Vic Wharton Officially Leaving Vols
By Zach Ragan
Multiple reports on Thursday officially confirmed that wide receiver Vic Wharton will be moving on from Tennessee after one year as a Vol.
Just spoke to Vic Wharton. He confirmed the report that he's transferring and said that he's already taken an official visit to California.
— Tennessee Beat (@TennesseeBeat) February 19, 2015
Wharton told the Knoxville News Sentinel that he’s already taken an official visit to California and has plans to visit North Carolina and Utah in the upcoming weeks.
The Tennessee native’s departure from the program is a bit perplexing. Wharton was the first player to commit to Tennessee’s 2014 recruiting class and was by far the most vocal of the 2014 commits on Twitter.
Some folks have hypothesized that the lack of a clear path to significant playing time could be the reason for Wharton’s transfer. But that doesn’t seem likely.
Wharton played in nine games as a true freshman. When the Vols’ wide receiver depth took a hit, Wharton found himself in the starting lineup. While that might not seem like a ton of playing time, those opportunities can sometimes be far and few between for true freshmen.
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In Tennessee’s TaxSlayer bowl victory against Iowa, Wharton caught his first career touchdown on a 49 yard halfback pass from Marlin Lane (Wharton finished the season with five catches for 64 yards).
While Wharton probably would’ve been buried on the wide receiver depth chart in 2015 (the Vols should be healthy at the position to start the season), he definitely would’ve had the opportunity to make an impact in the return game.
The most likely scenario for Wharton’s departure is that Tennessee simply wasn’t the fit he thought it was going to be. Which isn’t uncommon. It happens every year — at every program — in major college football.
Wharton’s transfer, however, will certainly warrant more attention from fans, simply because of how vocal he was as a commit.
At the end of the day, I don’t think losing Wharton is a major detriment to the program (though it obviously hurts depth) and I don’t think it’s an indication of any issues in the program.
Simply put — transfers happen.
Sure, Tennessee’s had a higher amount of transfers this off-season compared to most schools, but I think you have to give Butch Jones the benefit of the doubt. He hasn’t lost any major contributors and some of the transfers have absolutely transferred to seek more playing time.
If a starter comes out of nowhere and announces they’re transferring, then it’ll be time to panic.
Until then, it’s business as usual for Tennessee.