Portal season is basically over. How do yall think we did? I’m thinking B-/C+
Positives: we solidified the defensive backfield and upgraded at LB.
Negatives: We didn’t get the disruptive DT I was hoping for and missed on all the top QBs.
Overall I don’t think we did enough to be a playoff team in 2026. But we’ll see.
My portal grades so far, FWIW…
DB - A+. We added quality and quantity, while still holding on to Redmond and Farooq. Scott would have been gravy, A+ even without him.
LB - A. As the QB of Knowles D last year, Amare Campbell could possibly end up being the single most important addition to any position group in the country outside of a QB. Land Arion Carter and it’s A+ for sure.
Edge - A. Really like Coleman and Norman. Another guy at this position would have made it A+ for me.
DT - D. I’m really high on Gilliam, but judging by the number of DT’s Vols brought in for visits, they wanted to add more big bodies here but failed to do so.
OL - A. I really like the guys we added here, and Heard was the only significant loss.
WR - A. We really just needed to hold onto what we got, and we did that.
TE - B+. Didn’t lose Davis or Brahme. Trent Thomas looks the part, but extremely limited production in 2 years at South Alabama makes it hard to say. I would guess Van Dorsalear is probably gonna end up being slightly better than Thomas overall, but maybe not.
RB - C. A lot of talk at the beginning of portal season that the Vols would like to add a homerun hitter to pair with Bishop. They did not do that, but the guy from Tulane looks like a solid pick up.
QB - F. Get Staub and I’ll bump us up to a D. Seems like we came into the portal with a “Go big or go home” approach, but we struck out on all our go big options, so it’s basically go home at QB.
ST - A+. We needed to trade our guy in for a confident kicker, and that’s what we did.
️ and consensus top 10 recruit. I won't be upset if he wins it out and shows he is that dude. It would be pretty exciting pulling for him from the jump.
