One of the Tennessee Volunteers’ biggest portal losses of the offseason came from the offensive line. And it’s a loss that Tennessee will feel, to some extent, during the 2026 season.
Of the players the Tennessee Vols lost during the spring transfer window, the one they’d probably most like to have back in 2026 is offensive lineman Lance Heard.
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Heard, who started his career at LSU, spent the last two seasons at Tennessee before transferring to Kentucky.
The former Vol is ranked higher in 247Sports’ final transfer portal rankings — No. 8 overall — than any transfer Tennessee landed this offseason.
“Making his third SEC stop in four years, the former five-star left tackle brings undeniable talent to Lexington, Kentucky,” noted 247Sports’ Cooper Petagna. “At 6-foot-6, 330 pounds, Heard is a physically imposing presence with the size and play strength to overwhelm defenders at the point of attack – and once he gets his paws on you, it shows.
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“The Louisiana native has all the ingredients to develop into a Day 1 NFL Draft selection, though pass protection consistency is the one thing standing between him and that ceiling – without refinement there, he risks sliding to the right side or kicking inside at the next level.”
(The highest rated transfer that Tennessee signed was Penn State transfer EDGE Chaz Coleman, who is ranked at No. 17 by 247Sports.)
Why did Lance Heard leave Tennessee?
Heard left Rocky Top for two main reasons.
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For one, he was going to be asked to move to right tackle so David Sanders Jr, who started at right tackle as a true freshman in 2025, could move to left tackle.
Secondly, Heard’s agent reportedly asked for more money than Tennessee was willing to pay.
“Lance Heard had a really good solid year,” said VolQuest’s Austin Price in January. “His agent asked for a gargantuan amount of money, and Tennessee was not willing to do that. They liked the growth that David Sanders had over the last month and a half of the season, and how he played in the bowl game. And they liked what Jesse Perry brought them at right tackle early in the year. And so Tennessee felt good enough to where they were like, ‘Okay, Lance, we like you at this [price], but we don’t like you at this amount of money.’ So they decided to part ways. That’s part of the new business model that is college athletics.”
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Tennessee would’ve been a better team this fall with Heard on the field, but the new era of college football is all about building the best team you can afford. And the Vols couldn’t afford a team with Heard on the roster.
What Lance Heard said about Tennessee during spring practice
Heard, who suffered a “minor injury” during spring practice, was asked about Tennessee and he made it very clear that he doesn’t want to talk about the Vols.
“I don’t really want to talk about Tennessee,” said Heard in March when asked to compare the tempo of practice at UT and UK. “That’s like the second Tennessee question. I don’t want to talk about Tennessee.”
Heard will return to Rocky Top in November when Kentucky visits Neyland Stadium for a showdown with Tennessee.
