Tennessee redshirt freshman receiver Amari Jefferson is entering the NCAA transfer portal to look for his third school in three years.
The former Baylor School baseball and football standout signed with Alabama in 2024 but never played that season and redshirted before transferring from Tuscaloosa to Knoxville. The 6-foot, 207-pounder underwent a hip procedure before arriving at Tennessee, which limited him during spring practice.
Volunteers receivers coach Kelsey Pope was asked about Jefferson before the start of this season.
“Amari has done a good job, and he’s in the group of guys who are always in the building,” Pope said. “The thing for him is continuing to get his body into playing shape and continuing to get his conditioning to the level it needs to get to. He’s trending towards that.”
Jefferson was hoping to get playing time given that Tennessee had just seven scholarship receivers, but that never materialized. He played just a handful of minutes against ETSU and UAB and never tallied a reception.
The portal opens Friday, and as of late Thursday night the Vols had 12 players who had announced they intend to enter it, with the biggest departures being junior left tackle Lance Heard and junior cornerback Rickey Gibson III. Gibson played just 19 snaps in the opener against Syracuse before sustaining a season-ending arm injury.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.