Gabe Jeudy-Lally reveals why he chose to transfer to Tennessee

The Tennessee football program picked up a few choice transfers in the offseason, including BYU defensive back Gabe Jeudy-Lally. He’ll be expected to supply the secondary with some experience.

So why did Jeudy pick the Volunteers? He listed several excellent reasons when asked recently.

“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 (Willie) Martinez, coach (Tim) Banks, they really develop guys seeing the guys that they put in the league.”

Jeudy-Lally is a capable contributor, one who has the profile of someone who could make it to the NFL with another strong season or two. As a sophomore at BYU he racked up 46 tackles and seven pass breakups in the secondary.

He’s already got some SEC experience, too, having played at Vanderbilt before joining BYU.

“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,” Gabe Jeudy-Lally said. “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.”

Jeudy-Lally mentioned making it to a bigger bowl game; Tennessee is certainly capable of that after reaching the Orange Bowl in an 11-win season last year.

The momentum that the Tennessee program has picked up under now third-year coach Josh Heupel played into Gabe Jeudy-Lally’s transfer decision, he said.

“Of course, it did, but at the end of the day each season’s a new season, so you can’t hold too much weight,” he said. “But it’s good to see that coach Heup and everybody was pushing Tennessee in the right direction. Of course in the back of your mind it’s going to weigh in when you make a decision, but it also talks about the people that are here.

“They come in and they get the job done, and I’m a big people person. Seeing that coach Heup and everybody on the staff was just able to turn it around, it just shows the time and patience that they have with everybody in the program, so that was part of the reason I wanted to come.”