Josh Heupel has used the transfer portal in the past, and he filled another immediate for Tennessee football on Monday. The Vols landed transfer Omarr Norman-Lott from the Arizona State Sun Devils.
This came roughly three hours after UT picked up Oregon Ducks transfer wide receiver Dont’e Thornton, making for two big gets to kick off the week. Norman-Lott posted his decision on Twitter.
Rodney Garner had been targeting Norman-Lott since he entered the portal on December 5th. Tennessee football was able to host him on a visit during the January 4-8 transfer portal visitation window.
When Norman-Lott flirted with transferring in May, Garner was also his first call. Once he officially entered in early December, Tennessee was the first school to extend Norman-Lott a scholarship offer.
East Tennessee impressed Norman-Lott during his visit.
“Like I said, it exceeded a lot of my expectations, just looking it up prior to coming here,” Norman-Lott told GoVols247 prior to his commitment. “It’s a really big city and town, honestly. Coach Garner was telling me, ‘This city can be whatever you want it to be,’ because, outside of all the students being gone, it’s still all ‘Go Vols’ fans.”
Coming out of Arizona State, the 6-foot-3, 290-pound defensive tackle could be a plug-and-play guy for the Vols. Byron Young and LaTrell Bumphus will both be gone next year, so Tennessee football needs some immediate help to shore up its defensive line.
Norman-Lott appeared in nine games in 2022, finishing with 14 tackles, with three tackles for loss and two sacks.
Originally from North Highlands, Calif., the lineman was a four-star prospect out of Grant Union high school. He ranked as the No. 355 prospect nationally in the class of 2020.
He is expected to enroll in spring classes and will have two years of eligibility remaining.
The pickup shores up a unit that was up and down in 2023. Tennessee football brings in Daevin Hobbs and Tyree Weathersby from high school to be defensive tackles.
