Tennessee defensive back Trevon Flowers didn’t laugh, didn’t even giggle, but he had to be a bit amused when asked about Florida’s receivers.
After all, Flowers faces one of the best group of receivers in the nation every single day in practice. Flowers won’t likely see a better set of receivers line up across from him until he is in the NFL.
“We’re in the SEC,” Flowers said when asked about the Gators pass catchers. “They have good athletes, of course. Almost every team does. We have to go in there like they’re the best receivers in the world.
“They’re fast, they’re strong, they can play football,” Flowers said. “We just have to be the more physical team and play smart.”
Smart is good. Sneaky can be better. When it comes to disguising coverages, the Vols didn’t do as much of that last season as they would have liked. Things have changed after an offseason of preparation.
“Tremendously,” Flowers said. “That’s what we’ve worked on all season. If you watch the film, that gives the rush a couple more seconds to get there. Allowing us to make plays in the backfield, a lot of coverage sacks, a lot of things like that to get off the field.
“A lot of quarterbacks, once their first read goes away, they kind of have to look for their next option. By that time, hopefully the rush is getting there. Disguising is huge in any game, so that’s definitely one of the biggest things we’ve worked on.”
Not all of Tennessee’s plays behind the line of scrimmage have come from solid coverage in the secondary. Flowers knows that. He’s well aware that the Vols defensive front and back end work off of each other, and it’s going pretty good so far.
“It is amazing, but we know what we put into it all off-season,” Flowers said. “We know how hard we have been working. The culture we have set, the details, how hard we have pushed each other. We prepare for it. We work for it, so that’s what we are going to get out of it.”
Tennessee’s defense is ranked sixth in the SEC with just over 14 points allowed per game. While no one is confusing the Vols with Alabama or Georgia, it’s becoming more than amusing to think that the Vols’ defense is a liability. It’s not.
