2025 Offseason Assessment

#1
O

OH-Vol

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#1
Hey All - I don't often start threads and realize this has been discussed often, however am really interested in opinions of this year's offseason. I have tried to stay positive, however have come to realize 2025 will likely not go well, really based on Awful roster management this offseason.

- We lost ~25-30 guys via eligibility / transfer portal
- Added very little via the Transfer Portal ~ 5 or 6
- Signed a Full Highschool class of ~25 18 year old kids

In today's era where players are on effectively on 1 year contracts, how can this approach possibly make sense for 2025 or beyond? I theorize that in the previous few offseasons, we saw very little attrition and were completely caught off guard by the mass exododus this year were and not prepared on numerous fronts: Player evaluation, external relationships, Financing etc... Should we have any faith in the White/Heupel combo moving foreard?

2025 is looking like a Rebuild year, in an era where there is no benefit to rebuilding and long term player development. I think we win 6 games and suspect we lose the commitment of QB Brandon. Any insightful takes would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
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#2
#2
First? Thank you for only saying the word kids once in your post. Refreshing.

Yeah, I have faith in the White/Heupel combo. Before them, it seemed it was pretty much run by 2 feuding factions of boosters: The pro Fulmers, and the anti Fulmers. And that long running feud behind the scenes is what has shaped the successes and the failures of Tennessee football for this entire century. I am hoping that we finally had some adults in the room. I certainly don't want to see the **** show return.

Now as to mass exits? Get used to it. The NIL/ transfer portal era is here, and that is a change that is going to fuel chaos. As to Faizon Brandon? I have no idea what this young man is going to do. Right now he is still committed, and if he signs? Great. I suspect he will be along the lines of the next Josh Dobbs, or the next Jarrett Guarantano. And we will be figuring out which soon enough.

You stated we lost 25-30 and gained 30 or 31. So that is normal. Enjoy the ride. or don't. Matters little.
 
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#3
#3
Hopefully after all this attention and everything we can just go silent and under the radar now.... This team should have all the motivation in the world... NIL and kids head space doesn't give confidence... Hope the players are bought in going forward
 
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#4
#4
TNnative said:
First? Thank you for only saying the word kids once in your post. Refreshing.

Yeah, I have faith in the White/Heupel combo. Before them, it seemed it was pretty much run by 2 feuding factions of boosters: The pro Fulmers, and the anti Fulmers. And that long running feud behind the scenes is what has shaped the successes and the failures of Tennessee football for this entire century. I am hoping that we finally had some adults in the room. I certainly don't want to see the **** show return.

Now as to mass exits? Get used to it. The NIL/ transfer portal era is here, and that is a change that is going to fuel chaos. As to Faizon Brandon? I have no idea what this young man is going to do. Right now he is still committed, and if he signs? Great. I suspect he will be along the lines of the next Josh Dobbs, or the next Jarrett Guarantano. And we will be figuring out which soon enough.

You stated we lost 25-30 and gained 30 or 31. So that is normal. Enjoy the ride. or don't. Matters little.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response: The concerns is we lost ~ 30 Upper Classmen and replaced them with 25 Freshmen and 7 Upperclasmen....... It is a clear sign we are punting on the 2025 Season... which to me would be fine if investing in long term player development was a reasonable strategy in today's game.
 
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#5
#5
I have faith in the current administration. Seems every team out there is having a hard time navigating through this new NIL era. I like the Vol staff, they are smart and will figure it out as well as anybody else. I approve their strategy so far, to develop players instead of buying a bunch of mercenaries for a one and done season.
 
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#8
#8
vol94fan said:
Maybe most of those who transferred were never gonna start so they decided to look elsewhere. We still have a full team, so maybe the new players will be better than the transfers.
Click to expand...
Great Optimism, and specifics?
 
#11
#11
OH-Vol said:
It is a clear sign we are punting on the 2025 Season...
Click to expand...

Lulz.

I don’t believe this for a second.

As another poster pointed out, this is likely the new normal. Every player is a free agent every time the portal opens. And most of them are looking for a raise…either at their current school or elsewhere.

If you’re UT? You raise the ones you want to keep. You cannot raise the underperformers.
 
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#12
#12
OH-Vol said:
Hey All - I don't often start threads and realize this has been discussed often, however am really interested in opinions of this year's offseason. I have tried to stay positive, however have come to realize 2025 will likely not go well, really based on Awful roster management this offseason.

- We lost ~25-30 guys via eligibility / transfer portal
- Added very little via the Transfer Portal ~ 5 or 6
- Signed a Full Highschool class of ~25 18 year old kids

In today's era where players are on effectively on 1 year contracts, how can this approach possibly make sense for 2025 or beyond? I theorize that in the previous few offseasons, we saw very little attrition and were completely caught off guard by the mass exododus this year were and not prepared on numerous fronts: Player evaluation, external relationships, Financing etc... Should we have any faith in the White/Heupel combo moving foreard?

2025 is looking like a Rebuild year, in an era where there is no benefit to rebuilding and long term player development. I think we win 6 games and suspect we lose the commitment of QB Brandon. Any insightful takes would be appreciated. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Are you applying for the GM position?
 
#14
#14
The thing i find interesting is this. The concern about losing so many "experienced" players and replacing them with a big class of freshman is concerning to so many on this site. To me, it is normal. Until the debate of NIL and the transfer portal, this was the way it always was and the thing that made college sports more interesting. You always lost the entire senior class and some of the junior class declaring early. You then replaced them with your recruited freshman class. As some posted, Some of our departures might have seen the writing on the wall.
 
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#15
#15
I do believe CJH needs to get better at portal management. The fact that team Nico was shopping him around to other SEC teams in the winter portal and CJH was still caught flat-footed in the spring is concerning. Right now the portal is closed and we're in desperate need of some guys at several positions. I'm still holding out hope for a good 2025, though.
 
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#17
#17
OH-Vol said:
Thanks for the response: The concerns is we lost ~ 30 Upper Classmen and replaced them with 25 Freshmen and 7 Upperclasmen....... It is a clear sign we are punting on the 2025 Season... which to me would be fine if investing in long term player development was a reasonable strategy in today's game.
Click to expand...
Then obviously everybody in the SEC is punting. 10 teams have lost more to the portal, including some with over 30 players. UGA and Bama have lost similar numbers to UT, are they punting also? CJH is not done yet with the portal, he doesn't just throw bags of cash to everybody in the portal like Ole Miss does. He is particular about who he brings in and has been quite successful so far the past few years. He has had pretty good ROI so far.
 
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#18
#18
i’ve never felt like we did well in the portal, and yet somehow we had one of the best teams in the SEC last year and made the playoffs. my take away from that is that i don’t know ball. thankfully, our coaches do.
 
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#19
#19
bpalmer28 said:
i’ve never felt like we did well in the portal, and yet somehow we had one of the best teams in the SEC last year and made the playoffs. my take away from that is that i don’t know ball. thankfully, our coaches do.
Click to expand...
The difference last offseason was the guys we brought in from the portal > departures. Additionally we had a bunch of Super Seniors
 
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#20
#20
OH-Vol said:
Thanks for the response: The concerns is we lost ~ 30 Upper Classmen and replaced them with 25 Freshmen and 7 Upperclasmen....... It is a clear sign we are punting on the 2025 Season... which to me would be fine if investing in long term player development was a reasonable strategy in today's game.
Click to expand...
I am confused. Looking at our peer competitors for the playoffs, they also are bring in large numbers of freshmen in their 2025 recruitment classes (Texas 25, Georgia 27, Bama 21, Ohio State 26, Florida 27, LSU 23, etc). Are you suggesting that what we are doing is highly unusual by taking a normal high school recruiting class size?
 
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#21
#21
I don’t think we can look at any year being a “rebuild” year. With the portal half the kids who play this year could be gone next year.
 
#23
#23
The LOS play on both sides of the ball will (as is just about always the case) be the biggest factor determining our season outcome. I’m looking forward to seeing some of the highly rated young men step up and improve our OL play from a year ago. On the defensive side, I’m hoping we can be close to our performance last year.
 
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#24
#24
My math is that we currently have 36 players departed

- 24 players, not counting Jakobe Thomas in the transfer portal
-12 players who submitted their names to the NFL draft

We have added 30 players

- 25 Incoming Freshman
- 5 Transfer Portal Additions

So currently, we are a net 6 players short from last year's roster. On top of that I do think its noticeable how we lack upperclassman, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.
 
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#25
#25
bpalmer28 said:
i’ve never felt like we did well in the portal, and yet somehow we had one of the best teams in the SEC last year and made the playoffs. my take away from that is that i don’t know ball. thankfully, our coaches do.
Click to expand...
The perception that we never did well in the portal is simply becuase we didn't add as many players as top portal teams do like Ole Miss and Colorado, who add 20+ players. We were very selective in our 7-9 portal additions, but many of those players were highly rated as transfers and contributors as starts. Even last year - Jermod McCoy, Lance Heard, Miles Kitsleman, Chris Brazzel, Jakobe Thomas, and Jaxson Moi all had solid contributions. The year before we added Omar Norman - Lott, John Campbell, Donte Thorton, Gabe Juedy-Lally, Andrej Karic, and Keenan Pili, who all contributed.

So we were always able to find solid contributors. But this year, I am not as sold. We added two startes to the OL which is great. We got a backup RB from Duke, a backup WR, and we were forced to get a QB becuase of the Nico debacle. We should still look to add 3-4 more guys.
 
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