Tennessee boast depth, talent and experience on defensive front
There are a number of reasons that Tennessee is considered a contender to be a part of the College Football Playoff, but one of the biggest is a defensive front that could be the most talented in the SEC.
The Vols have depth, talent and experience in the trenches on the defensive line. The SEC is often called a ‘line of scrimmage’ league because of the importance of winning in the trenches.
Tennessee looks like their built to go toe-to-toe with anyone in the conference this season with a defensive line rotation that should be deep and nasty.
It’s a group that has come a long, long way since Josh Heupel and his staff got to Knoxville four years ago. Veteran defensive line coach Rodney Garner has been on hand to shepherd this group from the start.
Garner may be stingy with his compliments, but even he has to acknowledge that Tennessee has grown by leaps and bounds along the defensive front.
“I’m proud of the guys I’ve got in the room. Proud of the guys that started out with us when we started this journey four years ago. It is rewarding,” Garner said of the process that’s gotten this group to this point.
Tennessee has built its impressive depth up front through player development from high school recruiting, adding productive pieces through the transfer portal and by having veterans like Omari Thomas return for a fifth year.
Garner has a solid mix of veterans like Thomas and exciting youngsters like Daeven Hobbs and Caleb Herring.
It’s a group that knows how to work, which is some high praise coming from Garner whose coaching philosophy is to make practice harder than the games themselves.
“It is definitely good having players that can actually set the tone and set the culture, that can sort of start to police themselves with the young guys who are coming in and say, ‘hey, you know, this is the way we do things, this is how we’re trying to build this thing.’
“I think they’re really working at moving the needle in the right direction with less resistance. Everybody, they always want to say, well, you coach hard, you’re hard on this and that. Well this is a hard game. Life is hard. So what you’re trying to do, you’re trying to prepare them for those difficult times.”
Garner added that he hoped to play ’10-12’ guys in the rotation this fall.
TWO HEADLINERS
Tennessee will have its deepest defensive line rotation in years this fall to the point that Garner may need help of keeping track of things.
Even in a deep rotation though you’re going to have standouts. Two of those for Tennessee—for different reasons—are Thomas and James Pearce.
Thomas was one of the most respected voices on the team before he opted to come back for a fifth year. He’s got 30 starts under his belt over his four year career and he’s been through it all in the SEC.
Thomas is one of the last guys remaining from the Jeremy Pruitt years. He’s had a front row seat to see how the Tennessee program has been transformed. Because of everything he’s seen and the work he’s put in, Thomas is one of the undisputed leaders on what is expected to be a very good Tennessee football team.
“Big O is an incredible young man. He’s a great leader. He stands for all the things that being a VFL is about and he’s a great man,” Garner said of Thomas.
“He does exemplify what we are trying to be here and what they’re trying to get Tennessee back to the status that Tennessee is used to being. I think he’s done an outstanding job of showing those leadership skills.”
Thomas provides an anchor for the defensive front. Pearce provides the flash.
He emerged as an absolute terror for opposing offenses as a sophomore last season. Pearce had an SEC best 10 sacks and also led Tennessee with 14.5 TFLs.
It wasn’t as though people didn’t think Pearce was talented, but literally no one saw that kind of monster year coming for him.
Now the question is, what can he do for an encore?
There seems to be a sense around the Tennessee program this offseason, that after getting a taste of success last year, Pearce is putting in the work to build on it.
If he does in fact improve, he’ll be shaking hands with Roger Goodell early in the first round next spring.
“I think James has grown, obviously, just searching for that consistency from him and I talk to him, constantly about being the ‘CEO of his brand’ and being consistent. He just can’t ride that roller coaster, up-and-down,” Garner said of the next step for Pearce.
“He’s very, very, very, very talented. He’s very smart. He can be elite, but now he has to make sure he’s that every day. He can’t pick and choose when he’s gonna be a pro. I mean, he’s gotta be a pro every day.”
TWO NEW(ish) FACES
Two examples Tennessee getting better through player development and through the transfer portal are Daeven Hobbs and Jackson Moi.
Hobbs managed to carve out a little playing time for himself as a freshman last fall, never an easy task to do along the defensive line in the SEC, but the former five-star prospect managed it.
Like most freshmen, he benefitted greatly from the off season conditioning program and looks poised to take a step forward this fall.
Hobbs may be dramatically improved (which seems to be the case according to the buzz) and still not play a ton because of the Vols’ depth.
“I think Hobbs is continuing to grow. I think his strength has improved, he’s a big, long, athletic kid that’s shown toughness,” Garner said. “For him to be able to come in and play in this league as much as he did last year, inside, I was impressed by him doing that because I thought he was going to be more of a defensive end last year.
“But because of injuries and all that— he didn’t buckle at all. He went in and played inside and did a really decent job for us. And I just continue to see his play elevate and he’s gonna be a really good player down the road going for us.’
As for Moi, the consensus when Tennessee snagged him from the portal out of Stanford was that he was going to be a nice depth piece as part of the tackle rotation.
There was even some speculation that Moi might redshirt.
Now the consensus seems to be that the Vols landed a guy that may be even better than they expected and who they feel is going to help sooner rather than later.
“I was really excited about Jackson when he went in the portal and us recruiting him and all that. I had one plan for him, he came in and he has probably exceeded what I had in mind so he sort of deviated my plan,” Garner said of what he’s seen from Moi since he got to Knoxville.
“But I think Jackson’s gonna be a really good player for us and obviously he’s a tremendous leader. He’s gonna command respect in that locker room from everybody. His teammates respect him. They like him, all of them. So I couldn’t be more excited to have him in my room than any other guys.”
HAVE TO PROVE IT
Garner might have seemed a little freer with his compliments today than normal, which probably tells you something about this group’s ability. But the old coach isn’t anointing his crew anything just yet.
He’s heard the chatter that this might be the best defensive line in the SEC and one of the best in the nation. Don’t expect Garner to shout that sentiment from the mountain top just yet.
Garner knows what he needs to see from his guys before he says ‘mission accomplished.’ More specifically, he knows WHO he needs to see his troops take care of business against.
“We want to be on solid foundation that can last and that’s what we want do. So we could be tested through the storms and obviously there’s a lot of storms,” Garner said of what he’s looking for.
“At times, still to this point we haven’t risen up and played to the level that we need to play at when we get in those storms.
“When we’re dealing with the Alabamas, the Georgias and Floridas, all that on a consistent basis. That’s truly where you’re going to be judged at at the end of the day.”
The post Tennessee boast depth, talent and experience on defensive front appeared first on On3.
