Ranking Tennessee football 2020 transfers by potential impact

With the transfer of Joe Doyle, UConn Huskies transfer Brett Graham is automatically the No. 2 guy behind Paxton Brooks on kickoffs and punts. He is certain to be eligible to play since he’s a graduate transfer. As a result, despite being a backup in Tennessee football’s kicking game for 2020, Graham is not last on this list.

There’s another layer to this as well. Graham could actually take over as the starting holder on field goals. That’s obviously a crucial role, and two bad holds last year cost Brent Cimaglia on two of his four misses. Taking that into account, Graham is almost certain to see the field in some way this year, even if it’s in a perceived insignificant capacity.

In fact, the only reason Grant isn’t higher on this list is because he is a redshirt senior, and we are taking the long-term future of each transfer into account. That means he comes in as a backup and will likely never become a starter on Rocky Top when it comes to punting. Unless Brooks gets hurt, Graham’s best chance to see the field is as a holder.

Nonetheless, that gives him multiple chances to see playing time. That’s enough for us to put him on this list. He didn’t choose the Vols for no reason, and Jeremy Pruitt didn’t accept his transfer for no reason either. They both had to see some mutual value to Graham coming in to back up Brooks, even if he hasn’t punted since 2017, when he averaged 38.8 yards on 63 punts.