One of Tennessee’s rising stars makes a decision on returning to the Vols in 2026
The Vols will have a key part of their defense back next season.
We live in a world now where retaining current players is sometimes as impactful or exciting as landing outside stars. Such is life in the new transfer portal era.
For Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols, they were able to provide that type of good news on Tuesday with regards to one of the rising stars on the defensive side of the ball.
Per Pete Nakos, linebacker Edwin Spillman has been re-signed for the 2026 season.
Tennessee LB Edwin Spillman returning to the Vols for 2026
Spillman is a redshirt freshman out of Nashville (Lipscomb Academy). He was a consensus four-star recruit and was ranked in the top 10 in the state of Tennessee for the 2024 class. He saw action in four games in 2024, ultimately taking a redshirt.
However, he really had a strong second half of the season for the Big Orange. He had 15 total tackles in the win at Kentucky. He added 9 tackles, 0.5 sack, 0.5 tackle for loss, and an interception in the loss to Oklahoma. He also had 7 total tackles in three of Tennessee’s final four games, including the Music City Bowl. His 80 tackles were the most by any freshman in the SEC this season.
As such, Spillman made himself pretty valuable down the stretch, and it appears he and Tennessee found common footing to continue on together in 2026. With Arion Carter off to the NFL Draft, Spillman is set to step into an expanded role on the defense in 2026.
And if he continues his ascent, the Vols could have a true budding star to help get new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles‘ defense off on the right foot next year.
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