Tennessee football may be out of viable starting options at quarterback unless a new player enters the transfer portal before it closes on Jan. 16.
Arizona State‘s Sam Leavitt and Missouri’s Beau Pribula took visits to Tennessee, but they dropped off the board on Jan. 12.
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UT made a late offer to Leavitt, but he signed with LSU. Pribula watched the Vols chase Leavitt, then committed to Virginia, according to numerous reports.
Before that, Tennessee offered Alabama’s Ty Simpson $4 million to sign with the Vols rather than declare for the NFL draft, a source close to Simpson told The Tuscaloosa News. But he likely is headed to the NFL.
And now 25 of the top 26 quarterbacks in the portal are either signed or committed to a new school, according to 247Sports rankings. Southern Cal’s Husan Longstreet is the remaining quarterback, but he was a five-star recruit in the 2025 class who doesn’t interest the Vols.
After all, UT needs a veteran quarterback to go with George MacIntyre, who will be a redshirt freshman in the 2026 season, and Faizon Brandon, a five-star recruit enrolling in January.
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Aside from Longstreet, Tennessee transfer Jake Merklinger is the highest uncommitted quarterback in the portal. He is No. 27 in the rankings.
Also, it appears that Joey Aguilar, UT’s 2025 starter, likely won’t get an NCAA waiver that would grant him an additional season of eligibility. He has no eligibility remaining, but he is trying to gain an additional year as a plaintiff on Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia’s federal lawsuit against the NCAA that challenges eligibility rules involving former junior college players. There’s no indication of a resolution anytime soon.
Here’s where the top quarterback transfers are headed
Tennessee still needs a third quarterback. It can either add a reserve and turn to MacIntyre and Brandon to compete for the starting job, or it can hope for a starting quarterback to enter the portal late.
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Some good options had been available. And most schools acted quickly to land premier quarterbacks when the portal opened. Tennessee did not.
Here’s where the top 25 quarterbacks in the portal are headed, according to various reports:
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Sam Leavitt (Arizona State): LSU
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Brendan Sorsby (Cincinnati): Texas Tech
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Drew Mestemaker (North Texas): Oklahoma State
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D.J. Lagway (Florida): Baylor
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Dylan Raiola (Nebraska): Oregon
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Husan Longstreet (USC): Undecided
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Deuce Knight (Auburn): Ole Miss
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Byrum Brown (South Florida): Auburn
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Rocco Becht (Iowa State): Penn State
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Josh Hoover (TCU): Indiana
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Austin Simmons (Ole Miss): Missouri
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Ethan Grunkemeyer (Penn State): Virginia Tech
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Kenny Minchey (Notre Dame): Kentucky
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Aidan Chiles (Michigan State): Northwestern
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Beau Pribula (Missouri): Virginia
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Lincoln Kienholz (Ohio State): Louisville
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Cutter Boley (Kentucky): Arizona State
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Katin Houser (East Carolina): Illinois
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Colton Joseph (Old Dominion): Wisconsin
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Jaden Craig (Harvard): TCU
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Anthony Colandrea (UNLV): Nebraska
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Luke Kromenhoek (Mississippi State): South Florida
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AJ Hill (Memphis): Arkansas
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Bryce Baker (North Carolina): Virginia Tech
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football quarterback search for Josh Heupel in transfer portal
