Tennessee Football Recruiting Update: How many can the Vols take?

Roster Management

In this spring's recruiting recap, I observed that head coach Butch Jones "seems to have a significantly more active style of roster management", noting that the coaching staff had moved seven scholarship players with eligibility remaining off of the roster. Well, if once is a fluke then twice is a trend, as the Vols appear poised to once again be extremely active in moving players both on to and off of the scholarship roster. Below is a breakdown of current players and the numbers involved.

Winter Graduates

On Saturday, eleven current members of the football team earned degrees from the University of Tennessee: Justin Coleman (Communication Studies), Mack Crowder (Marketing), Matt Giampapa (Economics), Jacob Gilliam (Political Science), AJ Johnson (Sociology), Curt Maggitt (Communication Studies), Marques Pair (Communication Studies), Nathan Peterman (Communication Studies), Brian Randolph (Management), Trevarris Saulsberry (Sociology), and Jordan Williams (Sociology). Vol For Life (and 2013 starter at outside linebacker) Dontavis Sapp also received his degree (Sociology).

Six of the players who graduated early have eligibility remaining and may pursue graduate degrees at Tennessee: Crowder, Giampapa, Maggitt, Peterman, Randolph and Saulsberry.

Expected Spring Graduates

Recruited players Matt Darr, Brendan Downs, Marlin Lane, Justin Worley, and Devrin Young have exhausted their NCAA eligibility and are expected to graduate in the spring semester.  Despite having eligibility remaining, Riyahd Jones and Geraldo Orta are also expected to graduate and leave the football program, with both players having participated in Senior Day activities in 2014.

Transfers

Derrell Scott, Dewayne Hendrix, and Daniel Helm have all been confirmed as transfers, although release details haven't been made public. There's no new information on other players who were rumored to be considering a transfer, with D'Andre Payne and Michael Sawyers the two names that have popped up.

Butch Jones announced three freshmen will transfer: TE Daniel Helm, DL Dewayne Hendrix and RB Derrell Scott.

— Josh Ward (@Josh_Ward) December 14, 2014

Updated Scholarship Matrix

Although I don't expect this project to be completely accurate (because schools don't have a handy way to keep track of awarded scholarships), the scholarship matrix has been updated to account for expected transfers and to reflect position changes. The columns have also been relabeled by football season rather than graduation year to prevent confusion. Note that scholarships awarded to former walk-on players have not been tracked.

Quick Observations on the current roster:

• Tennessee needs running back depth behind starter Jalen Hurd. Alvin Kamara may be as good as advertised, but the Vols need to sign more than one other running back, even with players like Rocky Reid and Vincent Perry expected to be available.
• The Vols intend to take as many defensive ends as they can in the current class, with freshmen Dewayne Hendrix and Joe Henderson leaving and hybrid pass rushers Curt Maggitt and Chris Weatherd rising seniors.
• Offensive line numbers shouldn't be a problem for Tennessee. With Charles Mosley and Jashon Robertson moving to the offensive side of the ball, the Vols will have 16 scholarship players on the line next year, including 3 four star and 13 three star players.