Tennessee is suddenly in a tough predicament that could have a negative impact on Vols' College Football Playoff hopes in 2025
Just when you thought the Tennessee Vols were going to escape the offseason without any major losses to the transfer portal, On3 came across everyone's social media timelines on Tuesday with some potentially devastating news for Josh Heupel's program. According to a report from On3, Vols starting cornerback Rickey Gibson plans to enter the NCAA […]
Just when you thought the Tennessee Vols were going to escape the offseason without any major losses to the transfer portal, On3 came across everyone's social media timelines on Tuesday with some potentially devastating news for Josh Heupel's program.
According to a report from On3, Vols starting cornerback Rickey Gibson plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal when the spring transfer window opens (which will be after spring practice in April).
The timing of this report is extremely interesting. Gibson can't go anywhere until the spring transfer window opens on April 16 — which means he either has to go through spring practice as a "player who intends to transfer" (would Tennessee even let him practice…) or he has to completely sit out spring practice.
This is purely speculation, but this appears to be a negotiating tool for Gibson. Otherwise, there's no benefit to him telling On3 that he plans to enter the portal two months from now.
Gibson, who played 636 snaps for the Vols last season while earning a 74.4 PFF grade, is an extremely important player for Tennessee — especially since UT will be without star cornerback Jermod McCoy for at least a portion of the 2025 season (McCoy tore his ACL in January).
Maybe this is Gibson's way of making sure he gets a new deal before spring practice.
From Gibson's point of view, I can understand that approach (if that's the case). If he gets hurt or underperforms in spring practice, he would have no leverage for a new NIL deal.
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. This isn't really a situation we've seen come up at Tennessee before. The Vols certainly can't afford to lose Gibson (then they'd have two major holes at cornerback in 2025), so I don't think it's a scenario where they can "call his bluff".
Welcome to college football in 2025. It's an absolute nightmare for fans and coaches, but it's incredibly lucrative if you're a player.
