Derek Jones Grades Tennessee Football's Defensive Backs Following First Two Wins

The Tennessee Vols have been known as an offensive team under Josh Heupel, but they have had some great defensive talent come through. This is especially true for the defensive ends and cornerbacks.

Even though the Vols have a new cornerback position coach (Derek Jones), the standard is still the same. The Vols are looking to be elite and shut down the opposing receivers. Part of the way to get there is to have high standards, and Derek Jones holds his group to the highest standards.

Derek Jones on What He Grades His Group

“You know, I told those guys coming out of the game, I think we were probably at a C+. And the reason I say that is because I’ve been trying to harp on where we have to get to, to be as good as we can be. And I’m grading the fundamentals, I’m grading the techniques, I’m grading the stances, I’m grading being able to receive the calls, being able to read your keys and all the things that you didn’t get tested against Furman and probably really didn’t get tested against Georgia Tech that I know we’re going to need throughout the process of the season. So, really trying to make the kids understand what you have to do and the attention to detail you have to play at that position to be as good as you can be,” Jones said.

Tennessee defensive back TJ Metcalf (1) and Tennessee defensive back Ty Redmond (4) celebrate on the field during a college football game between Tennessee and Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, Ga., on Sept. 12, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Jones Gives More Details on Why He Gave His Group a C+

“Well, I think the most critical thing that stands out is we missed four tackles. And at our position, when you miss tackles, they turn into explosive plays, they turn into touchdowns. And making those guys understand how critical that is. In the landscape of college football now, we don’t get to tackle a lot. We don’t get to see our guys tackle a lot. We don’t get to work those drills. As a matter of fact, I was talking to Ty Redmond, and the last time he made a tackle before the Furman game was the last game of the season last year because he missed time in training camp. So it’s hard to train guys to do things by just putting them in the position. And then just having played football and having coached football for a while, it’s a mindset too. It’s one thing to go hit a receiver when he turns around on a hitch route as opposed to hitting a 230-pound running back. It’s a mindset that goes into that. And if you hadn’t hit a 230-pound running back, it’s automatically going to make you stall a little bit. When there’s two yards of space on a hitch route as opposed to five yards of space, there’s a tendency to break down. And again, those are things that you can’t practice until you actually get into play. And so we didn’t look good in that aspect the other night. It didn’t show up, but if you do that against elite wide receiver play, if you do that against elite quarterback play, it’s going to show up a little bit more. So my job is to make them understand, we’ve got to tidy those things up. Running really hard on the backside of a play where as it didn’t show up this week, getting them used to doing it. Because as a coach, if you don’t coach those things, it’s going to be the one time it happens where the guy’s kind of lackadaisical back there, a guy pops out, and now he tries to change speed. So those are things that are hard to simulate in scrimmage, those are things that are hard to simulate in practice. So you have to try to overemphasize those things in games where they’re not an issue so they don’t become an issue," Jones said.

It is clear that any cornerback looking to earn playing time in Knoxville better be willing to put in the work. Jones is not messing around, and by the looks of it, his methods are working. The big test will be how they do against their future competition in the SEC.

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