Former Tennessee defensive back Cristian Conyer is transferring to Coastal Carolina, he announced on Saturday afternoon just over a month after he entered the transfer portal.
Conyer spent just one season at Tennessee, recording one tackle while playing special teams in the Vols’ blowout win over UConn. While the Vols have plenty of turnover at cornerback this offseason, it didn’t seem likely that Conyer was going to grab a major role on Tennessee’s defense during his sophomore season.
A former three-star recruit in the 2023 recruiting class, Conyer was a major recruiting win for Josh Heupel and his staff. The Bowling Green native was the top player in the state of Kentucky in the 2024 recruiting cycle and chose Tennessee over the Wildcats.
But Conyer didn’t hit the ground running and was behind fellow rising sophomore cornerbacks Rickey Gibson II and Jordan Matthews in the pecking order entering his sophomore season. He went through spring practice with Tennessee this fall before transferring afterwards.
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Conyer was one of only two Tennessee players that entered the transfer portal after spring practice. Linebacker Elijah Herring entered the transfer portal and ended up transferring to Memphis.
At Coastal Carolina, Conyer joins a program that’s been highly successful since moving to Division One in 2017. The Chanticleers went 31-7 from 2020-2022 before head coach Jamey Chadwell left for Liberty. Coastal Carolina went 9-4 in Tim Beck’s first season as head coach last fall.
Tennessee lost its top two cornerbacks from last season’s team— Kamal Hadden and Gabe Jeudy-Lally— while a number of young corners are looking to step into bigger roles. The sophomore Gibson and Oregon State transfer Jermod McCoy projects as starters while Matthews and Temple transfer Jalen McMurray will provide depth.
