‘He needs to win football games, you don’t need to have an ugly year’ – Josh Heupel still has a very important decision to make
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel still has a lot of work to do this offseason to get the program to where it needs to be for the 2026 season.
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel completed one of his most important offseason tasks this week by hiring Jim Knowles to replace Tim Banks as the program’s defensive coordinator.
Landing Knowles, who was the defensive coordinator for Ohio State during the Buckeyes’ national championship run in 2024, is a huge move for Heupel and the Vols. And it shows that Heupel is serious about doing what it takes to raise Tennessee’s ceiling as a football program.
But it’s far from the only important task that Heupel needs to take care of this offseason.
In fact, the next big item on Heupel’s to-do list is figuring out what his quarterback room is going to look like in 2026.
Josh Heupel needs to have a good quarterback plan before the transfer portal opens in January
No one knows yet what the Vols’ quarterback room is going to look like next fall, but Heupel needs to at least have a plan for what it’s going to look like.
It’s unclear if Joey Aguilar, who started every game for the Vols in 2025, will return next season. It’s possible that Aguilar could gain another season of eligibility due to his inclusion in Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia’s complaint against the NCAA. But we don’t know when a ruling in that case will come down. And unless it comes before New Year’s, it seems unlikely that Aguilar will be part of Tennessee’s quarterback room in 2026.
Redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger is a candidate to transfer this offseason, though he hasn’t announced anything yet. If Merklinger leaves Tennessee via the transfer portal, it’ll leave the Vols with just two scholarship quarterbacks next fall — rising redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and rising true freshman Faizon Brandon.
Going into the season with two inexperienced quarterbacks the same year the SEC is going to nine conference games seems like a recipe for disaster. And Heupel certainly can’t afford a “disaster” after finishing the 2025 regular season with a 21 point loss at home to Vanderbilt.
“I think what Josh Heupel has to decide, and this is the decision that a guy making $9 million has to make — because this is a head of the chair decision,” said VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs on Friday on 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will. “And what he has to decide is — because he needs to win football games, you don’t need to have an ugly year next year — who gives [Tennessee] the best chance to win? Is George MacIntyre far enough along in his mental and physical development that he gives [Tennessee] the best chance to win based on the schedule [Tennessee is] playing next year? Or is [Heupel’s] best chance to win by going and getting somebody in the portal?
“I don’t know the answer to that — because I don’t watch practice every day. And I don’t know that there is an answer to that. I think that’s a decision that Josh Heupel has to have a gut feel on what he thinks. I know how much he likes George MacIntyre, and I know he thinks he’s talented. That’s why he coveted [MacIntyre] so much coming out of high school. Does he think MacIntyre’s ready? Because Josh Heupel in year six is not getting a big mulligan year here. I mean, this is one of those things where it’s the same way that he couldn’t go hire a defensive coordinator who had never called defenses before, I think it was going to be hard to do that. Does he sit there and look at this and say, ‘George is ready. We’ve got nine months to get him ready, and he’s our guy.’ Or does he say, ‘You know what? I’ve got to go get a guy who can come in and compete with him, who might be more of a plug and play guy.’ I don’t know the answer to that.”
Starting a freshman quarterback would be a huge risk for Tennessee
It’s definitely possible that MacIntyre or Brandon could start for the Vols in 2026 and lead the team to a magical season. We’ve seen freshman quarterbacks have special seasons in college football before. But it’s quite rare that a freshman quarterback excels in that way. Which is why it would be a huge risk to roll with MacIntyre or Brandon next fall.
As Hubbs said, this is a decision that only Heupel can make. But it sure feels like he’d be wise to target a top option in the transfer portal if he wants to win more than seven or eight games at Tennessee in 2026.
Tennessee Volunteers News
Vols fans will love the last thing new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles tells players before leaving the locker room on game day
The Tennessee Vols officially hired Jim Knowles as their new defensive coordinator this week.
