Tennessee offers highly-touted tight end from the transfer portal  

The transfer portal officially opened Monday morning and Tennessee has already seen its fair share of traffic with two more departures, bringing the total to four early in the cycle.

Tennessee also made news by handing out an offer to a tight end in the transfer portal – Justin Joly, who spent his first two collegiate seasons with the UConn Huskies. In two years, the 6-foot-3, 232-pound athlete reeled in 74 receptions for 828 yards and four touchdowns.

After a great talk with @AlecAbeln I’m blessed to receive an offer from The Univeristy of Tennessee pic.twitter.com/KfYS6vGukU

— Justin Joly (@jjoly_17) December 4, 2023

A breakout star in 2023, the sophomore registered 578 yards on 56 catches with two touchdowns. Against Tennessee in early November, Joly hauled in eight receptions for 89 yards during the 56-3 defeat at Neyland Stadium. He later went for 73 yards on nine receptions with a touchdown against Sacred Heart on November 18. The sophomore also tallied seven receptions against rice and James Madison this season.

Joly has appeared in all 24 regular season games as a freshman and sophomore in 2022 and 2023 and also sports one 12-yard rush. According to the UConn Athletics website, Joly finished his high school career playing for head coach Joe Spagnolo at Iona Prep High School in New Rochelle, New York, and as a senior helped lead Iona prep to an 11-1 overall record which included a 7-0 conference record. In his three-year varsity high school career, Joly finished with 123 catches for 1,827 yards and 22 total touchdowns.

Tennessee will attack the tight end position hard in during this transfer portal cycle as both Jacob Warren and McCallan Castles exit the program as sixth-year seniors. Together, the duo formed quite a tandem in 2023 for the Vols – finishing the regular season with a combined eight touchdowns on 36 catches for 447 yards.

The Vols have former four-star Ethan Davis (2 rec, 33 yards) and three-star Emmanuel Okoye on roster for the 2024 season at the position. Both qualify for a redshirt in 2023 as well. Tennessee is also set to welcome four-star tight end commit Jonathan Echols as part of the 2024 class.  

Heading into the final week of the regular season, the former UConn tight end ranked third among tight ends at the FBS level in receptions and receiving yards. Joly, who officially entered the transfer portal Monday morning, announced his intentions last week. He has two years of eligibility remaining and plans to take an official visit to Tennessee this weekend.  

Understanding the transfer portal

The winter transfer portal window opened on December 4th and runs for 30 days. The winter window to enter the portal closes on January 2nd. The spring portal window runs from April 16-30th.

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 prior to May 1st. Also, if there’s a head coaching change, players can enter the portal outside of those dates.

Players who enter the portal in the 30 day winter window are trying to be somewhere for the spring semester. 

For Tennessee the spring semester starts on January 22nd 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. 

With the portal, schools also have to stay at 85 or below in their scholarships numbers, meaning when the spring semester starts they can’t be over 85. In Tennessee’s case, that number is closer to 82 as the Vols balance the scholarship reductions that they received last July when the NCAA ruled on the Jeremy Pruitt case.