The Tennessee Volunteers and defensive coordinator Tim Banks have agreed to a contract extension, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.

Banks led one of the country’s top defenses in 2024. The Vols held 11 of their 13 opponents under 20 points on defense and finished fifth nationally in yards per play allowed (4.56).

Banks received interest from multiple teams and coached this season on a contract that expires at the end of January. His new deal will pay him in the $2 million range annually, sources told ESPN, after he made $1.5 million this season.

A finalist for the Broyles Award as the top assistant coach in college football this season, Banks has been with Josh Heupel all four seasons at Tennessee after coaching under James Franklin at Penn State for five seasons.

Banks, 53, could be without one of his top players for part of next season. Cornerback Jermod McCoy, an ESPN second-team All-American, underwent surgery after tearing an ACL while training at his home in Texas, school officials said.

McCoy will miss spring practice, and his rehabilitation and recovery will determine whether he can get back in time for the start of the 2025 season.

The transfer from Oregon State was a key part of Tennessee’s defense as a sophomore and one of the top returning defensive backs in college football. He tied for the team lead with four interceptions, led the team with nine pass breakups and finished third with 44 total tackles. His 90.3 coverage grade by Pro Football Focus ranked fifth nationally among cornerbacks during the regular season.

Tennessee tied for seventh nationally with 11 touchdown passes allowed in 13 games.

Tennessee Republicans are poised to pass new rules that would allow House Speaker Cameron Sexton to ban a spectator from the House gallery for the entirety of the legislative session, an escalation of public protest guardrails the GOP supermajority has implemented in the last two years.

The new two-strike rule allows the speaker to order anyone in the gallery removed for disorderly conduct. If a person is removed once, they will be blocked from returning to the gallery for that day and the next legislative day.

Once a person is deemed disorderly and removed a second time, though, they can be prohibited from the gallery “for any period up to the remainder” of the legislative session.

Sexton could also immediately ban someone for “especially egregious conduct.”

Republicans also gave initial passage Tuesday in the House Rules Committee to a new three-strikes provision that would block a disorderly member from the House chamber, as well.

How Sexton, R-Crossville, might define disorderly or “especially egregious” conduct is fully at his discretion, a point House Democrats have repeatedly criticized over what they argued was inequitable application of the rules. Democrats have argued that by holding supermajority the GOP has total power to define what is and is not considered out of order.

More: Rep. Justin Jones slams House vote to silence him as ‘charade’ as Dems walk out in protest

The new rules package come amid several sessions of heated public pushback, typically sharply critical of House Republicans, that first began as gun control protests in the wake of the 2023 Covenant School shooting.

Since then, House Republican leadership has implemented increasingly stringent speaking rules for members, instituted certain signage bans for members of the public and blocked off one-half of the public House gallery for ticketed entrance.

Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanooga, was one of the three Democrats on Tuesday’s House committee that voted against the rules package.

“If the representative can’t be heard, if they can’t express themselves, and then the people are being put out, who are you listening to?” Hakeem asked Rep. Johnny Garret, R-Goodlettsville, who presented the GOP rules package.

Garrett, an attorney, likened the House chamber to a courtroom. Public access does not mean there aren’t rules to follow, he argued.

“Courts in the state of Tennessee are wide open, you and I can walk in and observe,” Garrett said. “But we do not have the constitutional right to scream bloody murder inside a courtroom. That judge would slap us with contempt and throw us in jail.”

Under the new three-strikes rule for House members, a representative who is “called to order” for breaking House rules, which the rules package also refers to as “unruly behavior,” will at first face a limit on their speaking time. For the second transgression, the member would be silenced for two legislative days.

A third transgression could trigger total removal from the House chamber for three legislative days.

Garrett said the House would set up a remote voting chamber in a committee room to allow the member to cast votes.

The remote voting rule appears targeted at Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, who frequently clashes with Sexton and other House Republicans on the chamber floor.

Jones demurred Tuesday when asked if he felt the remote voting punishment was aimed at him but described the rules package overall as “authoritarianism without guardrails.”

“It’s going to impact the right of the public to be here in this building, going to impact their rights and their ability to show up in the capital,” Jones said.

In other rule changes, House members’ bill allowance will drop over the next two years. Members previously could file 15 bills each but would be held to 12 bills in 2025. Next year, the bill allowance would drop to 10 per member. Committee chairs and other leadership would have a higher allowance.

Republicans voted down all rules changes proposed by Democrats, including one brought by Jones to curtail conflicts of interest between lawmakers married to lobbyists.

Republicans also blocked a ban on guns in committee rooms. Firearms are currently banned from the state Capitol but allowed in the adjoining office building.

The new rules package must be adopted by the full House before any changes go into effect, but Republicans easily have the votes to pass the package.

Tennessee Basketball’s injury report on Tuesday night once again listed only sophomore forward JP Estrella, who had season-ending foot surgery in November, as out for Wednesday’s game against Georgia. 

But the left shoulder injury for sophomore forward Cade Phillips isn’t going away. Phillips continues to wear a brace on the shoulder in practice and games, playing through pain while hesitating to the left arm he injured in the second half against Arkansas on January 4.

“Cade is tough as nails, that’s a good thing,” Tennessee assistant coach Lucas Campbell said before practice on Tuesday. “In the games he’s told me adrenaline takes over and he starts to just go.”

No. 6 Tennessee (15-1, 2-1 SEC) and No. 23 Georgia (14-2, 2-1) on Wednesday are scheduled for an 8 p.m. Eastern Time start (TV: SEC Network) at Food City Center. The Bulldogs listed all players as available on Tuesday’s injury report.

Phillips scored four points in 10 minutes off the bench in the 74-70 win at Texas on Saturday night, going 2-for-3 from the field with four rebounds. He played just three minutes in the loss at Florida last Tuesday.

“He missed a bunny there (at Texas),” Campbell said. “I don’t know if that had to do with his shoulder or not, but he did a great job. He had a nice put-back dunk. 

“He’s getting his chippiness back. We need that. He’s probably the most physical big we have as far as hitting people.”

Cade Phillips suffered dislocated shoulder injury vs. Arkansas

Head coach Rick Barnes said Phillips “battled” through the injury at Texas.

“Really proud of Cade Phillips tonight,” Barnes said after the win at Texas. “Really proud. He went in the game and he battled. And his shoulder is not what it needs to be.”

The ESPN2 broadcast of the Tennessee-Florida game described the injury as a dislocated shoulder. He has worn a brace on his left shoulder since suffering the injury.

Barnes said after the Arkansas game that Phillips could have played more in the second half after getting hurt, but the score didn’t make it necessary.

Cade Phillips averaging 15.9 minutes per game off the bench

Phillips is averaging 5.9 points and 4.1 rebounds in 15.9 minutes per game this season.

He was injured while chasing a loose ball in the second half against Arkansas, going to the Tennessee locker room briefly before returning to the floor. He finished the Arkansas game 11 minutes played.

The three minutes he played at Florida was a season low.

“He wasn’t the same in terms of like the one lob he went up for,” Barnes said last week, “he didn’t even raise his left arm. He went up and tried to get it one-handed, which that’s one reason he didn’t play more.”

“Cade’s tough,” Barnes added. “He’s never going to complain. He’s just … I could tell he wasn’t normally what he is.”