12/23/2023 football Edit

Tennessee secondary shaping up as Citrus Bowl approaches

Tennessee defensive back Gabe Jeudy-Lally (1) run towards the end zone after making an interception during the NCAA college football game against Texas A&M on Saturday, October 14, 2023 in Knoxville, Tenn. (Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Noah Taylor • VolReport

Managing Editor

Noah is a graduate of the UT College of Journalism & Electronic Media and has covered Tennessee football since 2019. He joined Rivals in 2022.

Tennessee will head to Orlando in three days to begin the final stretch of preparation for its Citrus Bowl clash with Iowa.

Opt outs and transfer portal exits over the last month have provided a clearer picture of what the Vols’ roster will look like when they take the field at Camping World Stadium in Orlando on Jan. 1, 2024 (1 p.m. ET, ABC).

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Weeks after the transfer portal window open, the exodus has slowed down but not before shaking up Tennessee's secondary. Three starters have left, including cornerback Doneiko Slaughter, STAR Tamarion McDonald and safety Wesley Walker.

The only two returning starters that will play in the bowl game are Gabe Jeudy-Lally and Jaylen McCollough, but it provides an opportunity for a plethora of younger players on the defense, some of which were already playing in bigger-than-expected roles at times because of injuries during the regular season.

"I feel like we're pretty set on a majority of those guys that will be traveling with us to Orlando," Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said. "You talked about the young DBs. This is the time of year—20 years ago, everybody played in the bowl game. There were really no opt outs at that time. With the NFL, more guys have elected to do that. You look over the recent history of bowl games, it provides a great opportunity to the young guys inside of your roster that may have played sporadically throughout the course of the season on offense and defense that get an opportunity to go out and play.

"They get game-week preparation, they get a couple of extra weeks because of the bowl preparation. It provides opportunity and I do feel good about the guys that will be out there in the secondary."

The beneficiaries of the departures of seven total players in the secondary will be freshman Rickey Gibson III and sophomores Jourdan Thomas and Andre Turrentine and redshirt-junior Will Brooks.

Gibson played 136 defensive snaps in all 12 games between special teams and defensive back. He was on the field for 39 snaps and accounted for three tackles in the Vols' regular season finale against Vanderbilt last month.

In his second season, Thomas played in 11 games and made one start at STAR vs. Georgia. That's where he could fill the void in McDonald's absence against Iowa.

Brooks is a walk-on that was plugged in in the last two games of the season because of injuries, totaling 18 tackles and one pass defended.

A number of other freshmen are in line to see more significant playing time in Jordan Matthews, Christian Conyer and John Slaughter. Matthews and Conyer both played sparingly at corner.

The bowl game should offer up at least a glimpse of what Tennessee's secondary could potentially look like next season, though there will be more additions who have recently arrived on campus but won't be available in Orlando.

So far, the Vols have added Oregon State transfer Jermod McCoy and Middle Tennessee State safety Jakboe Thomas from the transfer portal and signed four defensive backs in its 2024 recruiting class.

"I like the physical traits of the guys that are in the building right now," Heupel said. "We have some young guys that got to grow and mature as football players, but I love the athletic traits. That's true of the young guys that were with us this past season (and) true of the signees that are coming in.

"We felt like we wanted to add some experience in those positions. We've attacked that through the portal with a couple of guys as well."

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