Interior Defense Weakness

[Shirleyudontmeanthat]

W Hobbs and moi out you HAVE to get the young guys ready. That is playing time , they aren’t getting any better if you don’t play them. Game was in hand , had to get the youngsters time. Smart coaching , even if you give up some yards and points

 

[volfanstuckinga]

2 observations....

1. I felt like we had a WAY too many injuries. And it seems to happen often. That bothers me....

2. Some people on this thread would be a lot of fun at parties.....

 

[LittleVol]

W Hobbs and moi out you HAVE to get the young guys ready. That is playing time , they aren’t getting any better if you don’t play them. Game was in hand , had to get the youngsters time. Smart coaching , even if you give up some yards and points

I don’t think any of those guys can RS at this point.

Heck, West and Bailey would be my 2nd string DTs at this point. With Eason and Nate at the 1s.
3s you’d have Utley and Campbell.

Or you have Utley and Campbell at the 2s
And always play West and Bailey on 3rd down and long at DT.

Wallace came in the same class as Moi and Nate Robinson and he just does not look the part. He was getting manhandled against Syracuse. Our staff gets too curious sometimes. Wallace was a WR 6 years ago… he just doesn’t have the leverage to play DT even though he’s 300 lbs

Wallace. DE from Nigeria via England.
They give these guys whole damn scholarships while guys like Bishop or Brooks have to earn theirs…

 

[franklinboy]

They had plenty of injuries in the game and they just lost quite a bit of experience from last years team that's gone. Hobbs being out didn't help anything either. Some of ya'll on here already got your THONGS in a wad already.......smh Hell support not bitch and complain against them....

 

[DougVol]

Syracuse did a great job of exploiting the interior defensive line. I'm afraid this is going to rear its ugly head against really good competition. I'm trying to figure out why Tennessee is so thin there and appear to be way undersized. If you cannot win the interior line of scrimmage you have absolutely no chance in the SEC.

Yep. Your soul gets crushed when you can’t stop the run. I used to love it when Fulmer would run it up the gut for 4 yards a carry the whole 4th quarter. You could see the misery on their faces.

 

[njvols]

Syracuse did a great job of exploiting the interior defensive line. I'm afraid this is going to rear its ugly head against really good competition. I'm trying to figure out why Tennessee is so thin there and appear to be way undersized. If you cannot win the interior line of scrimmage you have absolutely no chance in the SEC.

It's something to watch, for sure, but also think we had some injuries and also played a ton of players to build depth. Not terribly worried about it. Don't think we're winning the SEC this year, but also believe we'll be in the "big middle" cluster of teams in the hunt to have really good seasons if we stay healthy and continue to improve.

 

[DougVol]

I think i saw 3.5 which still isn’t bad (if accurate).

That’s a first down for 3 plays. Just saying

 

[snappervol]

Take away the QB numbers which include sacks and it was 130 on 37 carries 3.5 yd per attempt. Not terrible but needs improvement (which I believe will happen).

You can’t “take away” the QB numbers, just like you can’t take away the score. What in the hell is going on in this thread? Seems like a bunch of hand wringing and retreat to their safe space is the call ! Good lord -

 

[jmcarr33]

Im glad Im not the only one who noticed. Look I know we were down 3 of our top 4 d-lineman. But we're just talking about size, not talent. If you arent at least 6' 2" and 300+, you have no business being an interior D-Lineman in the SEC. Why are we recruiting these undersized guys? Even our edge rushers look small compared to DE's in the past. Reggie White played DE at 280lbs. Derek Barnett was probably of similar size. Malik Jackson played at 275 lbs. Now these edge rushers look like basketball players.

Malik Jackson played quite a bit at DT during his tenure

 

[sammy80]

I couldn’t help but notice how big Texas and Clemson’s DTs were compared to our guys. I’m not considering it a problem yet but if I had to pick one thing I’m most concerned about it’d be size at DT

Didn’t do either one of those teams any good first week-both lost!
I don’t think our size is the issue with our DL….it really is the health.
With Hobbs and Moi out we have a much smaller rotation…Eason playing 62 plays is a concern….I think we will see some of our younger players sooner than planned…I think we will love Utley and Campbell…,,I just what to see them when they have the bodies built to handle the sec schedule!!

 

[LittleVol]

It's something to watch, for sure, but also think we had some injuries and also played a ton of players to build depth. Not terribly worried about it. Don't think we're winning the SEC this year, but also believe we'll be in the "big middle" cluster of teams in the hunt to have really good seasons if we stay healthy and continue to improve.

I agree mostly with what you said.

However, we absolutely have everything we need to play and win the SEC. This season.

If this were last years offense (Nico and Halzle) then we maybe not win last Saturday.

Our defense doesn’t need to be top 5 again. They just need to be able to get crucial stops. They can do that.