Josh Heupel and Tennessee Vols lose another safety to the transfer portal

Once again, depth for the Tennessee football team has taken a bit of a hit for the secondary. Earlier in the week, fans learned of safety John Slaughter announcing his intentions to play elsewhere. This came after Nico Iamaleava also entered the portal.

Now, though, there’s a third Vol to add to the list. That’d be veteran safety Christian Charles, who signed with the Vols back in 2021. A Gainesville, Ga. product, Charles spent four seasons with Tennessee, appearing in 30 games and recording seven starts.

He was never a standout by any means, but he was always ready to make a play whenever his number was called. He delivered an emotional message to Vols Nation as well:

Have we all forgotten about the power of the T on the helmet? Right now, from the outside, it feels like things are a bit of a mess for the Tennessee football team leading up to next season. A lot of us were caught off guard with Nico Iamaleava bailing on the program in search of more NIL money.

That’s over with, as Josh Heupel and the guys inside of the locker room have said it’s time to move forward. As things stand, Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre are the two scholarship signal-callers on campus.

However, with the spring transfer portal officially open, there’s expected to be some movement in the QB market. So, for guys considering transferring, the door is now open to make the move to Knoxville to play in front of 100,000 fans for an SEC powerhouse fresh off a trip to the College Football Playoff? Yeah, that sounds like a great situation to us.

During a recent show of his, On3’s J.D. Pickell brought up a fantastic point. Some fanbases have been furious with Heupel and the Vols, assuming some tampering is going on with other quarterbacks. However, what if those quarterbacks and their agents are the ones reaching out to UT?

This wouldn’t be a surprise at all. Tennessee won 10 games last year and Heupel no question has this program on the rise. Gone are the days of Butch Jones having people ready to pull their hair out – Jeremy Pruitt is out of town as well.

Heupel is an offensive genius and he’s going to be ready to take a new QB under his wing for the 2025 campaign. There’s still a chance we could see Merklinger start Week 1 against Syracuse, but the buzz around college football circles is that a big-name playmaker will be Tennessee-bound soon enough. This is something a lot of people are hoping for too.

The spring portal doesn’t close until April 25, which means Heupel and his staff have a little bit of time to make a statement with an impressive addition. Some names have been floated around, including Avery Johnson, Haynes King, Sawyer Robertson and others. As of this writing, none of those guys have entered the portal. Might that change to play for a historic SEC program? It’d make a lot of sense if it does.

Now what for the Tennessee Vols? People are still trying to come to terms with the fact that star quarterback Nico Iamaleava has left the program and he’ll be suiting up for a new team next season. This all happened so fast and in head-turning fashion.

There’s no time to waste for Josh Heupel and the Vols, however, as this team is still built for a ton of success in 2025. For now, second-year freshman Jake Merklinger is the team’s starting quarterback. However, with the spring transfer portal opening up in a few days, might Tennessee bring in a new arm to compete for the starting job?

Now what for the Tennessee Vols? People are still trying to come to terms with the fact that star quarterback Nico Iamaleava has left the program and he’ll be suiting up for a new team next season. This all happened so fast and in head-turning fashion.

There’s no time to waste for Josh Heupel and the Vols, however, as this team is still built for a ton of success in 2025. For now, second-year freshman Jake Merklinger is the team’s starting quarterback. However, with the spring transfer portal opening up in a few days, might Tennessee bring in a new arm to compete for the starting job?

That’s going to be the case. With Iamaleava gone, there are currently only two scholarship QBs on the roster: Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre, who just graduated high school early and participated in his first spring camp. Heupel didn’t hesitate in saying the Vols will be shopping once the portal opens up on April 16.

The question now becomes who will the Vols and Heupel go after? As things stand, there aren’t any big-name players who are expected to be available next week – other than Iamaleava of course. However, there’s buzz that there may be a surprise or two on the way at the position.