That all sounds good for us.Tennessee dipped into the transfer market to address another important need, picking up a commitment from former Auburn cornerback Kamal Hadden on Tuesday evening. The former junior college transfer signed with the Tigers in December and went through spring practice on The Plains before going into the NCAA transfer portal earlier this month. He'll come to the Vols with multiple years of eligibility remaining having played just one year at Independence Community College in Kansas in 2019 and will fill a need for his new team with Tennessee short on depth in the secondary.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Hadden is originally from Michigan and, after navigating several challenges growing up, had signed to play with Central Michigan before having to go to junior college due to academics. In his first season at Independence, he totaled 21 tackles, eight pass breakups and three forced fumbles. Last August he committed to Auburn from a final list including Kentucky, Nebraska, Texas Tech, Washington State, West Virginia and UCF, where he was recruited by current Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel and secondary coach Willie Martinez.
He signed with Auburn during the Early Signing Period before the Tigers changed coaches from Gus Malzahn to Bryan Harsin, and he primarily worked with the second-team defense during spring practice.
For more insight into what Tennessee is getting in Hadden, GoVols247 on Tuesday spoke with Nathan King, the Auburn beat writer for Auburn Undercover, the 247Sports site covering the Tigers. King said he was impressed with Hadden's energy and playmaking ability in limited viewing during Auburn's spring practice, noting how the cornerback stood out in a couple of different ways in an open practice and the Tigers's A-Day Spring Game. He also shed light into why Hadden left the Tigers so soon after joining them.
“Auburn had an open practice, Bryan Harsinheld an open practice,” King said, “and he was the first player on the field, the very first guy, and everybody in the stands started laughing, because he just came on the field just screaming in excitement. I think that situation, everybody was talking about him like, ‘Who’s No. 19 again? Oh yeah, that’s that new kid.’ That got everybody talking about him. I think kind of that was emblematic of his whole attitude.
“He was a kid who dealt with a lot growing up and then was really thankful for the SEC opportunity after I think he was a Central Michigan signee at one point and then ended up at Auburn and now at Tennessee. He was a guy that clicked really fast with his teammates, was always present whenever they were having a good time, having fun. He was a guy that the team leaders really enjoyed being around as well, so from a personality standpoint and kind of bringing energy to a defense, I think it’s all there for him, 100%.”
(Photo: Adam Sparks / Inside the Auburn Tigers, 247Sports)
Auburn pitted its second-team defense against its starting offense in the spring game, and Hadden finished with three tackles and a forced fumbles working as an outside cornerback, and he also made a couple of impressive plays in coverage.
“He is a really good-looking athlete,” King said, “and the biggest thing for him is I’d say he was probably Auburn’s second-best player at their spring game, which is pretty good. He was one of the corners on the second-team defense, which went up against the first-team offense. He was probably the runner-up for the defensive MVP voting that day. I believe he had two pass breakups that day, a couple of good tackles, he was part of a forced fumble that was a fourth-down stop and again was just kind of showing that energy all over the field.
“In terms of what I think Tennessee is getting, I think it goes back to that. It goes back to his energy. He’s going to be a good guy to have in the locker room, and it looked like he was in line to be a pretty quality depth piece in an SEC secondary, and Auburn’s got a really good secondary, I think. He looked like he was in line to be a good depth piece, so if anything, Tennessee is getting a guy that knows he’s probably not going to be the No. 1 corner, but looked like he was doing some good things kind of down the rotation.”
On his junior college film from 2019, Hadden shows he's an aggressive cornerback who can play physical and get his hands on receivers and makes plays on the football. He looks comfortable playing press-man coverage at the line of scrimmage, but also shows good instincts and ability to read the game when playing zone. Auburn kept him outside this spring, and Tennessee figures to do the same considering Hadden's skill set.
“That was the thing at the spring game, was pushing the ball in the air and him making plays with his hands down the field,” King said. “That’s probably the most impressive thing about him. I don’t know how tall he actually is, but he looks really long when he plays. He’s got those long arms. I think he can make a difference with that on the outside. That’s probably where he’s best-suited.”
King attributed Hadden's decision to leave Auburn to the amount of depth the Tigers have at cornerback, where the likes of Roger McCreary, Jaylin Simpson and Nehemiah Pritchett return from last season and the Tigers have added a pair of transfers this offseason in West Virginia's Dreshun Miller and Southeast Missouri State's Bydarrius Knighten.
Tennessee is considerably thinner at his position, though, so Hadden should almost immediately give the Vols quality depth.
“He was brought in an under a different staff, was an early enrollee and it was a situation where he was kind of feeling out the new staff,” King said. “I wasn’t surprised (he went into the portal), just because cornerback for Auburn, not only is really loaded right now, but it’s going to get even better. They’re bringing in a transfer player who’s a starter-caliber guy. They could be looking there in the transfer portal. Their secondary is really, really deep, so it wasn’t surprising to see a guy like that leave.
“I kind of figured a guy like him, who was down the secondary rotation might think, ‘All right, I might not get enough playing time here, let me go somewhere where I can fit into the rotation.’”
Every new coaching staff either does this "enforcer" thing where they go after discipline, or the "cool uncle" thing where they learn to have fun again. Hell, at UT we alternate between them. It means literally nothing. It's just a way for a new coach to score "culture change" points with the fans without having to win any games.
Tennessee dipped into the transfer market to address another important need, picking up a commitment from former Auburn cornerback Kamal Hadden on Tuesday evening. The former junior college transfer signed with the Tigers in December and went through spring practice on The Plains before going into the NCAA transfer portal earlier this month. He'll come to the Vols with multiple years of eligibility remaining having played just one year at Independence Community College in Kansas in 2019 and will fill a need for his new team with Tennessee short on depth in the secondary.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Hadden is originally from Michigan and, after navigating several challenges growing up, had signed to play with Central Michigan before having to go to junior college due to academics. In his first season at Independence, he totaled 21 tackles, eight pass breakups and three forced fumbles. Last August he committed to Auburn from a final list including Kentucky, Nebraska, Texas Tech, Washington State, West Virginia and UCF, where he was recruited by current Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel and secondary coach Willie Martinez.
He signed with Auburn during the Early Signing Period before the Tigers changed coaches from Gus Malzahn to Bryan Harsin, and he primarily worked with the second-team defense during spring practice.
For more insight into what Tennessee is getting in Hadden, GoVols247 on Tuesday spoke with Nathan King, the Auburn beat writer for Auburn Undercover, the 247Sports site covering the Tigers. King said he was impressed with Hadden's energy and playmaking ability in limited viewing during Auburn's spring practice, noting how the cornerback stood out in a couple of different ways in an open practice and the Tigers's A-Day Spring Game. He also shed light into why Hadden left the Tigers so soon after joining them.
“Auburn had an open practice, Bryan Harsinheld an open practice,” King said, “and he was the first player on the field, the very first guy, and everybody in the stands started laughing, because he just came on the field just screaming in excitement. I think that situation, everybody was talking about him like, ‘Who’s No. 19 again? Oh yeah, that’s that new kid.’ That got everybody talking about him. I think kind of that was emblematic of his whole attitude.
“He was a kid who dealt with a lot growing up and then was really thankful for the SEC opportunity after I think he was a Central Michigan signee at one point and then ended up at Auburn and now at Tennessee. He was a guy that clicked really fast with his teammates, was always present whenever they were having a good time, having fun. He was a guy that the team leaders really enjoyed being around as well, so from a personality standpoint and kind of bringing energy to a defense, I think it’s all there for him, 100%.”
(Photo: Adam Sparks / Inside the Auburn Tigers, 247Sports)
Auburn pitted its second-team defense against its starting offense in the spring game, and Hadden finished with three tackles and a forced fumbles working as an outside cornerback, and he also made a couple of impressive plays in coverage.
“He is a really good-looking athlete,” King said, “and the biggest thing for him is I’d say he was probably Auburn’s second-best player at their spring game, which is pretty good. He was one of the corners on the second-team defense, which went up against the first-team offense. He was probably the runner-up for the defensive MVP voting that day. I believe he had two pass breakups that day, a couple of good tackles, he was part of a forced fumble that was a fourth-down stop and again was just kind of showing that energy all over the field.
“In terms of what I think Tennessee is getting, I think it goes back to that. It goes back to his energy. He’s going to be a good guy to have in the locker room, and it looked like he was in line to be a pretty quality depth piece in an SEC secondary, and Auburn’s got a really good secondary, I think. He looked like he was in line to be a good depth piece, so if anything, Tennessee is getting a guy that knows he’s probably not going to be the No. 1 corner, but looked like he was doing some good things kind of down the rotation.”
On his junior college film from 2019, Hadden shows he's an aggressive cornerback who can play physical and get his hands on receivers and makes plays on the football. He looks comfortable playing press-man coverage at the line of scrimmage, but also shows good instincts and ability to read the game when playing zone. Auburn kept him outside this spring, and Tennessee figures to do the same considering Hadden's skill set.
“That was the thing at the spring game, was pushing the ball in the air and him making plays with his hands down the field,” King said. “That’s probably the most impressive thing about him. I don’t know how tall he actually is, but he looks really long when he plays. He’s got those long arms. I think he can make a difference with that on the outside. That’s probably where he’s best-suited.”
King attributed Hadden's decision to leave Auburn to the amount of depth the Tigers have at cornerback, where the likes of Roger McCreary, Jaylin Simpson and Nehemiah Pritchett return from last season and the Tigers have added a pair of transfers this offseason in West Virginia's Dreshun Miller and Southeast Missouri State's Bydarrius Knighten.
Tennessee is considerably thinner at his position, though, so Hadden should almost immediately give the Vols quality depth.
“He was brought in an under a different staff, was an early enrollee and it was a situation where he was kind of feeling out the new staff,” King said. “I wasn’t surprised (he went into the portal), just because cornerback for Auburn, not only is really loaded right now, but it’s going to get even better. They’re bringing in a transfer player who’s a starter-caliber guy. They could be looking there in the transfer portal. Their secondary is really, really deep, so it wasn’t surprising to see a guy like that leave.
“I kind of figured a guy like him, who was down the secondary rotation might think, ‘All right, I might not get enough playing time here, let me go somewhere where I can fit into the rotation.’”
