KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee’s secondary was a strength during its 2024 College Football Playoff season, and defensive backs coach Willie Martinez expects that to continue this fall.

Martinez spoke with members of the media following the Volunteers’ sixth spring practice on Thursday at Haslam Field. Tennessee is without the services cornerback Jermod McCoy this spring after the All-American suffered a knee injury while training in January prior to the semester beginning.

“We all know that whatever time the injuries happen, that you’re going to have to be able to adapt and adjust,” Martinez said. “Everybody says it all the time, next man up. We know that Jermod is going to be back. We know he’s a great player and leader. He’s doing an unbelievable job.

“With the more depth we have, especially with the way this is set up right now with college football, you’re going to need everybody. It gives everybody else an opportunity to give us a chance where we can build and become a better defense.” 

Rickey Gibson III is coming off a fantastic sophomore season where he teamed with McCoy to form one of the top duos in the nation. Gibson is a member of the Vols’ 2025 leadership council.

“He has really been elite this spring and this offseason,” Martinez said. “His attention to detail both on and off the field have been tremendous, and he’s a really good teammate. He’s picking the guy up that’s down, which is one of those young players. He’s praising them when they do it right. His growth as a leader has been tremendous ever since the season has finished, both on and off the field.” 

Transfer Jalen McMurray enters his second year with the program and was the Vols’ third cornerback in the rotation last season. McMurray is also seeing action at STAR this spring behind returning starter Boo Carter.

Tennessee led the SEC in allowing the fewest explosive passing plays last season. The Vols issued only nine pass plays of 30-plus yards and only two plays of 40-plus yards, which also tied with Indiana, Washington and Wisconsin for the national lead.

The Vols are hosting their Coaches Clinic on Friday and Saturday with keynote speaker Jon Gruden set to take the stage. Tennessee returns to the practice field for a full pads practice on Saturday morning.

On Rickey Gibson III taking charge in spring practice with the absence of Jermod McCoy… 
“He finished strong last year. He was definitely playing his best football at the end of the year. Some of the things we talked about after the season, what’s going to take the next step forward moving forward is his leadership. He’s extremely smart. He’s talented with his athleticism, and he made a bunch of plays for us in moments that really mattered. We said, ‘Look, let’s get better at pushing the guys in the meeting room and being a leader. They’re going to respect you because you’re one of the best players.’ He’s done that. He’s really been elite this spring and this offseason. His attention to detail both on and off the field have been tremendous, and he’s a really good teammate. He’s picking the guy up that’s down, which is one of those young players. He’s praising them when they do it right. His growth as a leader has been tremendous ever since the season has finished, both on and off the field.” 

On replacing Jermod McCoy’s production while he is sidelined…  
“We all know that whatever time the injuries happen, that you’re going to have to be able to adapt and adjust. Everybody says it all the time, next man up. We know that Jermod is going to be back. We know he’s a great player and leader. He’s doing an unbelievable job. The same thing I said about (Rickey Gibson III) is times-two with him. He’s engaged and is actually growing as a player even though he’s not physically going through it. He’s setting the example and leading it. I’m not frustrated. I wouldn’t look at it that way. Here is an opportunity for some of these new and young guys, or even some of the older guys, to get quality reps of getting better and making us better. We’re not going to be elite unless we have enough depth where we can play the three, four corners in a game and the four-to-five safeties in a game; at the STAR position, the two-to-three guys. With the more depth we have, especially with the way this is set up right now with college football, you’re going to need everybody. It gives everybody else an opportunity to give us a chance where we can build and become a better defense.” 

On his impressions of the new players in the secondary…
“All of those new guys, I think the entire group on our program, we’ve been excited as a staff. Let me talk about that first. We all talk about it all the time, from the second they all got here until now. It’s not just our group, it’s building the entire thing, which makes it even better. The new guys, a lot of those guys are very prideful. State champions, they’ve won, they’re used to it, and now you come into an elite program, and they’ve been getting quality reps just like they said. That’s the great thing about it, and they’re getting better. You can see it. The leadership in the group has really helped with that, and we challenged them again. It wasn’t perfect today, we made some mistakes, but I think we finished strong. We were talking about that just the other day as a staff and presenting it to the players, that it may not go right early. It went pretty good in the beginning of practice, and then in the middle we made some mistakes, but you know, next play. Snap and clear, come back strong, and the new guys are a part of it. It gives them the opportunity, we’re excited about them, every single one of them. We’ll put them in there, I don’t care if it’s the first group, second group, third group, we’ve been doing it since we’ve been here. It builds confidence. It also builds unity, and it develops your depth.”  

On what he has seen from Boo Carter balancing defensive and offensive reps… 
“We were talking about it as a group, he’s grown so much. He is watching a lot more film on his own. He comes in, he’s in the building longer. He’s in there early, he’s leaving late. You can see it, the guys see it, and it’s showing up on the field. He’s made a really couple great plays today where he wouldn’t have clicked it off. We’re giving him more on defense, more responsibility where he has to set our defense. He’s the guy on our defense like the quarterback on our offense, he has to get the alignment set. He’s out there making the checks, and he’s very confident. I think he’s putting a lot more work in off the field, and that’s really helping him.” 

On Boo Carter’s role in the defense… 
“We’re talking more about the back end, but he really does affect the front. Where he’s at, he has to communicate, and he wasn’t doing that on a consistent basis (last season). We get that he’s a new player, so we kind of didn’t give him so much of it. You had experienced guys like Will Brooks back there, where he can actually help him through the process, but he’s taken more leadership to it and put more time into it. He’s learning how to be that leader that he needs to be.”  

On players getting work at STAR behind Boo Carter… 
“Obviously besides Boo, we’ve got (Jalen McMurray) doing it, we’ve got Dylan Lewis doing it, we’ve got Tre Poteat doing it. We’re trying to be careful how much of the new guys we give it to. There are guys – as far as playing two positions right now – so a couple of them have not done that. The guys I just mentioned to you, those have been the main ones. We always have an (Andre Turrentine), we always have some of these other guys that have experience, but those right now are the guys.” 

On Jakobe Thomas’ development at safety in his second year…
“Confidence. When you play in the inside positions, whether it’s the safety or the STAR position, you have to make a lot of adjustments, a lot of communication. You know they’re going to go off of you. He’s being more productive on a consistent basis in practice, which is good to see. Builds confidence for him, and also for us on the defense.” 

On Tennessee’s cornerbacks… 
“That’s really good for us, I mean it really is. Those guys are really talented guys. You can see the young guys catching on, and it’s only going to help us move forward.” 

On Kaleb Beasley’s adjustments from cornerback to safety… 
“We think we’ve got guys who are talented. We want them to have an opportunity to start. That’s how it’s always been here. Beasley is a versatile player like a lot of these guys. He’s smart. He’s talented. He’s athletic. Let’s move Beasley around to give him the opportunity to win a job. And that’s how we are when we feel like that with all of the other guys. That’s how we did it. Because we’re not locked in that he’s just going to be playing at the safety position. He’s capable of playing STAR, and we’re going to move him there too, but we’re going to give him an opportunity to learn this at the safety position, and then we will move him there at the STAR position too. We want as many guys that can actually handle it, like him. He can actually go and play corner if we wanted to right now. He knows exactly what the position is like. We think that he will really be very productive inside too.”

On Jermod McCoy’s rehab… 
“He has been outstanding. The first day I met Jermod, I was kind of like ‘Man, is this guy is for real?’ I’m talking about the personality. We already knew about him as a player. He’s the same dude every day. He’s just growing as a leader. He’s out there every day. He’s actually coaching guys in the room. I told him, that’s how you are going to stay involved and become an elite corner, is that you don’t really have to physically do it – you can do it mentally. Not that he’s not taking care of business, because he is in his rehab. He’s been outstanding. I know it sounds the same, but it’s just the culture of the group. They are competing every single day in that meeting room and making good decisions off the field.”