Omari Thomas stresses desire for Tennessee to rush quarterback better

Tennessee‘s offense will be a locomotive this season. Defensive lineman Omari Thomas is doing everything he can to ensure his side of the ball can keep up.

The 6-foot-4 senior pulled back the curtain on Tennessee’s offseason process at SEC Media Days. He specifically discussed the Vols’ focus on pressuring the opposing quarterback.

“That was something that, as a defensive line, we just want to work on more. We don’t want to have to bring [extra] pressures. We want to be able to rush four, and just be able to do what we do,” Thomas said. “We’ve been working with trainers, we work with our coaches out there on the field ourselves and we focus on improving passwords, working on counter moves, how to read different stances, different sets, everything that goes into play.”

UT’s pocket pressure could undoubtedly use improvement. The Volunteers recorded just 31 sacks last season, barely scraping into the top 50 in the country. Meanwhile, Tennessee boasted the No. 1 offense in the nation.

Thomas isn’t above criticism. The 6-foot-4 defensive tackle recorded 26 tackles during the 2022 season, adding on 2.5 tackles for a loss and 2.0 sacks. Those numbers must improve for UT to reach its goals in 2023. Thomas is locked in on the details to reach his potential.

“This offseason, we’ve really just been focusing a lot on just the little things,” Thomas said. “That’s something we noticed last year that we just had a lot of miscommunications where we might not have gotten beat off of them.”

The “little things” cost Tennessee its season last year. On the cusp of its first College Football Playoff appearance, the Volunteers allowed the South Carolina Gamecocks to stun them in a 63-38 beatdown. In the heartbreaking loss, Tennessee recorded just one sack.

Thomas believes his team is capable of so much more.

“We’ve just got to come every day ready to get better,” Thomas said. “We can’t get happy. We can’t get complacent with how the season is going. I feel like we found ourselves doing that at times last year. We fought through adversity and got through it. But we don’t need to put ourselves in situations.

“Other teams are going to create adversity for us already. So we just need to be able to know that we’re all one and we don’t need to put it on ourselves,” Thomas said.

Thomas and his fellow defensive line will take the field in Tennessee’s 2023 debut on Sept. 2 against the Virginia Cavaliers.