Ty Redmond stayed the course after some early bumps in the road to turn in an impressive freshman season at Tennessee in 2025, but between how he’s wired and what’s happened around him since he hasn’t basked in his individual success. The cornerbacks who mentored him are all gone – Jermod McCoy and Colton Hood to the NFL Draft and Rickey Gibson III to Texas A&M via the transfer portal – and he’s on his second new position coach of the offseason. Instead of watching his highlight reel, Redmond’s film study has been devoted to addressing his early-season struggles, and he’s embraced the “old school approach” of new Tennessee cornerbacks coach Derek Jones, who is tasked with helping the sophomore elevate his play in 2026.
An unheralded three-star recruit out of Alpharetta’s Milton High School in the Atlanta area, Redmond, who committed to Tennessee early in his recruitment, burst onto the scene as a freshman and was thrown into the fire by McCoy’s absence and Gibson’s first-game injury.
Picked on in the overtime loss to Georgia in his second college start, Redmond avoided a similar fate of many freshman cornerbacks to go before him and didn’t let his confidence crater. He went on to earn All-SEC second-team and SEC All-Freshman Team honors with some Freshman All-American recognition as well after finishing with 43 tackles, 12 pass breakups and three interceptions. Redmond led all Power 4 freshmen and ranked second among FBS freshmen in PBUs (12) and passes defensed (15), and his Pro Football Focus coverage grade (81.6) wound up higher than Hood, a projected first-round pick in this month’s NFL Draft.
McCoy predicted at the NFL Scouting Combine that Redmond would be an All-American in 2026. Midway through spring ball, Redmond watched McCoy and Hood go through Tennessee’s Pro Day in front of NFL coaches and scouts. It was a glimpse into his potential future.
“It was a real moment where I can see myself,” Redmond said after Tuesday’s practice, Tennessee’s 12th of the spring, “because I was in the room with those guys – them always being on me, telling me what to do, just watching them being an example for me.”
Redmond has at least two years to get there.