Tennessee will officially play against former Vols cornerback Rickey Gibson in 2026
The Tennessee Vols will see an old friend on the field next fall.
The Tennessee Vols will see an old friend on the field next fall. Vols transfer cornerback Rickey Gibson III committed to the Texas A&M Aggies on Thursday.
Auburn was also in the mix for Gibson. Tennessee and Texas A&M will play on Nov. 14 next season.
Tennessee didn’t want to lose Rickey Gibson to the transfer portal
Gibson, who missed the majority of the 2025 season after suffering an injury in Tennessee’s season-opening win over Syracuse, was expected to return to Tennessee in 2026.
“I didn’t think Rickey Gibson was going to go in the portal,” said VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs this week on WNML’s SportsTalk. “I thought that one was worked out. And I thought he was good to go to come back to Tennessee. I think when a couple of coaching changes happened in the back end — with Willie Martinez and Earnest Thomas III not coming back, I think that probably prompted that for him to move on. And obviously, he toyed with moving on a year ago on a couple of different occasions. So that one surprised me. I thought he would be back.”
CBS Sports’ Chris Hummer said last week that the Vols didn’t want to lose Gibson to the portal.
“Tennessee has lost a lot of guys that they didn’t necessarily want to,” said Hummer. “Some of them they wanted to lose, some were contract negotiations. Rickey Gibson isn’t someone they wanted to lose. Tennessee has been making some tough decisions.”
Tennessee landed a commitment from Auburn transfer cornerback Kayin Lee on Wednesday.
Lee will serve as Gibson’s replacement at Tennessee.
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