Tennessee Vols football recruiting/portal work is a net gain, but there’s more to this

Tennessee entered the 2023 season ranked No. 16 in the 247Sports Team Talent Composite, which is as effective as anything available to assess the quality of the rosters of the teams competing in this sport of rosters in constant turmoil.

It will be higher entering 2024, right around where a team that aspires to compete in a 12-team College Football Playoff should be — that’s a guess based on where things are today, but a strong one, for a team that should have more meaningful addition than subtraction in the transfer portal windows to come. As Josh Heupel pointed out to reporters Wednesday in a news conference for what passes in these times as “national signing day,” the Vols made several key adds after last season’s Orange Bowl win over Clemson.