Rocky Top Rewind: Transfer portal, Vol hoops, heating up to start the new year
Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel had a busy weekend hosting a few transfer portal targets. Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes and the Vols are off to a 3-0 start in SEC play. Two Junior Days are on the horizon for the Class of 2024.
Eric Cain & Brant Hubbs discussed it all on Sunday’s edition of the Rocky Top Rewind. The two welcome on new Volquest staffer Matt Ray to chat all things recruiting and Rob Lewis on to discuss Tennessee hoops’ hot start to conference play.
Austin Price joined at the end of the show to breakdown a busy weekend of visitors on The Hill. Watch this week’s episode on YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts.
Three Vols transfer targets set to commit tomorrow
Oregon transfer wide receiver Dont’e Thornton and Arizona State defensive lineman Omar Norman-Lott are both set to come off the board sometime tomorrow. Both are also coming off visit weekends in Knoxville.
Thornton reeled in 17 receptions for 366 yards and a touchdown this past season on the gridiron. In 2021, the wideout started two games and recorded nine catches for 175 yards with two scores. He’s taken several visits this go-around and has been in no hurry to date. Miami, Arkansas and Auburn are the other programs in the mix to land Thornton.
Arizona State transfer defensive lineman Omar Norman-Lott has also been productive in two years in the desert. The 6-foot-3, 290-pound defender was a part-time starter for Sun Devils this past season, finishing with 44 tackles and seven TFLs the past two seasons.
Will Tennessee be the call? We’ll find out when Thornton makes his call at 1pm ET and Norman-Lott at 4pm ET. John Campbell – Miami transfer OT – also announced on Twitter he plans to commit somewhere on Monday as well.
Understanding the Portal
The winter transfer portal window opened on December 5th and runs for 45 days. The spring portal window runs from May 1-15.
Players don’t have to pick a school they are going to during those specific dates but those are the span of dates on when a player can enter the portal.
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Those dates don’t apply to graduate transfers who can enter the portal whenever they wish. Also, if there’s a head coaching change, players can enter the portal outside of those dates.
Players who enter the portal in the 45 day winter window are trying to be somewhere for the spring semester.
For Tennessee the spring semester starts on January 23rd which is late compared to many schools around the country. Tennessee a year ago started a winter mini-term class that runs the first 3 weeks of January.
A year ago according to the NCAA 950 football players went into the portal. In 2020, there were less than 600 players who transferred. Coaches and media around the country feel like this year there will be a record number of players who go into the portal as one time transfers.
In fact some college coaches have said December is going to be total chaos with the early signing day and with the transfer portal becoming college football’s version of free agency thanks to NIL.
