Advertise with us • Contact Us • RTI Team • Add RTI as a preferred source on Google
With spring football in the rear-view mirror and summer workouts on deck, ESPN has reexamined the top transfer portal classes across the college football landscape as we head into the next phase of the offseason. The biggest change from previous years is that there’s no spring portal window, so we’ve got as good an idea as we can on what rosters will look like next season. Texas Tech’s ongoing situation with quarterback Brendan Sorsby has shown that things can still potentially change between now and fall camp, which is what prompted ESPN’s second look at the portal rankings.
Tennessee’s portal class ranks 23rd in the country and 10th in the SEC. The Vols brought in 21 players from the portal with a big emphasis on defense, as well as adding a few more playmakers on the offensive side of the ball as well.
As ESPN’s Craig Haubert mentions in his Tennessee write-up, much of this offseason for the Vols was tied to Penn State. Tennessee landed former Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, who brought with him co-defensive coordinator Anthony Poindexter and LEOs coach Andrew Jackson. The defensive hires helped the Vols land multiple Nittany Lion defensive players.
“The Volunteers added Penn State defensive transfers at all three levels, led by freshman edge rusher Chaz Coleman,” Haubert writes. “The 6-foot-4, 240-pounder has some of the highest upside of any transfer in the country with an envious blend of power, speed and fluidity, though he’s still developing physically. The other former Nittany Lions added are linebacker Amare Campbell and defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam.”
He also mentions a big addition at the cornerback position with Auburn transfer Kayin Lee, who has multiple years of SEC experience. Haubert mentions that while Lee has good speed and length, “it’s his physicality that stands out.” The Vols have done well with transfer corners over the last two years with Jermod McCoy and Colton Hood.
Tennessee did not add a veteran quarterback through the transfer portal. Its lone addition at the position was quarterback Ryan Staub, who played in a handful of games for the Buffaloes last season. He’s in the ongoing competition for the starting job, but reports coming out of Tennessee spring camp say that the two favorites are five-star freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon and redshirt-freshman George MacIntyre. That competition was not decided during spring camp and will roll through the summer into fall camp.
Other notable additions from Tennessee’s portal class that we saw during fall camp were RB Javin Gordon, safety TJ Metcalf, safety Qua Moss, OL Donovan Haslam, OL Ory Williams, EDGE Jordan Norman, Penn State safety Dejuan Lane, and kicker Cooper Ranvier.
Tennessee’s portal class ranks 10th in the SEC behind No. 1 LSU, No. 3 Texas, No. 8 Ole Miss, No. 9 Kentucky, No. 11 Texas A&M, No. 12 Auburn, No. 21 South Carolina, No. 22 Alabama, and No. 23 Oklahoma. The Vols sit one spot above No. 25 Missouri on the list.
The Vols also finished with quite an impressive high school recruiting class, though. 247Sports had the Vols’ recruiting class ranked No. 8 in the country when it was all said in done. As Josh Heupel often says, though, young players won’t have time be young. Development will be an important aspect for Tennessee’s first-year group.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee Football coverage.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Tennessee Football Lands Top 25 Spot in ESPN’s Transfer Portal Rankings – Rocky Top Insider
Leave a Comment
