How Vols are handling the transfer portal trend
Matthew Butler is playing for his third coach in five years with Tennessee football.
So, no, the senior defensive lineman is not surprised that many Vols have chosen to transfer, especially in the wake of coach Jeremy Pruitt’s firing on Jan. 18.
“Let’s be real here,” Butler said Friday. “I don’t even think it would be an exaggeration to say that everybody — I can only speak for my class, the 2017 class, the last class under Butch (Jones) — has considered leaving. Obviously.”
Tennessee has been walloped by the transfer portal this offseason across all its classes.
Six Vols entered the portal in the week following Pruitt’s ouster, including four in a 27-minute span two days after he was let go. Thirteen scholarship Vols entered the portal between the end of the season on Dec. 19 and Jan. 25.
Vols coach Josh Heupel was hired Jan. 27.
“When there is a coaching staff changing, a lot of people are going to go their own different ways with what feels best for them,” cornerback Alontae Taylor said. “I talked to everyone who did leave. I just told them we don’t have anything against those boys. I want them to be happy where they are. We didn’t know what was going happen here.
“I talked to those boys here and there. They are happy where they are now. I tell them boys just work. I am going to keep cheering them on.”
Eight Tennessee transfers landed at Power 5 schools. Running back Eric Gray, safety Key Lawrence and offensive lineman Wanya Morris transferred to Oklahoma.
Offensive lineman Jahmir Johnson, who transferred to Texas A&M, is the lone departing player to stay in the SEC. But that might not remain the case.
Linebackers Henry To’o To’o and Quavaris Crouch have yet to determine their futures. Neither was on the roster released Thursday prior to the Vols opening spring practice.
Taylor said he talks to Crouch and To’o To’o “almost every other day” as the duo works on their decisions. Heupel said Thursday that he would welcome anybody who wants to return to Tennessee.
“I am rooting for them all the way,” Butler said. “If they make the decision to come back here, then I am rooting for them all the way on two levels. They are part of the team that I am on, the University of Tennessee football program and also those are people that I am close with.
“Those are people who I have been to war with, blood, sweat, tears, ups and downs, everything in between. Never any hard feelings or anything like that.”
Taylor, who is entering his fourth year starting at cornerback for the Vols, didn’t consider following his teammates into the portal. He talked to his parents to garner their perspective on what would be best for him. His decision ultimately was an easy one and he worked to rally his teammates who planned to stay as well.
“I let them know we had good things coming for us and we shouldn’t all just run for it,” Taylor said. “We should stay here as a group. I wouldn’t say I looked to leave, but I talked to my parents to see what was best for me. At the end of the day, the Power T means a lot to me and this is my state. That is why I decided to stay.”
But for those who decided to leave, their former teammates preached a lingering bond beyond football Friday.
“If I were to enter the portal, I wouldn’t want any guys talking bad about me or saying, ‘Let him go, we don’t want him here or all that,’ ” tight end Jacob Warren said. “To me, those are still my brothers. Those are still people I have gone to battle with and trained with every single day.
“Obviously, any of those guys still have my friendship. They can call me up anytime. No hard feelings to anybody at all no matter for what reason it was that they left.”