Is it time for the Tennessee Volunteers to start worrying about how the wide receivers room is going to look like in 2025? With the transfer portal officially opening up on Monday, several players have announced their intentions to suit up elsewhere next campaign.
However, we are now up to four Tennessee wideouts who have informed head coach Josh Heupel that they're going to be playing elsewhere next fall. On Thursday, Nathan Leacock and Nate Spillman became the two newest WRs to announce they're going to be transferring. While they didn't make impacts this season, this still is a bit head-turning from a depth standpoint:
Tennessee WRs Nate Spillman and Nathan Leacock have entered the transfer portal
Previously, both Kaleb Webb and Chas Nimrod entered the portal, but now Spillman and Leacock are going to be joining them. In 2024, Spillman, a 6-2, 200-pounder, didn't record any catches for the Vols. Leacock finished with just one reception for 13 yards.
Again, in the grand scheme of things, these two losses aren't going to haunt Tennessee, but losing four wideouts in one offseason is something you never want to see happen. The fact that Bru McCoy is graduating too also is a bit of a bummer for this offense.
Heupel will surely look at the portal himself to get some receiver help, as more targets are going to be needed for star quarterback Nico Iamaleava. Before Heupel and his staff go all-in on recruiting talent, though, they've got to stay focused on the task at hand.
Come next weekend, the Vols will be traveling to Columbus to take on Ohio State in the first round of the College Football Playoff and this team has an upset in mind. Seeing more players enter the portal may seem like a bit of a distraction, but Tennessee as a whole is focused on the task at hand. With Ohio State worried about Vols fans taking over The Shoe too, it's only going to make this matchup even more intriguing.