Tennessee defensive lineman Greg Emerson, one of the highest-rated members of Jeremy Pruitt's first signing class in 2018, has entered the NCAA transfer portal.
Emerson played in 22 career games for the Volunteers with nine starts, with all nine coming at nose tackle as a redshirt freshman during the 2019 season. The 6-foot-3, 300-pounder appeared in all 13 games that year for the Gator Bowl champions, racking up 30 tackles, four tackles for loss, two sacks and two pass breakups.
His best game that season was a six-tackle, one-sack performance in a 35-13 loss at Alabama. His sack resulted in a high-ankle sprain for Tua Tagovailoa, who had to undergo surgery and missed the following contest against Arkansas.
Emerson was never able to replicate that success last year, appearing in eight games as a reserve and making his lone tackle in the season finale against Texas A&M.
Before playing for the Vols, Emerson was four-star prospect out of North Side High School in Jackson, Tennessee, though he missed his senior season due to injury. He was the nation's No. 13 defensive tackle and No. 136 prospect overall in the 247Sports.com composite rankings.
Emerson played against East Tennessee State as a freshman in 2018 before redshirting, and he will have three years of eligibility at his new destination due to the extra season granted by the NCAA due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Former Tennessee quarterback Kaidon Salter has also entered the transfer portal. The four-star signee and early enrollee was dismissed from Josh Heupel's program this past Thursday, which came on the heels of a second marijuana-related incident last weekend.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.