They came away with an interception and forced the Pittsburgh Panthers to throw it 44 times while averaging under six-and-a-half yards an attempt. However, the Tennessee football secondary may have issues defending the pass.
Speaking at the SEC Teleconference Wednesday, Josh Heupel specifically mentioned the pass defense when talking about what they need to work on. What he didn’t say was even more revealing.
When touting the play of the defense at Pitt, Heupel conspicuously left out the secondary defending the pass. He did tout the defensive backs, but in a different way.
“We gave up a couple of fourth down plays, man, the look in their eyes and the demeanor never changed,” he said. “With our front seven, in particular, we got pressure with our safeties and corners, too, but I thought the effort, energy, strain, and technique we played with upfront showed its head during the course of the football game.”
That quote is pretty clear. Heupel was touting the pressure brought by the defense and the help the defensive backs brought with that. He did not tout what they did against the pass.
Combine that with him saying the pass defense, along with the run game, being the areas they need to improve, and there may be a secondary issue. He was even more specific about the pass defense struggling early at Pitt.
“We were close in the first quarter; we weren’t executing quite as well as we needed to on the backend,” he said. “The quarterback was able to get rid of the football. I thought we did a little bit better job as the game went on and those pressures started hitting, and we were able to get to the quarterback.”
So Heupel criticized the secondary specifically for the defense’s struggles in the first quarter, he touted the front seven specifically in why the defense stood out the rest of the way. It’s pretty clear where there’s an issue.
Of course, there has been concern all offseason about Tennessee football not having a No. 1 cornerback with the departure of Alontae Taylor. That concern hasn’t subsided.
Even John Paddock for the Ball State Cardinals was able to move the ball against them some. Big plays in the secondary have mostly been due to the front seven.
Two of the Vols’ three interceptions this year, Tamarion McDonald’s on the first play of the opener and Trevon Flowers’ against Pitt, came because of pressure Aaron Beasley brought. Only Kamal Hadden’s was about him.
To be fair, if Byron Young and Tyler Baron keep getting pressure, Omari Thomas keeps knocking balls down and Beasley keeps improving, they might get away with it. Tim Banks’ well-timed blitzes could help too.
All of this is why Heupel was able to be so high on the front seven against Pitt. Sacks by Flowers and Wesley Walker were the well-timed blitzes that impacted the game in a huge way.
“I thought the disruption of the run game and the ability to put pressure on the quarterback, the line of scrimmage, I thought our guys did a great job,” Heupel said.
Linebacker Jeremy Banks struggling in coverage is another concern with Tennessee football’s pass defense. However, the real takeaway is that the Vols still don’t seem to have a No. 1 cornerback.
They are also lacking playmakers with ball instincts. Too many passes were tipped in that game against Pitt for them not to come away with another pick. However, as Heupel said, the team is developing, and Pitt showed that.
“We are not by any means a finished product in any way, but I did think that night showed some of the growth from our kids when we first arrived to who we are today,” he said. “The challenge for us is to continue to develop those things.”
