2026 will mark the third season with 16 Southeastern Conference teams after Oklahoma and Texas became league members in 2024.
Each league school will have three permanent opponents and six rotating opponents for the next four years. Beginning in 2026, Tennessee will play Alabama, Kentucky and Vanderbilt as permanent opponents.
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The Vols enter their 2026 campaign with a quarterback battle to replace Joey Aguilar.
During spring practices, Tennessee had four quarterbacks on roster: early enrollee freshman Brandon Faizon, redshirt freshman George MacIntyre, redshirt freshman Mason Phillips and redshirt junior transfer Ryan Staub from Colorado.
“Don’t expect a guy to be named here during the course of spring ball,” Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said during spring practices in naming a starting quarterback. “I think it’s important that all the guys in that room learn and grow throughout the course of spring, also have a chance to go back in your summer months, digest it, reinstall and come back a much better player, and compete and earn it in front of their teammates as you get into training camp.”
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Ahead of the season kicking off, “EA Sports College Football 27″ will launch worldwide Thursday for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Early access started July 2 for MVP+ Members and Monday for Deluxe Edition/MVP Bundle preorders.
Official player ratings have been released for the game.
Ole Miss’ Trinidad Chambliss is the highest-rated SEC quarterback in “EA Sports College Football 27,” followed by Arch Manning (Texas) and Sam Leavitt (LSU). Tennessee’s highest-rated quarterback is MacIntyre (No. 80 overall rating).
Below are the top-rated SEC signal-callers in “EA Sports College Football 27.”
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More: Tennessee football passing yard leaders each season since 2000
EA SPORTS College Football 27 top-rated SEC quarterbacks
|
Quarterback |
School |
Overall rating |
|
Trinidad Chambliss |
Ole Miss |
93 |
|
Arch Manning |
Texas |
91 |
|
Sam Leavitt |
LSU |
90 |
|
Auburn |
89 |
|
|
Oklahoma |
89 |
|
|
Marcel Reed |
Texas A&M |
88 |
|
86 |
||
|
KaMario Taylor |
Mississippi State |
83 |
|
Alabama |
82 |
|
|
Alabama |
82 |
|
|
Austin Simmons |
81 |
|
|
George MacIntyre |
Tennessee |
80 |
|
Kentucky |
80 |
|
|
Ole Miss |
79 |
|
|
Georgia |
77 |
More: EA Sports College Football 27 SEC team ratings
George MacIntyre. Tennessee Volunteers versus Arkansas Razorbacks football at Neyland Stadium on Oct. 11, 2025.
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This article originally appeared on Vols Wire: SEC football quarterbacks ranked for 2026 season
