Tennessee’s latest showdown with Alabama tells Vols fans a lot about Josh Heupel after a lot of noise this offseason
It’s been a strange offseason for Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols. The program has made progress in a few key areas, but several things haven’t gone Tennessee’s way either.
It’s kind of been a strange offseason for Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols after a 2025 season that ended with back-to-back losses to Vanderbilt and Illinois.
Heupel has been productive — he poached strength coach Derek Owings from Indiana and he hired a national championship-winning defensive coordinator in Jim Knowles.
But there have also been several things that didn’t go Heupel’s way. The Vols were unable to land a premier quarterback out of the transfer portal, Tennessee’s big offseason transfer addition Chaz Coleman probably won’t be with the program this fall, and UT legacies Kenneth Simon and Cooper Witten (both are highly-rated linebackers in the 2027 recruiting class) committed to rival SEC programs (Alabama and Oklahoma, respectively).
While those developments aren’t ideal, I don’t believe they’re an indictment of Heupel. The transfer quarterback market didn’t really make sense. The Vols dodged a bullet by missing on Brendan Sorsby, and Sam Leavitt, who ended up at LSU, was an expensive risk after undergoing Lisfranc surgery. And nearly every Vols fan was stoked when Tennessee landed Coleman over Ohio State and others.
Most programs have had similar things that didn’t go their way. College football is as transactional as ever, and there is no handbook on how to navigate it. There are going to be misses.
Seeing the Vol legacy players, however, commit to other programs was probably the most painful thing for Tennessee fans.
There wasn’t much else Heupel could do in Cooper Witten’s recruitment. Oklahoma hired his dad, former Tennessee tight end Jason Witten, as the program’s new tight ends coach. That pretty much sealed the deal in the battle for Cooper.
Losing Simon to Alabama, though, was a tough one to swallow. Simon’s dad, Kevin, is a former Vol linebacker who served as Tennessee’s Director of Player Development at one point. But the younger Simon simply felt more comfortable at Alabama when he announced his commitment to the Crimson Tide last month.
“I think Kevin followed the same path that he learned from his father, and he let Kenneth pick his own choice and go where he wanted to go,” said VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs last month. “Kenneth decided to go to a rival school. That’s hard for Tennessee fans to accept. And that’s tough, but I don’t think Tennessee did anything wrong in the recruitment. And I think at the end of the day, Kenneth Simon felt like the best thing for him as a person, not just as a football player, but the best thing for him as a person was to establish his roots in Tuscaloosa.”
Some fans gave up on the idea of Kenneth Simon wearing orange and white after he committed to Alabama in May, but Heupel and the Vols never stopped recruiting him.
Kenneth Simon II flips to Tennessee
Reports indicated earlier this week that Tennessee was still swinging at Simon.
Then things kicked up a notch on Saturday.
On3’s Steve Wiltfong predicted on Saturday morning that Tennessee would flip Simon.
“After talking to sources with knowledge of the recruitment I’ve logged a prediction in favor of the Checkered Orange to flip four-star linebacker Kenneth Simon II from Alabama,” wrote Wiltfong.
Right at lunch time, the prediction became reality as Simon flipped to Tennessee.
Landing a player like Simon — the No. 9 linebacker in the nation according to 247Sports — is obviously a huge win for the Vols.
But I think the more interesting thing is what it says about Heupel and his staff.
Simon didn’t commit to Alabama on a whim. At the time, that’s the decision he felt was best for his career. And objectively, it’s understandable — Tennessee has only had two linebackers (Jerod Mayo in 2008 and Jalen Reeves-Maybin in 2017) drafted in the last 18 years. The Vols — not counting Henry To’o To’o, who finished his college career at Alabama — don’t have a single linebacker currently in the NFL (unless Reeves-Maybin, a special teams ace, returns for another season). Alabama, meanwhile, has nine linebackers in the NFL (that includes Justin Jefferson, a fifth round pick in 2026, and Jihaad Campbell, a first round pick in 2025).
Heupel and his staff were not only able to continue to recruit Simon without being overbearing (that can turn recruits off), but they fought against the linebacker narrative and convinced Vol legacy that Rocky Top is the best place for him.
It was an uphill climb for Tennessee, and they managed to make up an incredible amount of ground in just a month.
Not everything is going to go right for Heupel and the Vols. But this staff cares deeply about turning Tennessee into the program that fans know it can be. College football, both on and off the field, is as competitive as ever. Wins are hard to come by. Pulling off this flip just further solidifies that Tennessee has the right coach at the right time. The Vols just need the ball to bounce their way a little more often this fall.