Tennessee’s eligibility fiasco with USC transfer receiver Bru McCoy is almost to be expected at this point. This whole saga is far from anything new for Tennessee fans.

In the past few years, the Vols have seemed almost cursed with drama from the transfer portal. McCoy’s holdup is confusing. Is it USC’s fault or the NCAA’s? USC released a statement saying it has never objected to McCoy being eligible. Regardless, it’s just the latest installment.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane and relive some other times Tennessee athletics has been the center of transfer eligibility drama.

Cade Mays, 2020

The NCAA tried its best to keep Knoxville native Cade Mays from being granted immediately eligible to play at Tennessee following his Georgia departure.

Mays’ story is a wild one, whittling down to a legal battle over a severed finger, Sam Pittman’s flight to Arkansas and Mays’ younger brother, who is currently a junior for the Vols. Mays played 2 seasons at Georgia before announcing he would transfer, revealing that his father had lost part of his pinky finger in a folding chair on an official visit to Athens, a move that had soured relations with the program. The impending legal battle alone is cause for transfer, a decision the NCAA ultimately agreed with after declining Mays’ initial appeal.

To boot, Mays’ younger brother Cooper was entering the Tennessee program as a freshman and Mays’ offensive line coach who had heavily recruited him, Pittman, was jetting west to become Arkansas’ head coach.

It was a prolonged process, and when the NCAA did eventually declared Mays eligible the fight still was not over. Mays missed the first game of the 2020 season against South Carolina while the SEC mulled Mays’ waiver some more.

Ole Miss head coach and former Vols head coach Lane Kiffin joined in on the discourse, too.

Another interesting point in Mays’ saga was the NCAA blanket waiver for fall athletes, granting a free year of eligibility for the COVID pandemic.

Mays eventually was cleared by the SEC on Sept. 30, just before Tennessee’s Week 2 matchup against Missouri. Mays went on to have a successful college career and was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the 6th round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

Aubrey Solomon, 2018

Before Mays, there was Aubrey Solomon, a Michigan standout who committed to transfer to Tennessee in December of 2018.

The former 5-star defensive tackle must have done something to get on the NCAA’s bad side. Solomon waited 8 months and 6 days, otherwise known as 249 days, otherwise known as almost an entire year, before learning he would be eligible to play for the Vols against Georgia State, which was just 4 days away. Oh well, sounds like an easy win for Tennessee anyway.

Did Jim Harbaugh and Michigan slow the process? Who knows. Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell claimed Harbaugh had slowed the eligibility processes in the past. As far as Solomon was concerned, he had no comment on Harbaugh following his decision to transfer:

 

Perhaps what’s worse for Tennessee fans is how Solomon just did not seem to pan out. He had 2 remaining seasons of eligibility in 2019, which turned into 3 with the COVID exemption year, but ended up fizzling out as the Jeremy Pruitt era started and ended. By 2021, his final year of eligibility and Josh Heupel’s first year as head coach, the former 5-star was relegated to almost exclusively 2nd- and 3rd-team responsibilities.

Did this have anything to do with the NCAA taking its time on clearing his waiver? Likely not, but it’s tough to tell. Despite not being cleared, Solomon practiced with the Vols throughout the 2019 offseason. Unlike Mays, Solomon’s time in Tennessee just didn’t work out.

Uros Plavsic, 2019

The Tennessee football program is not the only department on campus that has seen its share of portal drama. Uros Plavsic’s fight for immediate eligibility grazed national headlines in 2019.

Plavsic’s story is very similar to Solomon’s in terms of a painfully long wait. He moved from Serbia to Tennessee before committing to Cleveland State in 2017, eventually landing at Arizona State for his freshman year in 2018 after a head coaching change.

Plavsic committed to transfer to Tennessee on May 17, 2019. More than 5 months later, the NCAA denied his request. A #FreeUros movement made the rounds at Tennessee, finding its way to home basketball games as chants, Neyland Stadium in the form of signs and even out of the mouths of Tennessee players on the court.

Star Tennessee guard Lamonte’ Turner was especially vocal.

The Vols appealed and the notion was once again denied. Athletics Director and former Tennessee football head coach Phillip Fulmer released a statement following the NCAA’s second decision.

“Uros Plavsic was denied clearance to compete with our men’s basketball program this season, and our appeal of that decision also was denied,” Fulmer said. “We are extremely disappointed – quite frankly, stunned – in this outcome, and feel strongly that very compelling facts support clearance for immediate eligibility. We are at a loss as to how this decision aligns with a mission of prioritizing the well-being of student-athletes, and we are struggling to provide an explanation to a deserving young man who stands to lose a year of eligibility. We will stand by Uros and support him in every way possible as we exhaust all options in advocating for his competitive opportunity.”

On Nov. 27, Plavsic was allowed by the NCAA to travel with the team while awaiting a second appeal. Plavsic was cleared to play for the Vols almost 9 months after his original decision to transfer on Jan. 14, 2020.

So believe me, if the past few years have told us anything about Tennessee athletics, this latest Bru McCoy chapter is far from over.