Tennessee Football has seen a lot of success with transfer cornerbacks over the last couple of seasons. Jermod McCoy was one of the nation’s best in 2024, and Colton Hood followed that up with an All-SEC year in 2025.
Now, with a new defensive scheme being installed, Tennessee is hoping that former Auburn cornerback Kayin Lee can be the next one to break into that elite transfer list.
While speaking at SEC Media Days on Tuesday, former teammate and current Auburn safety Champ Anthony gave a glowing review of the now-Tennessee cornerback.
“Kayin Lee? Yeah, he’s a hooper,” Anthony said. “He is a baller. K-Lee has a knack for the ball. There’s not many people – I don’t know if people realize how hard it is to jump while running back. But it’s like, K-Lee, he high points the ball, he has a knack for the ball, and he works hard. That’s all he does is love ball. So you’re getting a hard worker who loves ball. He a smacker, too, man, like he hits. He hits hard. Most corners don’t want to come down and put their nose in it. K-Lee? You gotta keep him outta it. Like, ‘K, hey, chill.’ So you’re getting a hard worker and a hard hitter.”
Some intel on @Vol_Football transfer CB (and likely starter for Tennessee) from @AuburnFootball Kayin Lee @_kayinlee from his former secondary teammate at Auburn @champthepirate 💪🏈 #SECMD26 pic.twitter.com/MH7AFWjaSk
— Vince Ferrara (@VinceSports) July 21, 2026
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The 5-foot-11, 180-pound cornerback has played 1,560 total snaps in his three seasons at Auburn, while starting 24 games over the last two years. Lee totaled 31 tackles, four pass deflections and one interception during the 2025 season. As a sophomore, Lee totaled 32 tackles, two interceptions and seven pass deflections.
While fall camp still needs to play out next month, Lee projects as Tennessee’s other starting cornerback on the opposite side of the field from returning sophomore Ty Redmond. And after Redmond’s year of being thrown in the fire as a freshman, it looks like it could be a formidable duo for the Vols.
Cornerbacks coach Derek Jones believes that a fresh start will be beneficial for Lee this season with the Vols.
“Kayin has played a lot of snaps in this league,” Jones said during fall camp. “Had some individual success, but hadn’t had a lot of team success. And those things affect a lot of guys. I think he’s one of those guys that really wanted a fresh start, really wanted an opportunity to prove himself, and he works at it. You can tell by watching him in practice, in the meeting room, that he’s got a level of maturity to him.”
While Anthony has no love lost for Lee after his transfer to Tennessee, the two former teammates will be squaring off this fall in Neyland Stadium. Lee and the Vols are set to host Anthony and the Tigers on Saturday, Oct. 3. The game will either be played between 3:30-4:30 or 6-8 p.m. ET in Knoxville.
There’s a lot riding on Tennessee’s new defense with all the incoming transfers and coaches this offseason. And while there are still question marks as to who will be on the field and how quickly the players will pick up the new scheme, Lee projects to be a strong player for Tennessee on the outside. He brings a level of experience, maturity, skill, and as Anthony said, hard-hitting, to a Volunteers defense that will look completely different in both personnel and scheme than it did last season.
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