Tennessee football: Freshman DL Isaac Washington enters transfer portal

Within an hour of adding USC Trojans defensive lineman Caleb Tremblay, Tennessee football has now lost a freshman defensive lineman. Given the fact that Tremblay is a senior, this may not have been a good trade-off for UT, even if Tremblay is better.

Anyway, true freshman defensive tackle Isaac Washington has revealed he entered the transfer portal. Washington, who was an early enrollee signee in the Vols’ 2021 class and hails from North Carolina, stands at 6’3″ 280 pounds.

Although he was on campus, Washington never took part in Tennessee football spring ball due to a suspension stemming from an on-campus incident along with Aaron Willis, Kaidon Salter and Martavius French just before spring practice began. He announced his decision to enter the transfer portal on Twitter.

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Washington was initially one of the earliest members of the Vols’ 2021 class, committing to Jeremy Pruitt and co. back on Jan. 25 in 2020. The graduate of East Surry High School in Pilot Mountain, N.C. then decommitted after a series of staff changes, particularly the departure of Tracy Rocker, on Feb. 19, 2020. However, he recommitted on March 7, 2020.

Losing Washington leaves UT a little bit more shorthanded at defensive line going forward, particularly since this comes eight days after Heupel and co. allowed defensive lineman KaTron Evans, a more elite commitment in the Vols’ 2021 class, out of his letter of intent. There are no more linemen from the 2021 class still on the team.

Now, Rocky Top still has young linemen from previous classes, most notably Dominic Bailey, Omari Thomas and Elijah Simmons. However, that’s not nearly enough, and they’re going to need a lot more help going forward on the line if they are going to be competitive.

At this point, given the fact that quarterback Tayven Jackson just committed, it’s pretty clear where Heupel should focus his efforts in Tennessee football’s 2022 class. It should all be on defense, particularly defensive line and linebackers. Washington’s entry into the portal without ever playing a game in orange makes that more crucial.