Tennessee and Iowa's transfers, opt-outs and injuries for the Citrus Bowl
The Citrus Bowl is set to take place in less than a week.
Now, Tennessee and Iowa are finalizing their rosters ahead of the showdown while dealing with opt-outs, transfers and injuries.
Here's where both teams stand at this point.
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TENNESSEE
Player | Position | Reason |
---|---|---|
Tyler Baron |
DL |
Transfer to Ole Miss |
Addison Nichols |
OL |
Transfer to Arkansas |
Jack Luttrell |
DB |
Transfer to Arizona |
Tamarion McDonald |
DB |
Transfer to Ole Miss |
Brandon Turnage |
DB |
Transfer |
Warren Burrell |
DB |
Transfer to Georgia Tech |
Doneiko Slaughter |
DB |
Transfer to Arkansas |
Mo Clipper Jr. |
OL |
Transfer |
Connor Meadows |
OL |
Transfer |
De'Shawn Rucker |
DB |
Transfer to USF |
Jaylen Wright |
RB |
Opt-out to NFL |
Jabari Small |
RB |
Opt-out |
Javontez Spraggins |
OL |
Injury |
Bru McCoy |
WR |
Injury |
Kamal Hadden |
DB |
Injury |
Keenan Pili |
LB |
Injury |
Arion Carter |
LB |
Injury |
Joe Milton III |
QB |
Opt-out to NFL |
Wesley Walker |
DB |
Transfer |
The Vols have a laundry list of transfers that won't be with the team with most coming in the secondary. However, this just gives Tennessee a chance to get young players experience against a weak Iowa offense.
Otherwise, the main contributors are Tyler Baron on the defensive line and the running back room. Jaylen Wright has announced his intentions to enter the NFL draft and Jabari Small won't play in the game either as he weighs his options. This should give Dylan Sampson and Cameron Seldon room to showcase their talents.
Injuries will also play a factor with Bru McCoy, Javontez Spraggins, Kamal Hadden, Keenan Pili and Arion Carter suffering season-ending blows and Dont'e Thornton questionable.
IOWA
Player | Position | Reason |
---|---|---|
Spencer Petras |
QB |
Transfer to Utah State |
Diante Vines |
WR |
Transfer |
Anterio Thompson |
DL |
Transfer |
Joe Labas |
QB |
Transfer |
Jackson Flier |
DL |
Transfer |
Brenden Deasfernandes |
DB |
Transfer |
Cade McNamara |
QB |
Injury |
Erick All |
TE |
Injury |
Luke Lachey |
TE |
Injury |
Cooper DeJean |
DB |
Injury |
Iowa's list of nonparticipants isn't overwhelming. Most players who are leaving were either already hurt or weren't projected to play.
However, notable players quarterback Cade McNamara and tight ends Erick All and Luke Lachey are still out. This leaves Deacon Hill as the starting signal caller. All is the team's leading receiver at 299 yards despite not having played since mid-October, as well.
On defense, Iowa is in a pretty good spot. An injury that will benefit the Vols is defensive back Cooper DeJean, but the majority of contributors are set to play.
Here's what GoIowaAwesome's Adam Jacobi had to say on The VolReport Show:
"Iowa is a little bit of a dinosaur of the college football world in a lot of ways. Playbook being one of them, but another type is that the team is pretty much intact at this point. The biggest source of losses for this game personnel wise isn't transfer portal, or opt-outs, or the NFL draft, it's injuries. It's injuries to guys like Cade McNamara. Erick All, Luke Lachey the two All-American caliber tight ends. They want to be out there. Cooper DeJean is out with a broken foot. Those guys want to be out there, they can't be out there. That is unusual among teams and even for Iowa its a little unusual. They had more people opting out of the Music City bowl last year than they do for the Citrus Bowl this year. They've done a great job somehow of keeping the wagons circled and keeping everybody intact. So, Iowa should be pretty close personnel wise to 100% of the guys that are physically capable of being out there. But, DeJean is a perfect example of how Iowa won't be at 100% and he's a guy that opens up a lot of doors for the Hawkeyes and their defense. So, Tennessee will have a personnel gap to exploit there."
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