Rickey Gibson III claims he will be bigger and better as a junior cornerback for the Tennessee Volunteers.
The bigger part is clearly visible.
“I’m at 184 now, and I played last year at 163 or 164,” the 6-foot Gibson said during a news conference at the start of preseason camp. “I don’t feel like you can ever stay the same. I felt like I had to improve in everything, including the weight room. I’ve also increased my speed.
“The SEC definitely showed me that it’s a real league.”
Gibson, a former four-star signee from Trussville, Alabama, a Birmingham suburb, started in all 12 of the games he played in for last season’s Vols, who went 10-2 before losing at eventual national champion Ohio State in the first round of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. He teamed with Jermod McCoy to form one of the most effective cornerback tandems in the country, but the status of McCoy is iffy for the Aug. 30 opener in Atlanta against Syracuse due to the torn anterior cruciate ligament he sustained in January.
Throw in the uncertain playing status of Boo Carter, who missed multiple team activities last month, and Gibson’s value in the secondary has never been greater.
“He’s gotten a lot stronger,” Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks said. “He’s really paid the price in the weight room and off the field with all the things he needed to do to be a stronger defensive back, and I think you will see that coming to fruition in terms of how he plays.
“I think he’s just scratching the surface, if I’m being honest. I think he can be even better, and I know he wants to be.”
Gibson appeared in all 13 games as a freshman in 2023, with most of his action transpiring on special teams. He got his first career start in the 35-0 thumping of Iowa in the Citrus Bowl and did not allow a catch in a season-high 51 snaps, and that followed his regular-season finale against Vanderbilt in which he gave up one catch for 1 yard in 39 snaps.
Then came last season, when Gibson emerged to compile 32 tackles, five pass breakups and a forced fumble. He played 636 defensive snaps and was especially dominant in the 25-15 triumph at Oklahoma, getting targeted only once in 69 snaps and not giving up a catch in that lone target.
“You could just watch Rickey’s confidence grow throughout the course of the season last year,” Banks said, “and it was no different during spring ball. He’s got a great quiet confidence about him. It was always a case of thinking that he could do it, but for him to do it at the level he did only breeds confidence for him.
“When you play on that back end, confidence is everything.”
Especially when you’ve added 20 pounds to an already athletic player.
“I love being physical, Gibson said. “I think people looked at me last year and said, ‘Let’s run the ball and see what he’s got.’ I’m interested to see what I can do this year.”
Said Vols head coach Josh Heupel: “He’s done a good job physically and in the details of fundamentals and technique. I’m expecting him to play at a really high level.”
Blair flips to Vols
Tennessee now has commitments from the top two offensive tackles in the Volunteer State.
The Vols on Thursday received a nonbinding pledge from four-star prospect Kamari Blair of Kirkwood High School in Clarksville. The 6-6, 281-pounder had been committed to South Carolina since July 16.
Blair is the nation’s No. 27 tackle recruit and the No. 294 prospect overall in the 247Sports.com composite rankings.
The state’s top tackle, Gabriel Osenda of Baylor School, committed to Tennessee in January. The Vols now have 23 commitments for the 2026 signing cycle, with their crop ranked 11th by 247Sports.
Odds and ends
Former Tennessee linebacker Al Wilson (1995-98) and former Syracuse linebacker Keith Bulluck (1996-99) have been named as honorary captains for the Aflac Kickoff Classic. … Beginning this season, Neyland Stadium will be a completely cashless venue. … Charges of speeding and driving on a suspended license against Vols redshirt junior receiver Chris Brazzell II have been dropped by the Knoxville Police Department.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.