Tennessee’s battle at starting kicker just got a little less crowded.
According to a report from 247Sports, Michigan grad transfer kicker Ryan Tice is leaving the Vols’ football program just a few months after joining it. Tice was added back in March of this year and officially joined the team in the summer. He wasn’t a scholarship grad transfer like the Vols’ three other graduate transfers, however. Tice joined Tennessee as a walk-on grad transfer with two years of eligibility.
But now he won’t be spending those two years with the Vols.
Tice didn’t play at all last season for Michigan but connected on all 10 of his extra points in 2016 and averaged 63 yards per kickoff on three kickoffs that same season. He was in competition with sophomore Brent Cimaglia and walk-on redshirt junior Laszlo Toser for the Vols’ starting kicking duties.
The Vols now have just four kickers/punters on their roster, and two of them are scholarship players. The aforementioned Cimaglia is a true sophomore placekicker and Paxton Brooks is on scholarship as a true freshman punter. Cimaglia’s only competition now is with Toser, and Brooks is competing with walk-on redshirt freshman Joe Doyle for punter duties.
We will update as any new information is released.
