Tennessee LB Arion Carter to withdraw from draft, enter transfer portal instead, per report
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Tennessee linebacker Arion Carter apparently has changed his mind for where he wants to play this fall.
Carter has decided to withdraw from the NFL Draft and enter the transfer portal instead, according to a report by CBS Sports’ Chris Hummer and Matt Zenitz on Friday night. The Smyrna, Tenn., native who stayed in state coming out of high school has been a tackling machine at Rocky Top for the past 3 seasons, piling up 161 tackles and 13.5 tackles-for-loss during that time.
But after opting to head to the NFL Draft earlier this week, the 6-foot-1, 235-pound Carter has reportedly had another change of heart, choosing to stay in college and enter the portal. He has notified Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel and linebackers coach William Inge, and Carter also emailed athletic director Danny White.
With Carter reportedly back in the mix for other college programs, that also means he could return to the SEC in 2026. SEC rivals Alabama and Texas A&M could be in the mix for Carter, who told reporters that he would “love to stay in the SEC but I’m willing to go anywhere.”
Carter, who is coming off 2 solid years at Tennessee, had 76 total tackles, including 6.0 tackles-for-loss, and 1.5 sacks this past fall. The year before, Carter had 68 total tackles, including 6.5 tackles-for-loss, and added an interception.
He was a 4-star phenom coming out of Smyrna High School in Tennessee, and the Volunteers gobbled Carter up during the 2023 recruiting cycle. But despite a strong run in Knoxville, Carter doesn’t want to continue his career there.
But apparently, he doesn’t want to go pro yet either, and now the transfer process begins for Carter to choose his next collegiate destination for 2026.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
