An update.
Boo Carter remains a part of the Tennessee football program, per head coach Josh Heupel. The sophomore defensive back was a major piece of Tennessee’s defense last season as a true freshman and is viewed as one of the most important players on the roster heading into the 2025 season.
However, a public NIL negotiation in the winter and plenty of rumors over the last week have cast some doubt as to whether or not the Chattanooga native wants to remain in Knoxville. Carter reportedly miss some team activities this summer which rubbed some of the senior leaders on the team the wrong way. Other rumors have been out there — we’re sure you’ve seen them — but we’ll leave those alone.
Josh Heupel addressed the situation today as Tennessee opens fall camp.
“I know at some point I’m going to get a question about Boo, so I’m going to address that right now,” Heupel said in his opening statement. “Boo is a part of our team here. There’s some things that he’s got to accomplish to get back on the field with us. Don’t have a set timeline on that. Our leadership council has been a part of those things, those discussions with me and with Boo. I’m proud of what they’ve done. They care and love Boo and want him to be his best too.”
Carter, a former four-star prospect, was an immediate contributor for Tennessee last season at nickel following the injury to Jourdan Thomas. He also made an impact on the punt return team. Carter was expected to slot back into his STAR role defensively and could even see time on the offensive side of the ball as he did in high school.
As Heupel said, it remains to be seen when he will be allowed back on the field.
“At the end of the day, it’s a requirement to be here, be a part of what we’re doing,” Heupel said. “And there’s a lot of information out of there, out in the world. Some of it is correct, some of it is not. I’m not going to address everything over the last week. Disappointed with how some things were handled. At the end of the day, we have conversations, what does it look like moving forward? And that’s all parts, our leadership council, Boo and our staff. So it’s not about what yesterday was, it’s about today. And we’ll see as we continue to progress where that leads us.”
Tennessee does have depth in the defensive backfield, but the Volunteers are still missing Jermod McCoy, who is working back from a torn ACL. They were able to add Colton Hood from Colorado to bolster that depth — something they may have to lean on during the first few weeks of the season with now a couple of question marks.
“I’m not going to get into all the details of everything,” Heupel finished. “(Boo is) here, he’s with us. And each day we’ll figure out what comes next.”