music was absent on the first day of Tennessee spring practice. That wasn’t an accident.

When Josh Heupel stepped to the podium on March 16 following the Volunteers’ opening session of the 2026 spring slate, he explained the silence simply.

 “Today is day one of practice,” he said. “It’s about getting those guys used to and accustomed to the flow of it, what drills are coming next, the ability to communicate.” 

It was a telling metaphor for a program deliberately resetting itself after a mildly disappointing 8-5 finish in 2025. A year that bottomed out with a 30-28 loss to Illinois in the Music City Bowl.

Now in his fifth spring in Knoxville, Heupel is building something that looks markedly different from what walked off the field in Nashville last December. A roster overhaul, a complete defensive makeover, an open quarterback race, and a new strength and conditioning culture are all unfolding simultaneously across 15 spring practices that culminate with the annual Orange & White Game on April 11 at Neyland Stadium. It is back in the stadium in full force and  free to the public, starting at 2 p.m. ET. (Ticket info)

In case you’re reading this and looking for insight on the QB battle, I will leave you to decipher the rumor mill on sites and with sources. Josh Heupel is calling the shots and his team will announce the winner on Heupel time. One thing is certain, Coach is not playing around when it comes to developing the leader of a competitive team that values competition.

46 New Faces, One New Identity

The sheer volume of change on Tennessee’s roster is staggering. The Vols enter spring with 46 players who weren’t part of the Music City Bowl roster. 22 transfer portal acquisitions and 24 high school early enrollees round out a new look for the Vols. It’s a figure Heupel has referenced repeatedly in his press conference availability.

Managing that kind of roster flux is one of the central challenges of the modern college football era, and Heupel has been candid about what it demands of a coaching staff.

“Because of the changes inside of college football, certainly this year, day one, you are building a team. You have to be clear in what are the expectations, what does it look like to be a Volunteer. You have to help them grow extremely quickly in what it needs to look like inside of this building.” - Josh Heupel

Alongside the new players comes a new culture in the weight room. Heupel hired Derek Owings, whose methods helped Indiana win a national championship last season  to lead Tennessee’s strength and conditioning, speed, and nutrition programs. Early returns have been notable.

“Taking a step forward every single day instead of one step forward, one step back, has been a big part of what I like about what we have done this winter. That’s a credit to Derek and his staff.” - Josh Heupel

The Roster Race Begins

No storyline has generated more buzz around Rocky Top this offseason than the open competition at quarterback. Tennessee enters spring with three primary competitors for the starting job: redshirt freshman George MacIntyre, true freshman and early enrollee Faizon Brandon (ranked No. 3 nationally in the 2026 recruiting cycle by 247Sports), and Colorado transfer Ryan Staub.

Heupel has made clear that no decision will come before the Orange & White Game or likely beyond it.

 “I don’t expect a guy to be named throughout the course of spring ball.”

Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle has been effusive about the group’s intellectual aptitude, speaking to the media after the second spring practice. 

Halzle said of MacIntyre and Brandon:

“Both those guys are quick-minded. They grasp what we’re doing as you give them the playbook extremely well. They both have the ability to be accurate with the football, strong enough arm to extend the field vertically, but they’re both guys who anticipate windows extremely well over the middle of the football field.”

Halzle has framed the competition around the mental demands of running Heupel’s fast-paced offense. “How quickly can you process new information and make a decision without getting paralysis by analysis on it?” Halzle said. “That is playing the quarterback position. People scheme you too much and they’re never just going to roll out a vanilla look anymore. So how do you process it, how do you understand where people are going, who’s going where, where am I going with the football?”

MacIntyre carries the most institutional familiarity with the system, having seen limited action in 2025. Brandon is the high-ceiling freshman talent learning the college game at speed. Staub is  a redshirt junior who started twice for the Buffaloes last season, but brings game experience. He is rooted in California High School football at West Ranch High in Stevenson Ranch, California. There he led his team to a 15-2 finish in his senior year.     A fourth option, Mason Phillips, has also been taking reps during the open viewing periods of practice.

On the offensive line, Heupel and Halzle have expressed confidence in a veteran group that includes David Sanders Jr., Gabriel Osenda, and Kamari Blair, all of whom have been working through footwork drills in the early practices. 

 “It’s exciting that you have a veteran offensive line that looks like they have the ability to move people off the ball. In this league, it’s still going to come down to, at the end of the day, can you move somebody forcibly against their will?” - Joey Halzle

If the quarterback competition is the most-watched storyline offensively, the arrival of defensive coordinator Jim Knowles represents the most consequential development for the program overall.

After Tennessee’s defense cratered in 2025,  ranking 92nd nationally in total defense (397.2 yards per game) and 91st in points allowed (28.8 per game) Heupel made a decisive change, parting ways with Tim Banks and securing the services of Knowles, who earned a national championship ring at Ohio State in 2024 and whose defenses have ranked in the top 15 nationally four times in the last six seasons.

Knowles arrived in Knoxville with a characteristic bluntness. Starting from scratch was non-negotiable. When he arrived to Tennessee in February:

 “Here, we are starting from a clean slate. That doesn’t mean that we don’t use some things that they’ve used in the past. I try to listen to maybe a certain way that they called a certain thing, and I can change on that if they’re already familiar with a certain term. But in general, we’re starting from a clean slate.”

What gives Tennessee an unusual head start is the infrastructure Knowles brought with him. Three of his four new defensive assistant coaches,  co-defensive coordinator Anthony Poindexter, LEOs coach Andrew Jackson, and cornerbacks coach Derek Jones, have all worked under him previously. Poindexter and Jackson came directly from Penn State’s staff. Jones worked with Knowles at Duke from 2011 to 2017.

Even more unique: four former Penn State defenders transferred to Tennessee alongside Knowles, including edge rusher Chaz Coleman, linebacker Amare Campbell, safety Dejuan Lane, and defensive back Xavier Gilliam. That cross-positional familiarity has accelerated the installation considerably.

“We can go faster than in other situations I’ve been in, because I have a lot of coaches who have worked with me before. That’s a huge advantage. We have a few players. which is really crazy in this day and age, who have been in this system at all levels of the defense.” -Jim Knowles

The early results have been encouraging. After the first three spring practices, Knowles addressed the media and offered measured optimism:

 “I think it’s progressed pretty well,” he said. “With the staff that I was able to bring and having a few players that have been with me before, I think the install is really ahead of schedule.” 

Heupel echoed the sentiment, telling reporters the defense was ahead of where he expected given the scope of the changes.Knowles was also candid about the unique challenge of evaluating and teaching physicality without live tackling. It is a norm in the modern college game.

 Knowles said when asked if live tackling would ever return to practice: 

 “You may have a couple of live situations. I’m sure Coach Heupel will put us in some live tackling situations, but you don’t do it that much because you’re trying to save the player on both sides, offense and defense. 

He went on to say:

“I’m glad we’ve adjusted to it for the health of the player. But now you have to get creative in how you teach them all these things.”

On Penn State transfer Coleman specifically, Knowles has been openly enthusiastic: 

“He’s explosive. He is difficult to block. He has a little bit of an invisible cloak, where he can twist and turn, beat guys one-on-one. He has great initial quickness off the ball. He’s a guy that can create havoc for an offense and really creates a matchup issue.”

On Thursday, the 7th of Tennessee’s 15 spring practices. The Vols were in Neyland for  their first closed scrimmage. The scrimmage will give Heupel’s staff a deeper look at where the depth chart stands before the back half of spring practice begins in earnest.

Heupel gave updates on the scrimmage:

“Defense created some turnovers. “

He went on to say: 

“Couple of penalites that we have got to play smarter in, as we continue to learn how to play smart football. “

When asked what’s one word to describe today’s scrimmage, Coach Heupel: “Competitive”.

As the spring schedule winds down the back stretch, the schedule for the 2026 regular season is formidable. Tennessee opens September 5 against Furman at Neyland before hosting Kennesaw State, Texas, Auburn, Alabama, Kentucky, and LSU,  all within the confines of Knoxville. 

Road tests at Georgia Tech, Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt round out a slate that will quickly reveal whether this offseason transformation is genuine or merely cosmetic.

Heupel has collected 45 victories across his first five seasons, the most by a Tennessee head coach since the program won 47 games from 2000 to 2004. But “good enough” is not the standard Rocky Top is measuring against anymore. The Vols have the talent, the coaching infrastructure, and the hunger. 

What happens across these 15 spring practices and, eventually, on a Saturday in the fall, will determine whether 2026 is merely another step forward, or something more. The music, Heupel suggested, would return. For now, Tennessee is focused on the fundamentals.

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