Vols hoops guard enters transfer portal
GoVols247: A Tennessee Volunteers athletics podcast
247Sports, Tennessee, Tennessee Volunteers, Tennessee Football, Tennessee athletics, Football, Colle
4.8 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 23 March 2020
⏱️ 17 minutes
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Summary
GoVols247’s Wes Rucker (from Fort Rucker Studio) and Grant Ramey (from GoVols247’s Blount County Satellite Office in Maryville) convened via the magic of Al Gore’s Internets to discuss Jalen Johnson’s decision to enter the transfer portal and what that means for Rick Barnes and his Vols moving forward.
The 6-foot-7, left-handed Johnson was the highest ranked signee in Tennessee’s 2016 class, but injuries dampened the start of his career, and things never really took off for him in Knoxville. The injury to Lamonte Turner opened a door for Johnson to play a large role this season, but he averaged just 3.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 15.7 minutes per game. Tennessee will have another pair of five-star guards (Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson) in the fold next season, and Oregon transfer Victor Bailey Jr. will be eligible after sitting out last season, so it’s tough to see Johnson getting as much playing time for the Vols as a fifth-year senior.
When seen through that lens, Johnson’s transfer makes sense for both sides involved.
Johnson’s teammates have sworn for several seasons that he’s been one the program’s most talented players, and he’s always been a hard worker and great teammate, never making a fuss behind the scenes despite not getting as much playing time as he wanted. Those traits have endeared him to everyone in the program, and there’s genuine belief from those in the program that Johnson could be a really good player somewhere.
The flip side of Johnson’s transfer is obvious: Tennessee suddenly has an open scholarship for the 2020-21 season, and the Vols now have a chance to go find a player — preferably a big man — who can improve what already looks like one of the nation’s most talented rosters. There will be serious interest in that spot. But what kind of big man should Tennessee be targeting. There’s a brief discussion on that toward the end of this episode.
As with all breaking news pods, this was a one-segment episode, but there was a lot to discuss in that short time.
The next GoVols247 Podcast episode will be released Tuesday, unless major breaking news occurs before that point.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi. What's up y'all? |
| 0:15.0 | What's up y'all? |
| 0:16.0 | West Rucker coming to you from the Fort Rucker studio here on Monday afternoon. |
| 0:21.0 | As you can tell by the truncated version of this intro, this is a breaking news podcast, |
| 0:25.2 | breaking news addition of the Go Vals 24-7 podcast, I should say. Not just me on the phone today for this |
| 0:31.4 | podcast from the Blount County Satellite Office of Go Voss 24-7. |
| 0:35.6 | We have Grant Ramey with us and Grant we're bringing you a Breaking News podcast today. |
| 0:39.2 | Why are we doing that? |
| 0:40.2 | Because Tennessee basketball is back in the transfer portal with Jaylin Johnson, the Redshirt Junior, |
| 0:46.4 | wing 66, he's already graduated so he'll be a grad transfer. |
| 0:49.8 | It wasn't a real surprise if you look at the numbers, look at his stats over the years, how limited |
| 0:55.8 | kind of his opportunities have been on the floor. |
| 0:58.5 | And you also look at what's coming in next season with the amount of talent, skill the back court you would assume his minutes |
| 1:06.2 | again would be limited next season. |
| 1:08.0 | So not a real surprise. |
| 1:10.4 | Go find a new home at a place where you can get a ton of minutes and by all means he's been a good |
| 1:16.6 | teammate and a good player for Tennessee over the years it just hasn't worked out, hasn't clicked |
| 1:20.1 | on the floor. |
| 1:21.6 | So he's in the transfer portal, a move that makes a lot of sense. |
| 1:24.8 | Yeah, and when you look at his numbers this season, |
| 1:27.8 | you know, the incident with Lamante Turner probably benefited |
| 1:31.1 | Jayland Johnson about as much as anyone minutes wise. |
... |
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