Josh Heupel, Tennessee football 'ready to move forward' from Chaz Coleman saga

Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel is ready to move on from the offseason saga surrounding Chaz Coleman.

Coleman, a coveted edge rusher who transferred to UT from Penn State, was medically disqualified from the Vols program in late June. It brought an end to an offseason saga that began when Coleman missed the second half of spring practice because of what Heupel described as personal matters.

Coleman then didn't report to summer workouts in late May, and ultimately his time with the program ended before he played a game for UT.

"As a program, I probably feel like it was a bigger — I don't know — story outside of the building than it necessarily was even inside of the building," Heupel said on July 20 at SEC media days in Tampa, Florida. "And, you know, we're ready to move forward."

Coleman was one of the Vols’ top portal additions, ranked by 247Sports as the top edge rusher in the portal and a five-star transfer. He was expected to be a major piece of the Vols' defense after following defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and two other assistant coaches from Penn State to Tennessee.

But Heupel said that for a good portion of Coleman's time at Tennessee, which began when he enrolled at UT in January, he "wasn't necessarily integrated into the locker room because of some of the things that he was dealing with."

"At the end of the day, you know, we're here to help our guys inside of the building. Chaz, you know, being one of those guys," Heupel said. "These young men deal with so many different things in today's landscape of college football pressures that, you know, they feel, see, hear, whatever it might be."

Even with Coleman out of the Vols' plans for a while, his permanent absence was a blow to Tennessee's defense, which had no time to pick up a replacement in the transfer portal and will enter the 2026 season with a lack of proven depth at edge rusher.

Heupel pointed to Tyree Weathersby, a redshirt junior, and Tulane transfer Jordan Norman as some of the more experienced options to help make up for Coleman's absence. He also noted sophomore Mariyon Dye as someone developing toward a more significant role.

"Absolutely we feel good about who we have there," Heupel said. "Young players got to continue to grow and be ready to play at an elite level, but I like the guys that we have inside the building."

Emmett Siegel covers Tennessee baseball for Knox News. Email: emmett.siegel@knoxnews.com; X: @EmmettSiegel_

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Josh Heupel, Tennessee football 'ready to move forward' from Chaz Coleman saga