Chaz Coleman was still away when Tennessee opened summer workouts this week, extending an absence that already wiped out most of his spring practice work and left the Volunteers waiting on a transfer they paid dearly to land.
That is why his name is being searched now. Tennessee beat out Ohio State and LSU for Coleman this offseason, and the program reportedly invested about $2 million to get him after 247Sports ranked him the No. 17 overall player in the transfer portal. For a team that expected him back by Wednesday, the delay has turned into a real subplot before the summer schedule can settle in.
Coach Josh Heupel said the program is standing behind Coleman while he works through personal issues, telling reporters during SEC spring meetings in Destin that he has been dealing with some things and that Tennessee would continue to support him through the process. Coleman, a former Penn State edge rusher, had already missed most of spring practice for those reasons before summer workouts began without him.
There was at least one sign of movement on Friday, when On3's Austin Price reported that Coleman was back on Tennessee's campus. But that did not erase the uncertainty around his return to football work, especially after he was supposed to be back no later than Wednesday. Earlier this month, Coleman also posted photos to a since-deleted Instagram account showing stacks of cash, a detail that only deepened the scrutiny around a player Tennessee thought it had secured after beating out two national powers.
For now, Tennessee has the money and the commitment, but not the player on the practice field. Whether Coleman is ready to rejoin the Volunteers in time to matter for the summer grind is the question hanging over the roster, and the answer still has not come.
