A revamped secondary has played a big part in how well the Tennessee defense has played this season, and one of the newcomers for the Vols has landed himself in contention for one of college football’s top awards. Cornerback Jermod McCoy was tabbed on Tuesday afternoon as one of 15 semifinalists for the Thorpe Award, which is given annually to the best defensive back in the nation. The Oregon State transfer is Tennessee’s first Thorpe Award semifinalist since safety Trevon Flowers in 2022 and Vols Hall of Famer Eric Berry won the award back in 2009.
McCoy, who was not on the preseason watch list for the trophy, is one of four SEC defensive backs to make the cut as a Thorpe Award semifinalist, joining Texas cornerback Jahdae Barron, South Carolina safety Nick Emmanwori and Georgia safety Malaki Starks.
A sophomore originally from Whitehouse, Texas, McCoy is Tennessee’s fourth-leading tackler (24) and has five pass breakups and two interceptions to rank sixth in the SEC in passes defensed, and his 85.4 coverage grade per Pro Football Focus ranks third in the SEC and 10th nationally among cornerbacks with at least 200 coverage snaps.
Speaking earlier Tuesday after the seventh-ranked Vols concluded practice ahead of Saturday night’s game against Kentucky, McCoy credited increased preparation for his strong play this season.
“I think I’m more locked in and more (detailed),” he said. “I was young at my old school. I was just out there playing. I didn’t really do a lot of studying and stuff. I’d just go on the field, but I think now I do a lot more studying and the stuff that I have to do to be prepared for the games.”
McCoy primarily played wide receiver at Whitehouse High School in the Tyler, Texas, area before playing some cornerback as a senior, and he made the full-time switch to defense as a freshman at Oregon State. He started five games for the Beavers in 2023, racking up 31 tackles with seven pass breakups and two interceptions while facing several elite quarterbacks and wide receivers in the Pac-12. McCoy was rated a four-star transfer and ranked the No. 129 overall player and No. 14 cornerback in the portal by 247Sports, and he chose Tennessee over suitors including Oregon, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and SMU.
He has started all seven games for the Vols this season and has delivered big moments in the wins against Oklahoma with a first-half interception and against Alabama with an end-zone interception as Tennessee denied the rival Crimson Tide a scoring opportunity.
McCoy had eight tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss and a pass breakup in addition to his pick while defending star Alabama freshman Ryan Williams.
“He gave me a release that I hadn’t really seen before, and I was just patient with it,” McCoy said. “I got hands on him, looked at (Jalen) Milroe and seen him throw the ball and just grabbed it.”
McCoy had a key fourth-down pass breakup in the win against Florida and also had two punt returns for 34 yards against the Gators.
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said McCoy is playing with good discipline at the line of scrimmage when in press-man coverage and has the athletic ability to recover in coverage when he doesn’t win at the start, and he noted the fundamentals and techniques helping him play effective defense against 50-50 balls on back-shoulder throws or deep shots.
“I think it just starts with his maturity as a person,” Heupel added. “Coming out of high school, what he did before he got on the field in three months at the previous stop, changing his body – a guy that was recruited to play some wide receiver, flips over to the other side of the football. He’s a sponge as far as soaking up information inside the meeting room. Extremely bright.
“It’s not like you’re restarting every single day. He’s able to grow upon what happened in the previous day on the field or in the meeting room, incorporate those things into his game. He’s got all the athletic traits that you want, but again, his maturity is a huge factor in why he’s playing the way that he is.”
McCoy said Tennessee’s mixture of man and zone coverage plays into his strengths and credited the routine he’s developed and followed during the week to be ready for what he’s going to face on Saturdays.
“I’ll watch the receivers’ releases off the line,” McCoy said. “Then once I get all that down, I’ll go over their formations and then watch a few games, just finding tendencies and things like that. Then once it comes game time, I kind of know what’s coming.”
Tennessee had to replace five of its top six cornerbacks from last season, and the sophomore duo of McCoy and Rickey Gibson III have been impressive in their first seasons in those feature roles for the Vols, who rank third nationally in both scoring defense (11.6 points per game) and total defense (259 yards per game).
“That’s something me and Rick been talking about since the day I got here,” McCoy said. “We just wanted to be the best in the SEC. We set a bunch of goals and we’re still trying to get to those goals, just trying to be the best DBs in the nation, honestly, not even the SEC.”
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