The Tennessee football program is currently in the middle of a busy offseason period after their playoff loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first round. While the Volunteers did secure their first ever College Football Playoff berth this year (thanks to the new 12-team format), the way the team fell in Columbus left a bad taste in many fans' mouths.
One area that was great for Tennessee this year was the defense, which was among the best in the SEC and featured several future NFL talents all across the field. Head coach Josh Heupel and company would like things to stay that way for the foreseeable future, so the program recently made a big decision in that department, per Chris Low of ESPN.
“Tim Banks and Tennessee are finalizing an extension for him to remain as (Tennessee's) defensive coordinator, sources tell ESPN,” reported Low. “Banks, a Broyles Award finalist, led one of the top defenses in college football last season, holding 11 of 13 opponents under 20 points.”
Indeed, Banks' unit was a dominant one throughout large stretches of the 2024 season, although the Tennessee defense did falter a bit when faced with stiffer competition, including most notably the Georgia Bulldogs and the Ohio State Buckeyes, both of which resulted in road losses.
Still, the offense was more so the issue for the Volunteers for most of the season, as the team struggled to generate any sort of consistency through the air despite having one of the nation's best running backs in Dylan Sampson.
In any case, with their defensive coordinator now onboard for the foreseeable future, the Volunteers are now looking to add more talent through the transfer portal (as well as minimizing the talent departing from Knoxville), in addition to preparing for spring practices, which will begin in the next couple of months.