Brian Kelly previews facing Tennessee's high-tempo offense

These aren’t the Volunteers of recent years. The Tennessee offense, since quarterback Hendon Hooker took over early last season, has torched virtually every opponent its faced. Thanks Josh Heupel’s fast-paced offensive system and Hooker’s perfect fit within it. These Vols score points and do it quickly.

So how is LSU preparing for Tennessee’s dynamic offensive attack as they welcome Hooker and company to the bayou this weekend? “Yeah, you got to get your cleats in the ground and you got to go play,” says Tigers head coach Brian Kelly.

Kelly knows playing focused, competitive defense is important. However, with all the hype around Tennessee’s speedy offense, Kelly thinks the pace actually makes the Volunteers a little simpler to defend.

“So in one instance, they can’t do a lot of things either, right. So if they’re going to snap the ball with 20 seconds on the clock, there’s not a lot of motion, there’s not a lot of changing of formations. They’ve got to line up right and left too. So to play fast allows, obviously, a pretty clean look at what you’re getting. But on the other side, you can’t do a lot defensively, But what you can do is get your cleats in the ground, line up, play fast play free and play physical. And that’s what we’ll have to do against a really good uh Tennessee offense.”

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Match the tempo and play physical and the Tigers should have success vs. the vaunted Vols offense. Easier said than done.

A main reason why stopping them is so hard is directly due to Hendon Hooker, who Kelly had nothing but praise for when asked about him.

“Big, athletic, strong, and if you think of him just as that, that’s where you get beat because he can throw the football as well. I just think he’s a great competitor,” Kelly said of Hooker. “First of all, he plays in an up-tempo offense. It’s the fastest offense in the country, obviously out-producing everybody. And then you have a guy that certainly is not getting the kind of notoriety yet, but I’ve seen a lot of really good quarterbacks and this guy is as good as anybody I’ve gone against. He has the ability to break your defense down. When he gets outside, he’s big and physical, and makes things happen.”

Brian Kelly may have a great game plan against the fast-paced Tennessee offense. But he understands what a threat the guy under center poses every time he takes a snap.