Tennessee donned pads for the first time in spring practice on Friday. That was a long-awaited test for a rebuilt defensive line that the Vols will depend on this fall.
UT lost a bevy of defensive tackles from last year’s team, including Omar Norman-Lott, Omari Thomas and Elijah Simmons. That’s a lot of production to replace. However, Tennessee has experienced players ready to step in because they rotated so many defensive linemen into games last season.
“Obviously, it’s their turn,” defensive line coach Rodney Garner said flatly. “This is their team and their watch.”
Garner will most likely lean on seniors Bryson Eason and Jaxson Moi on the interior of Tennessee’s defensive line. Both played extensively last year.
“I have been pleased with Jaxson and Bryson,” Garner said. “There are things coming out of last season when we sat down and did our exit meetings on things that we talked about they needed to do to improve their game and try to take their game to the next level.
“It was good to see them come out and try to focus on that so far this spring, just improving fundamentally, which would now take their game to another level. Obviously, we have to build depth. We have to get depth because everybody knows we like to play a lot of guys. It’s just a process that we have to continue to work on.”
Moi is an intriguing player given his potential upside. He consistently made plays last season for the Vols in a limited role. In addition to blocking on occasion in Tennessee’s short-yardage package on offense, Moi racked up 16 tackles, 4 1/2 for a loss, including two sacks and a forced fumble.
“Jaxson is a tremendous leader, and I think he has taken it to the next level,” Garner said. “I have been really pleased with him, but sometimes like, I told him, ‘You can’t just talk the talk, you have to walk the walk. ‘ I have been pleased with him.”
As for Eason, Garner said, “Bryson is very talented and we’ve always talked about that every year. He’s one of the more gifted kids that we have, but just seeing him being more attentive to doing the little things (is important). He is a talented guy…His talent jumps out, but there are some things that he needs to clean up in his game.
“For him to come out and at least be focused on fixing certain things that we’ve talked about, that’s really encouraging, and it shows to me that he’s maturing. That’s showing that he’s growing as a man and he’s taking it seriously.”
The biggest difference between last year’s defensive tackles and this year’s Vols may not be production from the starters. It may well be Tennessee’s ability to constantly rotate more defensive tackles into the game. The Vols just don’t have any proven players behind Moi and Eason.
That, however, might not be an issue thanks to Garner, who is widely considered one of the best defensive line coaches in the country. His goal? To get players ready for the ultimate test – the upcoming 2025 season.
