Tennessee football was a natural fit for Xavier Gilliam once he entered the transfer portal. The defensive lineman would be playing in a new uniform after two seasons at Penn State, but the Vols’ coaching staff could provide some continuity.
Coach Josh Heupel had hired defensive coordinator Jim Knowles after his one-year stint with the Nittany Lions, and Gilliam had also played under co-defensive coordinator/secondary coach Anthony Poindexter and edge rushers coach Andrew Jackson, who followed Knowles from Penn State to Knoxville.
The staff preached competition at Gilliam’s position on the interior of the line when he visited, and that sold him. He backed up his confidence with a strong spring.
“Just looking at the program, it was very competitive,
and that’s something that I wanted to be part of,” Gilliam, a junior, said on Aug. 4. “I’m very competitive myself and I see how I can bring value to this team. That’s why I came to Tennessee.”
Tennessee’s defensive line is a retooled group that lost five players to exhausted eligibility and six to the portal. Gilliam will help spearhead the interior alongside returners Daevin Hobbs and Nathan Robinson.
Gilliam didn’t start playing football until high school
Although he is entering his third year in college, Gilliam’s football career is young. He didn’t start playing football until his sophomore year of high school at Wilde Lake in Columbia, Maryland. His memories of playing sports growing up are mostly set on basketball courts and baseball fields.
But Gilliam was drawn to football as he got older. He was always bigger than his peers, so physicality wouldn’t be a problem. His father, Cecil, played football at Morgan State from 1996-97, and his cousin, Kelvin Gilliam Jr., was playing on Oklahoma’s defensive line at the time.
“I was like, football it is,” the 6-foot-2, 305-pound Gilliam said.
Gilliam’s experience playing other sports helped him develop an athletic base, and once he learned the nuances of football college offers came in. ESPN ranked him as a four-star recruit, and he committed to Penn State in June 2023. Before his senior year, he transferred to Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and gave up basketball and baseball.
Gilliam redshirted his freshman year at Penn State. Last season, he had 16 tackles, two tackles-for-loss, a sack and forced fumble in 13 games.
“I put my mind to it that I would be good at this, so that’s what I did,” Gilliam said. “I feel like now looking back at it, I definitely have come a long way.”
Gilliam has experience in Jim Knowles’ defense
Having come with Knowles from Penn State, Gilliam is now playing the role of teacher for some of his Tennessee teammates. Knowles is one of college football’s most acclaimed coordinators but also known for running a scheme that can take more than a season to master.
The Vols are trying to speed up that process. It’s helped having three Penn State transfers with experience playing in the system: Gilliam, linebacker Amare Campbell and defensive back DeJuan Lane.
“Being around my old team and being around this team, seeing how different guys pick it up, I’m just really confident about how my defense is picking it up right now,” Gilliam said. "With us having guys that have played in the defense at the secondary position, at the linebacker position, at the D-line position, it’s a lot easier."
Emmett Siegel covers Tennessee baseball for Knox News. Email: emmett.siegel@knoxnews.com; X: @EmmettSiegel_
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Why Xavier Gilliam followed Jim Knowles to Tennessee football from Penn State
