What Tennessee DL coach Rodney Garner said during Tuesday's press conference

Tennessee defensive line coach Rodney Garner met with reporters Tuesday, updating the progress of his position group, looking back at the loss to No. 1 Georgia and ahead to Saturday’s regular-season finale against Vanderbilt:

Where Tennessee’s defensive line is both mentally and physically as the regular season comes to a close

“Hopefully we’re going be mentally prepared to go out here and compete our butts off. We have a lot to play for. Like I told them, it’s bigger than any one individual. It’s about sending these seniors out the right way, finishing this thing off. These guys have bought into it and worked really hard in the three years that we’ve been here. And those guys that have been here that in that tenure, they deserve to go out the right way.

“And I think some of them, it really hadn’t hit it, like I said, until they get old like me, you know, they’ll look back and they don’t really know the significance of that being their last time playing in Neyland Stadium, their last time running through the T. Life changes, so you really want them to finish this thing the right way. And so hopefully everybody’s going to show up. Everybody’s gonna strain their butts off. W’re gonna play better, we’re gonna coach better and we’re gonna try to finish.”

Having conversations with Tennessee players about the possibility of using COVID years and the possibility of returning

“Obviously COVID has changed the landscape of college athletics. NIL has changed the landscape of college athletics. And the transfer portal has changed the landscape. So we’re dealing with a lot of variables. Unfortunately, in the society that we live in today, nobody really wants to deal, in reality, everybody wants it to be fluff, fluff, fluff. And I just think when we just, and it is all fluff and we’re not being honest and truthful, we set them up for future failure.

“So I’ve tried to be honest, tried to be transparent at times. The group has played good and at times you, we haven’t played so good. So, like I told them, to me there’s just so much unfinished business and I’m not an advocate of that. the grass is always greener,. I just feel like what we’ve done here in the three years, fertilizing the water and our grass has gotten greener, and I think there are greener days ahead. So guys gotta wanna be a part of that, you know? And it’s gotta be something  bigger than them. I want them to have pride in having an opportunity to play at a place like the University of Tennessee and I mean that. We’re blessed with the opportunity to be here.

“We need to know that and we need to cherish that. And it has to mean something. I’m sitting there looking at family. I know certain guys, Hey, this is their third school. Me personally, I just couldn’t imagine doing that. Where you gonna call home? I mean, where, what is gonna be your school? You know? So it was difficult, but I know it’s different and I know we all have to adapt. We just gotta try to hold on to the guys that we got and try to pour into them and just love them and just show them that this is the right place. And hopefully we’ll keep most of them. I’d love to keep all of them, but I have to be realistic.”

What he’s thankful for ahead of Thanksgiving 

“I’m grateful for my family. Grateful for my faith, grateful for the opportunity to be here at the University of Tennessee. Grateful to be the (defensive) line coach,  grateful for health. You know, it’s just so many things to be grateful for. I mean, there’s so many people out here. You are struggling going through a lot of things that we just take for granted, you know, how good we have things.”

How he thinks Tennessee’s Tyler Baron has played this season 

“I think Tyler has upped his game. And I think he’s been more productive. And I think he would tell you it’s because I think he’s invested more into it, so he’s getting more of a return outta it. So it’s been good to watch the maturity and growth. And I hope that he thinks that we’ve helped him somewhat along that path. That’s what you really want to do as a college coach. You want to help these young men grow in all areas on the field, off the field, classroom, academic, socially, spiritually, everything. So hopefully he feels like we’ve helped him to grow in all those areas.”

What opponents have done the last 2-3 weeks to slow down Tennessee’s pass rush

“Well obviously that’s part of it. We’ve got to strain harder, quick game. We gotta do a better job getting our hands up, we gotta get pushed. You’re gonna get chipped. We just gotta, pre-snap, we gotta see things. And we just gotta, we gotta strengthen better. We just gotta finish and we gotta be technical and fundamentally sound. We just can’t go out there and start to freelance, start to stress. Some things are not going right and you feel like, hey, I can abort everything that I’ve been taught, everything I’m teaching, to try to go make a play and not do it inside the scheme. And now you end up giving up a big play. So we just gotta be more attention to detail, stress, really stress and strain. We can. I gotta coach them better, teach them better, and we all gotta do better.”

The balance this time of year between Tennessee practicing with physicality and trying to get some rest for players that are banged up

“Well I think everybody is banged up. It’s a collision sport, so that comes with it. But I do think there is a balance that you gotta be able to have some gas in the tank and you gotta be motivated. My thing this week, man, it’s so much bigger than us as individuals. It is about these guys that will never had the opportunity again to run through that T and to play at Neyland Stadium. It’s about playing for your brothers.

“It is about laying on the line for your brothers. That’s one of the things that I have tried to stress in my room is trying to be more selfless. It is not about us, but let’s make it so much bigger than us, you know? So hopefully I’m hoping and praying that that’s going to carry over, uh, because we’ve got some really good young men that deserve to go out the right way.”