Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson made an honest admission about the Tennessee Vols this week as he continues to prepare for the 2026 NFL Draft.

Simpson, who spent four seasons at Alabama before declaring for the draft, appeared on Gruden’s QB Class (hosted by former NFL coach Jon Gruden) earlier this week.

Gruden, who served as a graduate assistant at Tennessee under Johnny Majors in the 1980s, asked Simpson why he didn’t play for the Vols.

Simpson, a Tennessee native, admitted that he wanted to, but it “just didn’t work out”.

“It was hard,” said Simpson. “I wanted to. It just didn’t work out that way.”

Simpson also admitted that playing against Tennessee last season was a “really big deal” and “meant a lot” to him on a personal level.

How close did Ty Simpson come to playing for the Tennessee Vols?

Simpson grew up closely following Tennessee football. And before Jeremy Pruitt was fired as Tennessee’s head coach, it looked like Simpson was going to play for the Vols.

Before Pruitt was fired, he was set to hire Simpson’s dad, Jason (the head coach at UT-Martin), as Tennessee’s quarterbacks coach. But the recruiting scandal that cost Pruitt his job took that scenario out of play.

Josh Heupel recruited Simpson after he was hired to replace Pruitt, but he didn’t have enough time to seal the deal.

That’s not the only time that Simpson nearly joined the Vols.

The former Alabama quarterback admitted that he nearly transferred to Tennessee after the 2024 season when rumors started circulating about the future of then Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

“I would have had to jump into the portal with him still on the team,” said Simpson to On3 earlier this year. “He stayed and didn’t leave until the spring, and you couldn’t transfer within the SEC in the spring portal. I was a Tennessee guy growing up. It just never worked out that way for me to go there. It wasn’t God’s plan. His plan was for me to go to Alabama, and I couldn’t be happier.”

Tennessee also pursued Simpson after the 2025 season, but the 23-year-old quarterback decided to enter the draft instead of returning to college for his final season of eligibility.

Simpson joins a long list of players — such as Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne — who grew up rooting for the Vols, but ended up playing elsewhere in college.