Keith Farner | 4 hours ago
Stats often tell the story of a game, or a season, and in this case, Tennessee is in ominous shape with its roster entering the first season of the Josh Heupel era.
One stat in particular stood out to Phil Steele, who publishes a popular college football magazine each summer.
“Probably the team I’d be most concerned about would be Tennessee, going through the coaching change,” Steele said on “The Paul Finebaum Show,” per 247Sports. “They lead the nation in one category, and that is players that have hit the portal. Twenty-five have hit the portal this year, you’ve got new schemes on offense and defense, a new head coach. I think it’s going to be tough for Tennessee to stay near the top, the middle of the pack or the upper half.”
The latest departure out of Tennessee came at quarterback in Texas native Kaidon Salter, who was dismissed Thursday. Salter returned from suspension following a campus incident involving a reported theft in the dorms, but recently Salter was stopped and cited for marijuana possession along with fellow freshman defensive lineman Amari McNeill near Tennessee’s campus this week.
Heupel’s first priority at Tennessee will be to stabilize that roster while upgrading it through recruiting.
