49ers Mega Star EDGE Nick Bosa Made Surprised Debut To Tennessee Volunteers With An Interesting Caveat Worth The national media has been attempting to spread a misleading story about the Tennessee Vols for the past month, and this week they succeeded in doing so because of Rivals.com. The reason for this is unknown.

For whatever reason, a number of national media sites have attempted to overstate the true impact on the program of Tennessee losing linebacker Elijah Herring to the NCAA transfer portal (Herring has revealed that he’s transferring to Memphis).

Herring was placed first on Rivals.com national recruiting director Adam Gorney’s list of the top five transfer linebackers of the offseason, which was released on Sunday.

“Tennessee’s loss is Memphis’ huge gain here as Herring led the Volunteers in tackles this past season with 79 and he’s the top-ranked linebacker right now in the transfer portal,” said Gorney. “The reason Herring, who was starting to establish himself as one of the SEC’s best linebackers, departed Tennessee is unclear, but it might have had to do with a change of position coach. In any case, one of the best players in the country is coming to the Tigers, and he might help Memphis’ defense right away.”

It’s a little confusing, according to Gorney, that Herring’s departure from Tennessee wasn’t quite apparent. He’s right that there was a change in position coaches (linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary left Tennessee for Michigan, and former Washington linebackers coach William Inge, who was hired immediately, took his place), but that wasn’t the reason Herring departed Tennessee.

Herring was expected to be deep down Tennessee’s depth chart this autumn, even though he was a key member of the Vols the previous season following Keenan Pili’s season-ending injury in the opening game.

It was going to be difficult for Herring to get playing time at UT with Pili expected to return in 2024, young linebackers like Arion Carter, Jeremiah Telander, and Kalib Perry emerging, as well as the acquisition of four-star true freshman Edwin Spillman.

This is not a mystery. Herring transferred because he wanted to play and realized that if he stayed at Tennessee, he wouldn’t get much opportunity to play. The national media would have you believe that this is a huge loss for the Vols, but it isn’t.

Herring is a talented athlete. He ought to be able to succeed at Memphis as well. However, he struggled at Tennessee at times, exhibiting poor sideline to sideline speed and pass-related problems.