Tennessee expects plenty from transfer class in camp and season ahead

It’s a wild time in college athletics. From name, image and likeness to a potential revenue sharing model. From conference expansion to the new-look 12-team College Football Playoff. There’s a ton of change in college football across the board.

One of the biggest changes occurred a few years ago, however, with the implantation of the transfer portal. Tennessee has excelled with its use of the portal across all sports, not just football. It’s an easy way to plug some gaps or search for a top-flight guy who could take your team from good to great. And now with the new multi-transfer rule being passed, it’s gotten even wilder.

Adapt or die and Tennessee has certainly adapted. The Vols added eight scholarship transfers to the roster over the offseason and all were able to get a jumpstart on things as mid-year enrollees. Now, months later, it’s time to see what they’ve learned as fall camp will be a critical time to see who can step up and help this team win ballgames right away.

“Physical skillsets, length and athletic ability. The ability to make plays for skill guys, when the ball is in the air. Size, athleticism and the ability to move people up front,” Josh Heupel answered on what the transfers have brought to his team . “Those guys have heard me say it throughout the course of the spring, all of you young players, but everybody inside of your building has an opportunity when we get on the field tomorrow to be a dramatically different player from where they were when they finished spring ball.”

Tennessee will absolutely count on a couple of these transfers to be the real deal this season. Maybe the most intriguing of the bunch is former five-star offensive tackle Lance Heard , who made his way to Knoxville following his freshman season in Baton Rouge. The plan is for the 6-foot-6, 340 pounder to step in and be every down player, protecting the blind spot of quarterback Nico iamaleava in the process.

“He’s in a great spot. He does a great job. He’s a really hard worker, really smart kid,” offensive coordinator Joey Halzle said at Media Day on the new tackle. “I just think for anybody, especially guys that are coming in from a different system, when we go fast it’s just different. It’s not better, it’s not worse, it’s just different. So, just him going like, alright, I’m going through winter, I’m learning all of it. I got this dialed in and now on the first day, like, man, here it comes ripping at a hundred miles an hour. And he’s like, whoa. But that is the thing that also changes the quickest because it’s just an adjustment, that’s all it is. He knows what to do, he knows where he’s supposed to go.”

Another transfer that was brought in for a reason on the offensive side of the football was receiver Chris Brazzell . After a breakout season with Tulane in 2023, the explosive playmaker on the outside turned plenty of heads in the spring and was one of the most sought-after weapons in the portal over winter. Brazzell will absolutely play this fall and has strengthened a room that returns plenty of veterans already.

It didn’t take long for his teammates to gain his respect, either.

“Chris is special, man,” junior wide receiver Squirrel White told the media . “He gets on the ball and can do some crazy things with it. He makes some crazy catches. Just throw the ball up to Chris and he’ll go make the play.”

Flip it over to the other side of the football and there will be some transfer defensive backs looking to slow Brazzell and the rest of the wide receivers down. Cornerbacks Jermod McCoy and Jalen McMurray were brought in to replenish a position group that witnessed a mass exodus after last season. The former did a lot of great things at the Power 5 level with Oregon State early in his career while the latter starred at Temple and is looking to prove it on a bigger stage.

“With McCoy, he had a really good spring. The early summer feedback that I have gotten, he has done a really great job. He is not the most vocal guy, but he is working towards it. So, I am excited about him,” defensive coordinator Tim Banks said. “Jalen McMurray is another corner who transferred in. I think he has done a good job. He is really a smart kid who played inside a little bit at Temple. I know he has the ability to do that a little bit for us if we need to. From the corner perspective, super excited about those guys.”

Like cornerback, the safety position said goodbye to some longtime starters as well. Andre Turrentine returns and will certainly benefit from being thrown into the fire towards the end of last season. Adding an experienced safety was a must for the Vols this offseason and JaKobe Thomas will be expected to contribute right away – making the jump up form Group of Five level.

“[He] is kind of that bigger presence that we are looking for, very physical, he showed that in the spring,” Banks said of Thomas. “I think as the game starts to slow down for him a little bit with our playbook, I think you will be able to see some of the athleticism that we saw on tape at Middle Tennessee.”

The next few weeks of fall camp is crucial for every member of the football team, but there’s added pressure on the newcomers to produce while still learning the schemes and culture of a new program. Tennessee’s transfers have hit the ground running and will continue to do so over the month of August as spring showed firsthand how good these players can be, both on and off the field.

“Whenever you bring in a transfer, there’s always a chance that there’s maybe some animosity on the team. Haven’t had any of that. So, it’s a testament to them, who they are,” Halzle concluded. “And then also the guys we have in this building, and we saw it right from the jump in spring ball, is you bring in good players. The level of competition jumps up, the level of play jumps up at every position.”

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