'25 Portal Thread

[CobbVol]

From Rivals:

Makhi Hughes, the No. 1 running back in the transfer rankings, didn’t enter the portal until late last week but his recruitment is already red hot. After posting back-to-back seasons with 1,300-plus rushing yards and scoring seven and 15 rushing touchdowns in the last two seasons, he has Oregon, Ole Miss, Colorado and Duke banging down his door.

The Ducks, however, could have the edge for Hughes since 2025 five-star Oregon signee Na’eem Offord is his half brother.

 

[TGMT]

Boy, people will just say anything in an attempt to make themselves feel morally superior when they have a bad take.

Can't help but notice your whataboutism, but I'm bored and I'll humor you on the first two points. Not going to waste my time beating a dead horse on your other nonsense, since that was a different team/year/players and isn't germane to the conversation.

I like to make analogies, I find that they help to make the point. So say you have a road course race track. Laguna Seca, Road Atlanta, COTA, Watkins Glen, Spa, Imola, Nurburgring, etc.

Now say that you have a NASCAR driver, we'll use Chase Elliott since he's my favorite driver (and because I can't stand that little worm Larson). Chase is quite good at road courses as well. You put Chase in his Camaro on any of those courses, he's going to acquit himself pretty well and absolutely wring every second he can outta that car.


But, if you try and pit Chase Elliott in a head to head race against Lando Norris or Lewis Hamilton in their cars, it doesn't really matter a damn how many seconds Chase can wring outta his Chevy......because it's the equipment, not the driver.


That's your explanation for UGA/OSU. And before you ask "hurr durr what about Arkansas durr hurr", I was at that game. Took my wife to her first ever Vols game for that one. We showed up, the team never got off the damned bus. That wasn't just on Banks.

Interesting. So you’re arguing that when Bank’s defense got boat raced by Mizzou in 2023 and South Carolina in 2022, it was because Mizzou and South Carolina had much better players than us.

Surely it couldn’t have had anything to do with our poor fundamentals, busted coverages, and making zero defensive adjustments.

 

[Dadof2Vols]

I don't understand why these teams don't just pay significantly more when they are high school recruits. What changed since last year? Seems like other schools are just trying to cause further chaos on our roster while we are down.

What does that do? They can now leave twice during each year without sitting out. Every portal season is bidding season.

 

[Nico ee-ah-MAH-LAY-ah-va]

AP on the radio right now basically still saying the same thing: MM is expected to enter the portal and when he does it is a slim chance he stays here. No other new details though.

 

[RikidyBones]

Austin price on Swain

Mm - it was more about his playing time than money

Branch - noted Miami visit with no QB, no DC. Need a visit

There are other names out there under the radar blah blah

Benson - talked to him but we will see if he visits. AP skeptical that Tennessee will honestly pursue

Tennessee has ZERO portal visits set up.

On fanbase concerns: understands the concern but Tennessee has only lost backups. Let it play out.

Says looks to add:
A rb. Mentioned Angel Johnson (no visit yet) and maybe another RB.
Two or three more receivers

Another segment coming up about Landry and Banks.

 

[Orange_Crush]

Yeah. I was kind of a douche earlier. Apologies. Usually reserve that behavior to people that are also being douches, it’s been a rough week.

Hope your week gets better.

 

[Vol423]

How does one back out of something they never officially entered in the first place?

"Incidentally, one can get beaten up in school simply by referring to oneself as one."

 

[MarcoVol]

Austin price on Swain

Mm - it was more about his playing time than money

Branch - noted Miami visit with no QB, no DC. Need a visit

There are other names out there under the radar blah blah

Benson - talked to him but we will see if he visits. AP skeptical that Tennessee will honestly pursue

Tennessee has ZERO portal visits set up.

On fanbase concerns: understands the concern but Tennessee has only lost backups. Let it play out.

Says looks to add:
A rb. Mentioned Angel Johnson (no visit yet) and maybe another RB.
Two or three more receivers

Another segment coming up about Landry and Banks.

Gotta be more mature than let PT be the determining factor when projected to be WR1 or WR2 at worst next season.

Or maybe the staff still didn’t see him as that.

 

[TN-POSSUM]

Austin price on Swain

Mm - it was more about his playing time than money

Branch - noted Miami visit with no QB, no DC. Need a visit

There are other names out there under the radar blah blah

Benson - talked to him but we will see if he visits. AP skeptical that Tennessee will honestly pursue

Tennessee has ZERO portal visits set up.

On fanbase concerns: understands the concern but Tennessee has only lost backups. Let it play out.

Says looks to add:
A rb. Mentioned Angel Johnson (no visit yet) and maybe another RB.
Two or three more receivers

Another segment coming up about Landry and Banks.

@TrippieRedd ......
*stolt meme

 

[barney]

Austin price on Swain

Mm - it was more about his playing time than money

Branch - noted Miami visit with no QB, no DC. Need a visit

There are other names out there under the radar blah blah

Benson - talked to him but we will see if he visits. AP skeptical that Tennessee will honestly pursue

Tennessee has ZERO portal visits set up.

On fanbase concerns: understands the concern but Tennessee has only lost backups. Let it play out.

Says looks to add:
A rb. Mentioned Angel Johnson (no visit yet) and maybe another RB.
Two or three more receivers

Another segment coming up about Landry and Banks.

This is what I figured with Mike Matthews. Not money, playing time. That room has been badly mismanaged for two years and idk what the justification is for keeping Pope another year. Passing game has regressed every year since 22.

 

[TrippieRedd]

@TrippieRedd
View attachment 711279
*stolt

Yeah I read it.

This is pretty accurate

 

[RikidyBones]

Gotta be more mature than let PT be the determining factor when projected to be WR1 or WR2 at worst next season.

Or maybe the staff still didn’t see him as that.

I think the staff has criticisms of him that makes that guarantee blurry. Brian Rice and Ainge were talking about mm having issues running the wrong route, missing blocks, etc in practice while occasionally making an electric play but also who you are you taking out? Mm isnt a slot so it's brazzel, Thornton or Bru as that's where mm was working. He's not J Smith. He's not R Williams

 

[barney]

I think the staff has criticisms of him that makes that guarantee blurry. Brian Rice and Ainge were talking about mm having issues running the wrong route, missing blocks, etc in practice while occasionally making an electric play but also who you are you taking out? Mm isnt a slot so it's brazzel, Thornton or Bru as that's where mm was working. He's not J Smith. He's not R Williams

Every time he got in the game he balled out. Made more plays with fewer opportunities than any of the other receivers. Some on this staff seems to think practice habits are more important than winning football games? I seen that movie before.

 

[MarcoVol]

Every time he got in the game he balled out. Made more plays with fewer opportunities than any of the other receivers. Some on this staff seems to think practice habits are more important than winning football games? I seen that movie before.

He had 7 catches. Wouldn’t say he made more plays than any other receiver. Thought he could’ve been good tho.

But doesn’t wanna be here then NEXT.

 

[barney]

He had 7 catches. Wouldn’t say he made more plays than any other receiver.

Never said he made more plays. More plays per an attempt. How many touchdowns did he have?

 

[captainfalcon777]

He had 7 catches. Wouldn’t say he made more plays than any other receiver. Thought he could’ve been good tho.

But doesn’t wanna be here then NEXT.

Sadly the 2 TD’s he had were more than most of the others in the WR room…shows you how bad they were

 

[LotteryPick]

If Matthews is leaving over playing time, I don’t understand the logic of waiting to enter then dragging out the official entry. I’m not buying that.

 

[MarcoVol]

Never said he made more plays. More plays per an attempt. How many touchdowns did he have?

Yeah seemed like he could’ve been a weapon in the red zone where we struggled.

But time to move on.

 

[RikidyBones]

Banks segment

Heupel is likely to go outside the staff for DC replacement if he leaves

 

[RikidyBones]

If Matthews is leaving over playing time, I don’t understand the logic of waiting to enter then dragging out the official entry. I’m not buying that.

I don't either. We also know Austin Price and many beat guys in general know stuff that they "can't say"... which makes you wonder what they are even good for as a service... So who knows what the truth is.

 

[Brillovol]

If Matthews is leaving over playing time, I don’t understand the logic of waiting to enter then dragging out the official entry. I’m not buying that.

Yeah I get a strong scent of butthurt over the lack of PT last year and now he’s making demands as a result.

So it’s not about the money…but the payment for past sins is.


And if I’m right, he can hit the door.

 

[deatojl]

Lmao. Banks navigated a particularly bad SEC schedule, especially on the offensive side. We didn’t beat any good teams this year. When we did play good teams, we got exposed defensively.

Banks gets thoroughly outcoached when we play good offenses. I’d love to hear your defense of his gameplans vs Georgia, Ohio State, ‘23 Mizzou, ‘23 Bama, ‘23 Georgia, and most importantly South Carolina 2022. The Banks truthers seem to have forgotten all about those performances.

I have been frustrated with the way the defense was called against Ohio State and Georgia this year, as well. However, I am interested in hearing what your definition of a good offense is. For example, Arkansas averaged 30.9 PPG and we held them to 19. Alabama averaged 33.8 PPG and we held them to 17. Florida averaged 28.5 PPG and we held them to 17. In fact, the only team we played this year who surpassed their average PPG was Ohio State. As for previous years, our defense wasn't very good but it was at least showing improvement year over year. While I don't think we should get into a bidding war to keep Banks, I do think he deserves to not be run out the door considering his defenses have been on a consistent upward trajectory.

 

[barney]

Unless we load up on receivers from playoff teams by end of January we are in terrible shape in the passing game heading into spring practice, which means fewer opportunities for Nico to develop rhythm with new receivers . I know everyone is preaching calm but this seems like a not so great situation!

 

[tnvolfan16]

I think the staff has criticisms of him that makes that guarantee blurry. Brian Rice and Ainge were talking about mm having issues running the wrong route, missing blocks, etc in practice while occasionally making an electric play but also who you are you taking out? Mm isnt a slot so it's brazzel, Thornton or Bru as that's where mm was working. He's not J Smith. He's not R Williams

well, at the end of the day, here is what we are about to find out....was Matthews the bust a lot of you all think he was, or was he simply playing time away from being the star the rest of us thought he was going to be. if you have a player that is electric, you find a way to get him on the field before you put slugs like nimrod or kaleb webb out there just because they have been here three years or whatever. they put nico out there and said "hes young, he will learn with experience" so why not do the same with matthews. nimrod and webb were not a loss at all, they can be replaced, hard to replace 5 star talent, and hard to get past the perception now that Tennessee may not know how to use young WR talent. i told people after '22 that whatever the answer is, you have to keep that offensive momentum rolling if you want to be a juggernaut in recruiting 5 star offensive players. they have spent the last two years, for whatever reason, morphing in to a 'perceived' run-first team. thats fine as long as you have an OL and RB room that is top 2-3 in the conference. But you better keep those rooms there if you are going to have success with that philosophy. and on top of that, if nico struggles next year and the new perception becomes that heupel may not be the QB guru he was sold as, you may have a fight on your hands to keep brandon committed.

 

[MoCo_Vol]

So WR room which we all agreed was one of the weakest groups.

Returning:
Staley - FR
Brazzell - RS-SO
Boo Carter - FR

Lots of other walk-ons it looks like, not sure if any are on scholarship

Incoming: (stars from 247)
Travis Smith Jr., 4 star
Radarious Jackson, 4 star
Joakim Dodson, 3 star


Speculation a bit on my part, but wouldn't surprise me to see us use a TE more as a 4th WR option. We have 2 really good ones recruited that are "traditional" TE bodies (6'4"+, 230lbs) and Miles gets another year we'll also return Cole Harrison & Ethan Davis