‘I made a promise to my mom’ – Former Vols defender who transferred to an SEC rival is finishing his degree at Tennessee this spring
Former Tennessee Vols cornerback Rickey Gibson III will be playing for an SEC rival in 2026.
Cornerback Rickey Gibson III left the Tennessee Vols this offseason after spending the first three seasons of his college career in Knoxville.
Gibson, who suffered a season-ending injury in the first half of Tennessee’s season-opening win over Syracuse in 2025, joined the Texas A&M Aggies via the transfer portal in January.
The Vols were expecting Gibson to return in 2026, but Tennessee’s defensive staff changes led to the Alabama native entering the portal.
“I didn’t think Rickey Gibson was going to go in the portal,” said VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs last month. “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.”
Tennessee will see Gibson on November 14 when the Vols travel to College Station for a matchup against the Aggies.
Rickey Gibson is finishing up his degree at Tennessee this spring
Gibson is officially an Aggie, but his time as a Tennessee student isn’t over just yet.
The former Vol recently joined Take Five on the TexAgs YouTube channel and revealed that he’s finishing his degree at Tennessee this spring so he can graduate in May.
“I made a promise to my mom that I would graduate with my degree,” said Gibson. “So, I’ve been trying to do that. Actually, I’m still at Tennessee trying to get my degree in information science, so I’m trying to do both. I got Texas A&M classes and Tennessee classes, and I should be graduating in May.”
It’s easy to forget with NIL deals and transfer rumors constantly flying around that these players are still working toward degrees.
And it’s pretty cool that Gibson is making sure he finishes up his degree at Tennessee before embarking on his new journey at Texas A&M.
It also begs an interesting question: Is Gibson a VFL even though he transferred?
Opinions will be mixed, and I’m not about to suggest there’s a “right answer,” but he’s going to be a Tennessee graduate, so…what say you?
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