Was Running Back A Big Need In The Transfer Portal For Tennessee?
A lot will be placed on DeSean Bishop's shoulders in 2026 for Tennessee.
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Team transfer portal report cards delivered in mid-February should be taken with a grain of salt. We can like what Tennessee football did this cycle, as I did, and still understand that I do not have a clue which new transfer will pop and which will not for the Vols next season. The Vols went 5-for-7 in the transfer portal last cycle, and hit home runs with Colton Hood, Joey Aguilar, and Wendell Moe in particular. Star Thomas was one of those hits for Tennessee, even though he had an up-and-down season in Knoxville. He was a valuable rotation piece alongside DeSean Bishop and Peyton Lewis. Thomas has moved on to the professional ranks, though, and Lewis hit the transfer portal and is now at Virginia. While Tennessee did take a tailback in Tulane’s Javin Gordon, it’s fair to wonder about the running back room next season.
One of the key differences between the Gordon addition this cycle and the Thomas addition the last cycle is age and production. Thomas had rushed for over 2,000 yards at the FBS level when he arrived as a senior last year. Gordon entered the transfer portal after his first season at Tulane. He rushed for a little over 500 yards and five touchdowns. Thomas was more of a plug-and-play veteran to pair with Bishop and Lewis in 2025. How Gordon fits in with Bishop, Duane Morris, and Justin Baker is more up in the air. Suddenly, Tennessee’s tailback room is extremely young and inexperienced behind its workhorse in Bishop. With Tennessee not taking a running back in their 2026 recruiting class, Gordon, still a true freshman, sits somewhere in the middle as a recruit and transfer at Tennessee.
There were a couple of other big names whopopped up in the transfer portal this cycle at tailback. Hollywood Smothers out NC State was one, Justice Haynes out of Michigan was another. The latter was a big name in the transfer portal cycle the previous year, too, as he transferred from Tuscaloosa to Ann Arbor. Both were extremely productive at their previous stops, with Haynes’ last game as a Wolverine including 26 carries for 158 yards and two touchdowns. Smothers did the majority of his damage early in the season for NC State, but he still finished the season averaging nearly 6 YPC. Haynes is on his third school in three years, this time returning to his home state to play for Georgia Tech. Smothers is at Texas along with former Arizona State tailback Raleek Brown, as the Longhorns took two tailbacks that were On3’s top-5 tailbacks in the transfer portal this cycle.
Tennessee did not take a player like Smothers or Haynes, two highly productive veterans who are likely NFL-bound if next season goes their way. Gordon is, ostensibly, a multi-year swing for the Vols. Bishop played the workhorse back role well last season with his 182 carries. Only Dylan Sampson has carried the rock more times in one season in the Josh Heupel era, with his 258 carries in 2024. With Thomas out and Gordon in, along with Lewis and his 134 combined carries over the last two seasons, there is even less certainty about what the rotation looks like behind the former Karns star. With a Smothers or a Haynes as a one-year proven solution, you would not have to squint too hard to see a healthy three-man rotation at tailback with Bishop, Smothers, or Haynes, and one of Gordon, Morris, and Baker.
But Tennessee hasn’t rotated at tailback the last two seasons, something the team did often in the first three under Heupel. It might be a coincidence that in back-to-back seasons, Tennessee has had a huge gap in carries between its No. 1 and No. 2 guys. Tennessee had a top-10 scoring offense in FBS last season with Bishop as their workhorse. It’s fair to project that if Aguilar is granted another year of eligibility, the Vols will have another top-10 scoring offense in FBS, which would be four instances across six seasons under Heupel.
Tennessee did not have to add a big name like Smothers or Haynes. Even if they had, it would not be a guarantee that any of those top names would hit in Knoxville. Last season, only two of the top five tailbacks in On3’s transfer portal running back rankings popped at their new school, the aforementioned Haynes and Ahmad Hardy. The latter was the best addition of the bunch out of UL-Monroe, who ran for 1,600 last season at Missouri. Jaydyn Ott and Rahsul Faison both did not hit at their new SEC schools, and the No. 1 overall tailback in the cycle, Tulane’s Makhi Hughes, did not pop at Oregon and transferred to Houston.
One of the biggest reasons it would have made sense for Tennessee to splurge on a proven, one-year veteran in 2026 is the uncertainty at quarterback. As of this writing, no decision has been made on Aguilar’s 2026 eligibility. If he is granted another year to play football at Tennessee, the tailback depth is less of a talking point. If he isn’t, and the Vols roll with either redshirt freshman George MacIntyre or true freshman Faizon Brandon, the tailback depth should become more of a talking point. In the NFL, smart teams do everything they can to surround their young, franchise quarterbacks with team-friendly rookie deals while they can. Bishop is a good player, but Morris did not get the kind of freshman snaps that Jaylen Wright did in 2021 or even Sampson did in 2022. Aguilar’s 404 pass attempts last season were the most by any Tennessee quarterback under Heupel. Again, tailback depth will not matter as much if Aguilar gets his additional year. If not, the Vols will have to run the ball much more in 2026 to protect MacIntyre or Brandon.
Tennessee has finished in the top 20 in rushing more often than not under Heupel. However, the Vols finished 53rd nationally last season, their lowest mark under Heupel. It’s tricky, though, as Tennessee’s passing offense was a constant struggle in 2023 and 2024, while its rushing attack was in the top 10 both seasons. The Vols’ best two scoring seasons coincided with also being in the top-10 in passing offense in 2022 and 2025. The Vols did not have to add a Smothers or a Haynes in the transfer portal this cycle, or even a Cam Cook, but if it’s not Aguilar next season, you wonder more about the identity of the offense. Could Bishop do for MacIntyre or Brandon what Sampson did for Iamaleava in 2024? If Aguilar is back, I don’t believe it will matter that Tennessee did not take a veteran tailback in the transfer portal this cycle – if he’s not, though, it might.