Everything Coach Derek Jones Said Ahead of Tennessee vs. Kennesaw State

The Tennessee Volunteers are set for their third game of the season as they are set to take on the Kennesaw State Owls on Saturday. This game comes right after the Vols defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on the road.

Ahead of the next game on Tennessee football's schedule, cornerback coach Derek Jones spoke with the media to not only recap the performance vs. Georgia Tech, but also preview the Kennesaw State game.

Here is everything he had to say.

Derek Jones on His Cornerback Group's Grade to Begin the Season

Georgia Tech running back Justice Haynes (22) is defended by Tennessee defensive back Ty Redmond (4) 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

“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.

Derek Jones on Continued Growth in the Room

Sep 5, 2026; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Kayin Lee (14) during the second half against the Furman Paladins at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“It’s more of one week building on the other. I’ve done this for a long time, and I understand that every week you need to be better than you were the week before. But as a coach, you ultimately know where you have to be when you play against elite competition, when you play against elite quarterback play. And like the two starters, they’re going to have to play more and more reps as we get going. And, you know, that’s not how we practice. They didn’t have to play a high volume of reps against Furman, so they had to play a few more reps against Georgia Tech. But as we continue to go throughout the course of the season, I know they’re going to have to play more reps. And you can have solid fundamentals playing 20 reps, but that looks different when you play 40 because of the fatigue and everything that sets in. So I’m trying to give these guys a picture of what it should look like all the time and what they can anticipate week to week," Jones said.

Derek Jones on Why He Gives 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.

Derek Jones on If Starters Will Play More vs. Kennesaw State

Sep 12, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets wide receiver Jordan Allen (4) is tackled by Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Qua Moss (6) in the second quarter at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“Well, you have to go into every game assuming that you’re going to have to play until the end. You just never know. But if you look at it, we hadn’t been testing a lot on deep routes. Those guys hadn’t had to cover a lot of takeoffs and come back and get in a good stance and do things. So you would like to see them get tested in a way, to where it’s not necessarily about the number of reps, but how do they play when they’re tired, and how do they respond to explosive plays and some other things. So I think when you go into a game like this, you have to prepare those guys like it’s any other game. And then as the game unfolds, then you make those decisions. But the way I coach them is we’re not on a rotation right now as far as everything. The starters are going to start, and I’m going to spell those guys if something happens or whatever. But I need to be able to see those guys respond to every possible scenario they may see throughout the course of the season," Jones said.

Derek Jones on Ty Redmond

“I think he’s in a good spot right now, but Ty has so much growing to do. When you have Ty’s size and when you have Ty’s limbs, it’s going to be hard to do some things. He’s a tall guy. It’s naturally hard to play low when you’re that big. It’s naturally hard to be able to do some other things. So those are things that just takes repetitions and whatever. And he’s at a point right now to where I think he’s learning and understanding all of that. The thing I tell Ty all the time is I want to see you strain. I want to see you play like you’re straining all the time. Ty has been so successful just being a good athlete. I want to make him understand, if you tidy up the attention to detail and you really practice and play, over-exaggerating your techniques, over-exaggerating your body position, it’s the difference in a pass breakup and an interception. It’s the difference in a tackle and a pass breakup. So we just got to continue to build on that. All of the guys. Ty’s a young guy. He hadn’t really played a lot of football when you think about it. He’s just in a position where he’s one of the most experienced guys we’ve got. So, he’s probably exactly where I would anticipate a sophomore that has played the amount of snaps that he’s played to be right now,” Jones said.

Derek Jones on How He Coaches a Guy Like Tim Merritt After a Rough Series

Tennessee defensive back Timothy Merritt (35) reacts to a pass interference call during the Orange & White spring game in Neyland Stadium, Saturday, April 12, 2025. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

“Well, you know, I preach to these guys all the time about the importance of maintaining your composure when you play this position. I truly feel it’s the hardest position on the football field to play just because every mistake you make is a glaring mistake. Everybody on the field sees it. Everybody in the stands sees it. In the world we live in of social media, podcast criticism, you know that’s going on. But you’ve got to be mentally tough enough to move on to the next play. And what I told him on the sideline the other night is we can correct those things. That’s my job to get that corrected. We’ve got to go look at it. But I think in that moment, as a coach, you’ve got to know how to handle it. The worst thing you can do to a young player in that situation is yank him out and take the confidence away. And when you get your hands on him, you’ve got to make him understand that if you don’t do this, then it goes from a pass interference to maybe an interception. But I think you have to coach guys like that all the time, and I’ve been coaching those guys like that since the first day I walked on campus because the last thing you want as a cornerback coach is for your guys to come to the sideline in fear coming to face you. I don’t think that’s coaching. It’s just like parenting. You don’t want your kids to come tell you things. You don’t want your kids to be afraid when they make mistakes. Just like you have to parent, you have to coach. And we go back to the film room and we look at where he was wrong, talk about his confidence, talk about his fundamentals and techniques and the things that if you don’t do this, you’re in the right position, then it’s not a pass interference call. It’s a pass breakup or an interception But it’s a trust between player and coach that enables guys to be able to say, okay, I trust you, Coach, because in those moments I played the position, you had a very low point. And I’ve learned just through coaching that you have to be the source of peace for guys in those situations," Jones said.

Derek Jones on What He Wants to See From Tim Merritt, Ty Redmond, and Tre Poteat

Tre Poteats — Tennessee defensive back Tre Poteat III (3) celebrates after taking down Furman wide receiver Ethan Harris (3) during a college football game between Tennessee and Furman in Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., on Sept. 5, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

“Well, the thing of it is the guys just need to play more. You know, the only way you’re going to get better at playing cornerback in particular is to play and to get out there and to make mistakes. Cornerback isn’t a position that you draw up on the board and say this is how it’s going to happen. It’s about athleticism, it’s about posture, it’s about poise and everything that a lot of other positions doesn’t have to face. But you have to be in those moments to understand how to respond from those moments. And it’s just about playing. Ty, Tim, and Tre are all true sophomores and none of them have a high volume of reps under their belts. So until they get reps and we coach from those reps, they’re going to make gradual improvement along the way. I have to be patient with them, we have to be patient with them because it’s not about a light switch," Jones said.

Derek Jones on Teaching His Group to Be Physical

“I don’t think it’s as much about teaching them to be physical as the mentality that you’ve got to have. Your mindset has to be this is my job, this is my responsibility, and you’ve got to do what’s required to do that. We’re not going to be naturally as physical as most people because we’re not their size, it’s not how we’re built, it’s not how we’re made up, and we’re actually not in those situations a lot. But if I’m only in that situation four times during the season, I’ve got to have the mindset to say I’ve got to put myself. At the cornerback position, I tell guys all the time, it’s not about making big hits. I don’t need you to be a big hitter, but I do need you to be a willing tackler. And in those situations where it could be the difference in the ballgame, it could be the difference in someone tying up a ballgame or taking a lead, we’ve got to be willing tacklers,” Jones said.

Derek Jones on Kayin Lee's Speed

“I think for all the guys, you want to be able to showcase your ability. And the thing that D.O., Coach Owings, has done since he’s got here, is really improve the speed of everybody at the position. We actually had four guys in our room that were over 22 miles per hour, and that’s pretty impressive. I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere where I had that, because they put the emphasis on it. And cornerback is one of the positions where speed allows you to make plays, and we hadn’t been tested in that regard in game-wise. So I think the guys are anxious to be able to see that, and I’m anxious to be able to see. I know we can run with people, but can we make the play? That’s the thing, even as a coach, I don’t have the opportunity to put them in the deep ball position a lot, and that’s the thing that we’re going to be judged on. Ultimately, can we play the deep ball? Cornerback comes down to making tackles and playing the deep ball, and we hadn’t been in that situation a lot. So I think me as a coach and those guys as players are all anxious to be put in those moments because that’s the only way we’re going to improve is to be put in those situations," Jones said.

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