The Tennessee Vols ended their 2025 season on a down note, but things are looking up after an offseason of major changes in Knoxville.

New strength and conditioning coach Derek Owings has been a big factor in changing the roster for the better since coming over from Indiana the day after the Hoosiers’ national championship. The roster has gained a third of a ton of muscle and lost hundreds of pounds of fat, at least according to the school.

The Vols’ defense has been overhauled, with a new defensive coordinator in Jim Knowles and a number of new faces on the roster. QB Faizon Brandon has been turning heads and could have a leg up in the battle with George MacIntyre going into fall camp.

As such, there’s a lot to like about Tennessee ahead of the 2026 season. And you can count CBSSports.com among those higher on the Vols going into next year.

The outlet put out their post-spring ranking of all 138 teams, and the Vols checked in at No. 17.

Tennessee jumps up 15 spots to No. 17 in CBS Sports’ post-spring college football rankings

15 spots is a relatively big jump for Tennessee, and it almost made the list of biggest jumps on their list from the end of the 2025 season. By way of perspective, Vanderbilt’s jump backwards 16 spots was the smallest on their list of jumps.

This will be a compelling and important season for Josh Heupel in Knoxville. 8-5 certainly didn’t cut it for the program last year, particularly after getting bludgeoned by Vanderbilt at home 45-21 to end the regular season. Heupel vowed the Vols would be better moving forward, and things have been moving in the right direction for that to be the case.

So, if Tennessee could play like the No. 17 team in the nation next season, it would be one that would have the Vols back firmly in the hunt for the College Football Playoff. And most Vol fans would likely agree that would be a step forward as a program after last season.