Vols' Gabe Jeudy-Lally makes most of playing time vs. Florida

After coming off the bench in the first two games of the season, the Tennessee defensive back earned his first start in place of Doneiko Slaughter, who missed the Florida game with an injury.

Jeudy-Lally was one of a number of experienced transfers that the Vols added to the defense last spring. He played his first three seasons at Vanderbilt and at BYU last season where he made 10 starts but his most significant playing time in Tennessee's secondary came in a 29-16 loss to Florida.

He made the most of it.

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"I think I played well," Jeudy-Lally said. "I missed a tackle but at the end of the day, I think I just went out there and wanted perform with my teammates. It was good to go out there and start at the beginning of the game and get a hit in. It's a good wave of confidence after you can get a shock in the beginning of the game. I think overall there is just a lot to improve on in my game and just the team in general.

"It was good just to be able to go out there and play in front of an environment like that and shake off some of the cobwebs from coming off the bench the last couple of weeks."

Jeudy-Lally was a bright spot on a defense whose performance was marred by missed tackles and misplacement.

After playing a combined 65 defensive snaps vs. Virginia and Austin Peay, Jeudy-Lally was on the field for 60 snaps vs. the Gators and he was the highest graded defensive back at 70.6, per Pro Football Focus and finished with four tackles and a tackle for loss.

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"We understand that fundamentals are the way we're going to win the game," Jeudy-Lally said. "We know didn't play our best when it came to eye discipline, tackles, wrapping up and finishing through the ground. We understand that this week, every rep that we get is a tackling rep. Every rep we get is a game rep for us to be able to come out on Saturday and perform the way we want to perform. I think we are responding well.

"(Tuesday's) practice was good and it showed that guys took what we saw in film to heart and in getting ready for this week."

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The absence of Slaughter also allowed freshman Rickey Gibson III to see the field for 11 snaps, his most this season.

Defensive coordinator Tim Banks reaffirmed his commitment earlier this week to rotating players in the secondary and give valuable experience to newcomers. Gibson is potentially in position to see the field more, though head coach Josh Heupel confirmed Thursday that Slaughter will be available vs. UTSA on Saturday.

"We definitely like Rickey Gibson," Banks said. "We feel like he's one of the freshmen that continues to grow and continues to get better week in and week out. My stance hasn't changed. We want to play as many guys as we possibly can, develop some depth and be able to play at a high standard coming down the back stretch of the season.

"Every week is a new week, but as he continues to get better, we'll continue to try and get him more repetitions."

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