Former Tennessee LB Elijah Herring sets visit with Colorado, talks other interested schools

Former Tennessee linebacker Elijah Herring set a visit with Colorado, according to On3’s Steve Wiltfong. Herring officially appeared in the portal Thursday.

The official visit is set for Friday and the former Volunteer defender will be a sought after prospect. He spent two seasons at Tennessee.

“Just seeing Colorado, Denver I like that state, something feels like I can be there, some beautiful scenes,” Herring said of the Buffaloes. “Just getting to meet Coach Prime, that staff see what they have going on over there and take a peek of how that is over there.

“If it fits good with my heart and something I can feel positive about, it could be something I could jump into.”

Herring has other interested schools that could land visits as well. Originally, Miami was on the list, but Herring removed them from consideration.

“I had a couple schools hit me up,” Herring told Wiltfong. “Penn State, Pittsburgh, Miami trying to bring in another backer so not interested in that anymore, FSU, UCF and Maryland as of now.”

Herring was also a fan of Penn State’s pitch.

“Penn State said we’re trying to get something setup and stay in contact for the next couple days and get something setup,” Herring said.

Herring started 11 of 12 games this past season at middle linebacker to lead Tennessee with 80 tackles (four for loss) and 0.5 sacks. He helped the Vols to rank third in the SEC and 23rd in the country this past season in scoring defense.

“I’d like to thank Coach Huepel & the University of Tennessee for the opportunity to play in my home state,” Herring wrote on X. “I appreciate all the support from the entire staff, my teammates, & fans. I have decided to enter the transfer portal & pursue other college opportunities. Love The Vols!”

As a member of the Class of 2022, Herring was a three-star recruit out of Murfreesboro (Tenn.) Riverdale, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 26 overall prospect in the state, the No. 59 EDGE in the class and the No. 749 overall prospect in the class.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.