Transfers Begin to Mount
Another player has announced their time is finished on Rocky Top. This time it is RS-Jr safety, Jakobe Thomas. Pete Thamel reported on Thursday Thomas’s intention to enter the portal.
In his solo season with the Volunteers, Thomas appeared in all 13 of Tennessee’s games. He totaled 22 tackles, two pass deflections and a sack.
Prior to his time on Rocky Top, Thomas spent three seasons at MTSU where he played in 24 games with 13 starts during his career as a Blue Raider. He finished his MTSU career with 108 tackles, four interceptions, eight pass breakups and two forced fumbles.
Jakobe was an unranked prospect coming out of high school where he played football at Tullahoma (TN) in the Class of 2021. He was named the Region 4-4A MVP and a First-Team All-State selection during his senior year.
Thomas will be the 22nd Tennessee player to enter the Transfer Portal this offseason, while the Volunteers have added only four players via the Portal. Per On3’s Austin Price, it is reported that he was looking for more money.
First Round NFL Pick?
The first round of the NFL Draft begins tonight at 8pm ET, and Tennessee fans will be keeping an eye on if James Pearce’s name gets called.
Pearce has seen his some volatility in his draft stock over the past 12 months. Around this time last year, he was considered a potential Top-5 pick, but he also seen analysts project him as low as the second round as recently as this week.
ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller now has the edge rusher projected to be picked at No. 15 overall by the Atlanta Falcons.
In 2024, Pearce finished with 7.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss in 13 games, despite having just 0.5 tackles for loss and no sacks through Tennessee’s first three games of the season. During his three year Vol-career, he had 71 tackles, 30 tackles for loss, 19.5 sacks and one interception returned for a touchdown.
Mel Kiper Jr’s most recent mock draft had Pearce as a first-round pick, going No. 32 overall to the Philadelphia Eagles which would be the final pick of the first round.
Kiper wrote, “There are mixed opinions around the league on whether Pearce is a first-rounder, but he has the traits to develop into a speedy disruptor in the right system. He had 17.5 sacks over the past two seasons and ranked second in the nation in pressure rate last season (19.0%).”
Tennessee’s most recent first-round pick was offensive tackle Darnell Wright in 2022, when he was taken No. 10 overall by the Chicago Bears.
The Vols have had 47 players selected in the first round of the NFL Draft since its inception in 1936. Tennessee is T-11th with Florida State and Texas with most players taken in the first round.