With the second transfer window of the offseason closed, college football roster’s across the country are starting to come into shape.
Tennessee has lost double digit players to the transfer portal since last August but that’s the cost of doing business in the transfer portal age. How do the Vols transfer portal exits compare to the rest of the SEC?
Fifteen Tennessee players on scholarship entered the transfer portal between the start of fall practice in 2022 and the portal period following 2023 spring practice with one of those players — Lyn-J Dixon — transferring away shortly after arriving in Knoxville.
With 15 scholarship players entering the portal, Tennessee is tied with the second fewest portal entries of any team in the SEC. Only Vanderbilt (12) had less players enter the transfer portal while South Carolina and Georgia joined the Vols with 15.
So who in the SEC lost the most players to the transfer portal?
Ole Miss led the way with 36 players departing Lane Kiffin’s program. It is a wide lead over Texas A&M’s 28 scholarship players entering the portal. Arkansas (27), Florida (25), Mississippi State (23), Missouri (22), Auburn (21) and Kentucky (21) are all close behind the Aggies.
More From RT: Former Tennessee Running Back Transfers To Georgia
But even amongst scholarship players, every entree isn’t the same. Tennessee didn’t lose any major contributors to the transfer portal. The top Tennessee players to enter the portal included linebacker Juwan Mitchell, receiver Walker Merrill and third string quarterback Tayven Jackson.
While South Carolina had the same number of scholarship players enter the portal compared to Tennessee, they lost some more key players. Star tight end Jaheim Bell transferred to Florida State, starting running back Marshawn Lloyd transferred to Southern Cal and former five-star defensive lineman Jordan Burch transferred to Oregon.
Tennessee football lost 15 scholarship players in the transfer portal since the start of the 2022 fall camp but they did bring eight transfers into the program including Oregon receiver Dont’e Thornton, BYU corner Gabe Jeudy-Lally and Miami offensive tackle John Campbell.
Like any program, Tennessee hopes its incoming transfers will be more productive than the players that left the Vols’ program.
