2025 Transfer Portal Thread

[Vols till I fall]

High 4 PG Acaden Lewis has decommitted from Kentucky

 

[TrippieRedd]

High 4 PG Acaden Lewis has decommitted from Kentucky

Ayyyyyyy yooo I’d take him now.

Making room for Lamar.


Edit: nvm we have Henderson

 

[Stoked]

They also wanted Brent Schaeffer over Erik Ainge.

There’s always bozo’s who love the backup QBs.

These are the same idiots who were calling for Nico to start over Milton when he def wasn’t ready.

They fail to realize that Heup was going with a record setting RB first and tailoring the offense around him. They were also spoiled with Hooker who had a way better oline and way better weapons and way more experience.

They forget the Worley and JG years I guess. Nico basically put up what Joe Milton did in his what like 6th year of college?

 

[Yeiser10]

UK no longer going after Jaron Pierre…all in on Lamar Wilkerson.

After DK and Chaz, plus back to back elite 8s, you would think we could get whoever we wanted

Maybe we are?

 

[OrangeInKy]

They also wanted Brent Schaeffer over Erik Ainge.

I only remember that being the case early one when they were splitting time and mainly because of Shaeffer's mobility. I remember him shaking or some early on, but it became clear after the Florida game who the better QB was, if I recall correctly.

 

[OrangeInKy]

There’s always bozo’s who love the backup QBs.

These are the same idiots who were calling for Nico to start over Milton when he def wasn’t ready.

They fail to realize that Heup was going with a record setting RB first and tailoring the offense around him. They were also spoiled with Hooker who had a way better oline and way better weapons and way more experience.

They forget the Worley and JG years I guess. Nico basically put up what Joe Milton did in his what like 6th year of college?

In some cases(not this one, I'd say), the backup does prove to be better. Hooker was better than Milton, Dobbs was QB3 his first two years when the season started and was better than the first two. It does happen. Not saying this is one of those cases, but I think it's wrong to always assume that the best QB is named the starter.

 

[gainesvol82]

Unsurprisingly, Mark Pope doing pretty well in the portal while bringing in several 5-star freshman. Going to be deep next year.

Really glad we got Carrey now!

 

[omghulkhands]

There’s always bozo’s who love the backup QBs.

These are the same idiots who were calling for Nico to start over Milton when he def wasn’t ready.

They fail to realize that Heup was going with a record setting RB first and tailoring the offense around him. They were also spoiled with Hooker who had a way better oline and way better weapons and way more experience.

They forget the Worley and JG years I guess. Nico basically put up what Joe Milton did in his what like 6th year of college?

My being critical of Nico has nothing to do with who is backup.

It’s a question of whether we’d be better off spending the money elsewhere.

 

[Jean-Claude van Manning]

I had to check and make sure I was in the basketball portal target thread

 

[TheMookieMonster]

My being critical of Nico has nothing to do with who is backup.

It’s a question of whether we’d be better off spending the money elsewhere.

As far as I’m concerned, the money would be far better spent if we just took the football money and poured it into basketball and baseball. Would have a much higher chance to see championships and success doing that.

 

[omghulkhands]

I had to check and make sure I was in the basketball portal target thread

Cut us some slack. It’s a dead period lol.

 

[deatojl]

Sure he was at the college level. Now his skills combined with his size didn't translate to the NBA, which is why he plays a different role in the league than he did at Tennessee.

Not to compare Carey to GW by any means but he seems like a guy that has the ability to be a post player at the college level as well, in spite of his size. What he does after leaving Tennessee isn't really relevant.

 

[deatojl]

As far as I’m concerned, the money would be far better spent if we just took the football money and poured it into basketball and baseball. Would have a much higher chance to see championships and success doing that.

Yeah, until football season rolls around. Then, when the team doesn't perform to the level people want it to, the bashing of players and coaches would be absolutely unreal. The baseball team seems to be operating just fine as it is. I'm curious as to what makes you believe we have a better shot at winning national championships in basketball than in football to the point of pushing all our resources to the basketball side?

 

[cncchris33]

Not to compare Carey to GW by any means but he seems like a guy that has the ability to be a post player at the college level as well, in spite of his size. What he does after leaving Tennessee isn't really relevant.

I was agreeing with you. Grant absolutely was a post player at Tennessee. I was just saying that his physical limitations prevented him from playing that role beyond college. I didn't mean for it to be a qualifier that ran in contrast with your opinion though.

 

[TheMookieMonster]

Yeah, until football season rolls around. Then, when the team doesn't perform to the level people want it to, the bashing of players and coaches would be absolutely unreal. The baseball team seems to be operating just fine as it is. I'm curious as to what makes you believe we have a better shot at winning national championships in basketball than in football to the point of pushing all our resources to the basketball side?

Pretty easy to understand why I’d feel we have a better chance to win in basketball than football. We recruit better in basketball, for starters. I also believe so far, IMO to be clear, Barnes has proven to be a far more capable coach than Heupel. That’s not to say Heupel hasn’t done a good job, but Barnes has won championships here, and for all his faults has proven to be a good post-season coach doing things we’ve quite literally never seen before in Knoxville for basketball. And that’s with having a fraction of the resources football does.

 

[BatteredVol44]

Pretty easy to understand why I’d feel we have a better chance to win in basketball than football. We recruit better in basketball, for starters. I also believe so far, IMO to be clear, Barnes has proven to be a far more capable coach than Heupel. That’s not to say Heupel hasn’t done a good job, but Barnes has won championships here, and for all his faults has proven to be a good post-season coach doing things we’ve quite literally never seen before in Knoxville for basketball. And that’s with having a fraction of the resources football does.

I get where you’re coming from, but I see it a little differently.
Yes, Barnes has had success—no doubt he’s elevated the basketball program. But I think saying he’s a better coach than Heupel might be a stretch, especially when you consider how quickly Heupel turned around a struggling football program and how competitive we've become on the national stage. One loss to a loaded Ohio State team doesn't change that.
Also, football recruiting and basketball recruiting are completely different beasts. We’ve been pulling top-tier talent in football lately, and that momentum is only growing. The way Heupel develops QBs and runs his offense has changed the game for us
And as much as I respect what Barnes has done, post-season results still leave a lot to be desired. Losses to teams like Loyola, Oregon State, Michigan, and FAU are not exactly what a high-caliber program is looking for.
Just my take—but I definitely get why people feel confident in our basketball program too. Both are in a good place right now.

 

[Anti-shunshinepumper]

Hopefully we get some good news on another good player committing soon. I'm jonesing from basketball season ending, and I need a fix.

 

[All Vol!]

Was this “Top 6 Schools” list announced by Rodney Rice before yesterday, or is this something new? Before that it was sounding like it was us & ‘Nova, mostly us.

 

[UTK]

Too lazy to read a ton atm…who are we in on besides Rice? Thanks in advance

 

[Anti-shunshinepumper]

Too lazy to read a ton atm…who are we in on besides Rice? Thanks in advance

I keep hearing we still have a shot on Nate Ament but some say he's Dook bound possibly even Arkansas. I would think if he didn't go to Dook we probably have a good shot if we want to spend that kind of money on a freshman that most likely is OAD.

 

[Stoked]

Too lazy to read a ton atm…who are we in on besides Rice? Thanks in advance

Looks like Rice is top priority.

Then we have Nate Ament who is the top high school player in the country left who has us in his top 5.

Then we have guys like Elyjah Freeman, Gabriel Pozzato, Alvaro Folgueiras, and Donovan Atwell that all have mutual interest. I might be missing a few?

 

[cardvolfan]

We can put together a whole team of players who had their best game(s) against us

This is truly ingenuous, Professor! The Vols would be the untouchables.

 

[TrippieRedd]

This is truly ingenuous, Professor! The Vols would be the untouchables.

3 off the top of my head would be:
- The kid from Houston that didn’t score in the whole tourney besides against us (in the portal)
- Fletcher Loyer
- Jaylen Carey

Can’t think of any others off the top of my head

 

[Volprofch05]

3 off the top of my head would be:
- The kid from Houston that didn’t score in the whole tourney besides against us (in the portal)
- Fletcher Loyer
- Jaylen Carey

Can’t think of any others off the top of my head

I can’t do Loyer, sorry, or Ryan Cline, no boilermakers

 

[cardvolfan]

Pretty easy to understand why I’d feel we have a better chance to win in basketball than football. We recruit better in basketball, for starters. I also believe so far, IMO to be clear, Barnes has proven to be a far more capable coach than Heupel. That’s not to say Heupel hasn’t done a good job, but Barnes has won championships here, and for all his faults has proven to be a good post-season coach doing things we’ve quite literally never seen before in Knoxville for basketball. And that’s with having a fraction of the resources football does.

The fact is that for this university, football is the engine that drives the whole train. Without a good, solid football program all other sports would suffer to some degree. The university needs the football program to pour the revenue into the bucket.