Heupel Show Spotlight: Gabe Jeudy-Lally
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Heading into Week 5 of his fifth season of college football, cornerback Gabe Jeudy-Lally brings experience, leadership, physicality and wisdom to Tennessee’s defensive back room after joining the Vols this past spring. The Austin, Texas, native is no stranger to the Volunteer State, however — his college football journey began in Nashville, seeing action in 23 games over the course of three seasons at Vanderbilt (2019-21).
After earning his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt in three years, Jeudy-Lally headed west for the 2022 season, playing 13 games with 10 starts at BYU last fall before making his way to Rocky Top. The redshirt senior has two years of eligibility remaining and has already made an impact this season, starting at corner the last two weeks and totaling 11 tackles, two TFLs and one pass breakup through the first four games of 2023.
Jeudy-Lally grew up playing soccer, but when his family moved to Austin more than 20 years ago, football came to the forefront. Growing up around powerhouse high school programs such as Cedar Park, Lake Travis and Vandegrift, watching future college and NFL stars under the Friday night lights, he gravitated towards the gridiron and saw a path to compete at the highest level.
“My sisters cheered at Cedar Park High School in Austin, and they had a lot of guys going to state championship after state championship,” Jeudy-Lally said. “Couldn't name a specific person because it's been so long, but I was just seeing guys of all shapes and sizes to be able to make it to the next level, so it was just really cool to see.”
He started playing Pop Warner football at five years old and looks back on that time with amusement, but also appreciation for his coaches and role models. Two-hour practices multiple times a week, playing multiple positions on the field and being part of a winning culture laid the foundation for him to reach the next level.
“A lot of my coaches played on some national championship teams growing up, and had played in the NFL as well,” Jeudy-Lally explained. “Getting that coaching from a young age, from Pop Warner all the way through middle school, it just showed me that whatever position you play, if you put enough work in, you're able to be able to get to the next level.
“On a team where we had 30 kids, we had eight coaches that played at the next level or in the NFL. It was just good to have that building block and that role model to look up to … It just was like a trajectory that I saw myself on because the people around me really instilled that into me.”
Let’s get it Rocky Top #GBO?? #Committed pic.twitter.com/0y238H0sXS
— Gabe Jeudy (@GabeJeudy) January 19, 2023
Jeudy-Lally played middle linebacker and quarterback throughout Pop Warner, but moved to defensive back in sixth grade thanks to encouragement from his coach, former Denver Bronco Donnis Watson. It was a pivotal moment in Jeudy-Lally’s career, as Watson taught him to be the physical player on the field. That mentality stuck with him throughout high school football in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he prepped at Ardrey Kell High School and earned an opportunity to play in the Southeastern Conference.
In three seasons at Vanderbilt, Jeudy-Lally saw action in 23 games with 13 starts and posted 62 tackles, two interceptions and four passes defended. Last year at BYU, he played in all 13 games with 10 starts, tallied 47 total tackles and led the Cougars with seven pass breakups.
He ultimately entered the transfer portal on December 29, 2022, the day before No. 6 Tennessee punctuated a monumental season with a 31-14 victory over No. 7 Clemson in the Capital One Orange Bowl. After a conversation with defensive backs coach Willie Martinez that morning, Jeudy-Lally watched the bowl game closely and took notes on how he could fit into UT’s defensive scheme.
I watched the Tennessee defense, and it was just something that I felt like I could really see myself fitting into,” Jeudy-Lally said. “Fast-paced pressure, roll up the corners, play man when needed, just all the things that I think that I can showcase and display to be able to go the next level and also help Tennessee win football games.- Gabe Jeudy-Lally
“At the end of the day, I saw that there's a culture and a family being built here. And you know, regardless of whatever result, we're going to play well on defense, and I wanted to be a be a part of that.
To Jeudy-Lally, the winning culture and family atmosphere fostered by head coach Josh Heupel and his staff at Tennessee has been as advertised. UT mirrors the environment he grew up in with so many successful mentors and supporters, all focused on the holistic development of student-athletes.
“Being here, I could have just been a different guy that just came in and was just a part of the team,” Jeudy-Lally said. “But everybody here cares — from media, to athletic training, to the coaches, to the strength staff, to academics, I think that everybody here just invests in you.
“At the end of the day, I could have gone somewhere where I could have just been another number. But here, I feel like I'm really a part of the team.”
Jeudy-Lally has felt the love and support from Vol Nation early in his tenure in Knoxville. The belief and support from the fan base has made him more confident and allowed him to genuinely enjoy playing the game he loves.
Being here now, being on the loving side of things, it's been pretty awesome … To see Coach Heup throw his hands up and see 100,000 people plus just really roaring, it’s awesome. And it felt like a sort of confidence, like a blanket over the top of you, because you knew that everybody's there to support you. I've been some pretty cool places playing a lot of college football, but Neyland is definitely up there in the top experiences for sure.
Moving forward into a four-week gauntlet of SEC play, Jeudy-Lally plans to take it one practice, one game, one play at a time.
“We just need to be able to focus on stacking performance after performance. It's 1-0 each week, like Coach Heup likes to say … I think that if I am fundamentally sound the whole game, there's nothing I can't do on the field to be able to help our team. I think that if our team looks at it that way too, if everybody does their job — special teams, offense, defense — everybody does their 1/11th, we have the opportunity to be the best team on the field that day. And if you're the best team on the field every single week, we have the opportunity to be the best team in the country.
“From here on out, let's just take that mindset to be 1-0 every single day and 1-0 on each play.”