Everything Rodney Garner said as Tennessee heads into spring break

What kind of start have you gotten off to? 

I think, you know, the guys, they’ve been working hard. It was good the day, first day in pads. You see them go out there with having a little bit of juice, a little energy. You always worried about that last practice before you go on a break are guys gonna be into it and all that. But I thought they were really energized and came out and competed. Obviously we’ve gotta go up there and watch film and I know there’s gonna be some good, some bad and something different. But, I do think the guys are working hard and they’re trying to improve and trying to take their game to the next level, which we got a long ways to go. So, we need every, bit of work that we can get. All of it. 

You lost a lot of guys at defensive tackle, seniors who have been here for a while. What’s it been like that transition to spring so far with, obviously Eason still there, Bailey and some of those others stepping up. 

Well, obviously,  it’s their turn. This is their team  and their watch. What, are they willing to accept what are they gonna let happen on their watch? But I’ve been pleased with Jackson (Moi) and Bryson (Eason). There’s things coming out of last season when we sat down and did our exit meetings on things that we talked about that they needed to do to improve their game and try to take their game to the next level. And it was good to see them come out and try to focus on that so far this spring just improving fundamentally, which would now take their game to another level. But obviously we got to build depth, we gotta get depth because everybody knows we like to play a lot of guys, so  just, it’s a process. We just gotta continue to work. 

What kind of leader is Jaxson Moi? 

Jaxson is a tremendous leader and I think, he’s taken it to the next level. I’ve been really pleased with him. But, sometimes, like I told him, you know, you just can’t talk the talk, you gotta walk the walk. But I’ve been pleased with him. I’ve been pleased with Dom Bailey and him stepping up trying to be a leader and embracing in his own way. Hust how he has at least come out and just come to work every day that’s been pleasing. I think, Josh Josephs has done a really good job so far this spring, trying to be a leader, trying to take his game to another level. 

So, it’s encouraging to see the guys come out there and really try to work at their craft, and understand that, it’s a process. It’s not a sprint. This thing ain’t gonna be overnight, it’s going to take work. We gotta invest, so we can get the right return that we want. 

You’ve been big on culture and establishing that in your room throughout your, your time here. Do you feel like it’s in good hands with those guys taking sort of the baton from the guys that just left and, and keeping it where it needs to be? 

Well, hopefully we gonna improve it, to be honest with you. Culture is big. Standards are big. The guys that came before them, I think we took some strides and bringing some pride back into to D-line play here, but there’s just so much room for improvement. No one can rest on their laurels. So we gotta keep working. It’s something that’s always ongoing, the line keeps getting moved, so we just gotta continue to work and continue to improve and continue to strive. 

With how much you guys did rotate guys on the defensive line, how have you seen it or how do you hope it makes the transition seamless without having guys like Omari, Omar and Elijah? 

I really don’t understand the question, but we gotta develop more guys, so we continue that tradition. So right now it’s just a process and with some guys being banged up, it’s been a little bit more of a stressor.  Daevin Hobbs obviously is out, Nathan Robinson so now it’s the next man up, But I do think it’s given Isaiah Campbell and Ethan Utley probably more reps than they probably really wanted to take this spring because, now they’re getting more of a workload, and really trying to strain and see, hey, we say we want to play as freshmen, but now you gotta get out there and actually put that work in. 

And like I said, you can’t talk your way on the field. I always tell ’em, if I could spray paint you great, I would, but that ain’t the way it works. We have to put in that work. So it is a growing process. I think the guys would probably be a better to answer those questions for you than I am. But, they’re working. They’re being pushed and like I told them, they’ve just gotta get comfortable being uncomfortable and that is my job as a coach, to put them in uncomfortable situations and get them comfortable being there. So now we can get the good stuff to come out. And that’s just what we’re trying to do to try to get good and greatness to come out of them. 

Where do you think Isaiah and Ethan are? 

Well, I mean, they’re gonna have to be ready. I mean, we don’t really have a whole bunch of choices. I think they’re very talented, big men that we’ve got to really work on improving their play so that they can go out and compete and play at a championship level in this conference, which it ain’t easy. I mean, it ain’t easy so, but the one thing I will say about both of those young men, they have handled it well. I mean everybody handles (Coach) G differently. I’ve actually been pleased with the way that they’ve handled me. They’re tough-skinned. You can get on ’em, you can push ’em, and it seems not to rattle them. So with that being said, you know, I’m encouraged that we’re gonna get there, but we are a long ways from being there. 

I like their attitude. I like their work ethic. I’ll be excited to get the guys back that are banged up when we can get them back in the summer camp and fall camp and all that, and see how we can mix and match and see what we can come to. 

We didn’t get to see a lot of Jamal Wallace last year. How’s he come along since he arrived? 

People don’t realize this, Jamal and I think our guys laugh when he say this, know Jamal didn’t play with his hand in the dirt with junior college. Believe it or not, he probably did play some safety. He loves telling everybody, he plays safety and played outside linebacker and all that. So, it’s been a learning process, for him to just learn the intricacies of D-line play. He’s having to not go from being an out off-the-ball guy to playing defensive end. He went from being an off-the-ball guy to playing D-tackle, which that’s a different temperature of grease. So it’s been a learning curve for him. But same thing, they’re good young men. And that’s the thing I think they’re eager, they want to learn, but it’s just a process that we got to go through and we’ve got to grow every day. They’ve gotta grow as players. I’ve gotta grow as a coach and then that way we can move the needle the right way. 

You knew Coach Chop at Auburn. What’s it been like having him with you here and now seeing him, sort of his work get rewarded with a promotion to the staff? 

I mean, obviously you always like seeing guys, get the opportunity and all that. He’s a guy that, he worked with me at Auburn, came here with me, he’s worked his way up. And it’s just good to see people get rewarded and just get that opportunity. 

How would you sort of describe him as a worker, as a recruiter?

He does a great job with it, man. He’s relentless. He does a great job of building the relationships and he works at it. He builds trust and all that and adds value, in a thing that’s sort of getting lost in today’s new age of different way of recruiting. But, but he does just a great job of building those relationships, building that trust and having that an opportunity to have a chance to close on guys at the end. 

What’s the next step for a guy like Tyree Weathersby? He was coming along freshman year, got hurt. What’s the next step for him? 

We need for him to make tremendous strides and,  I do feel like Weathersby and Gentle both have had four real good days of practice and we need for both of those young men to come on and be able to give us real quality depth there. Weathersby is probably one of the more heavy handed kids that we have in the program. 

When he puts his hands on people, he can move people and shock ’em and move ’em. So just to see him gain confidence continue to improve his play, because you gotta understand the program that he came from. They didn’t win a game so a lot of, it’s been really new for him, just learning some of the nuances of the play and the fundamentals and the technique and all those things. But he’s a guy that’s saying both of those young men just gimme more, gimme more. 

They wanna be sponges, they want to be coached. And it’s good having a guy like Dom Bailey that’s been through the wars and paid his dues to be able to take those guys, help bring them on. So, I’m encouraged by both of those young men.

For Bryson Eason, a guy who’s going on his sixth year of being in this program. Just when it comes to spring practice, what is it that you really wanna see from an experienced guy like him? 

Well, obviously Bryson is very talented and we’ve always talked about that. Every year I’ve been here, he’s one of the more gifted kids, that we have, but just seeing him being, I guess, more attentive to doing the little things right. He is a talented guy. Everybody when they writing him up and the scouts and the coaches and all that, his talent jumps out. But there’s a lot of things that he needs to clean up in his game and for him to come out, at least be focused on fixing certain things that we’ve talked about that’s been encouraging. 

To me, that’s showing that he’s maturing and that’s showing that he’s growing as a man that he’s taking that serious.