The Tennessee Vols are down to two scholarship quarterbacks after sophomore Harrison Bailey entered the transfer portal on Wednesday afternoon.

Bailey's decision to hit the portal hardly comes as a surprise — the Georgia native was a distant third on Tennessee's depth chart, behind Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton.

For whatever reason, Bailey never quite developed into the SEC star at Tennessee that many folks thought he'd be coming out of Marietta High School.

The former four-star recruit put up gaudy numbers in high school while playing against some of the best competition in Georgia. Bailey's career numbers were right there with Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson's high school numbers.

Bailey, however, appeared to benefit from playing with three future FBS skill position players — five-star tight end Arik Gilbert, four-star wide receiver Ramel Keyton, and three-star wide receiver Ricky White.

This is a great example of why evaluating quarterbacks at the high school level is so tough. Bailey didn't quite have the "it factor" to make things work at Tennessee.

It's also a great example of how quarterback depth can quickly erode. The Vols thought they were going into the 2021 season with five scholarship quarterbacks.

But two transfer portal entries (junior Brian Maurer entered the portal in August) and a dismissal from the program (true freshman Kaidon Salter) suddenly have the Vols in a tough spot. Milton and Hooker have both battled some injuries this season. With four games remaining in 2021, there's no guarantee that Milton and Hooker will be enough quarterback depth for Tennessee.

The transfer portal has added a wrinkle to roster management that could change the way coaches approach recruiting.

In fact, I think Vols head coach Josh Heupel needs to change his approach to recruiting quarterbacks ASAP.

Heupel still needs to go after elite talent — that's never going to change. A program can never have too many talented quarterbacks because you just don't know which quarterback will play to their full potential.

But at the same time, you have to have depth. The quarterback is the most important position on the field. If a team doesn't have a quality quarterback, wins are going to be hard to come by.

Loading up on talented quarterbacks is great. But eventually, the talented quarterback that's stuck at No. 2 or No. 3 on the depth chart is going to leave. And then it's not long before a program ends up in the same position as Tennessee.

To combat that reality, I think Heupel needs to add one lower-rated three-star quarterback to every other recruiting class. Essentially, he needs to find a quarterback that isn't being pursued by top SEC programs. Maybe a kid who desperately wants to play in the SEC and isn't banking on a future in the NFL. Someone who will stick around and not hit the portal, ensuring that Tennessee always has a fail-safe at quarterback.

This might seem like a waste of a scholarship, but I really don't think that's the case. Tennessee, or any other program, isn't going far without quarterback depth. And this would be a good way to make sure that the Vols don't end up in a situation where a wide receiver is starting a key game in late November.

And who knows, maybe one of those overlooked three-star quarterbacks will turn into a star. We've certainly seen that happen before (Patrick Mahomes anyone?).

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