Tennessee football: Returning talent outweighs the need for transfers

Earlier this week, when Wyoming Cowboys transfer wide receiver Isaiah Neyor flipped from Tennessee football to the Texas Longhorns, we wrote about the fact that the Vols still have options for a No. 2 wideout. However, that doesn’t stop a legitimate concern about the talent, or lack thereof, UT has coming in.

After all, despite a strong first season, Josh Heupel did only go 7-6, and he suffered three blowout losses. Not using the momentum of the year to upgrade his talent won’t make this team competitive with the top-notch programs.

Well, Tennessee football doesn’t have a top 10 recruiting class for 2022 across any service, and they haven’t added any elite talent in the transfer portal. However, a quick look at the roster makes it easy to point out that this is not a concern.

As the transfer portal changes dramatically how college football works out, teams across the country are racing to upgrade their talent. Underrated in all of that is the chemistry teams have working together. UT went 7-6 with players learning new systems on both sides of the ball. They’ve go 15 starters coming back already.

Included among those returning starters are the Vols’ quarterback in Hendon Hooker, their leading rusher in Jabari Small, their leading receiver in Cedric Tillman and four of five offensive linemen. They have eight of 11 starters back on offense.

Defensively, they return everybody at linebackers and the majority of their secondary. Included on that side of the ball is Jeremy Banks, who led the team in tackles and solo tackles, and Byron Young, who tied with Banks as the team leader in sacks and tackles for a loss. Jaylen McCollough, who led the team in interceptions, is also back.

Returning that much talent outweighs upgrading talent in the portal. Maybe it’s old-school to think this way, but we should still value chemistry and experience playing together at the college level. With all the new changes happening, that can take you a long way.

Let’s look at another sport for an example. Ever since the NBA’s one-and-done rule took effect in 2006, blue bloods have been in an insane race to get the best players they know will be gone after a year. However, the first season it went into effect, the national champion was the Florida Gators, who had returned all their starters for the second year in a row.

In fact, of the 14 national champions since that rule went into effect, seven returned four of five starters, and nine returned at least three starters. So even in this era of college basketball, returning talent is more valuable than one-and-dones.

There’s a reason for that, and it’s not just experience. Chemistry is a huge deal. Look at Tennessee basketball. Rick Barnes’ best team to this point is the one that returned all five starters, and it didn’t matter that they were all three-star recruits.

Taking that into account, we should look at football the same way, especially with the way the portal is going. Tennessee football may not be loading up on talent the way other teams are, but that constant attrition will leave them with a lot more experience than other teams.

All the Vols’ portal additions for far are players for the future with the possible exception of Florida Gators transfer Gerald Mincey, who could compete for the starting right tackle role given the departure of Cade Mays. He’ll have competition there, though.

Appalachian State Mountaineers transfer Navy Shuler will definitely be a backup since he plays quarterback, and UCF Knights transfer Charlie Browder is a tight end, which has both Jacob Warren and Princeton Fant returning. As a result, he’ll also be a backup.

Speaking of the tight end having both players back, that’s another part of this. UT likes to run deep rotations, especially on offense given Heupel’s system, and it’s not just their starters back. The Vols return 15 of their 18 rotational players on offense and 14 of 19 rotational players on defense.

That doesn’t include LaTrell Bumphus and Aubrey Solomon potentially using that extra year of eligibility after battling injuries this past season along with linebacker Juwan Mitchell. It also doesn’t include the fact that place kicker Chase McGrath and punter Paxton Brooks could both come back as well if they want to.

Simply put, Tennessee football will be loaded with experience next year. Them not loading up in the transfer portal isn’t a big deal, as we’ve seen what a lot of the players on their roster can do already. With another year of coaching and the changing landscape of the sport, their experience could be a much bigger advantage next year.