SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 20, 2026

Arion Carter

Tennessee Volunteers

Press Conference

Q. Team goals are obviously at the top of your list. What individual goals do you want to meet to get those team goals to be successful?

ARION CARTER: I really don't know about any individual goals. (Lost audio) individual goals with the team having success. I really don't try to draw on things like that. But whatever it takes to win, honestly. Number one, I'm a competitor at heart. And I feel like if I need to go out and get 10 to 15 tackles a game to do so, then so be it. Or one or two interceptions that can be game-changing plays that I want to make, that I will make in the season, I'll do that as well.

So I'm not really too interested on me, but more so the team.

Q. Taking a leadership role and being an example for younger players is truly a daunting task. What qualities do you hope to inspire in those rookies?

ARION CARTER: Honestly, I want to inspire them to have confidence. The only way you can create confidence is through preparation. And you've got to move diligently.

So within that, I work with a purpose every single day, day in and day out, to sit with them in meeting rooms and just talk fundamentals, technique. And then we carry on into football and schematics of our defense and what we're really trying to accomplish and the fundamentals of shell defense and rotation after the coverage and who is in the help and understanding what all 10 other guys are doing. That way you can have the most success possible on the field.

Q. You're standing in the tunnel at Neyland field, 110,000 people are singing Rocky Top. Do you still get goosebumps?

ARION CARTER: Man, every single time. It's nothing like it, honestly. I feel like Vol Nation is the best fan base in America. And I'll die on that, on that hill every day of the week. It's just electrifying just to get that privilege to walk outside of that tunnel and run through that T every single game. It's a blessing.

Q. Talk about coming back for your senior season and out of the portal, what that means to you and your teammates moving into 2026?

ARION CARTER: It's everything. It's a chance, a great opportunity, as I look forward to this 2026 season. Me coming back off my injury and ultimately choosing to come back to the University of Tennessee was a pivotal point in my life, I feel like. I feel like I made the greatest decision I possibly could have made wholeheartedly.

I feel like me being the leader and the type of person I am to be able to lead this team that's fairly young in a sense but very uberly talented, to give us the best opportunity to go out and win on Saturdays, it's a great opportunity, and I can't wait to go seize it.

Q. What have you learned about your new defensive coordinator, Coach Knowles? And you're the leading tackler, so what are some of the suggestions you present to the young players about tackling in space, which is so difficult?

ARION CARTER: It's super difficult, but if it was easy, everybody would do it. So we work on these difficult things in practice and we put ourselves in game-like situations. That way we're ready for the opportunity when it meets itself, because you only get a select few times and opportunities in open fields to make those plays and you've got to make them count whenever they come to you.

So it's all about fundamentals and technique. At the end of the day, we're trying to build and master, and we're trying to expel upon those to get into the different intricacies of the scheme with Coach Knowles and what he's trying to do for us and put us in position to go win.

And you gotta learn it, earn it, and go out and ultimately go out there and play your hardest and play relentless.

Q. You have some unique post-football aspirations. What are those?

ARION CARTER: I want to be an orthopedic surgeon. I'm a public health major. That's what I'm studying in my undergrad.

But speaking on that topic, I've made so many great relationships at the University of Tennessee. It's a blessing just to come back and have so much gratitude for that. Just to be a VFL, it is an honor, it is a privilege and it is a blessing. And I take advantage of that opportunity and don't take it for granted every day of the week.

With those opportunities, I met so many people. I've met so many professors and entrepreneurs that can help lead me in the right direction in that pathway after football.

Q. So you pick the brains of the team doctors more than most of your teammates?

ARION CARTER: Yeah, I would. I love my guys to death, though.

Q. Unless you're talking to someone who has played football, culture is hard to explain. Try to explain what culture is at Tennessee.

ARION CARTER: Explain our culture or what culture is and what it means to me? What culture really means to me and the culture at the University of Tennessee it's to play one standard. That's fast, physical, relentless. When you step in the building and when you step on the field in general.

We don't deviate from that standard. It's a way of living and it's the way you carry yourself throughout life, more as a young man, but then also in and outside of that locker room.

So within culture, it's having the greatest attitude walking into the building by also calling your brother up to the standard, when he's down and out, when he doesn't feel like going the extra rep. When he doesn't feel like pushing past that last little extra bit of practice, you call him up to the standard, not call him out, but you call him up to the standard and remind him what it means to really be a University of Tennessee Volunteer. And within that, you give effort because effort is a non-negotiable, regardless of the fact.

Q. I know you're playing Texas, the SEC opener. Are you playing any other teams that you haven't played against or are going to any stadiums you have not played at in your career?

ARION CARTER: I enjoy every single bit of playing in the SEC, honestly. Every team has its unique mantra with them. And it's hard playing in this league, but I love it, honestly.

And I say the teams that I'm excited to play, as far as stadiums, I love playing in Fayetteville. I like playing out there, understanding where we've got a very talented Auburn team coming in and we've got a very talented LSU team coming in as well. And me going back home to Nashville to play at Vanderbilt, that's always great too.

Q. In making decisions for your future, both regarding your athletic and academic endeavors, what have you learned about yourself during this time period?

ARION CARTER: I understand -- I found myself as a young man and understand what I really love to do and my passions.

I understand I like to read a lot. I've been on a book, one of my mentors gave me, "Turning Pro." And "Turning Pro" is like, you know, a general sense of you would think, oh, yeah, like, he wants to be a professional athlete, of course. But, no, like, turning pro in life.

The difference between an amateur, a professional in the way you carry your business and carry yourself as a young man will ultimately be the stepping stone of your success on the field.

So I've figured out I'm a hard worker. I've figured out that I'm very diligent. I'm persistent. Not just consistent, but persistent when things are hard and down and out. And I know my higher power in my Lord and savior Jesus Christ who carries me through all the things.

You know, I look back on the good book. I call the bible the good book of that Jeremiah 29:11, of that Isaiah 43: 1-3 -- just understanding there is a God and there is a higher power that's driven and driving you forward every single day to meet you halfway to guarantee your manifestations and the promise that you make to yourself and the ones around you are being met every single day.

So how do I do that? That's by carrying myself the right way and moving diligently and also putting my best foot forward.

Q. As a fellow Tennessee student, we're all pretty excited for the seven home games this year. Which one do you have circled on your schedule this year?

ARION CARTER: SEC home games? Every one. Every one is a great one to me.