Tennessee defensive line coach Rodney Garner prefers to use an old-school philosophy when he addresses his players. That seems to be working.
“When I played, coach’s philosophy was he wanted practice to be the hardest thing…he wanted the game to be easy,” Garner said following practice on Wednesday. “That’s the same kind of philosophy that I want to relate to these guys.”
After the first day in pads, practice certainly got tougher on the Vols. There is no question that Tennessee will be dependent on its defensive front, especially early in the season, with a rebuilt secondary. There’s reason to believe Tennessee’s defensive line is up for the challenge. Just look at what they did last year.
The Vols ranked ninth nationally and second in the SEC with 41 sacks. Tennessee also led the SEC and finished sixth in the nation with 101 tackles for a loss. Sure, the Vols lost some players to graduation and the transfer portal, but the Tennessee’s defensive front returns mostly intact.
“Obviously, I’m proud of the guys I’ve got in the room,” Garner said. “Proud of the guys that started out with us when we started this journey four years ago. It is rewarding. Hopefully these guys see improvement in their game and improvement in the d-line play. At the same time, just knowing that we still have so much room for improvement. It is definitely good having a great nucleus that can actually set the tone, set the culture, that can start to police itself with the young guys that are coming in.”
The Vols’ defensive reclamation under Garner and defensive coordinator Tim Banks project isn’t done. There’s still work in that inexperienced secondary to attend to. However, Tennessee has certainly come a long way since head coach Josh Heupel was hired following the 2020 season. Why? Garner’s tough coaching has certainly been a part of the improvement.
“Everybody always wants to say,’You coach them hard,’ or ‘You’re hard on them,’” Garner said. “Well, this is a hard game. Life is hard. So, what you’re trying to do is prepare them for those difficult times.”
The Vols are now a week into preseason camp. So how would Garner grade the Vols’ defensive line to this point?
“That we need a lot more work,” Garner said, not surprisingly. “That we’ve got to really improve. That we’ve got to get in much better shape, football playing shape. Like I told them today after we finished running, if we are in great shape, we will be more mentally tough, we will be more physically tough. That’s got to be our challenge.
“We’ve got to put ourselves in a position where we’re not beating ourselves. We’ve got to go out there and be able to challenge our opponents to beat us, and we can’t beat ourselves, whether it be mentally or physically.”
Garner should have a new challenge this season if things continue to trend in a positive manner. After all, he has spent his time at Tennessee just trying to get by with a limited number of options on the defensive line. Now that he has options, he has to make choices as to which players will be in the game and when. That shouldn’t be a problem.
“Well obviously my whole career has been about rotating, so I’ve played 10 to 12 guys everywhere I have ever been,” Garner said. “If you look at my history of things, I’m always trying to develop enough guys that we can play at that championship level, but that’s my philosophy, that’s always has been my philosophy. Hopefully, we’re going to just improve our play.
“I do think right now we probably have more guys than what we’ve had here in the past to be able to do that, so I’m excited about that. I hope that we can stay healthy. I hope that we can continue to improve on the little things because that’s what it’s going to come down to. It’s just the little things. If we’re going to chase greatness, we’ve got to improve in the little areas. Those little minute things that we think are not that important, but they are very important when you are playing against high-level competition.”
That will be the case this season when the Vols take on the SEC elite. Perhaps some old-school coaching can elevate Tennessee to elite status sooner rather than later.
