Tennessee football is retooling its defense, which extends from the staff to personnel. With Jim Knowles on campus as the new defensive coordinator and adding co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Anthony Poindexter to the staff, UT has attacked the portal for new pieces in the secondary.
However, on Monday night, the Vols lost a contributing defensive back from last season’s team to the portal. Safety Kaleb Beasley intends to transfer out of the program, according to On3.
Beasley appeared in 11 games on defense this past season, all off the bench. He was typically the first reserve safety to see the field, backing up Edrees Farooq and Andre Turrentine.
On the 2025 season, as a true sophomore, he contributed 24 tackles and a fumble recovery touchdown. He was given a PFF grade of 61.0 on the year for this effort.
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Beasley played in five games as a defender during his freshman year, including the College Football Playoffs loss to Ohio State. He recorded four tackles that season.
Beasley is from Nashville, Tennessee, where he played for Lipscomb Academy. He was coached by Trent Dilfer there before he took the head coaching job at UAB. Beasley and his Vols and high school teammate, Edwin Spillman, were able to play against him in a blowout win this past season.
As a recruit, Beasley was considered a four-star prospect and a top-10 player from the Volunteer State by all major recruiting services. On3 had him as high as the top player in the state and the No. 125 player in the class.
So far, Tennessee has added a pair of safeties in Kansas State’s Qua Moss and Penn State’s Dejuan Lane and a cornerback in Kayin Lee through the portal. The Vols are also tied to multiple other defensive backs, particularly at safety. If Tennessee can seal the deal on those players, it might’ve been hard for Beasley to reprise his role as one of the first safeties off the bench.
