Cooper Ranvier Entered the Portal to Get to Tennessee. At Kyle Field, He Made All Five of His Kicks
Tennessee had no roster spot for Ranvier in 2024. After an All-ACC season at Louisville, he says he entered the transfer portal specifically to come to Knoxville, and on Saturday he made all five of his field goals at Texas A&M.
Knoxville, Tenn. When Cooper Ranvier misses a kick, he goes looking for trash.
On the jog back to the sideline, he scans the field for a scrap of debris, picks it up and throws it away. It is his reset, he told reporters in August, according to A to Z Sports. Saturday at Kyle Field, he never needed it.
Ranvier made all five of his field goal attempts in Tennessee's 22-7 win over Texas A&M, from 23, 30, 32, 44 and 27 yards, and scored 16 of the Vols' 22 points, according to ESPN's box score. It was a career high in field goals, Tennessee Volunteers On SI reported. Josh Heupel called it an elite performance.
For a kicker from Lexington, Ky., who once had to wait for Tennessee to have room for him, it was a long way to come for a day like that.
A Kentucky kid with a Tennessee teacher
Ranvier did not start out as a kicker. He played receiver in high school before he made the switch, according to UTSports.com.
The person who taught him to kick has a Tennessee connection of his own. Former Vols kicker James Wilhoit worked with Ranvier when he was in middle school, A to Z Sports reported.
Tennessee noticed him early. Ranvier visited in the spring of his junior year of high school and later kicked for the Vols' staff at a camp at Neyland Stadium, according to A to Z Sports and Rocky Top Insider. Both sides were interested in 2024. Tennessee did not have a roster spot for him.
So he went to Louisville as a walk-on, Rocky Top Insider reported.
The detour that worked
At Louisville, Ranvier became one of the more reliable kickers in the ACC. He made 21 of 25 field goals, with a long of 51, and earned All-ACC honors in 2025, according to UTSports.com. Rocky Top Insider broke the season down further: 13 for 13 inside 40 yards and 19 for 20 inside 50. In November 2025, he made four field goals in a game against California, Tennessee Volunteers On SI noted.
Then he entered the transfer portal after his redshirt freshman season, Rocky Top Insider reported. Tennessee needed a kicker after Max Gilbert transferred to Arkansas in January, A to Z Sports reported, and this time there was room.
Ranvier has said he never really considered anywhere else.
I pretty much joined the portal specifically to go to Tennessee.Cooper Ranvier, via A to Z Sports
He told Rocky Top Insider that his conversations with Heupel were what settled it, and that he found the head coach calm and easy to talk to.
Quiet, until the kick
Evan Crabtree, Tennessee's special teams coordinator, described Ranvier in August as quiet on the surface, with a confidence that shows up most on the field, according to UTSports.com. Ranvier arrived on the Lou Groza Award preseason watch list, the school reported.
The confidence has held up. Ranvier is 18 of 19 on field goals this season and 35 of 35 on extra points, per cfbstats.com.
The Alabama game was the first sign of how much the Vols would lean on him. He made all four of his attempts in the first half of the 26-10 win on Oct. 17 and was named the SEC's Special Teams Player of the Week, according to Tennessee Volunteers On SI.
Saturday was a different kind of test. Tennessee's offense moved the ball but stalled near the goal line, reaching the red zone five times and scoring one touchdown. Ranvier turned the other four trips into points, and his 44-yarder with 6:18 to play stretched the lead to 19-7 after Texas A&M failed on fourth-and-1 from its own 34.
His mental approach, as he described it to reporters in August, is simple.
Just take a deep breath. Not the end of the world. Just go make the next one.Cooper Ranvier, via A to Z Sports
Home stretch
The next two weeks bring Ranvier's final kicks of the regular season, against LSU at Neyland on Saturday and at Vanderbilt on Nov. 28. The camp where Tennessee first watched him kick was held in the same stadium where he will line up against the Tigers. This time, he has the spot.
Sources: Tennessee Volunteers On SI via Yahoo Sports, Cooper Ranvier has record day in Tennessee Vols win over Texas A&M; Rocky Top Insider, Prior familiarity helped bring transfer kicker Cooper Ranvier to Tennessee; A to Z Sports, Tennessee's new kicker knew all along he wanted to be at UT; A to Z Sports, Cooper Ranvier reveals mental approach to handling missed kicks; UTSports.com, Tennessee specialists bring experience into 2026 season; ESPN, Tennessee vs. Texas A&M game summary and box score; cfbstats.com, 2026 Tennessee place kicking; Rocky Top Insider, Everything Josh Heupel said after grinding out win at Texas A&M
