College football players are often yelled at. They don’t often enjoy it. Such is not the case for Tennessee Football defensive lineman Chandavian Bradley. He actually enjoys a good berating.
“I like being yelled at,” the freshman said after the Vols’ first practice on Wednesday. “It’s weird, but I really do like I enjoy it.”
Why does Bradley enjoy a good chastising? Well, he believes it makes him better. As for the person in charge of chiding Bradley on a regular basis, that would be Tennessee defensive line coach Rodney Garner, who happens to be known for being quite boisterous with his players.
“Coach Garner, now I love coach G,” Bradley said. “After signing day, he came into my school because we have other people in our school that are being recruited from my high school. I met up with him and the first thing he said is ‘You’re signed now. It’s over. We’re not treating you like a baby anymore, I’m going to be on you about every little thing, no matter what it is, even though you’re still in high school and he did not lie.’
“I got texts at least once every week, just him checking up on me, making sure that I’m doing everything that I need to do. And since I’ve been here he’s been on it, on me, on me, on me, on me about every little thing, and I love it. I went up to him after practice today and told him, ‘Thank you, because that’s the type of stuff that I like, because it helps me learn.’
“Sometimes it looks as if it gets under my skin a little bit. But in reality in my head I’m processing it and genuinely like being taught that way.”
Luckily, Bradley has teammates to go to if things get a bit too rough. Lately, he’s leaned on Tyler Baron and Omari Thomas for advice. However, they’re not the only defensive linemen who can serve as mentors.
“T.B. (and) Big O,” Bradley said. “Those are my two guys I always confide in whenever I need help with anything. But like James Pierce, he’s very smart, like he’s quite. Him and Josh Josephs. They’re both sophomores, but they’re both like insanely smart when it comes down to the game and they know exactly what they need to do and what they need to do it. So I think those are people like, even though they’re quiet, if you go up to them, they’ll talk to you so they’re leaders in that aspect.”
Bradley may need to yelled at during dinner time. The Missouri prospect showed up at about “216 or 217” pounds, has gotten all the way up to 227 but struggles to stay close to 225. Bradley knows that his weight is an issue, which is why he sometimes weights himself three times a day.
“I’m under weight right now,” Bradley said. “It’s not hard to see it and I’m not going to shy away from it. I know I’m under weight, but I know I’m going to do all I can to be able to get to the weight that I need to be, to be able to play. For me personally, it’s got to be between 230 and 235. That’s where I’m going to want to be…They make sure they want me to keep my speed, but they also want to make sure that I have enough body mass and everything to be able to have power.
So, to use a tactic that seems to help. Here’s one piece of advice for Bradley: Eat!
