10 things I think I think — Tennessee takes on Virginia
Ladies and gentlemen as Andy Griffith said what it was, or is in this case, is football. It is time toe meets leather as Tennessee and Virginia get together in Nashville for a lunch kickoff. So let’s empty the notebook and kick off game weekend in the Music City with 10 things I think I think
Milton might have to be patient
It will be interesting to see how Virginia’s defense plays Tennessee. The Cavs had over 30 sacks last year with the bulk of that coming from their defensive front. So does Virginia try and play coverage to keep the ball in front of them preventing the big play or will the Cavs aggressively play man coverage and blitz?
If they choose to play coverage, Joe Milton and the offense will have to be patient. It should open up the run game with a lighter box but it might limit some big plays especially early.
Milton’s challenge will be to to not force the ball if Virginia drops eight making Tennessee drive the length of the field.
It will definitely be one of the early things to watch Saturday afternoon.
Will they really rotate in the secondary?
Josh Heupel says Tennessee has a plan to rotate guys in the secondary at corner, safety and star.
“The third level, we got nicked up a little bit going into our training camp, and guys saw a little bit of that. Those guys are all back and healthy,” Heupel said. “They’ve been with us all last week as well, gotten really good work. That gives us the ability to rotate on the back end. We have a plan. We’ll see how it holds on a game day, but it’s expecting to see a lot of people rotating in, star, corner, safety in the nickel spot as we go there.”
The question is will they really do it if the game is in any kind of doubt or will they go with those they trust?
And exactly how many do they trust? We know the guy they trust at safety and that’s senior Jaylen McCollough. Defensive coordinator Tim Banks, who coaches safeties made that clear when he visited with the media last Friday.
“I think it starts with Tank (Jaylen McCollough). Tank has obviously played a lot of football for us around here,” Banks said. “And Wesley Walker played a ton snaps last year as well, (whether) it’s the star or some safety. Jourdan Thomas was a guy who was a special teams guy who did a tremendous job for us last season that we think will be able to help us. And Christian Charles has rotated in from corner to safety to star. So we feel like we got some guys and Andre Turrentine, we feel like he’s got a chance to be able to help the team. So I think we have really good depth there. Obviously we don’t have a guy that played as many snaps as (Doneiko) Slaughter played the year before, outside of Tank, but we think collectively we have a good group of guys to work with and are excited to watch those guys play.”
Defensive front has a big day
Virginia is replacing four of their five starters on the offensive line from a year ago and it was an offense that struggled mightily last season.
Also they have lost multiple playmakers out of the receiver corps. They have a first year quarterback. They struggled to run the football a year ago as the quarterback was the leading rusher.
All that sounds like a big day is possible for Rodney Garner’s defensive front. Last season in the opening game win against Ball State, the Vol defense didn’t have a sack and only had 2.5 TFL’s prompting many to ask what was wrong with the defensive front. The reality is nothing was wrong as the next week at Pitt the defense had nine TFL’s and four sacks.
I bet Tennessee doesn’t have an 0-fer day on Saturday on the banks of the Cumberland River.
In fact, I think they will have a field day including some young edge rushers that everyone has been asking about.
“I think those guys have gotten significantly better,” defensive coordinator Tim Banks said of Joshua Josephs and James Pearce. “Really, their roles have grown, things we’re asking them to do has grown. I think their maturity has started to show through and you expect that. The things that we basically gave a pass for as freshmen, they won’t get those passes this year. We expect those guys to grow. Any of the guys really, your first year, your second year it should be some growth. And both of those guys have shown that. And we’re excited about their future in the season.”
Good challenge for the offensive front
While Virginia’s offensive line is suspect, their defensive front seven is not even though they are likely to be without Chico Bennett who had 7.0 sacks a year ago. Their defensive front seven is the best thing about their football team. That defensive front kept them in games last year as they gave up only 24 points a contest.
While Virginia is aged and salty in the defensive trenches there are unknowns with the Vol offensive line. Ollie Lane is expected to get his first ever action at center in place of Cooper Mays, who has been out following a procedure. Andrej Karic or Jackson Lampley will get their first career start at left guard. Jeremiah Crawford is expected to start at right tackle and John Campbell will get his first snaps as a Vol at left tackle.
And that group will have plenty of challenges from Virginia’s defensive front. If the offense can get that initial first down and get into tempo then they can wear the Cavs down, but this is no push over for Glen Elarbee’s offensive front.
I personally think being challenged is a good thing for this group as they won’t be challenged in week two against Austin-Peay and you don’t want them heading to Gainesville untested in two weeks.
It should be a good test for an offensive front still finding its way with plenty of moving parts.
Hello part 1
There is buzz about plenty of guys on this team. But outside of Milton no one on offense has been more talked about than Dont’e Thornton. The transfer from Oregon generated buzz in spring practice when he basically didn’t practice.
The buzz was ramped up in August when offensive coordinator Joey Halzle labeled him as a freak.
“To use the word,” Halzle said, “he has freaky talent. A guy that has size, that can run like that, is rare. He is rare. There are good players and then there are guys that have rare traits like that.”
Thornton had limited success in limited playing time in Eugene. In two seasons as a Duck, Thornton played in 25 games recording 26 receptions for 541 yards and three touchdowns.
So why so much excitement around a guy who hasn’t been wildly successful?
One, he’s 6-5, 214 pounds and can flat out scoot.
Two, it’s the Tennessee offense and this offense gets production from the slot. In 2021, Velus Jones moved to the slot full time after the Florida game in 2021 and finished the year with 62 catches for 807 yards and seven touchdowns. In 2022, Jalin Hyatt who many have compared Thornton to, was named the Biletnikoff Award winner after his monster year. Hyatt had 67 catches for 1,267 yards and 15 touchdowns.
So everyone is excited to see what Thornton can do on Saturday.
Hello part 2
For as much excitement as their is surrounding Nico Iamaleava as he starts his Tennessee career you can argue there’s just as much excitement surrounding freshman linebacker Arion Carter. The mid-state native has impressed everyone since his arrival and the excitement around him within the program seems to only continue to grow which is why you will see Carter on the field getting defensive snaps on Saturday in Nashville.
”Arion is an explosive kid. Super athletic. Was committed to a Division I school as a running back, so you see the athleticism there. But the poise, the maturity, he’s shown all those things, which has put him in line to play early. He’ll play on Saturday, get a chance to go out there and I’m excited to see what he can do in (his) full college football game,” linebacker Brian Jean-Mary said this week.
End it early
Tennessee is a heavy favorite Saturday afternoon in Nashville. The Vols are the better team and Tennessee is the better program right now. But none of that counts when the ball is kicked. The Vols need to not let any doubt kick in and end things early.
This Tennessee team seems to have a lot of confidence. Where Virginia is at is anyone’s guess at this point. Tony Elliott is focusing on trying to get his kids settled in for a 60 minute fight.
“There’s gonna be a lot of excitement. I think more so the crowd, as much as just the anticipation of wanting to play this, this football team hasn’t played in a long time, and it’s been a very, very long offseason,” Elliott said. “So helping these guys understand how to channel that emotion, not to play the game before you actually show up to the game. Don’t play the game in the locker room.
“You’re gonna have to make sure that you manage and, kind of the analogy I’ve been using is gas in your tank, right? So you gotta manage it, right? You can’t use it all in the first quarter, in the first five minutes, right? You gotta be able to use it each quarter, each play, and not be too emotionally involved in the game. Because the emotions, what I’ve learned in games like this, the emotions are high early, and then it comes down to who can lock in, who can focus. And then when you get into the course of the game where there’s momentum changes. Can you stay steady so that you can continue to do what you need to do to give yourself an opportunity to be in position?
Tennessee’s challenge is not to let Virginia get comfortable early and to attack.
It’s a marathon not a sprint
The excitement surrounding this team and this season is unlike anything we have seen recently. Yes there’s more build up to this team than last year’s team who obviously exceeded expectations. With the build up and expectations will come quick judgement and hot takes, so remember this is a marathon.
News flash, Joe Milton won’t be perfect. He will over throw someone. He might even throw an interception. There will be penalties, unforced errors and missed tackles.
Saturday will be far from perfect so while you are gnashing your teeth over a three and out, remember judgement is not cast and a season is not made in the season opener. So settle in and enjoy the continued growth of this team this fall.
SEC Update
It wasn’t two Gators blocking each other, but having two #3’s on the field on a punt return giving Utah a first down which they turned into a touchdown summed up a tough night for Florida against the Utes, who were playing shorthanded on both sides of the ball. Florida had self-inflicted wounds all night as they fell 24-11. Billy Napier’s team get to bounce back next week against McNeese before Tennessee comes to town.
It’s a payday/tune-up scrimmage day for most of the league. Georgia dives in to that difficult schedule of theirs as they host UT-Martin. Alabama hosts MTSU as the Tide is hoping to find some quarterback answers.
The two biggest games of the weekend starts Saturday night in Charlotte as South Carolina takes on North Carolina in a battle between two highly regarded quarterbacks. Spencer Rattler was a different guy the last three weeks of the season last year. Does that carry over to this season? Drake Maye has all the talent in the world but does he have any weapons to throw the ball to?
Then the weekend in the SEC wraps up with an ‘it just means more game’ as top-10 LSU and Florida State get together in Orlando in a huge early season test for both teams. Last year was a helluva football game where special teams blunders cost LSU. Both teams got better throughout the year. Both teams believe they are better this year and are championship caliber clubs. It’s an early statement opportunity for the ‘Noles and the Tigers.
Remember the time
Let’s take a look back at 2006 and a revival for Tennessee football. The return of David Cutcliffe meant a renewed energy and intensity level as the Vols hosted Cal, a preseason darling in the media. Erik Ainge showed the impact Cutcliffe had on him and frankly Cal never knew what hit them from the opening kick.
And let’s look back at the Vols last trip to the Sugar Bowl and the last time they played Virginia. To this day the 1990 Vols will tell you they weren’t the most motivated team as they played the third place team in the ACC. Virginia was ranked #1 early in the the year before the injury bug bit them. An unfocused Tennessee team found themselves down 16-0 at the half before rallying for the win.
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