Kim Caldwell didn’t wait long to set the bar for Kennedy Fauntleroy.
The Tennessee coach has made it clear what she wants from the transfer point guard ahead of the 2026-27 season: SEC Defensive Player of the Year. Fauntleroy has her own goals, too.
She said she wants to land on an All-SEC team and finish near the top of the league in assists. But the defensive award is the one Caldwell introduced first.
That expectation makes sense to at least one of Fauntleroy’s teammates. Forward Aaliyah Moore said Caldwell’s pressure on Fauntleroy comes from believing just how good she can be on that side of the ball.
“The reason why Coach Kim is so hard on Kennedy is because Kennedy doesn’t understand that she can really be an elite defender,” Moore said. “Kennedy has all of it.
She’s quick, she has good hands. She’s also aggressive.
I think when Coach Kim sees that, she’s going to want it out of her every single day and every single game. But when Kennedy is up pressing, all of us are like oh shoot, we got to get up and press.”
Tennessee was left out of the preseason All-SEC teams after the media and coaches cast their votes. With as many as 21 players receiving honors from the coaches, no Lady Vols were selected.
Fauntleroy arrives in Knoxville after one season at East Carolina, where she put together the best year of her college career. She was named the American Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year, and she earned First Team All-Conference recognition. In 32 appearances with 31 starts, the 5-foot-7 guard averaged 13.7 points, 4.8 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 2.7 steals per game while shooting 39.3% from the field and 30.8% from three.
Her path has been a winding one. Fauntleroy started at Georgetown, where she was unanimously chosen as the 2023 Big East Freshman of the Year.
She then moved to Oklahoma State, but played in only five games and took a redshirt. After that came Arizona State, where she logged 22 games and 12 starts before ending up at Tennessee.
The upcoming season will be Fauntleroy’s fifth at her fifth school. She is from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, and attended New Hope Academy.
In Other News...
Tennessees Costly 4th-And-1 Breakdown Deserves A Closer Look
A late fourth-and-1 became the kind of moment Tennessee would like back for a long time, with quarterback George MacIntyre unable to execute the intended handoff and the play ending in a loss of yards and a turnover on downs. It was the sort of breakdown that can swing a game in a hurry, and in this case it opened the door for South Carolina to tie things up before going on to win.
Josh Heupel and MacIntyre both pointed to the sequence as a misstep and a miscommunication, which only adds to the sting for Tennessee because the margin for error was already so thin. On a night when one clean exchange might have changed the finish, the Volunteers were left sorting through how a short-yardage call unraveled at the worst possible time. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee Benefits After South Carolinas Costly Postgame Chaos
Tennessee will collect an unexpected off-field benefit from one of the SECs newest enforcement measures after South Carolina was fined $500,000 for fans storming the field at Williams-Brice Stadium following a game-winning field goal against the Volunteers. The penalty marks the third field-storming fine in the conference this season and the first under the leagues flat-rate system, which replaced a more variable approach to these violations.
For Tennessee, the result is less about the dollar amount than the principle behind it. The money will be paid to the visiting team affected by the violation, giving the Volunteers a direct return from a night that ended in chaos for the home crowd. It is another reminder that the SEC is trying to make field-storming more expensive, even as the practice continues to create problems after close games. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee Still Has Two Strengths That Should Worry Kentucky
Even after the 27-24 loss to South Carolina, Tennessee still has the kind of defensive backbone and ground game that can make life miserable for Kentucky. The Volunteers have piled up 35 sacks and 66 tackles for loss this season, numbers that speak to a front capable of changing games even when the offense does not fully capitalize. On the other side of the ball, DeSean Bishop gave Tennessee a needed spark with 120 rushing yards and a touchdown, a performance that also pushed him past some meaningful career benchmarks.
Now the bye week gives Tennessee a chance to reset before the Kentucky matchup, and that is where the Vols will lean on what has traveled best for them all year. If the defense keeps collapsing pockets and the run game keeps producing steady yards, Tennessee has a clear path to making the rivalry game uncomfortable for the Wildcats, even after the setback in Columbia. [Read more 🡒]