Running back Peyton Lewis spent the first two seasons of his college career with the Tennessee Vols before entering the NCAA transfer portal following the 2025 season.

Lewis, a former four-star recruit from Salem, VA, joined the Virginia Cavaliers as a transfer addition in January.

During his two seasons at Tennessee, Lewis rushed for 629 yards and 10 touchdowns. He also caught eight passes for 56 yards and served as a kick returner.

Peyton Lewis gets real about his time at Tennessee

Lewis recently joined The 5th Side and he spoke candidly about his time with the Vols.

The Virginia native spoke highly of Vols running backs coach De’Rail Sims while also pointing out that his skillset wasn’t an ideal fit in Tennessee’s up-tempo spread offense.

“With my seasons at Tennessee, there were a lot of opportunities for goal line touchdowns,” said Lewis. “I wish I had more [opportunities] in the open field. I don’t think I fit too well within that system. I went searching for any type of system where I could apply my skills. I think it was the best decision for me.”

“Just the maturity aspect and getting the feel for how college football is,” continued Lewis when asked what the biggest takeaway was from his time at Tennessee. “I would say that was probably one of my biggest takeaways. And flipping my mindset to being a college running back for sure. Coach Sims, the running backs coach at Tennessee, he definitely helped me flip my mindset into the aspect of this is what you’ve got to do to excel in this league. And if you’re going to go after that to the NFL, then this is what also has to happen.”

Lewis specifically touched on the tempo aspect of Tennessee’s offense, too.

“We practiced that tempo every day,” said Lewis. “In practice, we’ve got a dude on the sideline with a timer measuring how fast we’re going snap to snap and when the ball hits the ground and the ref backs up. I mean, we’re measuring everything. And they’re super fast tempo — which definitely pushes younger guys to really get into their playbooks, because you really gotta know it. Obviously, you know what to do, but you can’t think about it. You’ve just got to do it. And I think that helped me out a lot. If I’m able to process things super quick like that in the tempo aspect, then when I get the opportunity to slow things down, because UVA is not a super fast tempo — we can do hurry up offense, but it’s not super fast like Tennessee was — I feel like that can help me out a lot, slowing things down and really understanding things rather than just reacting.

“[Tennessee is] super wide. They like to utilize every bit of the field with their splits. And there’s a lot that goes into that with play design and everything. But it’s super unique, I think, Tennessee’s type offense, because it’s not like UVA’s at all. And just talking with Coach (Desmond) Kitchings (UVA’s OC) about different terminology that we used at Tennessee, and what they use here is just way different. And they’ve got a pro style type of offense here (at UVA). I don’t think it’s the same at Tennessee. And I could see that night and day when I came in here and I got in the meeting room with Coach Kitchings, and just seeing how the playbook was and everything. There’s certain similarities, and you’ll notice that just the terminology will change a little bit. But I think it’s just night and day between how UVA plays football and how Tennessee plays football, offensively.”

“I like to get in space, and I like to work my craft and move,” added Lewis. “And I feel like when I was at Tennessee, I wasn’t able to really do that as much with how they play. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just that it wasn’t a fit for me — realizing that and putting my foot down and saying, ‘Hey, I’ve got to change something about this,’ because I could always feel that I wasn’t really too [good] of a match for them. Just the type of running back style that I have didn’t really marry with how they play football.”

Lewis also noted that he should get around 200 carries a season at Virginia, as opposed to the 60 to 70 carries he received per season at Tennessee.

Sometimes, players just aren’t a good fit in certain offenses. Tennessee’s offense clearly works well in the SEC, but it wasn’t what was best for Lewis.

Ultimately, it sounds like Lewis just felt like he needed to find a better system for his style of play, and it seems like he found it at Virginia.

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