Tennessee Vols kicking the tires on all-conference player as replacement for Max Gilbert
A top candidate for the placekicking position for 2026 is in Knoxville.
The Tennessee Volunteers are taking a look at one of the ACC’s best kickers in 2025 to try to give them a leg up (pun intended) at the position next season.
Per GoVols247’s Ryan Callahan, the Vols are welcoming Louisville kicker Cooper Ranvier to campus on Thursday for a visit.
Louisville kicker Cooper Ranvier visiting Tennessee on Thursday
Ranvier was named third-team All-ACC this season as a redshirt freshman in 2025. He was 21-25 this season. He was almost a sure thing inside 50 yards, going 6-of-6 inside 30 yards, 7-of-7 from 30-39 yards, and 6-of-7 from 40-49 yards. Kicks of 50+ yards were a struggle, where he went 2-of-5.
The Vols are in the market for an accomplished and experienced kicker after Max Gilbert entered the portal recently. Gilbert was one of the most accurate kickers in Tennessee history with a career make percentage of 75.6% on field goals and a perfect 118 of 1118 on extra point attempts.
However, it was the lack of clutch kicks that really hurt Gilbert, most notably his 43-yard miss in the final seconds against Georgia that would have snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Bulldogs. He also had costly misses in losses to Oklahoma and Illinois. He ended up deciding to transfer to Arkansas, who is on the Vols’ schedule for 2026.
The margins in college football seem to be getting smaller as parity has spread talent across the country in the era of the transfer portal. As such, the Vols need someone who can make the crucial kick in the most pressure-filled moments. We’ll find out soon enough if Josh Heupel thinks Ranvier is that guy.
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