Jermod McCoy was a high school wide receiver who signed with the only power conference school that offered him a scholarship in the 2023 class.

A year later, he was among the most coveted cornerbacks in the transfer portal.

McCoy chose Tennessee over Texas A&M, Auburn, Oregon, Washington and other schools who weren’t interested in him the first time around.

“I ended up going to Oregon State because it was the biggest school I had (an offer from) at the time,” said McCoy, who transferred to UT in December. “But I definitely felt like I should’ve been in the SEC.”

It’s a common but recent narrative in college football. Because of the portal, under-recruited players are getting a second chance to play immediately at the highest level.

UT is relying on three such players to retool its defensive secondary.

After moving to cornerback, McCoy had a breakout freshman season at Oregon State and jumped into the portal to capitalize on his success at a new position.

Jakobe Thomas got little attention from power conference schools when he came out of Tullahoma in 2021. But he developed into a reliable safety over three seasons at Middle Tennessee State to become a prized pick-up in the portal.

And Temple transfer Jalen McMurray, who was rated a two-star prospect in high school by some recruiting services, is now a valued veteran in his first UT spring practice.

Transfer portal gives and takes away for Tennessee

Proponents of the transfer portal point to these second-chance situations as evidence that the system works. Opponents counter with the harm that it does to the schools that initially signed and developed the player.

After all, if UT is a winner in these portal moves, then Oregon State, Temple and MTSU were the losers. But the newest Vols are happy to land at an SEC school, which was their initial goal coming out of high school.

“Going into the transfer portal, the grass is not always greener on the other side,” McMurray said. “But me being in the fortunate position that I’m in today, I feel like I made the right decision. It has worked out, and (the portal) is beneficial for some.”

Of course, every school is impacted by the portal.

UT lost 10 defensive backs this offseason, including seven to the portal. They included Wesley Walker (Louisville), Tamarion McDonald (Louisville), Doneiko Slaughter (Arkansas), Brandon Turnage (Ole Miss), Warren Burrell (Georgia Tech), De’Shawn Rucker (South Florida) and Jack Luttrell (Arizona).

Kamal Hadden, Jaylen McCollough and Gabe Jeudy-Lally declared for the NFL Draft.

Transfers, UT recruits were viewed differently out of high school

The arrival of McCoy, McMurray and Thomas sets up a unique competition between former lauded recruits who signed with the Vols out of high school and under-recruited transfers who finally made it to UT.

At cornerback, McCoy and McMurray are competing with Rickey Gibson, Jordan Matthews and Cristian Conyer.

Gibson, a former four-star recruit, chose UT over Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri and Ole Miss. Matthews, a former four-star recruit, chose UT over Texas, Michigan and virtually every SEC school. Conyer, a former three-star recruit, chose UT over Kentucky, Michigan and Oregon.

At safety, Thomas is competing with John Slaughter, who chose UT over Florida State, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Mississippi State, and Andre Turrentine, who signed with Ohio State as a four-star recruit and later transferred to UT.

But now they’re all on equal footing.

Secondary coach Willie Martinez said players develop at different paces and in different programs. But they’re judged the same.

“It’s no different than the (returning) guys on our team,” Martinez said. “The goal is obviously to get developed, right? I mean, that’s, that’s the only way. They don’t come out (of high school), they don’t come in (to college) ready-made.”

Transfers, unlike returning Vols, have played a lot

All three transfers have a reasonable chance to start. For now, they’re at least in the primary rotation.

One advantage they may have over the competition is that Martinez and defensive coordinator Tim Banks value game experience. And the transfers have played more, albeit against weaker competition, than the young defensive backs who’ve waited their turn to play for the Vols.

McMurray played 1,428 defensive snaps over three seasons at Temple. Thomas played 1,225 defensive snaps over three seasons at MTSU. And McCoy played 410 defensive snaps as a freshman at Oregon State last season.

That dwarfs the defensive snaps of Turrentine (434), Gibson (187), Slaughter (8), Matthews (7) and Conyer (4) in their abbreviated careers.

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But the returning players have the luxury of already knowing UT’s defensive system.

"This is the first time that I've been one of the oldest in the room," said McMurray, who enrolled at UT in January. "But when you've got guys in our room that are extremely talented, we push each other. It's a healthy competition."

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football transfers are competing with prized recruits