ESPN names the Tennessee Vols' top newcomer for the 2023 season
ESPN recently named the top newcomer for each top 25 team and they went with a player on the defensive side of the ball for the Tennessee Vols. Chris Low, a national college football reporter for ESPN who is intimately familiar with Tennessee athletics, went with BYU defensive back transfer Gabe Jeudy-Lally as the Vols' […]
ESPN recently named the top newcomer for each top 25 team and they went with a player on the defensive side of the ball for the Tennessee Vols.
Chris Low, a national college football reporter for ESPN who is intimately familiar with Tennessee athletics, went with BYU defensive back transfer Gabe Jeudy-Lally as the Vols' top newcomer in 2023.
The Vols did a lot of things well in 2022 on the way to 11 wins and their best season in more than two decades. What they didn't do well was defend the pass. Tennessee was 127th out of 131 FBS teams in pass defense (289.5 yards per game) and tied for 100th nationally with 22 passes allowed of 30 yards or longer. The Vols needed help in the secondary and got it with the addition of BYU cornerback Gabe Jeudy-Lally. He has good size (6-foot-2, 185 pounds) and also has SEC experience. He was at Vanderbilt for three seasons before transferring to BYU and now Tennessee. The Vols beat out Baylor and UCLA to get Jeudy-Lally and will be looking for him to come in and contribute right away in a secondary with several new faces. Tennessee can use all the help it can get when it comes to covering the pass.
There's no doubt that Tennessee's secondary needed some help after struggling in a couple of games in 2022 (they also had some nice performances — notably against LSU, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Clemson).
However, I think the Vols need to hope that Miami offensive lineman transfer John Campbell will be the program's top newcomer in 2023.
Replacing right tackle Darnell Wright won't be easy. Wright might have been one of the most underrated players in the nation last season after not giving up a sack in any of the Vols' 13 games (and he played against Alabama's Will Anderson and LSU's BJ Ojulari).
Some drop-off is expected. But for Tennessee's offense to be as successful as it was last season, they'll need strong offensive line play once again. Campbell has big shoes to fill and the success of the right side of the offensive line will be dependent on his ability to fill those shoes.
Jeudy-Lally will be important as well — Tennessee's pass defense certainly needs to be better — but if the offensive line can't protect quarterback Joe Milton, what happens on the defensive side of the ball won't matter much.
Featured image via Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel via Imagn Content Services
