Tennessee football: Austin Pope enters transfer portal

After missing this year, the Tennessee football Volunteers tight end is in the portal.

Another Tennessee football senior appears to be leaving the program with the regular season over. Two days after Jarrett Guarantano announced his decision to enter the transfer portal, a fellow offensive player followed suit.

Tight end Austin Pope, who was supposed to be a fifth-year senior this past year, announced his decision to enter the portal. Pope, who stands at 6’4″ 235 pounds, was in the same class as Guarantano in 2016 and committed as a local three-star out of Christian Academy of Knoxville.

This year, Pope was set to be a breakout tight end for Tennessee football following the departure of Dominick Wood-Anderson. However, in the summer, he had back surgery to repair a herniated disc, causing him to miss the season. He announced the news on Twitter.

Late in the season, there was some hope that Pope could come in and see some action. He revealed on Twitter on Dec. 8, before the Vols were set to take the field against the Vanderbilt Commodores, that he had been cleared.

Despite this news, Pope never did see the field on 2020. He played in all 13 games in 2019, starting in 11 of them as the primary run-blocking tight end. In 2018, he played in 11 games and had two starts, and in 2017, he played in nine games and had one start. Pope redshirted in 2016. For his career, Pope had seven catches for 85 yards.

It makes sense that Pope would enter the portal after this year has gone, though. Jacob Warren had a touchdown against the Texas A&M Aggies, and Princeton Fant, who had been emerging more and more, had one against the Vanderbilt Commodores. Both will be back next year.

Following Brandon Johnson last week and Guarantano, Pope is the third member of Tennessee football’s 2016 recruiting class to enter the portal. It will be interesting to see who else follows suit going forward, as this weird season is likely going to involve a lot of that.