The Tennessee Vols are dealing with some unfortunate summer drama as Penn State EDGE transfer addition Chaz Coleman has yet to show up for voluntary summer workouts.

Coleman was expected in Knoxville on Wednesday but he didn’t report.

“He wasn’t supposed to be back until today,” said VolQuest’s Austin Price Wednesday on WNML’s Josh and Swain. “The staff knew that, but he’s yet to make it to town. And at this point, until he does, then it kind of is what it is. I mean, there’s not a lot of optimism until he makes it back to town that he’s going to make it back to town. I think he talked to (Vols DL coach) Rodney Garner earlier this week. I don’t think he’s had a lot of conversations otherwise.

“They’re trying to tightrope the Grand Canyon with this deal, because you want to be there for the kid because he does have some stuff going on off the field. But at the same time, you don’t want another situation like you had last summer (with Boo Carter) where a kid no-shows for a stretch, and the team struggles with that.”

Coleman was one of the Vols’ biggest transfer additions of the offseason — especially after losing EDGE rushers Jordan Ross and Caleb Herring to SEC rivals (Ross to LSU and Herring to South Carolina).

Adam Sparks shares the latest on Chaz Coleman

The Knoxville News Sentinel’s Adam Sparks joined Another Dooley Noted Podcast and shared the latest on Coleman as Tennessee anxiously awaits to see if the talented pass rusher is going to show up for summer workouts.

“He was here for about a third of spring practice, and then was a no-show after that,” said Sparks. “And everything that Josh Heupel said is that it was for personal matters or personal reasons. We’ve heard mental health thrown around, we’ve heard homesickness, we’ve heard a few physical ailments, but nothing [has been] really confirmed. And so he’s been around the team a little bit, but not very much.

“And then Tennessee brought in a brand new strength coach — it was Indiana’s strength coach (Derek Owings). Right after the national title game, Tennessee paid a lot of money to steal away Indiana’s strength coach, and he is a no-nonsense military approach type guy. And that has not mixed well with an edge rusher who doesn’t show up to workouts. So summer workouts started this week, and Chaz Coleman did not report. And now we’re finding that he had posted on Instagram photos of him holding a lot of cash.”

“It’s a point of criticism for Josh Heupel either way,” continued Sparks. “Because if they keep him, then there are questions of discipline. Is Josh Heupel a pushover? But if they cut him, then [it’s], ‘Why did you not do more homework to know what you were getting with this guy?’ On top of this, Josh Heupel brought most of Penn State’s defensive coaching staff to Tennessee this offseason — Jim Knowles was the DC (at Penn State before coming to UT). But they also got two assistants, two or three analysts, and an assistant coach that coached edge rushers at Penn State. In other words, Chaz Coleman’s coaching staff came with him and gave the blessing that, ‘Hey, this is the guy you need to get.’”

Sparks makes several great points there. For starters, I’m sure Derek Owings, the new strength coach, doesn’t love that a high-profile transfer addition is skipping workouts while he’s trying to instill a new culture that’s focused on toughness and accountability. It certainly doesn’t make his job any easier.

Secondly, this is a unique situation where several members of Tennessee’s new defensive coaching staff — specifically defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and LEOs coach Andrew Jackson — were with Coleman last season. They know him well. So I think it’s fair that fans and media are questioning if the situation with Coleman is something Tennessee should’ve seen coming.

Of course, it doesn’t really matter now what the answer to that question is. This is the situation the Vols are in, for better worse. And at this point, Tennessee fans just need to hope Coleman locks in and joins the team sooner rather than later. Otherwise, the Vols are going to have a major void at EDGE rusher this fall.