KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The start of football season is on the horizon as Tennessee held its annual preseason media day on Tuesday afternoon ahead of Wednesday’s opening day of fall camp.
Head coach Josh Heupel, offensive coordinator Joey Halzle and new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles took to the podium to answer questions from the media about the 2026 Volunteers as they head into preseason training camp.
UT will practice four of the next five days beginning on Wednesday morning at Haslam Field. All practices are closed to the public.
One of the biggest headlines from the summer and heading into this year’s training camp is the noticeable gains during the offseason under new Director of Sports Performance Derek Owings and his staff.
“Great offseason for us as a program. Extremely proud of our players and our performance staff, the growth as a program,” Heupel said. “We are a bigger, faster and stronger football team than when we finished in spring ball, the start of summer and certainly since last January.
“You look at the gains, size, speed, power and outputs. Our staff and our players did a great job of being connected, growing every single day and competing every day. Looking forward to seeing that part of the work parlay into us being a better football team when we get out onto the field tomorrow.”
Another one of the major storylines entering camp is the ensuing quarterback battle headlined by youngsters George MacIntyre and Faizon Brandon with veteran Colorado transfer Ryan Staub also providing the makings of a deep and talented room of signal callers.
“We are starting training camp, nobody’s going to earn it or lose it day one,” Heupel said. “Don’t want to see a guy make the same mistake twice. I want to see them be a different player than they were when they finished spring ball in the command and control of what we are doing offensively.
“You play a position where you have to be able to distribute the football, so that’s understanding our scheme, defenses, protections, checks and all of that. And then, I want to see their fundamentals come into play, so that they can be consistently accurate down the football field. It’s not going to be perfect here as we embark on training camp. I say the same thing to our entire team, I want to see guys that don’t make the same mistake twice. They’re stacking reps, stacking days and continuing to grow as a player. Somebody will go out there and earn it. Once that guy has done that, then we will name a guy.”
Halzle believes the challenge of having to face Knowles’ high-level defense throughout the spring as well as day-in and day-this fall out will only prove beneficial in the long run for the Vols’ young quarterbacks.
“Coach Knowles’ defense, I told our quarterbacks, you’re going into grad school right from day one of practice,” Halzle said. “There’s nothing basic about what he does, he’s an elite schemer. He does a great job of taking away what he thinks you’re going to do. He really quickly can diagnose where he thinks the ball’s going and put his defense in position to take it away … This is going to serve us really well going through the season because you’re in grad school right from the beginning.”
Video and full transcripts of Heupel, Halzle and Knowles’ press conferences are below:
Head Coach Josh Heupel
Opening statement…
“Alright, best time of the year. Football time in Tennessee is here. One of my favorite times of the year, if not favorite time of the year is training camp. All ball with your guys, a chance to grow and compete every single day here as we embark, getting on the field tomorrow afternoon. Great offseason for us as a program. Extremely proud of our players and our performance staff, the growth as a program. We are a bigger, faster and stronger football team than when we finished in spring ball, the start of summer and certainly since last January. You look at the gains, size, speed, power and outputs. Our staff and our players did a great job of being connected, growing every single day and competing every day. Looking forward to seeing that part of the work parlay into us being a better football team when we get out onto the field tomorrow.
“I know you guys saw the news about Arion Carter, and my release as far as my thoughts with Arion as well. There’s a lot of different ways to start this, but at the end of the day when you look at Arion, the person and the player that he is every single day. His character, how he impacts the people around him in a positive way. Who he is on the field and off the field. I think it’s exactly what you would want in a son, if you are his parent, and as a coach, the player that you want inside of your program. He is to me, embodies everything that is good about college athletics as young men become grown men inside of this game. You look at his decision to choose a school, now going to be here for four years at that program. That’s a rarity inside of college athletics today. Again, I think that he embodies everything that college football wants inside of their players and represents the game in such a positive way.
“First three years here, he was an SEC Academic Honor Roll member, and he’s a member of the SEC Football Leadership Council. At the end of the month, he is going to graduate with honors from the University of Tennessee. He’s done everything the right way. You ask anybody inside of our program, that’s staff or players, he is the leader of this program, and he has earned the right to be the leader of this program.
“The ruling that came out from the NCAA, the two-game suspension, I truly believe is bull—-. You look at the landscape of college football, the rules from NIL and everything. I think the ruling is completely outdated. I’m disappointed for him and for us in the result of that ruling. (Arion Carter) at the end of last year had to make a choice. He chose to put his name in the NFL Draft process in the middle of January, right before the deadline where you have to make a final declaration. He found out that he needed a medical procedure. It was going to require surgery. He made the choice and the right choice for him to come back to college football. He was upfront and honest, the fact that he paid back the 400-dollar flight. He has done and handled everything the right way, very truthful and upfront about everything. I think it is unfortunate that a young man that, again, represents everything inside of this game the right way, is faced with that ruling. With that, I’m going to open it up for questions from you guys.”
On how teammates have rallied around Arion Carter…
“First of all, AC [Arion Carter] handles it just as I or anybody that knows AC would expect him to. It’s all about the present, competing to be his best and impacting the people around him in a positive way. I think that speaks to who he and his entire family are and how they represent themselves. The teammates – in this game, it’s always about next and continuing to compete and grow, but I do know – and you have seen some of that publicly – but a lot inside of this building, that that’s their guy. I already talked about it. He is the alpha leader inside of our locker room. They care deeply about him and certainly have let him know that too.”
On if he was surprised by the Arion Carter ruling…
“Surprised in today’s landscape. You take into account all of the circumstances that a young man faced. The fact that he was upfront and honest throughout the entire process. The amount of the flight. You take all of that into account, that’s why I just think it’s in the general landscape of this game, there’s so many other things that we are dealing with. A few days ago, there’s another court ruling that’s coming out. I think when you look at all those circumstances, I think it’s extremely unfortunate and not the right decision.”
On his philosophy of changing his offensive system over time…
“I just think the game continues to change. At the end of the day as coaches, it’s our responsibility to put our players in the best position with what we are predicting and what we are going to see on the other side of the football to be in the best position to go make plays. Offensively, when we get back in January, you start projecting your personnel. Your offense has to be personnel-based. How do you put them in a position to be successful? You take the skillsets and continue to grow, change and evolve. Obviously, we have a quarterback battle, but at the end of the day, once you find that guy. Now, it’s what are the tools and assets that he has, and what is he really comfortable with? You put him in a position to be successful with the 10 other guys around him.”
On the quarterback battle…
“We are starting training camp, nobody’s going to earn it or lose it day one. Don’t want to see a guy make the same mistake twice. I want to see them be a different player than they were when they finished spring ball in the command and control of what we are doing offensively. You play a position where you have to be able to distribute the football, so that’s understanding our scheme, defenses, protections, checks and all of that. And then, I want to see their fundamentals come into play, so that they can be consistently accurate down the football field. It’s not going to be perfect here as we embark on training camp. I say the same thing to our entire team, I want to see guys that don’t make the same mistake twice. They’re stacking reps, stacking days and continuing to grow as a player. Somebody will go out there and earn it. Once that guy has done that, then we will name a guy.”
On the recent five-for-five court ruling…
“Yeah, we’re in exploration. Some of the details and what it’s all going to look like still is being worked through, but looking at those things.”
On how he starts laying the foundation of being disciplined during fall camp…
“It starts with being accountable in everything that you are doing every single day. Then it comes into your practice habits. That’s on players, but it’s on coaches too. Ultimately continuing to grow and play the game the way that you need to.”
On his conversations with Derek Owings about practice plans for the season…
“You preplan the summer, the workloads and volumes that you want to get to in preparation for handling training camp. It’s the most dense part of your season, just the number of practices. Preplan everything, volumes and speeds as we start training camp and through training camp. You preplan holistically for all positions and all units, but certainly there’s going to be one-offs with certain individuals. Guys nicked up or coming off an injury, and our sports performance team does a great job of managing those guys in any given practice and certainly throughout the duration of training camp. Training camp hasn’t changed dramatically with one less bye and a ninth conference game. You have to build your roster and your team to be prepared to play the way that you need to go win football games when you get between the white lines. Having one less bye week certainly can impact your season. As much as it’s holistically as a team, it’s also individually getting those guys to the starting gate each and every Saturday.”
On how David Sanders Jr. has developed…
“Yeah, extremely comfortable at the left tackle position. Played that earlier in his career for a long time. He got a lot of play last year on the right side, and the transition for him has been really natural. He’s a guy that took advantage of the offseason, made great gains physically, just mass to his frame, super explosive. I expect him to continue to grow. It’s a really young player. He should be getting better every rep, every day.”
On the improvement that Derek Owings has brought in sports performance…
“I don’t think there was just one moment that defined that for me. How he onboarded, built relationships with guys, creating buy-in right away, clear standards and holding them to that every day. His staff has done an elite job of that, but their relationships with them is a huge part of it as well. Ultimately getting our behaviors up to the standards every day. Certainly, by the time we got to the end of the first semester and got a chance to digest some of the numbers, you could see the dramatic changes, and our players have enjoyed that change.”
On sustaining the program’s success on offense…
“Our success as a coaching staff, five years here and the previous four years at different stops. I think we’ve had seven different quarterbacks in those nine years as well. Ultimately, I think our staff does a really good job of analyzing who our players are, putting them in a position to be successful. With the number of different quarterbacks that we’ve had, all a little bit different in their skill set and how they play the game. I kind of look at it like they’re the artist. You have to give them the paintbrush and let them go paint the painting. You know, there’s core things of who we want to be offensively, philosophically. Some of that has continued to grow, change and evolve over those years, but the ability to put those guys in a position to be successful.”
On evaluating defensive personnel as the season approaches…
“I think it all goes back to January, onboarding somebody at every level of the defense that has been in that unit room with (Jim Knowles) on the coaching side of it, getting the information to our players clearly, concisely, as quickly as possible in the buildup into spring ball. When you have staff members who’ve been together, you also get a chance in the very beginning blocks of your offseason to look at your teaching patterns, kind of refine those, make those as in sync and cohesive as they can be. Our players have absolutely loved the change. They feel great about understanding the scheme and latched onto it really quickly. You ask guys that have been with him historically in year one. At the end of spring ball, they felt like we were way ahead of where he’s been other places. When you’re a coordinator and you go somewhere new – I think the last couple stops he was only able to take one off the field guy with him – you have to create buy-in from the other coaches that are in that unit room with you. So, all those things together, I think have put our players in the best position to become as good as we can, as fast as we can. There’s been some growth here over the summer as well, where we’ve had a little bit of time with them, but I’m excited about where we’re starting. We’re going to see that tomorrow, and ultimately the growth here as we go compete every day during the course of training camp.”
On what players have grasped Jim Knowles‘ system best so far…
“I don’t think it’s just one guy. You know, we brought in a defensive player that had had some experience in that system at every level of the defense too. I think that was a great opportunity for our players to have a resource outside of the coach, to kind of grow inside of it as well, but I don’t feel like it’s just one guy at one position that’s latched onto it and has great understanding. Our players have worked hard at it, but they’ve grown tremendously inside of it, and I expect us to hit the ground running tomorrow.”
On DeSean Bishop’s goals and how his individual success could translate into team success…
“I think individually it’s great to have goals, and DeSean has worked in a way where he expects to play at an elite level during the course of the season. He played tremendous football for us a year ago, made great gains in the offseason. His football I.Q. has continued to grow. He’s mastered what we’re doing offensively, from ball in his hands to playing without the ball inside of his hands. He’s growing into a great leader. I expect him to go play at a championship level every Saturday for us. There’s no doubt about that. Every year is different, numbers don’t lie, but there’s a lot of things that go into numbers, and ultimately expect him to have a really special season.”
On how the quarterbacks have improved over the course of spring and summer, and how the offense can continue to support them…
“What makes it easier for the quarterback is when 10 other guys around him are doing their job at a really high level. That guy’s got the football in his hands, he’s got 21 other moving pieces around him. I’m talking about offensively, you’ve got to understand it and defenses, what they’re playing on that play. So, from protections to all that, there’s a lot that they need to know. Ultimately, when the 10 other guys are doing their job at a really high level, it keeps him out of unforeseen, adverse situations, which makes playing the game easier for those guys. The quarterbacks have grown; they’ve competed and worked hard since the end of spring ball, and we had four weeks before our semester broke. They’ve done a great job this summer, fundamentally, technically continuing to improve. Their understanding of what we’re doing offensively has continued to improve. Now, you’ve got to go put it into action when you get on the field tomorrow.”
On the continued development of receivers Braylon Staley and Mike Matthews…
“Two guys that, we can look at it, but they recognize it too. Who they are today, from year one to even last year, have continued to mature just in how they take care of their bodies, their understanding of the game, mastering fundamentals and technique. They’re extremely confident, and they should be because they have put the work in. Two guys that we expect to go play at a really high level. They’ve had a great offseason too. Just size, speed, ability to sink, get out of breaks. You know, refinement of playing that wide receiver position fundamentally. I love the work that they have put into it.”
Offensive Coordinator/QBs Coach Joey Halzle
On the growth of George MacIntyre and Faizon Brandon since Spring…
“I think, whenever you’re dealing with young quarterbacks, the physical talent you see. It’s going through there as the recruiting process unfolds and as you get to know guys. It’s what they’ve done mentally, it’s how they’ve approached this. They’re both young. They don’t have a ton of on-field experience, but they handle themselves like veterans. I think they gained a lot of the guys’ respect by the way they go about their business. It’s been really good to see them act that way.”
On the role intangibles play when grading out the quarterbacks during camp…
“I think whenever you’re looking at it, it’s got to be holistic. It’s not just who has the highest completion percentage or who’s done the least of this fill in the blank. It’s got to be, as we look at these guys go through their day, as they go through practice and scrimmages, overall, who gives us the best chance to go win on a Saturday and why do we think that? We also know that there’s guys that are better under the lights and you try to put them in positions where it feels like game day and try to figure that. There’s guys that just happen to do things right when they’re out there on the field. There’s guys that are better after they walk through. So, as you’re going through everything, it’s not just this compared to this. You’re looking at the entire body of work, really from summer through now and who do we think when we go step on the field on a Saturday, who’s going to give us a real shot to go win this thing?”
On the expected success of third year players, specifically at wide receiver…
“It’s a great thing – especially as, you know, we obviously have young quarterbacks coming into this thing – where you’ve got guys that understand when and where they’re supposed to be places and that aren’t just intelligent, but are actually extremely talented to do things with the ball. We think that those two guys (Braylon Staley and Mike Matthews) give us a chance to be really competitive in every ball game. Expect big things for them this year. They’ve put in the work to be even better. What you love about both of those guys is neither of them felt like they had arrived after having good years. They both went back and attacked it like they were trying to get themselves on the field, so they put themselves in great position mentally and physically to go have a big year this year.”
On challenge of coach Jim Knowles‘ defense for inexperienced quarterback…
“Yeah, coach Knowles’ defense, I told our quarterbacks, you’re going into grad school right from day one of practice. There’s nothing basic about what he does, he’s an elite schemer. He does a great job of taking away what he thinks you’re going to do. He really quickly can diagnose where he thinks the ball’s going and put his defense in position to take it away. So, everything that guy does is extremely challenging for a quarterback in general, you put youth on top of it, it makes it even harder, so I told our guys, as frustrating as it could be going through spring from time to time, and you’re like, ‘man, can I just get a base look out here?’ This is going to serve us really well going through the season because you’re in grad school right from the beginning.”
On this staff’s ability to be successful with first-year starting quarterbacks…
“I think a lot of it is, we’ve been willing to not try to shove a square peg into a round hole. We’ve been able to look at guys and say, what does he do best and put him in position to be extremely successful. It’s not about what we want to do, it’s about what he can do at a high level. Obviously, there’s certain things that they have to be able to do well. It starts in the recruiting process, it starts in the developmental process from a young age and not waiting until a guy’s a starter to really start developing him. It’s developing him right when he walks through the door, it’s having a plan from day one to get him ready to go. I think with all that and then saying, okay now this is our guy, what does he do best? What does he struggle with? How can we tailor practice to fit him? How do we tailor our game plan to fit him? Where do we put the best pieces on offense around him so he could be the most successful? And you put that all together and I think that’s why you’re seeing the success at that position like you have.”
On the tight end unit and who are emerging as leaders in that room…
“Yeah, obviously we’re not old in that room this year, but it’s been really fun to watch those guys work. You know, Ethan Davis could be a matchup problem for people with his size and route running ability and speed. The two new guys we’ve brought in are really the big, traditional, wide type of tight ends. Strong, powerful dudes. And then everyone knows what DaSaahn (Brame) can bring as far as a speed guy, a guy that can run like a wideout, so that’s an exciting room. It’s a room that I feel like it’s one of the few where you don’t have an exact (idea of), this is how it’s all going to shake out, which is what you want going into a lot of fall camps. It’s, how is this going to play itself out when we’re in 12 or 11 (personnel), who gives us the best chance to create issues? Who’s the best in the run game, best in the pass game? And then putting it together to where it makes a ton of sense and it flows. It’s an exciting room that also is going to be really fun to see how this ends up playing out for the fall.”
On pressure to maintain the standard of having an elite offense…
“That is the standard. I’ve been with coach (Heupel) a long time, and that’s just what our standard is. The big thing for us is driving home the point for the guys that because anything happened last year does not mean we just get to do anything this year. It’s got to be earned new every single year. And the guys have really, really taken to that. And a lot of guys also understand, with going through a quarterback battle through fall camp, different dudes, I think, feel the pressure in a good way to step up and make sure whoever ends up winning that job looks successful like we’ve been talking about. The guys know the standard, they know what’s expected of this offense, and I think they’re going to go handle it well.”
On the center position and Sam Pendleton’s development…
“Sam’s done a great job working on his body. Like all of our guys have gotten bigger and stronger, they’re really cool to look at. We have a chance to be really, really good up front. That’s another position room where there is a lot of depth that we get to do a good job of putting together in the best way possible, so we’ll get our best five out there on the field. You know, Sam did a great job for us last year. We expect him to keep doing a great job this year, and that’s the best thing when you have depth, it’s that there’s competition everywhere for everybody, so the best guy is going to step out on the field and take the snaps.”
On the depth of the running back room…
“I really, really like it. I think we’re talented. I think we’ve got some young guys that maybe haven’t played as much, but we’ve liked what they’ve shown through spring and summer. Bringing in JG (Javin Gordon) from his last stop and getting him in here, he’s a guy that gives you something dynamic. He’s a big back. He’s really good in the pass game. He’s got good feet, so we’ve got that room ready to go and step up with three or four deep that can give us a lot of different types of backs, a lot of different skill sets and create some trouble for the defense.”
On the differences between his quarterback options…
“They’re very different guys. The best thing to start off is that they’re both mature for their age. They handle themselves like they’ve been in this for a while. They’re not the type of guy that will be overwhelmed by a big moment. That’s what gives us a ton of confidence about having young guys competing for this thing is the way that they’re built. Mentally, physically, they’re all different guys, right? Everyone has different different strengths, different attributes, and our job, like I said, is to make sure, ‘man, what does one guy do well,’ and let’s formulate it to make sure that it gives him the best opportunity while giving the other guy a chance to compete as well. So, as we’re going through this whole camp, we’re going to be tailoring it to each individual guy, which is why you can hope you can get to (a decision on) somebody as quickly as possible and start really rallying the offense that direction.”
On whether it is difficult to cater practices to multiple players’ skillsets…
“When I say that, I’m not saying wholesale changes, it’s trying to figure out what guys do best. And it’s also when you got two young guys, three young guys, it’s putting them in positions that are difficult, intentionally difficult positions where you’re trying to put them in a spot where it’s like, ‘alright, what’s he going to do here?’ They’ve never seen something like this before. It’s a tough situation. You know the look you’re going to get on defense, and you call the play that you probably wouldn’t, so you’re putting him in a tough spot where maybe he’s going to be hot, maybe he’s going to do something like this, just to let him see it and react. And then you go watch the tape and you coach through it. So, as you’re doing that, you’re trying to find out how the guy ticks and when he’s out there on the field, what is he in the best situations for so on the back end of this, now you can start moving it to fit him best. But, we’re still going to be who we are. We’re going to be extremely aggressive, we’re going to run the ball well, we’re going to push the ball down the field. Those things we’re going to do. That’s who we’ve always been, that’s who we will be. So that part of it wouldn’t change, but it’s like, ‘alright, what’s the best way for him to operate in that style of offense?'”
On the talented receiver room and the comfort that provides a young quarterback…
“What you like about that is, everybody knows about Braylon (Staley) and Mike (Matthews). The other guys that haven’t been on the field as much physically, you’ve got some extremely talented, gifted wide receivers. You got large guys, you got guys that can run, and the best thing about it is you have a lot of guys in that room that you can get the ball and let them do the rest. Which is, like you said, an absolute comfort blanket for a quarterback, where I don’t have to throw it 50 (yards) to get 50. You can get the guy the ball in his hands. It’s our job to be creative and how we’re going to do that and then kind of let those guys go to work. So, having a room that has that kind of skill set, it’s a fun opportunity for us to try to be creative in how we’re going to get them the ball, get them in their grass and let them just do their thing.”
Defensive Coordinator Jim Knowles
On his experience as defensive coordinator and the influence that Monte Kiffin had on his experience…
“Yeah, I mean absolutely. I think he is one of the legends of the game. The way things evolved there while he was at Tampa, the whole concept of having four great rushers and being able to defend hard and aggressively with your corners. I think he evolved the game a lot when he did that.”
On where he feels the defense is and where the defense’s onboarding is (asked if it was more stressful to get married or to call the plays on a Saturday)…
“That’s easy, it is calling the plays on a Saturday. I got married and that was a no brainer, my wife is amazing so that was a no brainer.
Yeah, it’s always a process, but I thought that we made more strides this spring and summer than any of my first year assignments, because I was able to bring in staff who understand the system, really at all levels of the football, so I thought we got a lot done. We are going to continue to move it forward in camp, but right now, going into camp about 70 percent or so of everything has already been put in. We just need to keep bumping that during camp, and I think we have the players who now really understand the system that we can tweak it. We haven’t been in the game plan yet. I don’t game plan against the offense. So, it’s all just teaching the different concepts, and then we can mix and match them, which kind of increases the percentages as we go.”
On how the defensive progress changes the objective of what he hopes to accomplish in the fall…
“It doesn’t, right? The objective is always the same. Our job is to stop the opponent’s offense. Bottom line, no excuses. It doesn’t matter where we’re at with things, we need to find a way to stop them. I just think it allows us to be more creative in different situations, a lot of times in these situations, most of my time is spent teaching the coaches. So being able to have staff that have been with me for a while eliminates a lot of that, and it’s going to allow for more creativity as the season approaches.”
On how he feels about the defense’s ability to generate a pash rush…
“Time will tell, right? Time will tell. Real sorry not having Chaz, I hope for the best for him as a young man. Time will tell with the pash rush. Because you are never hitting the quarterback, or trying not to get close to the quarterback when you are in spring or fall camp, a lot of these things, pash rush, you don’t see until you get to the game. It’s kind of how Chaz made his mark last year at Penn State. He late and we just setup opportunities for him in the game just to be creative in the pass rush. So, it’s a question mark, and time will tell how that goes, but we need to have other tools in the tool box to create pass rush, if need be, and we will have that.”
On whether if there is flexibility in his scheme to highlight a position group that might have more depth…
“Always let personnel dictate it, but yes there is flexibility. Because I really have not had my hands on these guys when we actually play games, in our programming we have allowed for all different types of personnel combinations, just for the reason you talked about. The linebacker room is deep. Two, three, four linebackers is part of the plan. Now we have to see who develops as our best 11, who is the best 15, who is the best 22, you know? And we are going to play the guys that are the best players, and it’s my job to get them in positions where they can succeed. So, we are planning for all of those scenarios to see who really develops and who can.”
On where he feels better about the defense than he thought he would entering fall camp …
“Definitely linebacker, right? I think the linebacker room is deep, bringing in Amari (Campbell) who has familiarity with the system, helps a lot. Already a great group so, definitely feel great about that. Safety wise, didn’t really know what to expect there, safety and nickel, right? We had to bring guys in because we were light in those areas, so I am pleased with their performance and really like what Edrees (Farooq) did. Didn’t know that much about him, liked what he did. Like with Dylan (Lewis), guys who were here, who I watched on tape a little bit, I was unsure about. I thought those two guys showed up, so I have been pleased with the progress at the safety position also.”
On the type of quarterback he would rather put his defense against…
“I don’t think about it because I don’t have a choice. It’s like whoever their quarterback is, that’s who it is so there are pluses and minuses to both obviously, but you have to evaluate who you are going against and what are the strengths and how can you affect the quarterback. The game is a lot about affecting the quarterback, and there’s a number of ways to do that obviously with presentation and structure over your coverage, also with pressure. So, I don’t really think about that question because I don’t have a choice, whoever we are going against, that is who we got.”
On what he sees from Rodney Garner on his ability to lead his room…
“Coach Garner is a legend, I think one of the legendary D-line coaches and I saw that a little bit in what I was observing bowl practice. I mean he coaches his guys very hard, if you have ever been around him. He tells the truth, he tells it the way it is. Coaches them really hard, but loves them really hard too. So, I have been impressed with the spirit of that room, the way they relate to the coach, and how hard he can push them, and still they know he cares about them. I think that’s a great quality of coach.”
On what he has seen from Edrees Farooq…
“He just picked things up quickly and then put himself in a position to make plays. So, there’s one thing, getting the scheme – that’s step one – and can you function within that scheme, and then actually make plays. I saw him make a lot of plays this spring that I was happy about.”
On how knowing he has a little bit more time opens the door for creativity…
“It means a lot. It really affects how I approach coaching the defense on a day-to-day basis. If I don’t have to spend a lot of time coaching the basics of the system, I can then operate more in practice as if it’s a laboratory, and try different things, see how it works out. See who really makes plays in different positions as we place guys in different areas, what they are best at, so it’s a lot more fun.”
On the luxury of having older linebackers, specifically Jeremiah Telander, with Arion Carter’s suspension…
“I feel terrible for AC. He is a strong leader, really an alpha in our room and he’ll be okay. He has handled worse things in his life, but (I) feel bad for him. Telander is what I think every Tennessee fan would hope to have as a defender. He is a guy who is going to give his all for Tennessee every day. You show him a picture of the stadium and you say, what’s that mean to you, and he says that’s home, this is his place. He takes a lot of pride in it, he is vocal, he’s a leader, always trying to do the right things, he is aggressive. He is just a guy you can count on and a really good person too.
On the expectations he has for the defense going into the new season…
“I expect the defense to continue to grow situationally, because we have to dive into the situations. I mean, once you get the basics installed, now you have to dive into all the situations that happen in a football game, and as you know, there is a ton of them. So, we really need to hone down on those specific situations, which we can do because we have got the basics of it in. I expect this defense to be elite, I expect us to be able to perform in pressure situations, and I expect fans, coaches and players that when the defense takes the field, that they have a high expectation that we are going to stop the opponent. I think when you have that feeling, it just brings confidence. No matter what happens in the game, no matter how the offense is doing, when you know your defense can take the field to stop people, that makes everyone feel better, generates a lot of positive energy, so that is what I expect.”
On how we would describe Ty Redmond and how he has gotten better…
“Ty has had a great spring and summer. He has become more detailed, more interested in the details of playing the position, and performing those details and techniques on a day-to-day basis. He has exceptional length and natural talent, but I’ve seen him really take a better interest in learning the nuance of the position, and how he can change his leverage, change his technique, that can be based on a given call and where his help is, so I have seen him grow that way.”
