By: Colin Lacy

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

In the words of the late great Voice of the Vols John Ward, “You can sense the intensity as they await the arrival of the Tennessee Team here in Neyland Stadium.”  There’s a very similar feeling to those archived words around the Orange and White as we inch closer to a September 5^th kickoff.

Sixth year Head Coach Josh Heupel has several questions to answer, but there’s also much to be excited about.

The most pressing question around the Vols entering the ’26 campaign is at quarterback. After the departure of the one-year stopgap of Joey Aguilar, Tennessee will be deciding between a pair of young guns to take the snaps.

True freshman Faizon Brandon was a top five overall prospect nationally out of high school where he completed 72 percent of his career passes and racked up over 6,300 yards passing.

The competitor is redshirt freshman George McIntyre. The 6-6, 208 local Tennessee native made two appearances in his redshirt season last year with just nine pass attempts after being a consensus four-star prospect out of high school.

Josh Heupel has said that he would like to name a starter earlier in camp, but “the job won’t be won or lost on day one.

One of the big stories coming out of Knoxville in the pre-season is the NCAA handing down a two-game suspension to middle linebacker Arion Carter.

Carter had declared for the NFL Draft after the 2025 season, and while going through the draft process discovered he needed a medical procedure. Taking that into account, Carter removed his name from the NFL Draft just before the deadline to do so and come back to Tennessee for his senior year.

During the Draft process, Carter had a flight paid for by an NFL club (with the grand total under $500 which he paid back) which violated the NCAA rules (yes, those still exist).

While the September 5^th opener against Furman doesn’t necessarily have anything change because of the absence of Carter, it could loom large for week 2 when Tennessee heads to Bobby Dodd Stadium to take on Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

Around whoever takes the snaps for the “Power T” are tons of weapons. DeSean Bishop rushed for over 1,000 yards a year ago to become the third straight Tennessee starting running back to eclipse the 1K threshold.

Braylon Stanley, Mike Matthews, Radarious Jackson lead the receiver room along with a litany of young talent waiting in the wings.

On the offensive side the biggest improvement needs to be on the offensive line. A much re-tooled unit looks to take a huge step forward with the addition of Sam Pendleton coming in from Notre Dame, Wendell Moe transferring from Arizona, and Ory Williams from LSU.

The Tennessee defense is one of the more intriguing I think in the SEC. The talent is there, but the intriguing aspect is the leader of the defense with Defensive Coordinator Jim Knowles being named DC in the offseason by Josh Heupel.

Knowles has been heralded as one of the top defensive minds in college football, especially after winning the 2024 National Championship with the Ohio State Buckeyes.

The schedule is do-able for this Tennessee squad. The Vols don’t play Georgia this season and get Alabama, LSU, Texas and Auburn all at the friendly confines of Neyland Stadium, so while the SEC Media selected Tennessee to finish 8^th in the league, there’s a path for the Vols to make some noise and there’s a quiet buzz around Knoxville.

So, to finish the quote from the Legendary Voice of the Vols John Ward, “wherever you listen throughout the world, ITS FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE!”