{"id":683235,"date":"2026-01-17T02:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T02:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/683235\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T02:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T02:51:16","slug":"tennessees-arion-carter-withdraws-from-nfl-draft-enters-transfer-portal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/683235\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee’s Arion Carter withdraws from NFL draft, enters transfer portal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is the transfer portal more enticing than the NFL draft?<\/p>\n

Tennessee linebacker Arion Carter might think so.<\/p>\n

Carter, who originally declared for the draft this upcoming spring, has now opted to stay in college and enter the portal, On3 reported Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"TennesseeTennessee Volunteers linebacker Arion Carter (7) works out prior to the game against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old notified his former coaches at Tennessee and emailed the school\u2019s athletic director, per the outlet.<\/p>\n

Carter cited his desire to complete his college degree and play a healthy season as his reasons for staying back in school.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the simple fact of me being able to go and finish my degree I only have a couple credit hours left,\u201d Carter told On3. \u201cI\u2019ll be the first in my family to graduate college. I just want to go and have a full season healthy. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had been dealing with turf toe in my feet all year and wasn\u2019t able to play to my expectation. Being able to come back and have a full year of training and sharpening my tools and being a better linebacker and setting out to do everything I want to accomplish this next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carter added that although he prefers to transfer to an SEC program, he is open to playing anywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to stay in the SEC,\u201d Carter said. \u201cBut I\u2019m willing to go anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Carter established himself as one of the Volunteers\u2019 top defensive players during his junior campaign, leading the program with 76 total tackles, along with 6.0 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.<\/p>\n

When initially declaring for the draft through an Instagram post in December, Carter explained it was a difficult decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cTennessee has truly become home for me, and that\u2019s what has made this decision so difficult,\u201d Carter wrote. \u201cI want to start by thanking my coaches for believing in me, pushing me, and holding me to the highest standard every single day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to the trainers, strength coaches, academic team & support staff that made sure I was completely taken care of on and off the field. \u2026 To the University of Tennessee & the Greatest fan base in the country, thank you for the opportunity to be a Vol! The college experience, game day atmosphere and relationships developed will last a lifetime. <\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying for the Power T meant everything to me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is the transfer portal more enticing than the NFL draft? Tennessee linebacker Arion Carter might think so. Carter,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[331,23337,7,6,15,15729,9,1541],"class_list":{"0":"post-683235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-college-football-transfer-portal","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-nfl-draft","13":"tag-nfl-draft-2026","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-tennessee-volunteers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115908175436719639","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}