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The former Vanderbilt starter has the fewest connections to BYU, so in some ways that makes his decision to transfer to BYU the most intriguing. "I didn't win a lot of games before I came over here," Jeudy-Lally said on Monday. "With BYU's culture and just talking to everybody, they always believe they're going to win regardless of who they're going to play, which is really great. It's showed in the last couple of years. If you're wanting to come to a place where you are going to get treated like family and win football games, I think this is spot to be at." Considering how different BYU than other schools, it might be easy for some to question their choice at some point. Jeudy-Lally said he had some rough times in the first little bit but didn't look backward.

"I'm never gonna count something out when I first get there," Jeudy-Lally said. "When I first got here, I wasn't allowed to work out yet because I hadn't been accepted in the MBA program. So I was just sitting around at home and I was just like, gosh, what am I supposed to do? But since I got to work out with the team, everybody's been super nice. It's nice to be part of the family and so I'm definitely not second guessing my decision at all." As a Commodore, Jeudy-Lally played three seasons against SEC competition, which is widely-regarded as the best in the country. That gives him a unique perspective on how BYU matches up talent-wise. "I think they match up pretty well," Jeudy-Lally said. "The only difference I'll say across the country is like when you go when you play in the SEC, the big guys are just faster. But BYU's got way bigger boys here on the line that we did at Vanderbilt. Sometimes I'm like, whoa. But the talent level is very comparable, and I'm just excited to be able to play with these guys this upcoming season." - Daily Herald

(DS#72 CB) rSr/2024

CB Gabe Jeudy-Lally, Tennessee
News Source: Daily Herald
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08/16/22 - Byron Young, rSr/2023, Tennessee, 6-2, 250 (DS#6 OLB) + More +

This time last year, Tennessee edge rusher Byron Young had never played a snap at the major college level. Young is now the only Volunteers player to earn a spot on the Southeastern Conference's preseason first team. The 6-foot-3, 245-pounder from Georgetown, South Carolina, had a debut year worth savoring in Knoxville, amassing 46 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. "Last season gave me a lot of confidence," Young said in a recent news conference. "I remember how nervous I was and how I wouldn't talk to anybody. I'm more advanced now and more confident with my technique and in being a leader. "I'm way more comfortable." The Vols went through their 11th preseason practice Saturday in preparation for Sunday's second scrimmage.

This time last year, Young was also Tennessee's most unique story, having left the Palmetto State after high school for Columbus, Georgia, where he worked for 18 months as an assistant manager at Dollar General before giving football another try at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville. Young had a stellar 2019 season at GMC, collecting 31 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and seven sacks, but the outbreak of the coronavirus in March 2020 wiped out junior college football later that year. Young enrolled at Tennessee in January 2021 and started gaining confidence during his first spring practice, but an NCAA eligibility snag prevented him from competing in the opening games against Bowling Green and Pittsburgh. In his initial contest against Tennessee Tech, a 56-0 romp, Young led the Vols with six tackles and helped limit the Golden Eagles to 35 rushing yards. A starter for the final eight games, Young wound up tying linebacker Jeremy Banks for the team lead in tackles for loss and sacks, and he capped his season with 2.5 tackles for loss and his first career interception in the Music City Bowl. - Chattanooga Times Free Press

(DS#6 OLB) rSr/2023

OLB Byron Young, Tennessee
News Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press
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08/14/22 - *Jalin Hyatt, Jr/2023, Tennessee, 6-0, 184 (DS#4 WR) + More +

The Tennessee Volunteers employed the quickest offensive tempo in college football last season, averaging 474.9 yards and 39.3 points per game. Jalin Hyatt missed out on a lot of that fun. After amassing 276 yards and 13.8 yards per reception as a freshman in 2020, Hyatt's numbers dipped to 226 yards and 10.8 per catch last season as Velus Jones Jr. took control of the slot position with 62 catches for 807 yards and seven touchdowns. Hyatt admitted this spring to being "complacent" after the coaching transition from Jeremy Pruitt to Josh Heupel and echoed those sentiments Thursday as the Vols resumed preseason workouts following Wednesday's day off. "Last year was hard on me," Hyatt said in a news conference. "I lost my confidence and didn't really know the offense as well as I know it this year. I wasn't going as hard last year. "I think Velus helped me a lot when he was here. He stood up and took over the role when I couldn't, but this year I'm locked in. I'm ready to go."

Hyatt is competing under his third position coach in as many years, with the 6-foot, 180-pounder - he played at 164 pounds last season - out of Irmo, South Carolina, having worked for Tee Martin as a freshman, Kodi Burns last season and Kelsey Pope now. Pope was an offensive analyst for the Vols last season and was promoted in early March after Burns became the receivers coach for the NFL's New Orleans Saints. Having witnessed Hyatt's struggles a year ago, Pope has liked what he's seen so far in camp. "Jalin Hyatt seems like a different guy mentally," Pope said. "Physically, he's gained about eight to 10 pounds. The competitiveness he showed last year he's channeling in a different direction. You see him respond the right way. You see him coach guys up when he's not in. "He's really taken on that accountability role for himself and also the group." - Chattanooga Times Free Press

(DS#4 WR) Jr/2023

WR *Jalin Hyatt, Tennessee
News Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press
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08/11/22 - Cedric Tillman, rSr/2023, Tennessee, 6-3, 213 (DS#7 WR) + More +

Tennessee football is on the outside looking in at the preseason USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll. The Vols received the third-most votes among teams not in the top 25, trailing Iowa and Penn State. Alabama is the No. 1 team in the nation after receiving 54 of 66 first-place votes. No. 2 Ohio State received five and No. 3 Georgia received six. Texas, ranked No. 18, received one. No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 21 Kentucky, No. 23 Arkansas and No. 24 Ole Miss round out the SEC teams in the Top 25. The Vols face Alabama and Kentucky in SEC play. They face No. 16 Pittsburgh in their marquee nonconference game on Sept. 10. UT opens Josh Heupel's second season against Ball State on Sept. 1 (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network) at Neyland Stadium. The Vols went 7-6 in Heupel's first season in 2021. - Knoxville News Sentinel

(DS#7 WR) rSr/2023

WR Cedric Tillman, Tennessee
News Source: Knoxville News Sentinel
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08/10/22 - Lyn-J Dixon, rSr/2023, Tennessee, 5-09, 188 (DS#999 RB) + More +

Tennessee football went looking for a running back who fit its needs at the start of preseason practices. It quickly found one in Lyn-J Dixon, who transferred to UT and added depth to a thin position. "He is in a race to understand and learn what we are doing as fast as he possibly can," Vols coach Josh Heupel said Tuesday following UT's first preseason scrimmage. Dixon is immediately eligible for Tennessee. He visited Knoxville after the Vols announced running back Len'Neth Whitehead had suffered a season-ending injury. Dixon rushed for 1,420 yards and 13 touchdowns over four seasons at Clemson. Dixon graduated from Clemson in December and this is his second transfer. He transferred to West Virginia in November. He entered the transfer portal again in June. - Knoxville News Sentinel

(DS#999 RB) rSr/2023

RB Lyn-J Dixon, Tennessee
News Source: Knoxville News Sentinel
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08/10/22 - Cooper Mays, rSr/2025, Tennessee, 6-2, 305 (DS#26 C) + More +

Tennessee second-year offensive line coach Glen Elarbee has a lengthy list of characteristics when it comes to being a good center, with two qualities immediately jumping to the forefront. "Intelligence has to be up there, because you're making decisions so fast," Elarbee said this past week in a news conference. "You're the coach out on the field. You have to change things on third down to get us right, and there is so much involved with that. "You also have to be the toughest son of a gun out on the field." Cooper Mays appears to be possessing those traits for the Volunteers and then some. The 6-foot-3, 296-pound junior from Knoxville Catholic started twice as a freshman and eight times last season, when an ankle injury prevented him from going wire to wire in Tennessee's run to the Music City Bowl.

His third year in the program is also his first without older brother Cade, the former five-star Georgia signee who played the 2018-19 seasons with the Bulldogs before transferring back to Knoxville to compete alongside his younger sibling. While Cade was known for his versatility - of his 35 career college starts, 19 came at right guard, 12 at right tackle, two at left guard and two at left tackle - Cooper has been entrenched over the ball and is adjusting to a new dynamic now that his older brother is property of the NFL's Carolina Panthers. "Probably around the end of the bowl game going into winter workouts is kind of when I started to feel it," Mays said. "It's kind of hard being a leader when you've got an older brother in the room, so he's stepped away, and now I'm trying to fulfill that role a little bit." - Chattanooga Times Free Press

(DS#26 C) rSr/2025

C Cooper Mays, Tennessee
News Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press
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08/09/22 - Gabe Jeudy-Lally, rSr/2024, Tennessee, 6-1, 189 (DS#72 CB) + More +

2022 PHIL STEELE PRESEASON ALL-INDEPENDENT SECOND TEAM: CB Gabe Jeudy-Lally, BYU,...Transferred to BYU after graduating from Vanderbilt, arriving in Provo with three years of eligibility...Tallied 63 tackles with 35 solo stops, four pass breakups and two interceptions in 23 games for the Commodores. - BYU Football

(DS#72 CB) rSr/2024

CB Gabe Jeudy-Lally, Tennessee
News Source: BYU Football
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08/09/22 - Keenan Pili, rSr/2025, Tennessee, 6-2, 240 (DS#37 ILB) + More +

2022 PHIL STEELE PRESEASON ALL-INDEPENDENT SECOND TEAM: LB Keenan Pili, BYU,...Pili, a 6-3, 233-pound junior from Provo, Utah, started the first three games of the 2021 season at middle linebacker for BYU before suffering a season-ending injury. The 2021 team captain had recorded 31 tackles, two sacks and a fumble recovery in just three games. Pili has 128 career tackles over 24 career games, an average of 5.3 tackles per game. - BYU Football

(DS#37 ILB) rSr/2025

ILB Keenan Pili, Tennessee
News Source: BYU Football
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08/06/22 - Cedric Tillman, rSr/2023, Tennessee, 6-3, 213 (DS#7 WR) + More +

Cedric Tillman is already expecting added attention this season - "The best receivers in this conference get double-teamed or face the best corner. It's why my route running needs to be perfect," he said - and believes there are several candidates ready to step up and help, an opinion echoed by offensive coordinator Alex Golesh. "I think it will all kind of play itself out as it goes," Golesh said. "A year ago, Ced was a guy nobody knew about, and Velus was a guy nobody knew about, so I think it will kind of play itself out. Whether people will feel like they need to roll coverage his way or do something unique to take him away - obviously if it becomes a one-man show, that would be really hard offensively. "In this system, looking back over the years, it's kind of played itself out. We feel good with who is going to be opposite of him, whether that's with one guy or a group of guys. This is as deep as we've been in the slot, and there are a bunch of guys who have to prove something in that room, but it was that way a year ago."

Tennessee's only receiver ever to assemble two 1,000-yard seasons was Joey Kent in 1995-96 with Peyton Manning as his quarterback. Tillman has the chance to match Kent this season, even with the added attention coming. "You've just got to go compete," Tillman said. "Through those first four games last year, I didn't have the best numbers, and I kind of took off in those last six or seven, so I'm not looking so much at the numbers as I am playing hard. "The numbers will come." - Chattanooga Times Free Press

(DS#7 WR) rSr/2023

WR Cedric Tillman, Tennessee
News Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press
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08/06/22 - Solon Page III, rSr/2023, Tennessee, 6-2, 220 (DS#98 OLB) + More +

Volunteers linebacker Solon Page III has lived through it all. Last season's seven-win team humiliated Missouri and South Carolina and won at 18th-ranked Kentucky to earn a trip to the Music City Bowl. Page went through that as well, and it's why the 6-foot-2, 228-pounder from Atlanta chose to come back for a sixth season in Knoxville. After all, being on an upward trajectory is preferable to the contrary. "It's year six. It's the last go-around," Page said this week in a news conference. "We've still got a couple guys here who I came in with in my signing class, and all of us staying here and sticking it out and seeing the change in the program through the years - it just feels different. "Last year, it showed up on tape. We won a lot more games than some people thought we were going to win, and hopefully this coming year we'll do the same." - Chattanooga Times Free Press

(DS#98 OLB) rSr/2023

OLB Solon Page III, Tennessee
News Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press
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08/05/22 - Lyn-J Dixon, rSr/2023, Tennessee, 5-09, 188 (DS#999 RB) + More +

Former Clemson running back Lyn-J Dixon has a new home for the 2022 season. Dixon has committed to Tennessee, he announced Wednesday morning on Instagram. Dixon, the No. 7 running back in the class of 2018, was verbally committed to the Volunteers in high school before flipping to Clemson. Dixon, who will have two years of eligibility at Tennessee, had previously committed to West Virginia for the 2022 season last November but re-entered the transfer portal in June before playing a game with the Mountaineers.

The former four-star recruit, rushed for 1,420 yards and 13 touchdowns across four seasons and 41 career games for Clemson. He had 547 yards and five touchdowns in 2018 and a career-high 635 yards and six touchdowns in 2019. Effective as a change-of-pace back behind now-NFLer Travis Etienne, Dixon was a prime candidate for the Tigers' starting running back position last season but ultimately split carries with Kobe Pace and Will Shipley. Dixon entered the transfer portal in September after three games with Clemson, later saying there were no hard feelings between him and coach Dabo Swinney, running backs coach CJ Spiller or anyone else at Clemson. - The State

(DS#999 RB) rSr/2023

RB Lyn-J Dixon, Tennessee
News Source: The State
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08/05/22 - Joe Milton III, rSr/2024, Tennessee, 6-5, 235 (DS#9 QB) + More +

Joe Milton knows he could have left Tennessee football this offseason if he wanted to. The senior quarterback had dropped to the backup quarterback spot behind Hendon Hooker, his classmate who is entrenched in the starting role. But he didn't think about looking to transfer. "For what?" Milton said Sunday. "No reason to. I am having fun. I am learning something new every day. I am enjoying life." Milton is back for the Vols for a second season alongside Hooker, the senior starter. He chose to stay in Knoxville opposed to transferring for the second straight season.

Milton started two games after transferring from Michigan prior to the 2021 season. He was 32-for-62 passing for 375 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. "I wouldn't say I lost the starting job, "Milton said. "In life you face a lot of adversity. You want to kind of find your way through tough things in life." The 6-foot-5, 245-pound Milton is living a different life this preseason than he was a year ago. He entered this time last year in a four-person battle to be the starting quarterback. He ultimately won the spot and opened the season as the starter. Hooker was the backup. Milton suffered an injury against Pittsburgh on Sept. 11, which he said was two torn ligaments in his ankle. Hooker entered, performed well and never surrendered the starting job. - Knoxville News Sentinel

(DS#9 QB) rSr/2024

QB Joe Milton III, Tennessee
News Source: Knoxville News Sentinel
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08/05/22 - Donte Thornton Jr., Sr/2025, Tennessee, 6-5, 205 (DS#24 WR) + More +

Wide receiver Dont'e Thornton played sparingly last year but saved his best performance for the Alamo Bowl game against Oklahoma. He finished with four catches, 90 yards and a touchdown, including a 66-yard reception. In April's spring game, Thornton continued his strong play, catching three receptions for 116 yards and two touchdowns. Oregon's receiver group is inexperienced outside of UCLA transfer Chase Cota. Because of this, Thornton should get plenty of opportunities to show what he can do in offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham's system. - Register Guard

(DS#24 WR) Sr/2025

WR Donte Thornton Jr., Tennessee
News Source: Register Guard
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08/03/22 - Cedric Tillman, rSr/2023, Tennessee, 6-3, 213 (DS#7 WR) + More +

2022 PRESEASON WALTER CAMP PLAYER OF YEAR PLAYER TO WATCH: Cedric Tillman, WR, senior, Tennessee,...Tillman emerged as one of the SEC's best playmakers in 2021, finishing the year with 64 catches for 1,081 yards and 12 touchdowns. The Las Vegas native rounded out his redshirt junior season ranking ninth in the SEC in catches, fifth in receiving yards, third in touchdowns and third in average yards per catch (16.9).

He was especially productive against AP Top 25 competition, finishing fourth in the nation with 535 yards and four touchdowns against ranked foes. In Tennessee single-season annals, Tillman ranked tied for eighth in catches, fourth in receiving yards and tied for second with Cedrick Wilson (2000) in touchdowns. He caught a TD pass in a school-record seven consecutive games to end the season, including a combined five in the final two games of the year. - Tennessee Football

(DS#7 WR) rSr/2023

WR Cedric Tillman, Tennessee
News Source: Tennessee Football
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08/03/22 - Keenan Pili, rSr/2025, Tennessee, 6-2, 240 (DS#37 ILB) + More +

2022 PRESEASON CHUCK BEDNARIK AWARD WATCH LIST: Keenan Pili, BYU, Junior LB,...Pili, a 6-3, 233-pound junior from Provo, Utah, started the first three games of the 2021 season at middle linebacker for BYU before suffering a season-ending injury. The 2021 team captain had recorded 31 tackles, two sacks and a fumble recovery in just three games. Pili has 128 career tackles over 24 career games, an average of 5.3 tackles per game. - BYU Football

(DS#37 ILB) rSr/2025

ILB Keenan Pili, Tennessee
News Source: BYU Football
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