Tennessee’s coaching staff is among the nation’s best at coach speak. The head coach of the Vols, Josh Heupel, is immaculate at the often-failed art of saying nothing while talking. His staff is falling right in line.
Defensive coordinator Tim Banks is well versed in coach speak. In fact, he seemed to sport the trait during his press conference on Tuesday when asked if he was surprised that his defense has looked historically good in two games this season.
“I don’t know about exceeded, but we are definitely playing hard,” Banks said. “Like I tell guys all the time, we have been building this thing since Day One, since we got here. I have a really good staff,and we have good kids playing hard…Our standard is our standard in terms of how hard we want to play and how tough we want to be. So as long as we continue to do that, we think we have a chance to continue to build.”
Well, Banks has a chance to do more than build. His defense has a chance to dominate thanks to a group of defensive linemen that could fill out an extended school bus. The Vols can go two and, most often times, three deep at every position on their defensive line.
“We had a plan going into this fall that we wanted to play a lot of guys at every position,” Banks said. “If the guys work hard, we want to give them what they deserve. We think our front is our strength, just based on the sheer number of guys we have that we feel like can play at a high level, so that is who we want to be. That is who we wanted to be Day One when we got here, and we are finally being able to show that.”
Okay, so there is a plan. That’s not a surprise considering how deliberate and premeditated Tennessee’s coaching staff has been from recruiting to building a game plan to topple an opponent. However, Tennessee had the luxury of playing several defensive linemen in a blowout against Chattanooga, then could keep the rotation going once things got out of hand against North Carolina State, which was ranked No. 24 in the nation.
Sure, the Vols substituted defensive linemen when the game was still in question, but it’s natural to wonder if the Vols are just finding their best four instead of playing their most deserving players based on practice. Banks said he’s not planning – there’s that word again – on changing his rotation as long as his players can keep up.
“As long as guys continue to play at the standard we talked about earlier — playing fast, tough, smart, all those good things — they will continue to play,” Banks said. “We have a lot of good guys there, and we have a great mixture of youth and veteran guys that have been around here. So as long as guys continue to play hard, they will continue to play.”
At least that’s the plan. So far, that plan has resulted in pure dominance. The Vols haven’t given up an offensive touchdown in their last 12 quarters, which hasn’t happened since 1985.
“To be honest, I did not know that,” Banks actually said with a straight face. “I tell our guys all the time, we are in a next-game mentality. Every game is different. We just want to go out there and be the best that we can be every single rep.
“As cliché as that sounds, that is the honest to God truth. I do not look at stats. I told you guys that when I first got here. I had no idea; we just know from snap-to-snap that we want to be at our best. If that is what the result is, so be it.”
Well, if Banks is willing to swear on it, I’m willing to buy it, although it seems a bit difficult for me to believe that he didn’t know his defense hasn’t given up a touchdown since November.
Whatever the case, Banks isn’t paid to be a statistician nor a character witness so he can keep staying ignorant to his achievements if that’s what it takes. Tennessee’s fan base will let you know if they suddenly disapprove.
