Tennessee Football OL Starter Enters the NCAA Transfer Portal

Lance Heard announces his plans to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal following the Tennessee loss.

Tennessee offensive lineman Lance Heard (53) during Tennessee football preseason practice, in Knoxville, Tennessee, July 31, 2025. | Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Tennessee Volunteers have already started to see some of their players enter the transfer portal before the portal officially opens, which is set to begin on the 2nd of the month. On other words, the NCAA Transfer Portal is set to begin on Friday, and it will carryover for two weeks until the portal officially closes, but decisions can be made anytime afterwards, as this will be something that carries on throughout the off-season with the Tennessee program, looking to make the most additions that they possibly can along with the biggest additions that they possibly can.

But first, they must keep the star players that they have intact. Some of the players that have already announced that they will be entering the transfer portal seems to be a bit of bad news for the staff in the program however they haven't had much of a big loss when it comes to a starter standpoint for the 2026 season until news broke on Thursday that they would be landing one of their best offensive lineman from the 2025 season.

Lance Heard Enters the NCAA Transfer Portal

Tennessee offensive lineman Lance Heard (53) during Tennessee football preseason practice, in Knoxville, Tennessee, July 31, 2025. | Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The news broke that the Vols will be losing their starting left tackle, who was the protector of Joey Aguilar's blindside this season. The Vols lost Lance Heard to the transfer portal as he announced on Thursday that this was the decision that was best for him, following multiple different reports that he would likely be entering the portal due to some changes that the Tennessee staff was looking to make in the 2026 Season involving one of their other starters from the 2025 season. That starter is true freshman David Sanders, who was noted to be the future blindside protector for the QB who will play for the Vols next.

Sanders is the guy that many believed was the top commit for the Vols in the prior year of recruiting, and he proved that to be true alongside a guy like Ty Redmond, who also had a great season as a true freshman, but instead of offense, he was on the defensive side of the ball. This is the Vols' biggest loss to the portal so far, as he overtakes the announcement that was made indicating that Peyton Lewis would be entering the transfer portal, and he opted to make his announcement before the final game of the season for the Tennessee program.

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