Tennessee secondary coach Willie Martinez is having to work this spring with starting cornerback Jermod McCoy rehabbing a torn anterior cruciate ligament and with starting “star” Boo Carter practicing some at slot receiver.
He’s not complaining.
“Whatever time injuries happen, you’re going to have to adapt and adjust,” Martinez said Thursday in a news conference. “Everybody always talks about the next man up. We know Jermod is going to be back, and we know that he’s a great player and a great leader. He’s continuing to grow as a player even though he’s not going through it. I wouldn’t look at this in any way as being frustrating.
“It’s an opportunity for these new and young guys — even some of the older guys — to get quality reps in making us better. We’re not going to be elite unless we have enough depth to play three to four corners in a game and four to five safeties in a game.”
The Volunteers went through their sixth of 15 spring workouts Thursday. They are scheduled to practice again Saturday before conducting their first scrimmage Monday night in Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee’s secondary was the most improved area of last year’s 10-3 team that reached the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff before getting thumped by eventual national champion Ohio State. The Vols lost defensive backs Warren Burrell, Tamarion McDonald, De’Shawn Rucker, Doneiko Slaughter and Brandon Turnage to the transfer portal following their 2023 season but countered that by acquiring McCoy from Oregon State, cornerback Jalen McMurray from Temple, and safety Jakobe Thomas from Middle Tennessee.
Those additions plus the veteran leadership of walk-on safety Will Brooks, the noticeable improvement of cornerback Rickey Gibson III and the early success of Carter helped Tennessee finish sixth nationally last season in total defense, allowing 293.2 yards per game, and seventh in scoring defense, yielding 16.1 points a contest.
McCoy got injured in January while working out in Texas, which instantly resulted in Gibson, a junior from Trussville, Alabama, taking on more responsibility.
“Rickey finished strong last year,” Martinez said. “He was definitely playing his best football at the end of the year. We talked after the season about leadership being a part of that next step. He is really smart, and he is really talented. He just made a bunch of plays for us last season in moments that really mattered.
“We talked about being a bigger leader in the meeting room and pushing guys, because they’re going to respect him, and he’s done that. He’s been elite this spring.”
Carter talked to head coach Josh Heupel several days after the Ohio State game about playing more on offense, and the former Chattanooga Christian and Bradley Central standout was spotted at receiver on the second day of practice.
Martinez, of course, is more focused on Carter’s defensive efforts and is thrilled with what he is seeing.
“He has grown so much,” Martinez said. “He’s watching a lot more film on his own. He’s in the building longer, getting there early and leaving late. The guys see it, and it’s showing up on the field. We are giving him more responsibility on defense, because he has to get the back end of our defense set.
“He’s just putting in a lot more off the field, and I think that’s helping him.”
Martinez said that Brooks was able to help Carter along last season and added that McMurray and freshmen Dylan Lewis and Tre Poteat are working behind Carter at the star.
When McMurray was asked Thursday about Carter, he said: “Boo is an athletic freak, and I think he has picked up more of a vocal role. He’s always coming in ready to work, and we all see his athleticism on the field.”
The Vols were significantly better in the secondary last season with a much younger roster than the year before. Martinez hopes his younger players now can provide quality depth, with redshirt freshman cornerback and former Bradley Central standout Marcus Goree part of that contingent.
“We’re excited about this entire group,” Martinez said. “A lot of these guys are very prideful, and a lot came in as state champions. They’re used to winning, and they’re already getting better.
“You can see it.”
Position switch
Kaleb Beasley signed in Tennessee’s 2024 class as a four-star cornerback out of Nashville’s Lipscomb Academy, but he is working at safety this spring.
“We think we have guys who are talented, and we want them to have an opportunity to start,” Martinez said. “That’s how it’s always been around here. He’s a versatile player like a lot of these guys, and we wanted to move him around to give him an opportunity to win a job.
“We’re not locked into him playing safety. We want him to look at star, and he could go back to playing corner right now because he knows exactly what to do. We want as many guys who can handle it.”
Beasley played in all 13 games as a freshman, tallying four tackles and breaking up one pass.
Pruitt lawsuit
Jeremy Pruitt, the head coach of the Vols from 2018-20, has sued the NCAA in DeKalb County, Alabama, claiming that the governing body conspired with the University of Tennessee to make him the “sacrificial lamb” for rules violations resulting in his January 2021 firing and a six-year show-cause penalty.
Pruitt is claiming $100 million in lost wages.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.