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Tennessee to host Notre Dame transfer Sam Pendleton

On3 imageby:Austin Price•about 9 hours•

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Notre Dame offensive lineman Sam Pendleton. (Photo by Mike Miller)

Notre Dame transfer Sam Pendleton will be in Knoxville on Thursday for an official visit after entering the transfer portal on Wednesday.

He has three years of eligibility remaining. Pendleton started Notre Dame’s Week 1 win over Texas A&M, earning the left guard role in a surprising fall camp development. He won the job over two seniors in Pat Coogan and Rocco Spindler, who had both started double-digit games in 2023. He started seven games for the Irish this fall.

Pendleton really hit it off with Glen Elarbee after visiting Tennessee for a Junior day as a recruit.

“Coach Elarbee is a great person and a great coach,” Pendleton said after visiting Tennessee in January of 2022. “He’s very studied. He’s a great person to talk film with. I got a chance to go over some of my film with him and some of the things he liked and some of the things he would like to fix. Overall he’s just a really great coach and person.”

Tennessee is believed to be the team to beat for the North Carolina native.

Understanding the portal

The winter transfer portal window runs from December 9-28. The spring portal window runs from April 16-25.

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.

Those dates don’t apply to graduate transfers who can enter the portal whenever they wish. Also, if there’s a head coaching change, their players are granted an immediate 30-day window during which they can enter the portal. 

Of note, any team playing in a game after Dec 28 (playoffs or regular bowl) gets a five-day window once season ends for those player to enter portal.

So, say a team loses in the CFP first round on Dec 20/21? Their transfer portal window wouldn’t be affected as the regular window ends more than five days after that loss.

Players who enter the portal in the winter window are trying to be somewhere for the spring semester. 

For Tennessee the spring semester starts on January 21 which is late compared to many schools around the country. Tennessee a year ago started a winter mini-term class that runs the first three weeks of January. 

Vols have benefitted from the portal

The transfer portal can giveth and it can taketh away. For Josh Heupel it’s been much more of a positive than a negative for the Vols when you look at the 2024 season. 

Left tackle Lance Heard has been a fixture on an offense line that has helped the Vols rush for over 2700 yards. Tight end Miles Kitselman has been a terrific portal grab because he is the leader of the tight end room. A room that also includes transfer Holden Staes. 

Defensively, Jermod McCoy has been the best transfer Tennessee has gotten. McCoy is having an All-American season. 

In total, Tennessee added 10 transfers for the current 2024 roster. 

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