Arkansas picks two Tennessee football transfers as captains for Vols vs Razorbacks

Two former Tennessee football players will be captains for Arkansas on Saturday.

Arkansas announced on social media Thursday that offensive lineman Addison Nichols and defensive back Doneiko Slaughter will serve as captains when No. 4 Tennessee (4-0, 1-0 SEC) plays against the Razorbacks (3-2, 1-1) on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) in Fayetteville.

Nichols and Slaughter transferred to Arkansas following the 2023 season and start for the Razorbacks.

“They’ve been great additions,” Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said Wednesday. “To get a guy in the portal and he starts for you, that helps your football team. But it also validates that you’re doing a good job of evaluating who you’re bringing into the program.”

Doneiko Slaughter, Addison Nichols transferred from Tennessee to Arkansas

Slaughter played 42 games at Tennessee in four seasons and made 14 starts. He made 87 tackles and had. one interception. He was part of the major overhaul in UT's secondary following last season.

At Tennessee, Nichols played in 13 games in two seasons including 11 in the 2023 season. He was UT's top-ranked signee in the 2022 recruiting class, but couldn’t win a starting job at guard or convince coaches that he could be Cooper Mays’ heir apparent at center.

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"That’s the era of college football that we’re in," Vols coach Josh Heupel said Wednesday. "You have the opportunity at times during the season to play some guys that were inside your own program. Those two guys are really good kids. They do things the right way off the field. They compete extremely hard on the field. Both of those guys are playing extremely well for Arkansas right now."

Knox News reporter Adam Sparks contributed to this story

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ ByMikeWilson . If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Arkansas picks two Tennessee football transfers as captains for Vols vs Razorbacks