National Signing Day 2023: The Tennessee Vols are just fine
The Tennessee football program secured the bulk of their 2024 recruiting class today. 21 commits including 2 5-stars and 12 4-stars signed with the Vols, but if you checked twitter the past two weeks you would think the Vols limped to the finish line with a class full of 2-stars and walk-ons. Vol twitter has been a hellscape for two weeks, and for some reason these people think the Vol coaching staff isn’t trying hard enough.
The first big complaint from the legion of the miserable on Twitter was the lack of movement in the transfer portal. Listen, if a team is signing 10-15 kids in the transfer portal, it might point to a lack of talent on their current roster. Tennessee just isn’t in a position right now where they need to be handing out bags of cash to every warm body who asks. In my opinion, the way Josh Heupel and staff have handled their business in the transfer portal so far has been masterful. You have highly touted players at the two biggest positions of need in Holden Staes (TE) Jermod McCoy (CB) and Jakobe Thomas from MTSU who will provide depth at the safety position. Furthermore, the portal is not finished just because the ESD has passed. Last year the Vols added Omar Norman-Lott, Gabe Juedy-Lally, and Keenan Pili after the ESD.
The second complaint was about the players who decided to transfer out. Most of these players came from a secondary that was complained about all year, or reserve players who barely sniffed the field. The big name that left was Tyler Baron who decided to sign with Ole Miss, but most people knew he was looking for a payday from someone and it turned out to be the Rebels instead of the NFL. Look this is just the state of college football, and it’s unbecoming of grown men on Twitter to complain about young men trying to get to a better situation just because it hurts their feelings. Most of these players will not have long-term success in the NFL, and a player trying to make money off of football before their playing days are over is nothing to be upset about. Also, Tennessee absolutely could have paid these players if they wanted to, but at the end of the day, most of the departures were mutually beneficial.
The last thing I wanted to cover is the players Tennessee got to stay for another year. The Vols were able to convince Keenan Pili, John Campbell, Cooper Mays, and Omari Thomas to stay. Veteran players staying with your program is always a good sign and the Vols are still trying to convince players like Bru McCoy, Javontez Spraggins, and Omar Norman-Lott to return for one more year. This is part of the reason the Vols weren’t that active in the portal. Convincing proven starters to stay means your program doesn’t need 15 new starters from other schools; to me, these are signs of a good program. Lastly, keeping a recruiting class together takes effort and the Vols encountered zero surprises today. No last-second flips occurred, and the class didn’t take a nosedive which is more than you can say about other SEC East Programs after today. (cough-cough *Florida)