Tennessee redshirt freshman wide receiver ‘officially in transfer portal’

Tennessee redshirt freshman wide receiver announces he is officially in the NCAA transfer portal.

The winter NCAA transfer portal is open Dec. 9-28 for the 2024-25 school year.

Tennessee redshirt freshman wide receiver Nathan Leacock announced he entered the NCAA transfer portal.

“I am now officially in the transfer portal,” he announced.

The 6-foot-3, 217-pound wide receiver appeared in five contests for the Vols during the 2024 regular-season (Chattanooga, North Carolina State, Kent State, Arkansas, Florida). He totaled one reception for 13 yards.

From 2023-24, Leacock appeared in six games at Tennessee. His only reception was in 2024.

He is the fourth Tennessee wide receiver to enter the NCAA transfer portal ahead of the College Football Playoff, joining Nate Spillman and Kaleb Webb, Chas Nimrod.

READ: Ohio State president Ted Carter gives expectation for amount of Tennessee fans traveling to Columbus for CFP game

Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire

Third Tennessee wide receiver to enter transfer portal following regular-season

A third Tennessee wide receiver to enter NCAA transfer portal following the 2024 regular-season.

A third Tennessee wide receiver will enter the NCAA transfer portal following the regular-season.

Redshirt freshman Nathan Leacock intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal. He will have three years of eligibility remaining.

“Tennessee wide receiver Nathan Leacock plans to enter the transfer portal, he tells On3 Sports,” Hayes Fawcett announced.

The 6-foot-3, 217-pound wide receiver appeared in five games for the Vols in 2024. He totaled one reception for 15 yards. He played in six games at Tennessee from 2023-24. Leacock did not record statistics in the only game he played in against UConn during the 2023 season.

Tennessee wide receivers Kaleb Webb and Chas Nimrod also entered the NCAA transfer portal following the regular-season.

READ: Final 2024 SEC football regular-season power rankings

Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire

Joey Halzle discusses Nathan Leacock during spring practices

Tennessee offensive coordinator Joey Halzle discusses wide receiver Nathan Leacock during spring practices.

Tennessee practiced for the third time Thursday during practices at Haslam Field.

Following practice, Tennessee offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle met with media. Halzle discussed freshman early enrollee wide receiver Nathan Leacock.

“He’s a good-sized kid that can really run,” Halzle said of Leacock. “When he gets out and goes and he’s playing decisive and he’s playing fast, he has legitimate track speed. He’s a big fast guy running down the middle of the field, which is always fun to see.”

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Leacock is from Millbrook High School in Raleigh, North Carolina.

He signed with the Vols during the early signing period on Dec. 21, 2022.

PHOTOS: Tennessee’s Wide Receiver U

Early signing period: Nathan Leacock signs with Tennessee

Early signing period: Nathan Leacock signs with Tennessee

The 2022 early signing period is taking place Dec. 21-23 for the 2023 recruiting signing class.

The 2022 early signing period is Josh Heupel’s second as Tennessee’s head coach. He was hired as the Vols’ head coach in Jan. 2021.

Heupel guided the Vols to a 10-2 regular season in 2022.

No. 6 Tennessee (10-2, 6-2 SEC) will play No. 7 Clemson (11-2, 8-0 ACC) in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Dec. 30.

Kickoff between the Vols and Tigers is slated for 8 p.m. EST (ESPN) at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Nathan Leacock signed with the Vols on Wednesday during the early signing period.

The 6-foot-3, 195-pound wide receiver is from Millbrook High School in Raleigh, North Carolina.

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Nathan Leacock commits to Tennessee

Nathan Leacock commits to Tennessee.

2023 wide receiver prospect Nathan Leacock announced his college commitment Friday.

Leacock committed to Tennessee. The Vols joined Florida, Michigan, Mississippi State, North Carolina, North Carolina State and West Virginia as his top-seven schools.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Leacock is from Millbrook High School in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Tennessee has 19 commitments for its 2023 football recruiting class: Quarterback Nico Iamaleava Jr, tight end Ethan Davis, offensive lineman Ayden Bussell, defensive lineman Trevor Duncan, safety Jack Luttrell, edge rusher Nathan Robinson, wide receiver Nate Spillman, edge rusher Caleb Herring, safety Sylvester Smith, linebacker Will Stallings Jr., safety John Slaughter, linebacker Jeremiah Telander, defensive lineman Tyree Weathersby, cornerback Cristian Conyer, wide receiver Cameron Seldon, offensive lineman Shamurad Umarov, edge rusher Chandavian Bradley, linebacker Jalen Smith and Leacock.

Tennessee’s 2023 football commitment tracker

Talented Tar Heel State signal caller talks ‘very cool’ Swinney Camp experience

An up-and-coming Tar Heel State signal-caller to keep an eye on this season was on campus at Clemson last month. Millbrook (Raleigh, N.C.) 2024 quarterback Mason Fortune participated in the second day of the Dabo Swinney Camp on June 2. “I kind of …

An up-and-coming Tar Heel State signal-caller to keep an eye on this season was on campus at Clemson last month.

Millbrook (Raleigh, N.C.) 2024 quarterback Mason Fortune participated in the second day of the Dabo Swinney Camp on June 2.

“I kind of went around their campus a little bit,” Fortune told The Clemson Insider in a phone interview Monday. “It was actually very nice and I really liked it. The coaches were very friendly and I liked the players too and how they interacted with everyone. That was also very cool.”

When asked about the feedback he received from Clemson’s coaching staff, Fortune said he was told by Brandon Streeter to keep his below above his shoulder

“He was a great person,” Fortune said of Clemson’s offensive cooridnator/quarterbacks coach. “He was very friendly. He told me just to keep my elbow up like I just mentioned and he also said that I had a great season last year and just to keep it up this year, so I can get my name out there.”

During his sophomore campaign, Fortune passed for 3,100 yards, to go along with 40 touchdowns. Fortune said most of that had to do with 2022 four-star wide receiver Wesley Grimes and 2023 three-star WR Nathan Leacock. Grimes has since committed and enrolled at Wake Forest, while Leacock could find himself at a school like N.C. State or the University of Tennessee.

Both of the wideouts mentioned above previously received interest from Clemson as well, but possibly not extensively as Fortune.

And while Clemson has now handed out two offers to quarterbacks in Fortune’s class thus far, the Tigers will keep an eye on Fortune going forward, as he looks to put together another season that stacks up with what he was able to accomplish the year prior.

When the Tigers formally turned the page to offering prospects in the 2024 class on June 1 and started doling out offers to rising junior recruits, Willis (Texas) five-star DJ Lagway and Providence Day School (Charlotte, N.C.) five-star Jadyn Davis were some of the first to report offer(s) from the Tigers.

That doesn’t necessarily preclude them from offering Fortune in the future.

In addition to Clemson, Fortune camped at Notre Dame, Louisville, N.C. State, Duke and North Carolina this summer. He’ll also make his way to schools like Davidson and Elon in the coming days.

With that said, what stood out to Fortune about his Swinney Camp experience?

“I like how they didn’t have us run the 40s and all that and I like how they actually did a longer camp than most camps usually do,” Fortune explained. And, they actually went through stuff and talked about it.”

He feels like he was able to take away enough from his camp experience, he’ll be able to implement some of what he learned from Streeter into his game this upcoming season.

First and foremost, Fortune is a winner.

Getting a better feel for him and his game, he was more of a pocket passer last season, but during the offseason, he’s focused on improving his speed and he’s gotten a little bit faster. Fortune can make any throw that you need him to make. He’s not going to escape a clean pocket, but he now has the ability to scramble and pick up some yards if need be.

Sept. 1 will be big for a prospect like Fortune, who mentioned that he’s spoken to Clemson wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator, Tyler Grisham, on multiple occasions now.

— Photo for this article courtesy of Mason Fortune.

Dear Old Clemson’s first event is July 24. Now there is a new way to support Clemson student-athletes. Come out and meet the freshmen football players at this meet and greet autograph session. If you sign up for certain club levels you get free access to all Dear Old Clemson events. Purchase your tickets today at Dear Old Clemson.

This out-of-state WR dropped top-7 schools on Twitter, includes Florida

Another prospect, another cut the Gators make. This time for a Tar Heel State target.

Yet another 2023 prep prospect dropped his list of top schools on Monday and once again Florida football made the cut for a highly-sought recruit. This time, three-star wide receiver [autotag]Nathan Leacock[/autotag] out of Raliegh (North Carolina) Millbrook included the Orange and Blue in his top-seven preferred destinations as a busy month of June comes to a close.

The 6-foot-3-inch, 200-pound pass-catcher from the Tar Heel State also included the Tennessee Volunteers, West Virginia Mountaineers, Michigan Wolverines, Mississippi State Bulldogs, North Carolina Tar Heels and N.C. State Wolfpack in his list of top seven schools posted on his personal Twitter account — a rather wide spread of teams to choose from.

Leacock is ranked No. 571 overall and No. 74 nationally at his position according to 247Sports composite, while the On3 consensus has him at Nos. 587 and 87, respectively. The Wolfpack currently hold the lone crystal ball prediction from 247Sports while the Volunteers dominate the field in On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine with an 87% chance of signing him.

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Tar Heels land in top-7 for in-state 2023 wide receiver

The UNC football program lands in the top-7 for 2023 in-state wide receiver Nathan Leacock.

The UNC football program and Mack Brown continue its pursuit of the top talent in the state of North Carolina and took the right step with another target on Monday.

2023 three-star wide receiver [autotag]Nathan Leacock[/autotag] announced a top-7 that included the Tar Heels.

The other programs that made the cut are NC State, Mississippi State, Michigan, West Virginia, Florida and Tennessee.

Leacock is ranked as the No. 18 prospect in North Carolina in the 247Sports rankings. 

Leacock took an official visit to North Carolina last weekend, June 17. He has also visited Michigan and Tennessee officially.

The Tar Heels currently have seven commitments in the 2023 recruiting class and are coming off of two very big recruiting weekends.

Follow us @TarHeelsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.

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