Tennessee football is in need of adding depth and talent to its secondary this portal cycle. However, after getting Troy corner Jaquez White on campus, the Vols couldn’t close the deal. Instead, he’s headed to Virginia Tech to play for James Franklin in his first year with the Hokies.
White is coming off his junior season and will have one year of eligibility remaining. He played his first two seasons at Washburn before transferring to Troy for the 2025 season.
With Troy, White had a fantastic season. He produced 67 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, one sack and three interceptions over the course of 14 games. He also returned one of his picks for a touchdown.
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Tennessee had a different defensive staff hosting White on his visit than this past season. After the firing of defensive coordinator Tim Banks, the Vols also moved on from secondary coach Willie Martinez.
Under new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, it is Michael Hunter Jr. as the cornerbacks position coach. The new safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator, Anthony Poindexter, will also likely be involved in any recruitments for defensive backs.
At cornerback, the Vols are in need of finding a new starter. UT went into this past season with Jermod McCoy and Rickey Gibson III as the projected starters. However, an off-season injury held McCoy out for the year, and Gibson was hurt in the opening game and never returned. McCoy is now off to the NFL draft, while Gibson is in the transfer portal.
Stepping up behind that duo for the rest of the 2025 season were Colton Hood and Ty Redmond. Hood is also now off to the draft, while Redmond enters his sophomore season as a projected starter. The other top name in the room is rising sophomore Tre Poteat.
So far, the Vols have landed two commitments in the portal. Tennessee picked up safety Qua Moss from Kansas State, who has experience playing nickelback. The other is young offensive tackle Ory Williams from LSU.
