How Rick Barnes helped land Tennessee Football's latest transfer addition
It truly is a family environment in Knoxville when it comes to Tennessee Vols athletics. And a story from Tennessee Football's most recent transfer addition just further confirms that family environment. On Thursday, the Vols landed BYU transfer cornerback Gabe Jeudy-Lally. Jeudy-Lally, who played his first three seasons at Vanderbilt, will fill an important need for […]
It truly is a family environment in Knoxville when it comes to Tennessee Vols athletics.
And a story from Tennessee Football's most recent transfer addition just further confirms that family environment.
On Thursday, the Vols landed BYU transfer cornerback Gabe Jeudy-Lally.
Jeudy-Lally, who played his first three seasons at Vanderbilt, will fill an important need for a Vols team that had plenty of issues defending the passing game in 2022.
When the Austin, TX native visited Tennessee earlier this month, he spent some time hanging out with Vols basketball coach Rick Barnes.
Barnes spent 18 seasons living in Austin when he was the head coach at Texas.
So naturally, Jeudy-Lally and Barnes bonded over that Austin connection during his visit.
At one point, Jeudy-Lally played Barnes in a golf simulator. Barnes jokingly told Jeudy-Lally that if he beat the young cornerback, he had to transfer to Tennessee.
Jeudy-Lally, who ended up losing to Barnes, told the story during an appearance on 99.1 WNML's "Josh and Swain".
There was obviously a lot more that went into Jeudy-Lally's decision than Barnes beating him in a golf simulator. But fans shouldn't discount Barnes' impact when it comes to recruiting/transfers. It's not necessarily about Barnes, but it's the family atmosphere that Tennessee has.
Every program tries to sell a family atmosphere, but not every program actually has a true family atmosphere to offer.
Tennessee is one of the few programs that can deliver what it's selling. And this anecdote about Barnes and Jeudy-Lally is a great example of that.
Featured image via Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
