The Tennessee Vols are fortunate to have a ‘get out of jail free card’ with the Chaz Coleman situation
It’s looking more and more likely that EDGE rusher Chaz Coleman, a Penn State Nittany Lions transfer, won’t be part of the Tennessee Volunteers football program this fall.
The Tennessee Vols’ most celebrated transfer portal addition of the offseason may not play football for UT this fall.
Penn State transfer EDGE Chaz Coleman, who missed most of spring practice while dealing with personal issues, hasn’t reported to Tennessee for summer workouts as of Friday afternoon.
It’s still possible that Coleman could join the team and settle in, but optimism is waning that this situation will have a positive outcome for the Vols.
If Coleman doesn’t play, it’ll be a tough blow to Tennessee’s defense as the Vols were counting on him to be a key part of new UT defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ defense in 2026 (Coleman played under Knowles as a true freshman last season at Penn State).
But this isn’t a “death blow” situation. Sure, the Vols would prefer to have a motivated and locked-in Coleman on the field, but Tennessee, fortunately, has somewhat of a “get out of jail free card”.
It’s not as bad as it looks for Tennessee with the Chaz Coleman situation
There are certainly some negatives in this situation for the Vols.
For starters, these types of situations keep happening under Josh Heupel’s watch at Tennessee (but that’s another conversation that we’ve already discussed), which isn’t the best look for the program.
There’s also the fact that Tennessee lost EDGE rushers Jordan Ross and Caleb Herring to the transfer portal this offseason while pursuing Coleman. (Would the Vols have put up more of a fight to keep Ross, who said he had to find a new program” if they knew Coleman wasn’t going to work out?)
But there are a couple of reasons why Tennessee may be able to save face.
One reason is because Tennessee, according to VolQuest’s Austin Price, reworked Coleman’s deal after spring practice. Price reported that Tennessee “pushed most of his money back until a date late this fall” (you can read more financial details from Price’s report here). So this isn’t a scenario where Tennessee has to recoup money from a player who didn’t hold up his end of the deal. That’s a big positive for the Vols.
The other reason is because the Vols landed another EDGE rusher in the portal this offseason who could end up being a productive player in the SEC.
Tulane transfer EDGE Jordan Norman is a player that Tennessee fans were excited about when the Vols landed him in January, but he quickly became an afterthought because of Coleman.
Norman doesn’t have the same upside as Coleman, but he’s at least produced at the college level (Norman had 6.0 sacks at Tulane last season).
Coleman has always been a lottery ticket — he still has to prove he can produce above the high school level. Norman, though, has three years of experience. He should be able to provide some high-level pass rush reps for the Vols this fall.
Tennessee also has a true freshman in Breeze Carter, 6-foot-3/268 pounds, who could shock some folks this fall.
ESPN’s Tom Luginbill, in fact, said in January that he thinks Carter can be a key contributor for Tennessee this fall.
“I think Jordan Carter is a guy that is going to be a guy that can come in and contribute right away,” said Luginbill on WNML’s SportsTalk . “He’s already 245 pounds. [He’s a] good point of attack guy [and] has an explosive first step off the edge. And you know, they’ve addressed the defensive front significantly — both through high school and through the transfer portal. But because they’re getting younger as opposed to older, they’re going to need those guys to contribute right away.”
Carter has added 23 pounds since arriving at Tennessee (that new strength coach is paying off for the Vols).
The Vols also have Carter Gooden and Christian Gass who are talented players that could step up in Coleman’s absence. And there are some different scheme things that Knowles can tweak if Coleman isn’t part of the team.
None of this is ideal for the Vols, and Tennessee needs to be proactive in preventing these types of situations from happening in the future, but if Coleman isn’t part of the team in 2026, it’s not going to sink the program. And that’s thanks to the way the Vols protected themselves with Coleman’s NIL deal and also the other pass rushers Tennessee brought in this offseason.
Heupel is getting out of jail free this time, but I don’t know how many of those cards are left in the stack.