The former Tennessee Volunteers offensive lineman will return to Neyland Stadium on Saturday when the Kentucky Wildcats visit for a big SEC showdown.
Former Tennessee Vols offensive lineman Lance Heard will return to Neyland Stadium this weekend when the Kentucky Wildcats visit for an important SEC showdown.
Heard, who started his career at LSU, transferred to Kentucky in January after spending the last two seasons at Tennessee.
The former Vol is having a terrific season and could be a first round selection in the 2027 NFL Draft.
Heard was named a mid-season All-American last month.
Heard, who transferred to Kentucky to play left tackle for the Wildcats (he was going to be asked to play right tackle had he stayed with the Vols), had absolutely no interest in talking about Tennessee when speaking with reporters back in March.
"I don't really want to talk about Tennessee," said Heard when asked to compare the tempo of practice at Tennessee and Kentucky. "That's like the second Tennessee question. I don't want to talk about Tennessee."
Heard wasn't asked any more Tennessee questions after that point-blank response.
Heard started every game at left tackle for the Vols in 2025, and he played well. He's a player that certainly could've helped Tennessee in 2026.
But he left for two reasons.
For one, as briefly mentioned above, he was going to be asked to move to right tackle so sophomore offensive lineman David Sanders Jr could make the move to left tackle.
Secondly, his agent reportedly asked for a "gargantuan amount of money" from Tennessee.
"Lance Heard had a really good solid year," said VolQuest's Austin Price in January . "His agent asked for a gargantuan amount of money, and Tennessee was not willing to do that. They liked the growth that David Sanders had over the last month and a half of the season, and how he played in the bowl game. And they liked what Jesse Perry brought them at right tackle early in the year. And so Tennessee felt good enough to where they were like, 'Okay, Lance, we like you at this [price], but we don't like you at this amount of money.' And so they decided to part ways. That's part of the new business model that is college athletics."
Jesse Perry has started at right tackle for the Vols this season, with Sanders moving over to left tackle.
This article was originally published on A to Z Sports. Read the full story here: Tennessee will face former Vol Lance Heard on Saturday when Kentucky visits Neyland Stadium, and he had a sassy response when asked about UT
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