Tennessee is up to five players who have decided to leave its football program, including one sizable surprise.
Redshirt freshman linebacker Jalen Smith, who ranks eighth on the Volunteers with 34 tackles, is expected to enter his name in the NCAA transfer portal. The portal will be open from Monday through Dec. 28.
Smith did not start any games during Tennessee’s 10-2 regular season but experienced increased playing time after Keenan Pili’s season-ending knee injury against Florida on Oct. 12. Sophomores Arion Carter and Jeremiah Telander have been the starters for the Vols, but linebackers coach William Inge considered Smith his third starter.
“We call them, ‘The Three Stooges,’ because you’re going to see Larry, Moe and Curly walking together in the building fairly often,” Inge said playfully during a news conference two weeks ago. “Most of the guys didn’t even know who ‘The Three Stooges’ were, so I had to explain it to them. We had to pull that up on the internet.”
Smith, a 6-foot-2, 230-pounder from the Atlanta suburb of Grayson, racked up nine tackles during the 28-18 topping of Kentucky on Nov 2. He tallied five tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss in the 56-0 hammering of UTEP on Nov. 23.