My Granddaddy was a country music enthusiast, but not mainstream country. Granddaddy loved bluegrass, classic country, and liked to find fringe country music outside of the mainstream.
Growing up in East Tennessee in the 90’s, I obviously listened to the Country Music rulers of the day like Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, Faith Hill, etc… but at Granddaddy’s house, we listened to Ricky Skaggs, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Earl Scruggs.
If we wanted to find new music, he would tune into the legendary radio show “A Prairie Home Companion” by Garrison Keillor where he would discover unknown folksy artists from around the country and he would pass them on to me if he thought I would like them. Granddaddy even discovered bands like Old Crow Medicine Show with their hit song Wagon Wheel YEARS before they became a hit in the late 2000s.
I tell you this because Appalachian music was a huge part of our relationship and part of my upbringing.
My Grandmother has told a story many times that when I was very young (5 or 6 years old) we were riding in the car with Granddaddy listening to music as we did, when he pulled out a new cassette and popped it in the player.
A woman started singing.
As Grandmother tells it, I listened so very intently for a long time. Eventually I broke my silence and asked the question “Grandmother… is that an angel?”.
It was Dolly Parton.
2026 Season Preview
Welcome back to the Armchair Volunteer. If you’re new here, this is my weekly column where we’ll talk about the Tennessee Volunteers. We’ll make predictions, complain about things that went wrong, celebrate things that went right, and generally have a good time unless we’re in that dark place that Vol fans can sometimes find themselves in.
This column is an homage to my all-time favorite football writer, Peter King and his legendary column, Monday Morning Quarterback. If you enjoy sports writing like me, I hope this column takes you back to the peak Sports Illustrated days where you couldn’t wait to read a good, long, in-depth, opinion heavy article about the games you just watched.
You won’t find click-bait here. You won’t find stats drivel and boring recaps here. You won’t find ads here.
What I hope you find is some good, old fashioned story telling and observations from a guy who loves football and his Tennessee Volunteers.
To kick things off this year, we’ll start with our annual position group breakdown, some predictions, and some thoughts around the program and the season.
Offensive Line
We’ll start with what should be a well-experienced and reliable position group in the offensive line.
O Line has been a rollercoaster of a position group to this point in the Heupel area. Run blocking has been consistently upper-tier, while pass protection has been rather shaky but peaked in 2022 when they were anchored by future All-Pro Right Tackle Darnell Wright.
The good news for the 2026 O Line is that they may very well be once again anchored by a future All-Pro, this time Left Tackle David Sanders Jr. All signs point to Sanders taking the next step and doing everything right to become a true star in this league. Pass protection is never more important than when you’re breaking in a true freshman starting quarterback and I have all the confidence in the world of Sanders keeping him upright.
With Wendell Moe and Jesse Perry at guards, Ory Williams at Right Tackle, and Sam Pendleton returning at Center, things look bright for this O Line. They’ll need health and they’ll need a young QB to gain confidence quickly. If both of those things happen, look for Tennessee’s O Line to be a finalist for best in the country by the end of the year.
Running Backs
DeSean Bishop is back this year as the unquestioned alpha and deservedly so. Bishop is the type of leader that this program has been missing for several years. He leads in the weight room. He leads on the practice field. He leads in the locker room and as a off-field example. This team seems like they would run through a brick wall for Bishop and in the case of the O Line, maybe literally. Bishop will have an opportunity to be a 1,000 yard rusher in 2026 and I expect nothing less.
Behind Bishop is where it gets a little tricky. Tulane transfer Javin Gordon has gotten the press and all signs have pointed to him having a solid Fall camp and is the presumed first man off the bench.
But…
I have a prediction.
Keep in mind if you’ve been reading me for the last few years: In 2024 I predicted Dylan Sampson would have a chance to break the single season rushing record (which he did). Last year I predicted Braylon Staley as my breakout candidate of the year (he was).
This year, I am predicting 3rd string running back Daune Morris to be my breakout candidate of 2026. Don’t be surprised if Morris gets a few opportunities to eat in 2 of these first 3 games against Furman and Kennesaw State. Morris has quick twitch, blazing speed, and is the biggest home run threat in the backfield. I’m predicting Morris to overtake Gordon as the primary backup by mid-season and I believe he’ll have more than one big moment.
Look for Morris to also have an effect in Special Teams as a returner. He should get plenty of opportunities for highlights.
Wide Receivers
This is the position group that I’m most excited about in 2026. The tandem of Braylon Staley and Mike Matthews is the most promising receive twosome I can think of since at least Robert Meachem and Jayson Swain. If things break right with the QB, then we could be talking about these two in the same way we remember Donte Stallworth and Kelly Washington in the 2001 season.
They’re that good.
Both have a chance to be 1,000 yard receivers this year and with the lack of a proven third option, I think they both will.
Speaking of that third option, it certainly feels like it’s still very much up for grabs. The chatter on the street is Radarious Jackson will be getting first reps but the gap between Jackson, Travis Smith, and 5 star freshman TK Keys, seems microscopic. All three should see plenty of action in and out of the first three games of the season. Ideally, the spot should be settled by the time Texas comes to town.
I’m not sure I care too much about who takes that third spot. Regardless of how the lineup shakes out, Matthews and Staley will be the work horses of the receiving room while Keys is the future.
As long as the QB can get them the ball, expect this Wide Receiver room to be among the top producers in the country.
Tight Ends
Of all the offensive positions in the Heupel era, Tight End seems to be the most inconsistent. It’s hard to pin down exactly why. Sometimes it’s clearly on the QB’s speed of processing, sometimes it seems to be play calling and Tight End just falls off the radar. Sometimes it’s health or focus of the Tight End themselves.
In Ethan Davis’ case, I think some combination of all of the above may be true. Davis is a physical freak. A lab-grown Tight End who should be tailor made for the NFL. The problem is that entering his redshirt Junior season, Davis has yet to find that stride as a star playmaker that he always seems to be on the very edge of becoming.
A lot of this is that he’s been consistently held back by nagging injuries. But some of it also nags me that he may just not have that… “it factor”. I know this is super subjective, but when you’ve watched and participated in sports as deeply as I have over 30 years, you just know it when you see it.
Whatever it is, Davis is rapidly approaching Last Chance Saloon when it comes to his prospects at the next level. If anyone is in for a “prove it” year in 2026, it’s Davis.
The best news for Davis though is that few things are better for a young, developing QB than a reliable security blanket at Tight End. Davis *should* get more opportunities this year than he’s ever had. If he takes full advantage, it could be the last piece of what could become an explosive offense.
Quarterbacks
Finally, we come to the position that’s going to make or break the entire offense.
Faizon Brandon has officially won the starting job at QB as a true freshman – the first at Tennessee since Brent Schaeffer in 2004. This is a big deal.
There’s a bit of a narrative out there that Faizon won the job because George MacIntyre lost the job… meaning that GMac performed poorly enough in Fall camp that Heupel didn’t have a choice but to go with Faizon.
I don’t really buy that.
With what we know from Heupel at this point, I don’t think Heupel puts Faizon out there as a starter unless Faizon took the job by force… meaning he was so good and has such potential that it was impossible for Heupel to leave him on the bench.
It’s virtually impossible to say with practice, camp, and scrimmages being so closed to the media. Lord knows I haven’t seen anything first-hand. This is merely a tea leaf reading exercise. Fortunately for you, I’m pretty good at reading the tea leaves in these situations.
Word is that Faizon has a cannon arm, has wheels and moves in the run game, and is a leader on and off the field.
By the end of the GA Tech game, we’ll have a pretty good idea of what Faizon has in store for the 2026 campaign. By the Texas game? We’ll know for certain.
Summary: Offense
Here’s the thing with the offense: they are seriously talented at every position and they are experienced – at every position but Quarterback (the most important singular position in all of sports). We just won’t know what the ceiling is for this offense until we see what Brandon has.
If Faizon Brandon has ANYTHING serviceable and stays away from plays that lose games, the 2026 offense has all the potential in the world to be explosive, loads of fun, and among the best in the country.
If Faizon struggles or injuries become a factor, we may have to recalibrate expectations.
I’m predicting an offense that puts up a ton of yards and a ton of points. The biggest question marks will be how well can they take care of the ball, how well can they perform in the red zone, and how well can they extend drives with 3rd down conversions? How much pressure can the O Line and Running Backs take off of Faizon?
These are important questions that will likely determine the fate of the season. We should start seeing answers in Week 2.
Linebackers
Linebacker has been a confusing position in the Heupel era under Tim Banks to this point. We’ve seen some good athletes, some hard hitters, some good blitzers, but we’ve consistently seen poor tackling and porous pass coverage across the middle.
The Tim Banks days are over and the linebacker room is more athletic than it’s ever been since Heupel arrived.
And they’re led by a guy with true All-American potential in Arion Carter.
Carter has developed into a leader and an absolute menace at the linebacker position who should have tremendous NFL upside especially with another year of development under his belt. Carter can be trusted to get his team in position, make the right plays, play with heart, and lead by example.
He’ll be operating with some speedy hard hitters in Edwin Spillman and Jadon Perlotte along with Senior Penn State transfer Amare Campbell and veteran, high-IQ Jeremiah Telander.
With Jim Knowles at the helm, this linebacker group is poised to be the best overall it has been in the Heupel era.
Defensive Line
This is where the defense begins to get less clear. The 2026 D Line room is not as deep as the last few years under coordinator Rodney Garner.
The group will be headlined by highly touted senior Defensive Tackle Daevin Hobbs, who quite frankly, has had a similar career arc as Ethan Davis. Hobbs is another extremely talented prospect who has just been hampered by nagging injuries and has never had a chance to put it all together. Like Davis, Hobbs is approaching his last chance to take his 5 star talent and turn it into a viable NFL career.
If I had to pick a potential breakout player on the D Line, it would have to be Nathan Robinson. Robinson has shown flashes of being a highly impactful player, but has been inconsistent. Part of this has had to do with past depth over the last couple seasons and Rodney Garner’s tendency to rotate often when available. The path in 2026 is wide open for Robinson to have an impact week after week.
Penn State transfer Xavier Gilliam along with young, talented sophomores Isaiah Campbell, Ethan Utley, and Marion Dye offer promise, but very little experience. This makes for a very unpredictable D Line that could easily be prone to mistakes. If the D Line struggles this season, it could make for a tough year for the defense and put tons more pressure on a freshman QB and the offense to score score score.
With that being said – bet against Rodney Garner at your own risk.
Secondary
Oh boy, the secondary. A consistent pain point in the Heupel era under Tim Banks.
Last year was maybe the most frustrating year for a secondary I can ever remember at Tennessee. When Spring camp started in 2025, we had 3 players in the secondary who had honest-to-god All-American potential in Jermod McCoy, Ricky Gibson, and Boo Carter.
McCoy tore his ACL in Spring practice and ended up missing the entire season. Gibson went down with an injury in the first minutes of Week 1 and ended up missing the season. Boo Carter ended up being a total basket case, basically quit on the team by mid-season, and transferred out of town as soon as the portal could open.
So here we are with a new Defensive Coordinator and a completely overhauled secondary. We know that Ty Redmond should be solid at one Corner spot. Outside of that? I would call it a complete crapshoot.
Edrees Farooq was set for a big season, but suffered a season ending injury in Fall camp. This one stings.
I’m hearing nothing but positive things around Qua Moss in the Star position and TJ Metcalf at Safety, but reality here is extremely unknown. Our best hope for this secondary is some Jim Knowles magic and rapid development as the season progresses.
I have no idea what to expect.
Summary: Defense
The defense, to put things bluntly, has much less upside than the offense. If something is going to hold Tennessee back in 2026 and keep them closer to 8-4 or 7/5, it’s more likely to be that it was because the defense struggled rather than Faizon Brandon.
They say that the Jim Knowles defensive scheme takes time to learn and that will be put to the test this year. They will likely talent their way through GA Tech, but there will be nowhere to hide against Coach Sark and the Texas Longhorns.
If the Defensive Line cannot generate pressure and if the Secondary struggles to cover or stop key third downs, it could become a long season on Rocky Top.
Special Teams
Special Teams quite simply needs to take a step forward in 2026. After being a strength from 2022 – 2024, Special Teams really held the team back in 2025, peaking with the missed field goal that would have beaten the Georgia Bulldogs.
Place Kicker has been addressed with the arrival of Louisville transfer Cooper Ranvier. It’s yet to be seen if he wears the magic boot.
As mentioned earlier, I expect Daune Morris to get plenty of touches in the return game and he’ll have opportunities to make an impact more along the lines of Dee Williams or Velus Jones.
Also, keep an eye out for freshman receiver Tyreek King in Special Teams. Word is he is quick twitch and dangerous with the ball in his hands. The receiver room is a little crowded for a freshman not named Keys this year, but there could absolutely be opportunities in Special Teams.
Bottom line is that I expect Special Teams as a whole to take a step forward in 2026. With several swing games on the schedule, Special Teams will have a chance to dictate the outcome more than once.
10 Things I Think I Know
1. I think the Arion Carter situation is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen from the NCAA – and that’s saying something.
Let’s see if I have this straight: Arion Carter declared for the draft as he had a right to do. Arion Carter was flown to do draft workouts and had his flights paid for by his agent (perfectly reasonable and within any sort of rules). Arion Carter decided that he was better off staying in college for one more season and withdrew from the draft prior to the deadline mandated by the NCAA. Arion Carter paid the flight costs back to the agent and severed ties. Arion Carter returned to the University of Tennessee. NCAA suspends Arion Carter for 3 games.
Am I missing something here?? This is idiotic even by NCAA standards and THAT, my friends, is some high-octane idiocy.
Apparently you can represent everything that is right about college sports, do everything right down to a tee, and the NCAA in their infinitely arbitrary wisdom can still make the worst decision possible.
Fortunately for everyone, Heupel, Danny White, and other half-smart people at UT pressured the NCAA to reduce Carter’s suspension from 3 games to 2, then last week, another game was dropped so Carter will only miss the season opener against Furman.
When you consider how poorly the NCAA and SEC has handled the debacle of LSU trying to sign actual NFL players to their own roster, this treatment of Arion Carter has clearly been one of the biggest fumbles in the history of the NCAA’s buttery fingers.
2. I think DeSean Bishop will position himself this year to break Travis Henry’s career rushing record in 2027.
DeSean Bishop (2 years of eligibility remaining) is 1,547 yards away from Travis Henry’s school record that has stood for 26 years.
If you have followed me for any amount of time, you know I love a good record chase but I also feel strongly that the record breaker needs to deserve it. I think DeSean Bishop would be more than worthy of taking the torch from Henry as Tennessee’s all-time leading rusher and would be one of the coolest stories of hard work and making the most of your opportunity that I can ever remember.
Bishop has been slept on his entire career and I don’t see that changing after this season especially with the media likes to talk about Heupel’s gimmicky offense. I believe he’ll return for one more season in 2027.
Bishop will need to average about 64 YPC over the next 2 seasons to break it. Assuming he stays healthy, that’s absolutely doable.
3. I think that LSU’s attempt to sign NFL players needs to be put to rest as quickly as possible.
Not much more needs to be said here. It’s disrespectful to the sport and it’s disrespectful to the college students who are working their tails off to make something of themselves. The problem though is that this is not going to get any better until real guidelines and guard rails are put in place, but the NCAA seems to powerless or inept to do so.
I’ve been shouting for a while now that college sports will not stabilize until collective bargaining is put in place to protect the players (sometimes from themselves). There needs to be a players association. There needs to be a restructuring of leadership with a commissioner. This is the only way that the NIL era will be able to work in my opinion.
Otherwise, this sport is going to continue marching towards chaos until there’s some sort of reconning.
4. I think it’s okay that Lane Kiffin is the villain of CFB.
All that being said, I still think it’s okay – fun even – to have Lane Kiffin lead the charge as College Football’s premier villain. Sports are always better with a villain to rally around. As much as we all hated Spurrier, we loved to play against him and missed him as soon as he was gone.
Embrace the sports hatred of Lane Kiffin and enjoy the matchup with him this year. Grab your mustard and golf balls. Getting passionate about these things is fun within its context. Sometimes you don’t realize how much fun it was until it’s over.
As for Lane Kiffin, I would like to quote the cinematic masterpiece of the late 90’s, The Mummy: “Nasty little fellows such as yourself always get their comeuppance. Always.”
*points finger aggressively at Lane Kiffin*
5. I think the Texas game is this year’s version of the Florida game.
What I mean here is that this is likely the season defining game for BOTH teams. The winner of Tennessee/Texas is going to feel extremely good moving into the SEC gauntlet, while the loser will have a huge uphill battle to regroup and make any sort of run at an SEC Championship or Playoff appearance.
This should have the early season feel of those Florida matchups from the 90s-early 2000s, but without the Gator bugaboo.
Also, it is not being talked about nearly enough that Arch Manning will be the one with ALL the pressure in this game. No matter which direction the game goes in Uncle Peyton’s Palace, it could end up setting the trajectory for how Arch will be remembered in Longhorns lore.
6. I think Arch Manning has us distracted from the real up and coming legacy Manning.
7. I think that if the millionaires/billionaires of today’s world had even half the heart and soul of Dolly Parton, the world would be unrecognizable in the best way.
This needs no further explanation.
8. I think I am going to get to attend 2 games in person this year.
Since I live in Houston, TX these days, I feel the need to defend the Vols against the Texas teams this season. I plan to fly out to Knoxville for the Longhorns game on Sept 26. Then I plan to make the short trip up to College Station to attend the A&M game and hold things down for the Vols on the road. I’ll see you there!
9. I think the Vols floor to ceiling has the widest gap this year than any of the Heupel era.
There’s a world where Tennessee can go 10-2 this year and make the playoffs. Would that be incredibly hard and need some major moments to break our way? Yes. But it’s far from an impossible scenario.
There’s another world where Tennessee goes 6-6 with a gauntlet of a schedule and a true freshman quarterback. This is also not impossible.
The most realistic outcome of the season probably lies in the 8-4 range which is likely not what anyone wants to hear but with matchups against Texas, Alabama, LSU, and Texas A&M along with historic tossup games with the likes of Auburn, Arkansas, and South Carolina, it’s hard to envision less than a few things going wrong along the way.
Bottom line with the schedule – beat Texas and anything is possible from then on. Lose to Texas, it will be all hands on deck to keep the train on the tracks, gain experience, and buckle in for a real push with a deeper roster in 2027.
10. I think that this is less of a “prove it” year than some are making it out to be.
There’s been a lot of chatter that Josh Heupel is in a “prove it year” and than another 8-4 or 7-5 season should land him in the hot seat.
I think that is nonsense.
Heupel has been our coach for 5 years. In those 5 years, Tennessee has the 3rd most wins against Top 10 ranked teams in the entire country. Heupel already has fielded a genuine championship contender in 2022 and a playoff appearance in 2024. And he’s JUST NOW getting completely clear of sanctions and scholarship reductions caused by the previous administration.
Heupel has earned the right to build a real program and see what he can do with a cupboard full of hand-picked ingredients.
Final Season Predictions
There is a universe where things go right and Tennessee has a few big wins en route to a playoff run.
The problem is that it’s so hard to pick this direction when there are so many unknowns at the most important spots on the field. Quarterback, Defensive Line, and Secondary are so up in the air, it’s impossible to think that we won’t be in for a few letdowns against top tier talent.
I’m going to predict 8-4 with losses to Texas, Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas A&M.
I pick a South Carolina loss because there’s always one pesky road game that Heupel shouldn’t lose that seems to get away from him. Other candidates are Arkansas and Auburn at home.
With this many question marks, a new Defensive Coordinator trying to establish a culture, and a true freshman Quarterback who is sure to make at least some mistakes in big moments, I think it’s fair to say anything over 7 wins should be considered a semi-successful season as we build toward contending in the Faizon Brandon era.
Awards of The Week
No awards this week since we haven’t begun play just yet, but if you really want something here this week, let’s just give all the awards, acclaim, and gratitude to Dolly.
Fact of the Week That May Interest Only Me
Faizon Brandon was born on June 1, 2008.
This means that for the first time in history, the starting quarterback for the Tennessee Volunteers was not yet born when I walked across the stage for my high school graduation.
You’ll probably think I’m exaggerating, but I physically felt my hair turn gray when I read his birth date.
I appreciate your thoughts and prayers as I process this information.
A Haiku For You
To our dear Dolly,
Queen. Hero. A Volunteer.
We'll always love you.
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