Tim Banks took a page out of Pat Narduzzi’s playbook on Saturday. With the Pittsburgh Panthers’ offense designed around replicating what they did last year despite the loss of Kenny Pickett, Tennessee football focused on pressure.
The Vols had 16 hurries, nine sacks and four tackles for a loss. What was most underrated about their defensive front, though, was that it had three of the four tipped passes in the game.
For Banks, that’s as crucial of a part of the defensive front as rushing the quarterback. He noted it was a big focus of the Vols in the offseason.
“I thought, for the most part, the front did a good job getting their hands up, and even some of the pressure guys that were blitzing (were) getting their hands up,” Banks said Tuesday. “We like to think some of the habits started to show up on the games based on what we had been doing since fall camp.”
This isn’t new for Tennessee football. It’s been a part of their scheme really since Omari Thomas became a regular starter down the stretch of last year.”
Thomas deflected four passes in 2021, tied for fifth on the team. He has already deflected two passes in two games this year, and other players up front are following suit in seeing that value.
“Obviously, we’d love to be able to hit the quarterback as much as we can,” Banks said. “But there are going to be some opportunities where we can’t get there, but we still can get our hands up.”
Of course, the sacks and the hurries are a huge part of the pass defense too. When you add the deflections, though, it shows the defensive front can break up the passing attack in every way.
As a unit, Banks emphasized that what they do starts with the defensive front. He noted that everything is still about getting the quarterback off-balance, and it’s even better if they don’t have to blitz.
“I thought the D-line did a tremendous job of understanding that and, again, we talked about the tipped balls, obviously affecting them that way, and then, obviously, there’s still the balance of bringing some pressure when need be,” he said. “We thought we had a pretty good idea of what we were going to get, and I thought the guys executed the game plan extremely well.”
In addition to Thomas, Kurott Garland and Aaron Beasley had pass deflections. Kamal Hadden had the fourth. Beasley, who has emerged at linebacker, also brought the pressure to force the Trevon Flowers interception.
That’s the second straight week he was responsible for a UT pick, as his pressure forced the Tamarion McDonald interception on the first play of the game against the Ball State Cardinals. Banks touted Beasley’s development.
“He wasn’t really on our radar, so to speak, when we took the job last year, but he ended up being a starter for us,” he said. “We thought (he) got better as the season progressed last year, and we thought he picked up where he left off. He just has a lot more command of the defense at this point.”
