Josh Heupel reveals the hardest part about adding players through transfer portal

As Tennessee sets to begin Year 3 under coach Josh Heupel, it does so relying once again on transfers at some key positions, not the least of which is quarterback. The transfer portal, thus far, has been quite kind to the Volunteers.

Heupel admits the transfer portal isn’t one of the things he will spend an inordinate amount of time on, but he does recognize its value.

“I don’t think that’s how we’re going to build our roster as the primary focus,” Heupel told Volquest in an exclusive interview. “But where we were at, 65 scholarships as we started, kind of patching our roster, it was important that we hit on guys that could come in and make an impact on our football team.”

Tennessee certainly did that. Quarterback Hendon Hooker was a huge part of the program winning 11 games last fall, and if the success is to continue in 2023 it will rest on the arm of Michigan transfer Joe Milton.

He should be more than capable. Perhaps more importantly, he has embraced Heupel’s way of doing things, even after he was beaten out by Hooker.

“At the same time, you’ve got to bring in the right culture kids otherwise the things that you’re talking about with your incoming young guy class, the things you’re talking about with the guys that have been here that kind of look at you side-eyed and go, ‘Well, you’re talking about these things but you’re not living them out based on who you’re bringing in,’” Heupel said. “We’ve been really fortunate, because I think that’s the hardest thing to figure out in the transfer portal.”

There are no real metrics for culture buy-in. Sure, you can tell if a player had off-the-field issues at his previous stop, but beyond that you really don’t know how well he meshed with the staff and his teammates.

Even doing your due diligence can leave some gaps.

“You typically have video of a guy, you’ve seen them perform at a pretty high level at the collegiate level but you don’t know who they are, what they’re about,” Heupel explained.

For whatever reason, Tennessee has come up a lot more hit than miss in the transfer portal so far. And after coming up just short of the College Football Playoff in 2022, the Volunteers will be looking to take the next step this season.

Do they have the pieces?

“We’ve been really fortunate. The guys that we’ve brought in here the last couple of years, they’ve fit the mold of what Tennessee football stands for,” Heupel said. “Some of those guys have come in in a short amount of time and really thrust themselves into being impact players — and we’ll see that through the course of the season — but more importantly been impactful in the locker room and they live out the right traits.”

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