Sportswriter Nagi with a slightly deeper look at next season's Defense

[BruisedOrange]

Better or worse? Previewing Tennessee’s defense in 2022

Let's call this a benchmark for preview analysis articles. Anything less isn't worth your click.

I look forward to some detailed analytics later in the summer. But 'til then, there's enough here to start an intelligent conversation... or raise more intelligent questions.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

The writer (Mark Nagi) gives us a decent, if brief, pre-season analysis of the defense (including special teams). The writer says "better" a lot without any nuance, though. QB pressure will be "better." Run defense will be "better." Pass defense will be "better." Special teams will be "better." Overall result will be "better."

Having read what he wrote, I'll add the nuance he's missing:

• QB pressure -- significantly better. Returning all the most important components (Young, Banks, Baron), and adding to them.
• Run defense -- somewhat better. Not going to be the strong suit, but should mature from 2021. "Mid," as Nagi's daughter says (heh, nice touch to the piece, Mark).
• Pass defense -- maybe better. Loss of Alontae Taylor and Theo Jackson is costly; those were the two best of a hot-and-cold defensive backfield in 2021. What's left, without reinforcement, would be worrying. Since QB pressure (already noted as significantly better) contributes greatly to pass defense, there is room for a bit of optimism. But this is the place to put orange-and-white worries on the D.

And then,

• Special teams defense -- probably a bit better. Both Brooks (excellent) and Wilson (decent to pretty good) are back. Shouldn't be worse, anyway.

Overall -- measurably, but not earth-shatteringly better in 2022. It's still going to be on the offense to win games; the defense's job is to not lose them.

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

I read it the same. D can be better in some areas but just ok in others. Pretty generic. Not lavishing praise but not trashing either. They should be better than last season, the bar is not very high, and any improvement will help. Maybe they surprise us.

 

[volroadwarrior]

Couldn't be a whole lot worse, but the second year in the defense should help. If newbies can step up that will help. If the D can just get more 3 and outs this team will be successful. They were frustrating to watch after opponents would get one first down after another last year.

 

[LittleVol]

The writer (Mark Nagi) gives us a decent, if brief, pre-season analysis of the defense (including special teams). The writer says "better" a lot without any nuance, though. QB pressure will be "better." Run defense will be "better." Pass defense will be "better." Special teams will be "better." Overall result will be "better."

Having read what he wrote, I'll add the nuance he's missing:

• QB pressure -- significantly better. Returning all the most important components (Young, Banks, Baron), and adding to them.
• Run defense -- somewhat better. Not going to be the strong suit, but should mature from 2021. "Mid," as Nagi's daughter says (heh, nice touch to the piece, Mark).
• Pass defense -- maybe better. Loss of Alontae Taylor and Theo Jackson is costly; those were the two best of a hot-and-cold defensive backfield in 2021. What's left, without reinforcement, would be worrying. Since QB pressure (already noted as significantly better) contributes greatly to pass defense, there is room for a bit of optimism. But this is the place to put orange-and-white worries on the D.

And then,

• Special teams defense -- probably a bit better. Both Brooks (excellent) and Wilson (decent to pretty good) are back. Shouldn't be worse, anyway.

Overall -- measurably, but not earth-shatteringly better in 2022. It's still going to be on the offense to win games; the defense's job is to not lose them.

No. It's called TEAM EFFORT.
The offense was just as responsible for losing games last season.

And we've been back forth about it.

 

[LTVol]

I read it the same. D can be better in some areas but just ok in others. Pretty generic. Not lavishing praise but not trashing either. They should be better than last season, the bar is not very high, and any improvement will help. Maybe they surprise us.

Unless I overlooked ot, didn't see any mention of OSU cornerback transfer Turrentine. Is he not expected to have much impact on our D?

 

[butchna]

Unless I overlooked ot, didn't see any mention of OSU cornerback transfer Turrentine. Is he not expected to have much impact on our D?

Don’t know that he’s a cornerback. Fall camp competitions will clear up a lot of fog one way or the other.

 

[greenbacknative]

We need to have a pass rush. All the games we lost last year, we were beaten by mobile QBs that either extended the play and threw downfield or tucked and ran the ball for chunks of yards thus keeping our D on the field. I think our CBs will be ok, but they can't run after receivers for 10-15 seconds every play.

 

[PlanetVolunteer]

Don’t know that he’s a cornerback. Fall camp competitions will clear up a lot of fog one way or the other.

Turrentine is a safety or a nickel/STAR player for sure.

 

[sjt18]

No. It's called TEAM EFFORT.
The offense was just as responsible for losing games last season.

And we've been back forth about it.

No. The D was on the field too long because the D could NOT get off the field on 3rd down. It had nothing to do with the O that scored a lot of points when the D didn't let opponents play keep away.

No one has said the O cannot improve. But it is pretty ridiculous to say they didn't score enough points if the D could have just done a little more.

 

[OneVolNation]

We had plenty of tackles for loss and a few players with 4 or more sacks last season.
Anyone know how many of those were coverage sacks?

 

[bigl3327]

I think a lot of people are sleeping on Roman Harrison when it comes to our pass rush this season.

 

[orangebloodgmc]

Turrentine is a safety or a nickel/STAR player for sure.

Yet, that could still indirectly help at corner, if new guys at safety, allow guys like Charles to shift to corner. D.Williams, Hadden, Charles, Burrell, Rucker ... will be interesting to see who emerges as best options at corner.

 

[hUTch2002]

Couldn't be a whole lot worse, but the second year in the defense should help. If newbies can step up that will help. If the D can just get more 3 and outs this team will be successful. They were frustrating to watch after opponents would get one first down after another last year.

It was worse the year prior under a supposed defensive guru. It was much worse under Sunseri. I was actually pleasantly surprised with the D last year. The schemes were usually solid and players were usually in the right spots. We just didn’t have enough horses, nor enough thoroughbreds. The Ole Miss game was frustrating in a lot of ways but they did hold the Ole Miss O to 7 in the second half, which was not easy last year. They had moments but just couldn’t sustain success due to a lack of bodies, which is particularly punishing with the style of offense we play.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

No. The D was on the field too long because the D could NOT get off the field on 3rd down. It had nothing to do with the O that scored a lot of points when the D didn't let opponents play keep away.

No one has said the O cannot improve. But it is pretty ridiculous to say they didn't score enough points if the D could have just done a little more.

Exactly. We left 2 wins on the field last season where we scored 34 and 45 points. You can't score 34 and 45 points and blame the offense for those losses.

 

[hUTch2002]

Exactly. We left 2 wins on the field last season where we scored 34 and 45 points. You can't score 34 and 45 points and blame the offense for those losses.

The only offensive complaints I had were we gave up too many sacks and our 3rd and 4th and short execution absolutely sucked. Cut the sacks down and fix the short play issues and, amazingly, we could be a good bit better.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

The only offensive complaints I had were we gave up too many sacks and our 3rd and 4th and short execution absolutely sucked. Cut the sacks down and fix the short play issues and, amazingly, we could be a good bit better.

And last year we were the 7th-best scoring offense in the nation. Being a good bit better than 7 of 130 is putting us pretty close to the sharp point of the pencil.

Just need our defense to take a big step forward, and we'll be winning a lot more than we lose in 2022 and beyond.

 

[hUTch2002]

And last year we were the 7th-best scoring offense in the nation. Being a good bit better than 7 of 130 is putting us pretty close to the sharp point of the pencil.

Just need our defense to take a big step forward, and we'll be winning a lot more than we lose in 2022 and beyond.

D had some bright spots. I think we were 7th nationally in TFL, for example. 3rd down efficiency is where we could really use some improvement.

On O, being better at those short yardage situations could easily add 3-4 points per game and at least 1 win. But I agree the D has further to go by a wide margin.

One thing no one on here can argue is we were way more fun to watch last year than we were under Pruitt.

 

[savannahfan]

Better or worse? Previewing Tennessee’s defense in 2022

Let's call this a benchmark for preview analysis articles. Anything less isn't worth your click.

I look forward to some detailed analytics later in the summer. But 'til then, there's enough here to start an intelligent conversation... or raise more intelligent questions.

Careful now!! The chances of this are very slim as we on this site tend to go astray when it comes to intelligent. Volunteer conversations are like religious conversations, they tend to stray from fact to excited expectations of the promised land.

 

[savannahfan]

Couldn't be a whole lot worse, but the second year in the defense should help. If newbies can step up that will help. If the D can just get more 3 and outs this team will be successful. They were frustrating to watch after opponents would get one first down after another last year.

No better two sentence comment has or can be made.

 

[Brave Volunteer]

Just need our defense to take a big step forward, and we'll be winning a lot more than we lose in 2022 and beyond.

And that is why I do not see us taking a huge leap this season in terms of wins and losses over last season.

If we had went out this off season and got a bunch of solid defensive front 7 players in the portal, I would be much more hopeful. However we didnt address the defensive side of the ball hardly at all. We are pinning our hopes on a bunch of unproven freshmen and improvement from last year starters who weren't very good. To me that is a recipe for disappointment. And I'll say it again, injuries are GOING to happen! Just expect it because they always do and by the middle of the season we are going to have real depth problems. I always cringe when I read posts that start out "well if we can just stay healthy..." because its a fool's hope. We DONT stay healthy! We never do and we never seem to have enough quality depth to withstand it.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

And I'll say it again, injuries are GOING to happen! Just expect it because they always do and by the middle of the season we are going to have real depth problems. I always cringe when I read posts that start out "well if we can just stay healthy..." because its a fool's hope. We DONT stay healthy! We never do and we never seem to have enough quality depth to withstand it.

Yeah, but worrying about injuries is sorta like living in Oklahoma, then worrying about tornadoes. Or living in Florida, then worrying about hurricanes.

Playing football, they're gonna happen. Do what you can to mitigate them, be prepared to respond to them, then just get on with playing the game. Sometimes they'll put us at a disadvantage. Sometimes they'll give us an advantage. Usually, they'll be a mix of both.

That's football. Repeating over and over that we're gonna get injuries really doesn't add much to this conversation, other than getting us all to nod our heads and say, "yep, maybe."

 

[Brave Volunteer]

Yeah, but worrying about injuries is sorta like living in Oklahoma, then worrying about tornadoes. Or living in Florida, then worrying about hurricanes.

Playing football, they're gonna happen. Do what you can to mitigate them, be prepared to respond to them, then just get on with playing the game. Sometimes they'll put us at a disadvantage. Sometimes they'll give us an advantage. Usually, they'll be a mix of both.

That's football. Repeating over and over that we're gonna get injuries really doesn't add much to this conversation, other than getting us all to nod our heads and say, "yep, maybe."

I'm only saying it because lack of depth on the defensive side of the ball is a real problem on this roster and people who say they see 9 or 10 wins out of this team, they seem blind to this fact. I'm not "worried" about injuries so to speak. Its just a reality and something people should factor in. If we had Georgia or Alabama depth, it wouldnt even be in the conversation.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

I'm only saying it because lack of depth on the defensive side of the ball is a real problem on this roster and people who say they see 9 or 10 wins out of this team, they seem blind to this fact. I'm not "worried" about injuries so to speak. Its just a reality and something people should factor in. If we had Georgia or Alabama depth, it wouldnt even be in the conversation.

We've added depth this off-season. Not as much as you or I would like, but fellas like Weathersby, Slaughter, and Sylvester Smith are clear signs of building depth.

My only real worry for the D is in our backfield. Slaughter and Smith are too young to expect to jump right in gangbuster style. Aside from Alontae and Theo, both gone to the NFL, there weren't a lot of bright spots in the defensive backfield last season. Burrell has the physical talent needed, but his brain couldn't keep up last year. Flowers is good, but not great; he can't replace Alontae as the stud of the unit.

Will someone step up? We have 18 fellas listed on the roster at CB/S right now. Can a star or two emerge? Our QB pressure unit, especially Banks, Baron and Young, will help them by forcing the QB to hurry up. But can they take it from there?

Hope is not a method. But for us fans, who have nothing to do with getting ready for the season, it's all we got. So I'm gonna hope a couple of stars emerge in that position group.

Go Vols!

 

[horde of llamas]

We had plenty of tackles for loss and a few players with 4 or more sacks last season.
Anyone know how many of those were coverage sacks?

zero