Tennessee punter Joe Doyle enters transfer portal

In news that really shouldn’t be all that surprising, Tennessee is likely going to lose a specialist this offseason. Punter Joe Doyle put his name in the NCAA’s transfer portal on Tuesday, looking for new opportunities to play.

Doyle was Tennessee’s punter for the entire 2018 season, but was replaced halfway through the 2019 season by Paxton Brooks. Doyle operated as Tennessee’s holder on the field goal team also.

With two years of eligibility left, it’s understandable why Doyle would look elsewhere. He took to Twitter last night to explain his decision.

The former walk-on player won the punting job in camp in 2018, beating out Brooks, who was a part of Jeremy Pruitt’s first recruiting class. Doyle was awesome as a redshirt freshman, earning freshman All-American honors from USA Today.

Doyle had a 41.1 yard average during his six games as the punter. Brooks improved slightly, putting up a 41.6 number. With two years of eligibility left, Brooks figures to handle punting duties for the foreseeable future in Knoxville.