FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Few things, if any, in college sports are more important than the ABCs. Always Be ‘Cruiting.
As Tony Vitello put a bow on the 2025 season following the Vols’ 11-4 season-ending loss at Arkansas, he began to look forward to what’s next for Tennessee’s program entering his ninth season as head coach.
“Gotta go get guys,” Vitello said.
Tennessee will have more time to do so with a longer offseason. The Vols played until June 24 last season and spent much of the summer attending obligations to celebrate the championship. Vitello and his staff landed a transfer class that was low on quantity but extremely high on quality.
“Last summer was tough. We weren’t on our campus,” Vitello said. “It just didn’t work out as well as we would want to. And then two, we bet on some young guys. … You always want to recruit better. So, that’s what’s going to go on this summer.”
Maybe learning their lesson from last season, Tennessee has gotten ahead of the curve in the transfer portal this year. The Vols already have two Division I transfer commits, a Division III commit and multiple junior college commits. Some of those commits are draft eligible, so we’ll see if Tennessee can get them to campus.
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But sticking true to the ABCs, Vitello and his staff have already been aggressive in the portal and will almost certainly continue to be so.
There are a ton of question marks for Tennessee’s roster management. The Vols have a handful of players who could return to school or opt to begin their professional careers. Tennessee’s top-ranked recruiting class is ripe with top talent that could opt for professional baseball instead of college baseball.
Then there’s the house settlement that will cut roster limits in the long term but vows to “grandfather” in players who are already on rosters. But the language makes it unclear on how much that will truly expand the roster limits.
Tennessee has plenty of young talent on its roster too. The Vols started two freshman position players and had two freshman pitchers get in work. Look no further than the ninth inning when freshmen Chris Newstrom came off the bench and doubled while freshman Jay Abernathy hit his first career home run.
“Maybe Jay’s (Jay Abernathy) deal is a little bit of symbolism there that the future is not bleak at the very least,” Vitello said.
