On Thursday, Tennessee’s first player of the cycle made his way through the NCAA transfer portal; on Friday, another player made his departure from the Vols official. Mo Clipper Jr., a redshirt freshman offensive lineman, declared on social media that he will access the portal on Monday when it formally opens. Warren Burrell, an experienced cornerback, joined on Thursday; however, since he is a graduate transfer, he was able to enter before the window officially opened.
Clipper played in five games this season after wearing a redshirt in his freshman year at Tennessee in 2022. He spent his time as a member of the Vols playing both guard positions. When he logs into the portal, his eligibility will be limited to three more seasons.
The 6-foot-5, 308-pound player was an early enrollee out of Milton High School in Alpharetta, Georgia, outside of Atlanta, and came to Tennessee as part of its 2022 recruiting class.
“I want to thank everyone for their love and support while I was here. I would not trade the past two years for anything because they have opened my eyes to so many new things. I’d like to express my gratitude to the professors, coaches, trainers, and teammates who have been there for me from the beginning and have helped me grow as a student athlete. I made memories and lifelong friendships that I will always treasure.
“I have chosen to enter my name in the transfer portal with three years of eligibility remaining, after much consideration and prayer.”
In 2022, Clipper, a freshman, played on the offensive line late in the games against Ball State and UT Martin while keeping his redshirt.
Clipper made just one appearance this season, against Virginia in the season’s opening game, before making four more appearances in the season, despite Tennessee’s offensive line suffering from a spate of injuries this year. His two offensive games, totaling 19 snaps, came at right guard against Connecticut and left guard against Virginia. During the last four games of the season, he was also a member of the field goal and extra point protection unit.In 2020, Clipper’s junior year, Milton went undefeated in the regular season and advanced to the quarterfinals of the playoffs. As a senior, he led the team and was recognised as an All-State player for his contributions to the team.
Tim Banks, the defensive coordinator for Tennessee, left for North Carolina on Friday to start the pre-early signing period. He was able to check on a few defensive targets in the 2025 and 2026 classes during his initial stops.
Along with four other one-loss titans who are respectfully still in the conversation, Georgia, Michigan, Washington, and Florida State are the four teams that control their own playoff destiny. The committee’s penultimate rankings, which were released on Tuesday, mean that there is still a lot of moving and shaking to be done in the Final Six.
This month, JMU and Jacksonville State’s requests for postseason waivers were denied by the NCAA. Since there weren’t enough bowl-eligible teams to fill 82 spots, the Dukes and Gamecocks will still receive a bowl bid. After the last weekend, only 79 programmes had reached the required pause. Because of its high APR score, we anticipate five-win Minnesota to be in bowls next month, along with JMU and Jacksonville State.
