Report: Tennessee freshman running back expected to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal
Tennessee freshman running back Justin Williams-Thomas is entering the NCAA Transfer Portal. The 6-foot, 210-pound Williams-Thomas appeared in three games for the Vols this season, rushing 11 times for 37 yards.
Williams-Thomas had three rushes for six yards against Ball State in the season opener on September 1. He had five carries for 22 yards in the 63-6 win over Akron on September 17 and had three carries for nine yards against UT Martin on October 22.
Williams-Thomas was a four-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, picking Tennessee over Auburn. He was ranked No. 235 overall in the On3 Consensus, was the No. 16 running back in the class and the No. 27 overall prospect out of the state of Georgia, where he attended East Paulding High School in Dallas, Ga.
Sophomore Jaylen Wright led the Vols in rushing yards this season, running for 786 yards. Junior Jabari Small led the team in rush attempts, with 144, and touchdowns, 12, to go with his 696 rush yards. Freshman Dylan Sampson rushed 58 times for 397 yards and six touchdowns.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
In fact the portal has accelerated the rebuild of the program the last two years. Every knows the impact of Hendon Hooker or the last two season’s via the portal. Quarterback transfer Joe Milton will be making his fourth career start in the bowl game.
Tennessee found left tackle help this past off-season in Gerald Mincey. Bru McCoy as a transfer has had a big impact. McCoy is the team’s second leading receiver with 619 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Defensively, transfers Kamal Hadden, Brandon Turnage, Wesley Walker, Juwan Mitchell, and D.J. Terry have all started games this fall helping Tennessee go 10-2. Their first 10 win regular season since 2003.
