Tennessee football: LB Quavaris Crouch commits to Michigan State

Any hopes of Quavaris Crouch returning to Tennessee football have been dashed. Over three months after he joined a wave of Vols who had entered the transfer portal, depleting the program at linebacker specifically, he still hadn’t landed anywhere.

That changed Tuesday, as he committed to Mel Tucker’s Michigan State Spartans. Crouch was one of three linebackers in the portal whose commitment was still open, the other two being J.J. Peterson and Henry To’o To’o.

A four-star athlete in Tennessee football’s 2019 recruiting class, Crouch saw significant action as a freshman and emerged as a starter this past year, finishing his career on Rocky Top with three pass deflections, a forced fumble, three tackles for a loss, half a sack and 85 tackles, 44 of which were solo. He announced his commitment to MSU on Twitter.

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In addition to primarily playing linebacker, Crouch was used by Jim Chaney in 2019 the way A.J. Johnson was back in 2012. He would come in on short-yardage offensive situations, often taking direct snaps, to get first downs and touchdowns. That year, he had seven carries for nine yards and two touchdowns.

With Crouch’s departure, the Vols continue to be dramatically short-handed at linebacker. There are no expectations for To’o To’o or Peterson to come back. Losing them wasn’t the only reason this team got depleted, though.

Three players who all could have competed at the spot in the spring were suspended, and they remain suspended indefinitely. Four-star early enrollee Aaron Willis and rising sophomore Martavius French were suspended for an incident that happened shortly before spring ball began. Rising junior Aaron Beasley is suspended due to another issue.

This left Solon Page III as the only guy who could play inside linebacker with any real experience in the system during the spring. The hope was that Crouch, To’o To’o or Peterson, all of whom could play in that role, would be decide to leave the portal and return to UT.

There is hope beyond Page, though. Texas Longhorns transfer Juwan Mitchell was at the Orange and White game Saturday, and he could definitely end up with the real UT before it’s all said and done. That would be a huge pickup for Josh Heupel and co. going forward.

Either way, though, for now, Tennessee football has two players still in the portal and only one inside linebacker on the team with experience who can play. It’s also incredibly unlikely either of those players in the portal return. Tim Banks will likely just have to work with a short-handed unit when the fall arrives. That became a little bit clearer on Tuesday.