Tennessee is near the top of an important college football category and it's a very good thing for the Vols in 2026
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The Tennessee Vols showed flashes of greatness last season, but they ultimately made too many mistakes to be one of the 12 teams in the College Football Playoff.
Tennessee finished with an 8-5 record in 2025 thanks in large part to having the youngest roster in the SEC.
The Vols will once again feature some youth in prominent positions in 2026 — specifically at quarterback — but Tennessee also returns more starters than all but a handful of FBS programs.
Tennessee is among the top FBS schools in returning starters
CBS Sports detailed this week which programs have the most returning starters in college football (they define a returning starter as a player with at least six starts last season).
Tennessee returns 13 starters:
DeSean Bishop – RB
Mike Matthews – WR
Braylon Staley – WR
Wendell Moe – OL
Sam Pendleton – OL
David Sanders – OL
Jesse Perry – OL
Shamurad Umarov – OL
Arion Carter – LB
Edwin Spillman – LB
Jeremiah Telander – LB
Ty Redmond – DB
Edrees Farooq – DB
USC returns the most starters with 15.
Georgia, Maryland, New Mexico, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Virginia Tech all return 14 starters.
Experience is extremely important in the transfer portal era — we certainly saw that last season with Vanderbilt's unlikely 10-2 season and Indiana's surprising national championship run (both teams were among the oldest in college football).
Tennessee's experience, along with the physical transformation of the roster that's taking place under new strength coach Derek Owings, should have the Vols set up better for success than they were a season ago.
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This story was originally published by A to Z Sports on Mar 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the Nashville section. Add A to Z Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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