1. Garner’s growth —
Just to be blunt, the defensive line was bad in the spring. Really bad early. The last week of spring practice Rodney Garner said his unit show some progress. After a summer of weight gains/losses, improved strength and just some work, the defensive line has shown progress from the start of camp and that progress showed in Thursday’s scrimmage.
"From the first day of pads in the spring to where we are now, it's a different group,” Josh Heupel said. “It's different on the practice field with our physicality, playing up the field, disrupting and changing the line of scrimmage. Most importantly, it's a different group inside the meeting room, who they are, accountability every single day as well as their consistency, work habits and ability to learn and want to play for the guy next to them. Accountability in that room is completely different, and that's why they are different on the field."
Garner has three decades plus of experience in this league. He knows what it’s supposed to look like and his kids have bought in to him. But the never satisfied Garner knows there’s lots more work to be done.
“Obviously, I’ve seen growth out of the room, but we still have a long way to go. That’s the thing that everybody needs to understand. Yes, we’ve moved the needle a little bit in the right direction, but it’s not far enough. It really will never be far enough. We’ve just got to understand, we’ve got to set goals. If we achieve a goal, then we’ve got to reassess, reset our goals and work to keep moving that needle. I equated it to them, it’s like climbing Mount Everest. You’re not going to do it in a day. It’s a process. They’ve got to embrace every step of that process and understand what they are working for, what’s the end goal. My whole mission is to try to put them in the toughest situations during the week so they’ll be able to handle it on gameday, on Saturday. I want to know who’s going to quit on me Sunday through Friday. I don’t want to find out on a Saturday that I can’t count on this guy, alright? So, we’re trying to put them in those difficult situations to see how they can handle them.”
2. Clean it up —
The Vol offense wasn’t very good on Thursday in the scrimmage when it came to discipline. Too many pre-snap penalties prevented the offense from going fast and getting the defense on their heals.
A year ago, Tennessee had too many offensive penalties. They had 32 penalties on offense and 20 of them were false starts which is an average of two a game.
Tennessee’s offense under Heupel really gets going after you make the first first down. They didn’t do that consistently enough in scrimmage #1.
At the end of the day with offensive football—I don't care what tempo you're playing at—you've got to be efficient. That means 11 guys have to do their job. If you don't, you're going to be on the wrong side of it, whether it's a dropped ball, busted protection or creating negative plays. You've got to be able to string things together and we've seen that throughout training camp. Today, you didn't see it consistently at the level that we certainly want it to be, but we absolutely feel like our guys our continuing to progress as we've gone through camp. There's some really good things out there from today, too.”
3. Time to settle in — Offensive line coach Glen Elerbee said he wasn’t in a huge rush to get dialed in on his five lineman for continuity sake. Elerbee said he wanted the competition to continue at least through the first scrimmage.
“We'd like to at least get through the first scrimmage and get guys a chance to compete at all of the spots. It is obviously important for guys to play next to each other. There's no doubt. At the same time, you have to have guys throughout the season who roll and guys that come into the game, guys who may be banged up for a game or two. They all need to be comfortable playing next to whoever will be that next spot. So, I don't feel like losing it quite yet, but hopefully after that first scrimmage we'll start to settle in and for sure after that second one.”
The question is after Tuesday’s scrimmage what does that look like. Does Elerbee experiment more with guys in different spots based on Thursday’s scrimmage or does he keep every one where they are.
Darnell Wright is going to stay at left tackle. But are they better with Cade Mays inside at guard as opposed to right tackle? Can Dayne Davis hold up at right tackle ok. Cade is going to be a guard at the next level and that’s his more natural position but where is he needed the most to get the best five on the field and who is Elerbee’s best five.
Whoever the best five are they are going to have to play better than they did in scrimmage one.
4. Is this the week where someone wins the quarterback job —
The reviews from those you spoke with following scrimmage one was that the quarterbacks were ok. A play here and there, but no one ran away in the competition. Does someone do that on Tuesday? If it’s to happen the other ten guys on offense must perform better but with less than 3 weeks till kickoff does someone win the job this week. Or is this going to be a down to game week in trying to decide who the starter is. Does Heupel play multiple guys week one and that’s where it sorts itself? I think it gets sorted out this week.
5. Transfers wins on defense —
Tennessee’s defense looks vastly different than they did in the spring. And a key reason why is the transfer portal. Rodney Garner’s unit is improved with the additions of Caleb Tremblay and D.J. Terry. Garner acknowledged on Saturday that both have to adjust to the SEC, but that both have brought energy to the room. The linebacker room is different with the addition of Juwan Mitchell. William Mohan will help on special teams and add much needed depth and the two secondary transfers are creating competition at cornerback.
The transfer portal is key for any program trying to rebuild. Josh Heupel appears to have used the portal to his advantage in jumpstarting the rebuild especially on defense.
Just to be blunt, the defensive line was bad in the spring. Really bad early. The last week of spring practice Rodney Garner said his unit show some progress. After a summer of weight gains/losses, improved strength and just some work, the defensive line has shown progress from the start of camp and that progress showed in Thursday’s scrimmage.
"From the first day of pads in the spring to where we are now, it's a different group,” Josh Heupel said. “It's different on the practice field with our physicality, playing up the field, disrupting and changing the line of scrimmage. Most importantly, it's a different group inside the meeting room, who they are, accountability every single day as well as their consistency, work habits and ability to learn and want to play for the guy next to them. Accountability in that room is completely different, and that's why they are different on the field."
Garner has three decades plus of experience in this league. He knows what it’s supposed to look like and his kids have bought in to him. But the never satisfied Garner knows there’s lots more work to be done.
“Obviously, I’ve seen growth out of the room, but we still have a long way to go. That’s the thing that everybody needs to understand. Yes, we’ve moved the needle a little bit in the right direction, but it’s not far enough. It really will never be far enough. We’ve just got to understand, we’ve got to set goals. If we achieve a goal, then we’ve got to reassess, reset our goals and work to keep moving that needle. I equated it to them, it’s like climbing Mount Everest. You’re not going to do it in a day. It’s a process. They’ve got to embrace every step of that process and understand what they are working for, what’s the end goal. My whole mission is to try to put them in the toughest situations during the week so they’ll be able to handle it on gameday, on Saturday. I want to know who’s going to quit on me Sunday through Friday. I don’t want to find out on a Saturday that I can’t count on this guy, alright? So, we’re trying to put them in those difficult situations to see how they can handle them.”
2. Clean it up —
The Vol offense wasn’t very good on Thursday in the scrimmage when it came to discipline. Too many pre-snap penalties prevented the offense from going fast and getting the defense on their heals.
A year ago, Tennessee had too many offensive penalties. They had 32 penalties on offense and 20 of them were false starts which is an average of two a game.
Tennessee’s offense under Heupel really gets going after you make the first first down. They didn’t do that consistently enough in scrimmage #1.
At the end of the day with offensive football—I don't care what tempo you're playing at—you've got to be efficient. That means 11 guys have to do their job. If you don't, you're going to be on the wrong side of it, whether it's a dropped ball, busted protection or creating negative plays. You've got to be able to string things together and we've seen that throughout training camp. Today, you didn't see it consistently at the level that we certainly want it to be, but we absolutely feel like our guys our continuing to progress as we've gone through camp. There's some really good things out there from today, too.”
3. Time to settle in — Offensive line coach Glen Elerbee said he wasn’t in a huge rush to get dialed in on his five lineman for continuity sake. Elerbee said he wanted the competition to continue at least through the first scrimmage.
“We'd like to at least get through the first scrimmage and get guys a chance to compete at all of the spots. It is obviously important for guys to play next to each other. There's no doubt. At the same time, you have to have guys throughout the season who roll and guys that come into the game, guys who may be banged up for a game or two. They all need to be comfortable playing next to whoever will be that next spot. So, I don't feel like losing it quite yet, but hopefully after that first scrimmage we'll start to settle in and for sure after that second one.”
The question is after Tuesday’s scrimmage what does that look like. Does Elerbee experiment more with guys in different spots based on Thursday’s scrimmage or does he keep every one where they are.
Darnell Wright is going to stay at left tackle. But are they better with Cade Mays inside at guard as opposed to right tackle? Can Dayne Davis hold up at right tackle ok. Cade is going to be a guard at the next level and that’s his more natural position but where is he needed the most to get the best five on the field and who is Elerbee’s best five.
Whoever the best five are they are going to have to play better than they did in scrimmage one.
4. Is this the week where someone wins the quarterback job —
The reviews from those you spoke with following scrimmage one was that the quarterbacks were ok. A play here and there, but no one ran away in the competition. Does someone do that on Tuesday? If it’s to happen the other ten guys on offense must perform better but with less than 3 weeks till kickoff does someone win the job this week. Or is this going to be a down to game week in trying to decide who the starter is. Does Heupel play multiple guys week one and that’s where it sorts itself? I think it gets sorted out this week.
5. Transfers wins on defense —
Tennessee’s defense looks vastly different than they did in the spring. And a key reason why is the transfer portal. Rodney Garner’s unit is improved with the additions of Caleb Tremblay and D.J. Terry. Garner acknowledged on Saturday that both have to adjust to the SEC, but that both have brought energy to the room. The linebacker room is different with the addition of Juwan Mitchell. William Mohan will help on special teams and add much needed depth and the two secondary transfers are creating competition at cornerback.
The transfer portal is key for any program trying to rebuild. Josh Heupel appears to have used the portal to his advantage in jumpstarting the rebuild especially on defense.
