Look: Tennessee players that have announced their return for the 2024 season
Tennessee football got good news Tuesday night with redshirt senior Bru McCoy announced his return to the Vols for the 2024 season, becoming sixth player to announce his return to the Vols. McCoy’s season ended after suffering a leg injury against South Carolina in September.
“After being injured this season, I visited the idea of going to the next level and I got good feed back ultimately but what it boiled down to was the opportunity that Tennessee provides and the culture there and things we have accomplished thus far,” McCoy told Volquest.
“I’m excited about the direction we are headed in and the opportunity as an individual to learn and grow but as far as the team, I’m most excited to see what we can accomplish together.”
Here’s a look at the the full list of Tennessee players who are returning for an additional season in 2024:
Tennessee offensive tackle John Campbell announced on social media on December 4 that he would be returning to the Vols in 2024 for his seventh year of college football. Campbell spent five years at Miami before transferring to Tennessee. He started the first 10 games of the season for the Vols at left tackle before dealing with an injury over the final three weeks of the regular season. He has started 27 times in 43 career games, including 18 starts in 34 games at Miami.
LB Keenan Pili
Tennessee fifth-year senior linebacker Keenan Pili announced his return to the Vols for the 2024 season on social media on December 8. The BYU transfer was lost to what proved to be a season-ending injury in the season-opening win over Virginia on September 2. He finished the Virginia game with four tackles, including two solo tackles. He earned a game ball after the win, after playing 30 snaps. Pili spent the last four years at BYU. He had 191 tackles in 34 career games at BYU, including 62 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss and 1.0 sacks in 12 games last season. He had 13.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks during his time with the Cougars.
DT Omari Thomas
Tennessee senior defensive lineman Omari Thomas announced on December 14 that he would be returning to the Vols for a fifth season in 2024. The 6-foot-4, 320-pound Thomas, a Memphis native and product of Briarcrest Christian High School, is coming off a career-high 31 tackles in 11 games this season. He had 1.0 sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss, his highest TFL total since he had 5.0 in 12 games in 2021. Thomas for his career has 86 tackles, 13.0 tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks, eight passes defended, five forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. Thomas was a four-star prospect in the 2020 recruiting class.
Gerald Mincey is returning for his redshirt senior season with the Vols in 2024. He played in all 12 games this season, making six starts at right tackle. He also played left tackle while giving up just two sacks while playing 510 snaps. He started seven times in nine games at left tackle in 2022. Mincey started his college football career at Florida, spending the 2020 and 2021 seasons with the Gators before transferring to Tennessee. Mincey was a three-star prospect in the 2020 class out of Cardinal Gibbons High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
OL Cooper Mays
Tennessee senior offensive lineman Cooper Mays announced on December 15 that he would be returning to the Vols for the 2024 season. The start of the 2023 season was hindered for Mays, as he dealt with an abdominal injury that left him sidelined for the first four games of the season. Mays returned against Texas A&M, and he has not left the starting rotation at center since. He notched his 30th career start against Georgia in November.
WR Bru McCoy
Bru McCoy over the last two seasons caught 69 passes for 884 yards and five touchdowns over 17 games. He had 52 catches for 667 yards and four touchdowns in 12 games in 2022 and 17 catches for 217 yards and one touchdown before the season-ending injury against South Carolina in September. He spent his first two years at USC in 2020 and 2021, catching 21 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns in six games during the 2020 season.
