Tennessee’s Two-Day Recruiting Stretch Will Prove Beneficial in the Short and Long Terms

Josh Heupel reeled in a huge haul over the past two days with a pair of players from the transfer portal and a key commitment to the 2025 class.

The Vols fortified the trenches on Sunday with the portal additions of OT Lance Heard from LSU and DL Jaxson Moi from Stanford. Then, on Monday, Tennessee received a blue-chip commitment to build the class of 2025 around with five-star quarterback commit George MacIntyre. The Vols’ additions not only helped Tennessee jump up in the recruiting race presently but will pay dividends in both the short and long term for the Volunteers.

Heard, a Freshman All-SEC selection after his first year with the Tigers, is arguably Tennessee’s most important transfer portal pickup to date. The 6-foot-6 tackle joins the Tennessee program in the wake of veteran offensive tackle Gerald Mincey transferring to Kentucky earlier in the offseason. The Vols needed to hit big with a tackle in the portal and did just that.

Heard’s arrival in Tennessee will immediately prove beneficial for the Vols. While Heard played right tackle with the Tigers during his lone season in Death Valley, the LSU transfer has an opportunity to take over Tennessee’s vacant left tackle position in 2024. Vols’ left tackle John Campbell Jr. posted a video of himself working out at right tackle last week, thus potentially opening up the left tackle position for Heard. With only one year of college ball under his belt, Heard could be a multi-year player for Tennessee that makes an impact on day one.

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The other portal addition that Tennessee hauled in on Sunday is Stanford defensive lineman Jaxson Moi. Tennessee’s returning defensive line depth indicates that Moi will likely start his Tennessee career as a rotational piece but projects to be big in 2025. The returning depth involves quite a few players on the final year of eligibility, making Moi an important transitional piece on Tennessee’s roster heading into the 2025 season.

And, lastly, Tennessee is looking toward the future with five-star quarterback commit George MacIntyre. The in-state prospect committed to Tennessee on Monday morning and gave the Vols a landmark piece to build the class around.

MacIntyre’s timeline could look very similar to current Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

Iamaleava sat behind Joe Milton during his freshman season as MacIntyre will sit behind Iamaleava during his freshman season in 2025. Then, after a year of sitting and watching from the bench (and assuming the starting position opens up with Iamaleava going to the NFL), MacIntyre will be in the competition to take over as Tennessee’s starting quarterback for the 2026 season as a second-year player in the program.

It’s all just projected timelines where things stand right now, but it’s a long-term projection that’s rising for Josh Heupel’s program.

In a quick two-day stretch, Tennessee solidified its short-term and long-term outlooks from the recruiting world.