Tennessee football positional assessment

Tennessee’s safety position will definitely look different in 2024 as defensive coordinator Tim Banks replaces six year veteran Jalyen McCullough.

McCullough set a record for career starts and had his best year in 2023. He also played 95% of the defensive snaps for Tim Banks since Banks arrived in 2021.

Wesley Walker departed the program via the transfer portal which mean the safety position will look very different this fall.

The spot will be more athletic in some ways but will be short on experience. Andre Turrentine started the last couple of games in 2023 and got better. His interception against Iowa in the first quarter of the bowl game was a huge play. Turrentine is playing with more confidence and it showed in spring practice. He’s poised to be one safety this fall as he has started earning Banks’ trust. But he’s not a lock to start.

“Obviously we lost a lot of veterans back there. But between Dre (Andre Turrentine) and Dre played a lot at the end of the year and we thought he did some really good things, so we’re excited about him, but yeah, it’ll be a transition, but at the same time, I know we’re super excited about it. We feel like we got some really good young talent. We feel like we got some older guys that starting to hit their stride and obviously we got a couple of transfers.”

Will Brooks, who does have Banks’ trust, is an older guy and is battling for a starting spot. Brooks was the first guy off the bench at times last fall when Tennessee needed for a substitute, which was very little.

The transfer of note at safety is MTSU transfer Jakobe Thomas who was solid in the spring as he learned a new system. Thomas has plenty of experience from his time at MTSU, but he has no experience as a Vol. Can Thomas earn Banks’ trust to beat out Brooks at the start of the year?

For the safety spot, even though Banks is not big on rotating guys regularly, depth is a concern behind Turrentine, Brooks and Thomas.

John Slaughter is in his second year at Tennessee after playing less than 10 snaps last season. Slaughter has plenty of athleticism but can he limit the mistakes. Christian Harrison moved to safety in the spring and is a new body in the competition and is at least some depth. Christian Charles has a start at safety in his career but Charles’ challenge is to stay healthy. Something he hasn’t been able to do in his two seasons as a Vol.

The X-factor

For me it’s Jakobe Thomas. Thomas has experience and has raised the athletic level at the safety position, but can he limit his mistakes in fall camp to win the job opposite of Turrentine. Would Banks really consider a three man rotation at safety? Seems unlikely given his history with the position.

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