Tennessee lands transfer commitment from preferred walk-on receiver Tommy Winton III

Tennessee is adding depth to its wide receiver room.

On Monday, the Volunteers picked up a preferred walk-on commitment from East Tennessee State wide receiver Tommy Winton III. A Knoxville native, he posted 23 catches for 349 yards as a redshirt freshman in 2023.

A SoCon All-Freshman Team selection, he was an All-State and All-Region all four years at Knoxville Catholic, wrapping up his high school career with 3,154 receiving yards and 43 touchdowns. This past fall with the ETSU, he averaged 15.2 yards per catch.

The Volunteers picked up Tulane transfer wide receiver Chris Brazzell in the winter portal window. He posted 45 catches for 722 yards and five touchdowns as a redshirt freshman in 2023. Tennessee also returns Bru McCoy, Squirrel White and Dont’e Thornton. Five-star recruit Mike Matthews impressed this spring in Knoxville, too.

“With everything, when we first got here as a staff and where our program was at, being smart and intentional with the things that we’ve had to deal with to grow our roster, this is the deepest wide receiver pool that we’ve had,” Josh Heupel said after the Tennessee spring game.

What is the transfer portal?

The spring transfer portal window lasted only 15 days, a crammed period that could reshape the 2024 college football offseason. The portal tool was launched in 2018 to allow athletes to be more involved in the process of transferring. Athletes must notify institutions of their intent to transfer. Each school’s compliance team has 48 hours to put a name into the portal. 

After an athlete is officially in the portal, there is no rush on making a decision as long as they are properly enrolled at a new institution in time for fall camp. Commitments do not have to be made during the 15-day window. Grad transfers now have to enter the portal before their respective sports’ final transfer windows.

Roster retention has been crucial for programs, with NIL playing a vital role in keeping rosters together in the new age of college football. Exactly 645 FBS players transferred in last year’s spring window. In the first week of the 2024 spring transfer portal, 497 FBS scholarship players entered.