Several Tennessee football players will be receiving new jersey numbers for the upcoming football season.
Some of the switching players have previously played at Tennessee such as Squirrel White and Bru McCoy. Others, though, are newcomers who had a number during spring camp but are switching it up before their first official season with Tennessee.
Fear not, internet. Mike Matthews won’t be wearing No. 89 on the field this year.
(Yes, that was a real point online coming out of spring camp.)
Here’s a look at notable number switches (from fall 2023 and spring 2024 to fall 2024) according to the official 2024 Tennessee Football roster:
Position |
NAME |
Previous |
NEW |
DB | William Wright |
36 |
0 |
TE | Ethan Davis |
86 |
0 |
DB | Rickey Gibson III |
18 |
1 |
DB | Andre Turrentine |
17 |
2 |
WR | Squirrel White |
10 |
3 |
DB | Jermod McCoy |
13 |
3 |
DB | Jourdan Thomas |
24 |
4 |
WR | Bru McCoy |
15 |
5 |
DB | Christian Harrison |
29 |
5 |
DB | Jalen McMurray |
12 |
6 |
LB | Kalib Perry |
40 |
8 |
DB | Jakobe Thomas |
30 |
9 |
WR | Mike Matthews |
89 |
10 |
WR | Chas Nimrod |
81 |
11 |
WR | Chris Brazzell II |
11 |
17 |
DB | Kaleb Beasley |
28 |
25 |
DB | Marcus Goree Jr. |
34 |
28 |
DL | Jaxson Moi |
99 |
51 |
OL | Trevor Duncan |
95 |
65 |
TE | Emmanuel Okoye |
27 |
98 |
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Notable NON-switching numbers include No. 6 Dylan Sampson, No. 8 Nico Iamaleava, No. 10 Elijah Simmons, No. 21 Bryson Eason, No. 23 Cam Seldon, No. 23 Boo Carter, No. 53 Lance Heard, No. 63 Cooper Mays, No. 74 John Campbell Jr., and No. 76 Javontez Spraggins.
As per usual, players love switching into the single digits each season as those numbers are fairly quickly scooped up. All 12 of the new single-digit players came from double-digit numbers with Squirrel White having the smallest transition starting with 10.
This is not a complete list of the jersey switches but just some of the notable returning and incoming players for the upcoming season. We’re working on a full 2024 roster breakdown for RTI that will have height/weight, numbers, years, and more. Stay tuned post-SEC Media Days for that breakdown.