Rewind to 2021. Josh Heupel just took over as Tennessee football’s head coach amongst a NCAA investigation into recruiting violations under Jeremy Pruitt. The Vols were coming off a 3-7 season. Tennessee’s program had absolutely no juice.
It was not a friendly spot for Heupel and his new staff to step in recruiting wise. Overachieving with a 7-5 (4-4 SEC) season on the field helped provide a recruiting boost that fall.
Tennessee signed 22 players in Heupel’s first recruiting class as the Vols’ head coach. It’s now been four years since the Vols’ signed those 22 players with a good chunk now out of eligibility. How did Heupel and his staff do with that first recruiting class?
Sixteen of the 22 players ended up transferring, but many of those transfers made an impact before doing so. Three of those 22 players blossomed into true stars that helped change the program. Re-assessing the class here.
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Star Level (3)
James Pearce Jr, Dylan Sampson, Josh Josephs
Pearce and Josephs were both late recruiting wins, committing and signing with Tennessee football in the days leading up to or during the early signing period. Pearce played just three seasons before declaring for the NFL Draft. He recorded 10 sacks as a sophomore in 2023 and then 7.5 sacks as a junior in 2024.
Josephs split playing time with Pearce for multiple years and was a consistent contributor. He totaled 9.5 sacks over the course of his career including four sacks and three forced fumbles in his senior season. He was also elite against the run and projects as a day two pick in this spring’s NFL Draft.
Sampson contributed all three years at Tennessee but truly broke out as a junior, earning SEC Offensive Player of the Year honors. Sampson broke Tennessee’s single-season rushing yards (1,491) and rushing touchdowns record (22).
Starting Caliber (5)
Tyre West, Jourdan Thomas, Dee Williams, Squirrel White, Jackson Ross
West was never a starter in name but played well for Tennessee throughout his career. He recorded two sacks in each of his first three seasons and then four sacks as a senior in 2025. West will likely be selected in this spring’s NFL Draft.
Thomas is a tricky one. He was in line to start at STAR for Tennessee entering his junior year but then suffered a career-ending injury. Thomas became a student assistant coach and is in line to be a GA for Tennessee next season. Read more about Thomas’ story here.
A JUCO transfer, Williams never contributed on defense. But he was such a good punt returner that he made a NFL roster and made a major impact in his two years at Tennessee. Jackson Ross is another special teams contributor. After redshirting in 2022, he’s started at punter each of the last three years. Ross still has one year of eligibility remaining.
White was a two-year starting slot receiver at Tennessee. In his three years in Knoxville, White caught 131 passes for 1,665 yards and six touchdowns. He transferred to Florida State for his senior season.
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Provided Solid Depth Before Transferring (6)
Jayson Jenkins, Kaleb Webb, Elijah Herring, Chas Nimrod, Kalib Perry, Christian Harrison
All six of these players did not end their college careers at Tennessee but played varying degrees of meaningful snaps at Tennessee. Jenkins was a part of the Vols’ extremely deep defensive line rotation as a redshirt sophomore in 2024 before transferring to Florida State over the offseason. He’s back in the portal after on year in Tallahassee.
Webb and Nimrod were both backup receivers at Tennessee who earned a good deal of snaps. Nimrod totaled 315 yards and two touchdowns in his three years in Knoxville before transferring to South Florida. Webb totaled 214 yards and a touchdown in his three seasons at Tennessee before transferring to Maryland. Both had solid 2025 seasons.
Herring ended up starting at linebacker for most of the 2023 season for Tennessee after Keenan Pili suffered a season-ending injury in the opener. He performed adequately but not great, totaling 79 tackles. Herring transferred to Memphis for a year before playing his final season at Florida State. Perry was a reserve or backup linebacker in three years at Tennessee before transferring to Louisville for his senior season.
Harrison split snaps with Boo Carter at the STAR spot in 2024 after Thomas’ suffered the career-ending injury. He transferred to Cincinnati last offseason and totaled 66 tackles and an interception this season for the Bearcats.
Never Made An Impact (9)
Addison Nichols, Tayven Jackson, Jordan Phillips, Masai Reddick, Justin Williams-Thomas, Cameron Miller, Savion Herring, Brian Grant, Mo Clipper
No one in this group ever made any real impact at Tennessee. Nichols and Jackson were two of the seven four-star recruits in the class.
Tennessee’s struggles to develop in-house offensive linemen really started with this class. None of the five offensive line signees ever made an impact.
