Tennessee football still deep at DE despite John Mincey entering transfer portal

There were plenty of transfers from Tennessee football throughout the offseason that gave Vol fans cause to panic. Losing Eric Gray, Wanya Morris and Henry To’o To’o will make things a lot harder for Josh Heupel in his first year as head coach of the program.

However, news of a possible transfer on Friday should not bring any more panic. Junior edge rusher John Mincey, who has played defensive end and outside linebacker and came to UT out of Georgia, announced that he is entering the transfer portal after three years on Rocky Top.

Mincey has played in 24 games with Tennessee football as a backup, including all 10 last year and nine the year before. The 6’3″ 276-pound product of Clinch County High School in Homerville, Ga. has two and a half career tackles for a loss, one career sack and 18 tackles, 10 of which were solo. He announced his decision to enter the portal on Twitter.

Although he was a reliable player for the Vols under Jeremy Pruitt and Derrick Ansley, Mincey’s loss won’t change much. If there is one position where UT has a good bit of depth, it’s at defensive end, and that was Mincey’s primary role.

Sure, he doubled as an outside linebacker, where UT does have a big need, but that was in Pruitt’s 3-4 scheme. In Tim Banks’ 4-3 nickel-based scheme, he’d always play up on the line. Up front, the Vols are actually loaded on the edges, even with 2021 four-star signee Dylan Brooks being let out of his letter of intent.

Don’t forget that Matthew Butler, who specializes on the end, is coming back. LaTrell Bumphus and Ja’Quain Blakely, who are both expected to return, also play on the edge. Now, to be fair, they all would play strongside end in a 4-3, whereas Mincey could play strongside or weakside.

When you look at the guys who would play weakside end, the loss seems more substantial on the heels of Kivon Bennett’s dismissal late last year and Deandre Johnson transferring to the Miami Hurricanes. However, the Vols still have talent on that front as well.

Tyler Baron and Roman Harrison could both move into that role. Byron Young, a three-star signee, will add depth there. Morven Joseph will likely stay outside linebacker, but he committed as a four-star weakside defensive end in 2020 as well.

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Looking at all of these guys, with or without Mincey, Tennessee football can go three-deep at both defensive end spots, even in a 4-3, with quality talent. None of them have to move inside either, as there are plenty of defensive tackles that will allow UT to go three-deep with two players on the field at that position. That’s not a bad starting point.

Now, this doesn’t change the help the Vols desperately need at linebacker, particularly at outside linebacker. To’o To’o, J.J. Peterson and Quavaris Crouch transferring leaves a major void there. Mincey wasn’t going to help with that anyway, though, as he wouldn’t play outside linebacker in this new scheme.

Simply put, while Mincey could have helped provide depth in the future, Tennessee football will still be deep at his position this year specifically. Heupel does have work to do beyond that, as Bumphus, Butler and Blakely will all be gone after this year, but he’s got time to figure that out. Everybody should wish the best for Mincey regardless of where he goes.