Tennessee’s search for another impact transfer cornerback has landed on Kayin Lee, and the early message out of fall camp is clear: the Vols aren’t trying to reinvent him. They’re trying to push him higher.
Lee arrived from Auburn earlier this year after three seasons in the SEC, bringing with him a résumé that stands out in a Tennessee cornerbacks room still taking shape. The 5-foot-11 defensive back from Ellenwood, GA, piled up 82 total tackles, 17 pass deflections, three interceptions and one forced fumble with the Tigers. He also logged plenty of snaps against SEC competition, which is a big reason Tennessee believes he can be part of the same transfer-portal success story the program has had at cornerback with Kamal Hadden, Jermod McCoy and Colton Hood.
Cornerbacks coach Derek Jones said Tuesday that Lee’s background isn’t the issue. The task is helping him get even better within Tennessee’s system.
“Kayin had been very well coached, coming from where he’s come from,” Jones said on Tuesday. “It’s just a matter of picking up the things that we’re doing. It’s a matter of elevating his game to the next level.”
That matters even more because Tennessee’s cornerback group is young, and senior Jadais Richard is out for the season after an injury suffered in fall camp. Ty Redmond is projected to return as a starter, but Lee brings the kind of experience nobody else in the room can match right now.
Still, Jones said Lee won’t get a different standard just because he’s the most seasoned player in the group.
“You have to coach all the guys the same,” Jones said. “I think one of the things you want to make players understand as coaches is every day is a new day, every week’s a new week, every month’s a new month, every year’s a new year.
And this is a different season. This is a different scheme.
I’m a different coach. But he can’t rely on anything he’s done in the past.”
At the same time, experience brings responsibility. The younger corners are watching Lee closely, and Jones said that makes his job even more important.
“As a matter of fact, when you’re a guy like that in the room, you have to coach that guy a little bit harder because when he does things, everybody else follows,” Jones said. “And he has to be on the same page with me, and I have to be on the same page with him. In addition, I’m trying to help this kid obtain his goals here at the University of Tennessee as well as his long-term goals.”
Lee said he’s embracing that role while he learns the system and builds his leadership voice.
“Those young guys, I’m not going to lie, they’ve got a kick to them,” Lee said on Tuesday. “They’re ready to go.
It’s a lot of things we’ve got to clean up and all that, but that’s all of us. I mean, I’m helping them get to that next level also.
We talk a lot on and off the field, so me just being there for them, considering they’re younger, that helps them, but it helps me also with my leadership skills, trying to be a captain and stuff like that.”
For Tennessee, Lee looks like more than just another portal addition. He’s shaping up to be a key piece on defense and a steadying voice in a cornerback room that needs both.
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