SEC rival just stole a top Tennessee transfer target away from Josh Heupel

For a little while there, it sure looked like everything was falling into place for Tennessee football in its efforts to sign standout offensive lineman Josh Thompson. Multiple experts put in their predictions for him to sign with Josh Heupel and the Vols.

However, on Friday, Thompson decided to put the pen to paper with a different team, making things official with Brian Kelly and the LSU Tigers. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened here. LSU clearly made an NIL deal Thompson couldn't refuse, which is the way things are going to work now in the new NCAA. This is frustrating, to say the least:

LSU beat out Tennessee to sign touted OL Josh Thompson

Earlier in the week, Pete Nakos reported that it was a three-team race to land Thompson's services, with Tennessee, LSU and Auburn being the finalists. However, again, it wasn't long ago that Thompson seemed like he was surely going to be Knoxville-bound.

Instead, he'll be packing his bags for Baton Rouge instead. While missing out on Thompson stings quite a bit, Heupel was able to land interior lineman Wendell Moe Jr., an Arizona transfer, earlier in the offseason via the portal.

There's going to be a new look for the offensive line in 2025, which is why the hope was that Thompson would be able to make plays for this offense. With Dylan Thompson announcing he's going to be entering the NFL Draft too, the hits keep coming for Heupel. Things will only be made worse for him if Boo Carter ends up leaving as well to enter the portal.

Tennessee is coming off a 10-win season and a trip to the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history. Following the loss to Ohio State, though, plenty of negative updates have come in for Heupel and his staff. This fanbase needs some good news and they need it fast.