Willie Martinez praises Gabe Jeudy-Lally's ability to fit into secondary room

The Tennessee football team was looking for some help defensively this offseason, looking to shore up a unit that was a little too porous to contend for a title last year. BYU‘s Gabe Jeudy-Lally was among the additions to make that happen.

The BYU veteran has plenty of playing experience. SEC experience, too, after playing for Vanderbilt before transferring to BYU.

“We wanted somebody that had experience, obviously would fit into our culture that we’ve built here,” secondary coach Willie Martinez said. “He’s been at two places where he has played a lot of football. We wanted that experience. We wanted someone to come in here with the skillset that also can challenge for the starting spot and push these guys.”

In his lone season for BYU, Gabe Jeudy-Lally recorded 46 tackles, 0.5 tackles for a loss and seven pass breakups.

In his two years at Vanderbilt prior to that, he totaled 63 tackles, 2.0 tackles for a loss, two interceptions and four passes defended.

When it came time to choose a transfer destination, Jeudy-Lally liked what Tennessee had to offer as far as being a national contender coming off an 11-win season. He also liked the coaching he could get.

“The reason why I chose Tennessee is overall the goal that they have: to reach a national championship,” Jeudy-Lally said. “And I think that coach Martinez, coach (Tim) Banks, they really develop guys seeing the guys that they put in the league.

“I know that I’m coming down the back stretch for my career, so I want to be in a place where I can achieve that goal. I got a little piece of going to a bowl game last year and I want to go somewhere bigger and understand the responsibilities that it takes to be able to take those steps. And I want to be able to get coached in the classroom harder than I have before so I can take those steps, be a better football player at the end of the day and then use that to be able to help the guys out in my room as well.”

Those goals obviously aligned well with what Tennessee was searching for, and the experience Gabe Jeudy-Lally had made him a viable candidate to provide a lift in the secondary.

Time will tell how it works out, but both sides view it as a mutually beneficial relationship at the moment.

“Not knowing where we would be with some of these injuries and then the youth of good players, where would they be at?” Martinez said. “We wanted to bring in somebody that had some experience and, again, would fit right in with our culture. He has been accepted and he’s done a great job of buying into our program and all the players.”