- The vets are the story — For all the talk in the pre-season about the sophomore receivers, some freshmen, and others, the story of this team is about the veterans. Matt Butler has been a warrior. Butler is not just logging reps. He’s also being productive. Against Alabama, Butler had 9 tackles including 1.5 TFL’s and 2 qb hurries.
“His consistency as a player is a direct result of who he is off the field,” Heupel said. “It's a direct result of the effort and strain that he puts in while we are in the building. Meeting, practicing and when coaches aren't with you, what he has put into it. He plays with great confidence because he understands his job at the highest level.”
Jacob Warren and Princeton Fant have been staples at tight end and Theo Jackson has been as productive as anyone on most defense Jackson despite missing some snaps due to nagging injuries has 49 tackles, 6.5 TFL’s, and a team high 7 pbu’s. Jackson had 3 TFL’s and 8 PBU’s for his career coming into this season.
Josh Heupel and his staff have a done a really good job of getting the veterans to buy in. Heupel’s investment into the veterans from day one has left a lasting impression that is paying great dividends this fall for this coaching staff.
2. Hooker has sped things up —
Heupel has repeatedly said they are in a race against themselves to get better. Tennessee obviously has not won the race but there is plenty of excitement in the running of the race because of the play of Hendon Hooker.
Since being inserted as a starter, Hooker has got the offense going. Hooker is completing 68% of his throws. He has 15 TD’s and 1 INT. He has accounted for 1,752 yards and 19 TD’s.
“It’s just quarterback friendly. Guys are wide open. Guys upstairs are doing a great job of dialing it up with the looks that we need. Guys on the outside make wonderful plays whether it’s ball in hand early with a catch and run or running their routes and catching it down field. It’s just a blessing to be in this offense and have guys around me make plays,” offered Hooker who said the offense is more common sense than football IQ.
This team has certainly rallied around Hooker who has become one of the key leaders on this team. And it’s Hooker that’s speeding up the process for Josh Heupel. Everyone knows the key to building a program centers around finding a signal caller and the Vols have found an effective one in Hendon Hooker.
3. Can they run the ball — As good as Hooker has been and as many plays as this offense has made down the field and outside the hash marks, they have to have some kind of balance. And finding that balance the next couple of games is going to be hard. Kentucky is giving up just over 100 yards a game on the ground and Georgia hasn’t let anyone run the football on them. Alabama held Tennessee to just 64 yards rushing.
Tennessee needs to get healthy on the offensive front and they need to be healthier at tailback if this team is going to have a chance at an effective ground game next week at Kentucky.
4. Defense gets to 100 —
Tennessee current sits with 70 TFL’s through 8 games. The most recorded by one Vol team is the 2016 defense who had 100. In fact there are only two defenses in the history of keeping the stat that has recorded more than 75 TFL’s in a season.
This defense is averaging nearly 9 a game. They are going to get to a 100 and everyone deserves credit. Credit goes to Tim Banks’ scheme and the guys up front credit their position coach Rodney Garner.
"He's meant a lot, man,” super senior Latrell Bumphus said of Garner. “I think he's, by far, the best coach we've had since I've been here, and we've only been together nine months. We took such a big step in a short amount of time and that speaks a lot of volumes.
"Playing vertical, because in the pass we used to play side-to-side and that caused a lot of issues. We were playing on our line of scrimmage when we need to be playing from the other side. Now, I see us playing more vertical and getting tackles for losses."
5. Seven wins depends on 3rd down — There are obviously other variables like turnovers, injuries, etc. But in terms of production to beat Kentucky and find seven regular season wins — it’s all about third downs.
Defensively, the Vols got Ole Miss and Alabama where they wanted them which is 3rd and 7+. The problem is they couldn’t capitalize on it and get off the field. Alabama converted 7 of 11 third and 7+ plays. Ole Miss was in third and long 11 times as well. This defense has to get off the field. They are not deep enough or good enough to give good offenses extra opportunities by letting them extend drives, which means they have to find a way to tackle the quarterback.
In their three SEC losses, the quarterbacks have 21 possession down (3rd or 4th) runs for 178 yards and 14 of the runs have resulted in a first down. Tennessee’s defense has to tackle the quarterback on third down scrambles.
Conversely, this offense has to move the sticks, they were just 1 of 5 on third and short situations against Alabama, who is the best defense they have played to date.
"Third-and-short from last week, during the course of the season there's been some times where we have been very successful. Last week, we weren't. Some of that was just identification in the run game, and some of it was just decision making where there are read opportunities for the quarterback. We have got to continue to clean those things up,” Heupel acknowledged.
