Tennessee football: Drew Richmond transferring from Vols to USC Trojans

Tennessee football was already losing offensive lineman Drew Richmond to transfer. He will leave the Volunteers for the USC Trojans.

After starting for three years with Tennessee football, Drew Richmond has now confirmed where he will spend the final year of his college career. He will be going to the USC Trojans, where Tee Martin just left, to play for Clay Helton.

Richmond made the announcement on Twitter, showing a pic of him in a USC shirt. He entered the transfer portal earlier this year, and he wasn’t with the Vols throughout all of spring practice. So it was clear that he was going somewhere else.

Once a five-star recruit out of Memphis, Richmond took a redshirt in 2015 as he took time to learn Butch Jones’s new system. He was thrown to the wolves a bit too early in 2016 due to the complex defensive schemes Tennessee football opened the season against, but by the middle of the season he figured it out and helped the offense set records down the stretch of that year.

However, in 2017, the switch in offensive coordinators from Mike DeBord to Larry Scott, Jones’s atrocious micromanagement of the unit and the loss of Joshua Dobbs made things a struggle not just for Richmond but the whole offense. Then, in 2018, he had to deal with the transition to a pro style, which made things more difficult.

Now, with one year left of eligibility, the Vols have a new offensive coordinator, and Richmond himself has graduated. So he has one year left of eligibility, and he has every right to desire a fresh start given everything that’s happened here but wasn’t his fault.

Richmond wrote an article in The Players’ Tribune published the same day his transfer destination was announced about finding his purpose. He noted that despite everything, he did what he set out to do by graduating from UT.

He said he plans to earn his masters degree in social entrepreneurship while playing for USC and touted his experience mentoring middle school students in Knoxville. Despite transferring, it’s clear he’s been very grateful for all of his experiences.

With Richmond gone, Chance Hall retiring and Trey Smith still limited, the Vols clearly entered the spring wide open at tackle. They are still wide open, but Wanya Morris made a splash as a newcomer, and five-star Darnell Wright is set to arrive in the summer. There are other options as well, so Tennessee football still has some talent.

By transferring, Richmond joins tight end Eli Wolf, quarterback Will McBride, defensive back Marquill Osborne and linebacker Austin Smith as guys who transferred out after Jeremy Pruitt’s first year. While Smith’s final destination is still up in the air, Wolf is going to the Georgia Bulldogs, McBride is going to the Lamar Cardinals, and Osborne is going to the Charlotte 49ers.