{"id":804190,"date":"2026-08-06T03:42:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T03:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/804190\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T03:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T03:42:17","slug":"tennessees-josh-heupel-rails-against-arion-carter-suspension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/804190\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee’s Josh Heupel rails against Arion Carter suspension"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel is fuming over losing one of his linebackers to start the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After Tennessee linebacker Arion Carter was suspended two games<\/a> to start 2026 for accepting a prepaid flight to an NFL pre-draft training facility, Heupel slammed the NCAA\u2019s ruling and defended his player.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ruling that came out from the NCAA, the two-game suspension, I truly believe is bulls\u2013t,\u201d Heupel told reporters<\/a> at Tennessee\u2019s preseason media day on Tuesday. \u201cYou look at the landscape of college football, the rules from NIL and everything, I think the ruling is completely outdated. [I\u2019m] disappointed for him and for us in the result of that ruling.<\/p>\n

\"ArionArion Carter of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts during the first half of a game against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on November 22, 2025 in Gainesville, Florida. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cAC at the end of last year had to make a choice. He chose to put his name in the NFL Draft process. In the middle of January, right before the deadline where you have to make a final declaration, he found out he needed a medical procedure that was going to require surgery. He made the right choice for him to come back to college football. He was upfront and honest. The fact that he paid back the $400 flight, he\u2019s handled everything the right way,\u201d the coach added.<\/p>\n

Carter initially declared for the NFL draft after playing through a foot injury late in 2025 and accepted a $427 flight from his agent to a pre-draft facility, violating NCAA rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Heupel said Carter isn\u2019t engaged with the agent anymore, but the linebacker still committed a Level III violation, which the NCAA refers to as a basic breach of conduct.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite declaring for the draft, Carter aggravated the injury and needed surgery, withdrawing and returning to school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In three seasons with the Volunteers, Carter has racked up 161 tackles, with a career-high 76 in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ATennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel speaks to the press during SEC Football Kickoff Media Day at the Tampa Marriott in Tampa, Florida, on July 20, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

He also added 1.5 sacks last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Carter will miss the Volunteers\u2019 first two games against Furman and Georgia Tech before being eligible to return Sept. 19 against Kennesaw State.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel is fuming over losing one of his linebackers to start the season.\u00a0 After…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[1607,399,398,396,397,7702,99,19501],"class_list":["post-804190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-college-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sec","tag-sports","tag-tennessee-volunteers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}