Where Tennessee’s transfer portal class currently ranks

It may have been viewed as a slow start, but the Tennessee staff certainly revved things up over the weekend in the transfer portal. Jim Knowles took major steps towards solidiying his defense, adding a handful of players from his previous stop in Happy Valley.

The biggest splash of all came on Saturday, as Tennessee landed 5-star EDGE rusher Chaz Coleman, fending off the likes of Ohio State and LSU. The Volunteers followed that up by pulling linebacker Amare Campbell and safety Dejaun Lane.

With the portal still spinning, let’s check in on the class as a whole and see where the Volunteers stack up.

247Sports transfer portal class ranking: 17th

On3 Sports transfer portal class ranking: 20th

Chaz Coleman is the consensus best player in the class by a wide margin, ranking fifth and third nationally by the two publications. He was the top pass rusher on the market, one that Tennessee badly needed after losing Jordan Ross, Joshua Josephs and Caleb Herring.

Xavier Gilliam, Coleman’s former teammate, ranks 39th according to 247Sports. Tennessee gets another player here with multiple years of eligibility remaining, yet already with his feet wet playing for Knowles. Linebacker Amare Campbell will solidify Tennessee in the middle, coming off of a 100+ tackle season at Penn State. Campbell ranks just inside of the top 150 overall players in the class, per On3.

Perhaps Tennessee biggest need came at safety, and the Volunteers grabbed two to get things going. Qua Moss (No. 244) and Dejaun Lane (No. 152) join Edrees Farooq and Kaleb Beasley in the room — one that’s already deeper than it was this season. Auburn cornerback Kayin Lee (No. 146) joins them in the secondary, bringing three seasons of experience to the position. He’ll join Ty Redmond as a starter.

Offensively Tennessee added its likely starter at right tackle, grabbing Ory Williams (No. 322) from LSU.

Tennessee also found a kicker, adding Gavin Ranvier (No. 2,495) from Louisville. Ranvier was 21-25 on the season for the Cardinals and will take over for Max Gilbert. Staying on special teams, Tennessee also found a return man in Gavin Freeman (No. 804), who was also the leading receiver for Oklahoma State last season.

Tennessee remaining needs in the transfer portal

1. Quarterback — Tennessee is still waiting for word on Joey Aguilar, although optimism seems to be fading on that front. The Volunteers are still in the thick of the battle for Sam Leavitt, while former Missouri quarterback Beau Pribula seems to be the backup plan.
2. Running back — Tennessee has sort of kicked the can down the road here, but did get a visit from former Florida back Ja’Kobi Jackson.
3. Defensive tackle — Tennessee still needs to add depth here, and based off the visit lists that we saw this weekend, that seems to be the plan.
4. EDGE rusher — Landing Coleman was massive, but Tennessee has a numbers and experience issue there after all of the departures. I’d want at least one more, maybe two to build out some sort of rotation.
5. Defensive back — Tennessee has already added two safeties and a corner, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see another take at each spot. The Volunteers ended up super thin at both positions last season and should fix that while they can here in the portal.