What Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks said after Friday's practice

Defensive coordinator Tim Banks met with reporters after Friday’s Tennessee football practice, updating the progress of the Vols on defense and looking ahead to game week and the September 2 season-opener against Virginia (Noon ET, ABC) at Nissan Stadium in Nashville:

Trying to get his Tennessee defense to be good tacklers during preseason practices 

“It’s a fine line that you walk because the reality of it is, tackling is a skill that has to be developed through tackling. And you probably don’t get enough tackling opportunities, for the good of the game, trying to protect the guys and keep them healthy. But at the same time, you gotta do it. So I feel like we’ve done everything we can to get these guys prepared to tackle. I think whether it was 10 years ago or last year, it’s always the same. You gotta get that first tackle under your belt in that first game. And I think the guys will get comfortable and get going.

“But the reality of it is we talk about playing with relentless effort. We feel like even if a guy’s not quite where he needs to be and maybe stumps through a tackle, if we’re running to the ball with the pursuit, I think we should be okay.”

Assessing the strengths of this Tennessee defense leading up to the start of the season

“That’s a great question. I think the depth, I feel like we got a lot of guys that have played some football around here and we got a good blend of some young guys, some of the earlier enrollees that just got here and some of the guys that were freshmen last year, who played a small role. We expect those guys to play a larger role this season. So I think we would say what is our strength right now? Going to our first game, I would just say our gap, we feel really good that. We should be able to rotate a lot of guys and give a lot of guys opportunities that they earned from camp. It’s exciting, to be quite honest, it’s exciting to know that you can roll with different guys out there and try to keep those guys as fresh as we possibly can.”

At what point he started to realize Tennessee’s added depth on defense

Honestly, I felt like that going in the spring. We knew we had a lot of guys competing. You want to get better. You need guys that compete. You want guys getting comfortable and when you’re talking about the back end or when you’re talking about the linebacker position, we just feel like we have more guys that are able to compete and challenge each other and help each other get better. So I know we’ve had the depth, just obviously figuring out what the best combination of guys are and dictating and deciding how many reps to give each man and keep them fresh. So we felt like it was a good situation and hopefully it’ll show itself this season.”

If the rotations have been determined at this point or if Tennessee’s game against Virginia will help sort those out

“I think circumstances always play a factor. What’s going on, guys, injuries, whatever. But at the end of the day, going to the game, having rotation and plan, knowing that you expect these guys to come in these series and, depending on how long the series is, depending on how many more series they get. So it’s a fluid situation, but we always go into the game, having a plan in terms of how we will rotate out.”

How he feels about Tennessee’s safeties heading into the first game 

“I think it starts with Tank (Jaylen McCollough). Tank has obviously played a lot of football for us around here. And Wesley Walker played a ton snaps last year as well, (whether) it’s the star or some safety. Jordan Thomas was a guy who was a special teams guy who did a tremendous job for us last season that we think will be able to help us. And Christian Charles has rotated in from corner to safety to star. So we feel like we got some guys and Andre Turrentine, we feel like he’s got a chance to be able to help the team. So I think we have really good depth there. Obviously we don’t have a guy that played as many snaps as (Doneiko) Slaughter played the year before, outside of Tank, but we think collectively  we have a good group of guys to work with and are excited to watch those guys play.”

Have consistent Tennessee edge rushers Joshua Josephs and James Pearce have been during the preseason 

“I think those guys have gotten significantly better. Really, their roles have grown, things we’re asking them to do has grown. I think their maturity has started to show through and you expect that. The things that we basically gave a pass for as freshmen, they won’t get those passes this year. We expect those guys to grow. Any of the guys really, your first year, your second year it should be some growth. And both of those guys have shown that. And we’re excited about their future in the season.”

If added depth means Tennessee’s defense has more bodies or if it means the Vols can do more schematically and be more multiple on defense 

“I think most people would describe us as being pretty multiple at this point already. But I think the more guys you have, the more versatile they are, the more you can do with them and put them in some different spots and still really have the ability to play their strength. So I think the question is do we have more guys that are versatile? I would say absolutely. And I think we’ll have a chance to showcase their skill sets to hopefully help us continue to move the needle in the right direction. But definitely having the bodies itself from a depth perspective and playing more snaps, we also feel we do have some versatile defenders that are able to do multiple things for us.”

Facing Virginia quarterback Tony Muskett

“We had a chance to watch him earlier this month, I believe I’m saying that correctly. Really good player. He played really well (at Monmouth) for those guys and showed some athleticism. Really good touch on the deep balls. I can see why those guys went and got him and I can see why those guys named him the starter. We respect everybody that we face and you know he’s gotten our attention and we know we’re going have to be at our best to be able to have a good game against him.”

If Daevin Hobbs is a freshman that can make an impact for Tennessee this season

“Yeah, we’re excited about Hobbs. We already talked about guys with versatility. (He’s) a guy that can play inside, can play outside for us. He is a freshman, but he’s extremely talented. He’s light on his feet for a big guy. Is there a learning curve for a freshman? No doubt about it. No different than Josh and James from last year. We’ll obviously work with him and work through some of the growing pains, but we feel like he has an extremely high ceiling and we’re super excited to watch him perform as well this season.”

Where Tennessee stands at the LEO position, who other than Roman Harrison could factor in there and what the interior of the defensive line looks like

“(The interior defensive line) starts with ‘Big O’ (Omari Thomas). We think ‘O’ has improved a ton. He’s obviously a big body guy and he’s showing some versatility in terms of what we ask him to do. (Omarr Norman) Lott is another guy that obviously just got here in the spring that we’re super excited about as well. So yeah we feel like we’ll have some guys in the interior that will be able to push the pocket and affect the quarterback that way. 

“And when we start talking about our edge guys, you’ve already mentioned the usual suspects from Roman to Josh to James Pearce. And Caleb Herring as well, so we feel like we have some guys that have a chance to affect the quarterback, but definitely have some guys inside that will help.”

How Arion Carter was able to go from just starting to play linebacker a year ago to now being poised to play a big role for Tennessee at linebacker as a freshman this season

“The kid is a worker, first and foremost. He has had a great, a tremendous amount of confidence. And he believes in himself and he believes in what we’re teaching. I love this kid. He’s gonna play a ton for us. The steps and the growth that he’s shown coming from spring to our fall camp, he’s been tremendous. But again, I think it’s a testimony to just how hard the kid works and how committed he is to being great. We’re excited about him. We think he’s right where he needs to be as he continues to grow as a freshman. Just like with all the guys, there is a learning curve that that’s expected, but if I know him like I think I do, he’s gonna push through that curve and he’s gonna continue to grow and get even better as the season progresses.”

What they are looking for from Tennessee’s freshmen so show them that they belong on the field

“I think the consistency part, that’s the biggest thing. Being able to handle the highs and lows. When you play at this level, there are gonna be some challenging moments during the course of the game (and) practice. And the way they handle it is typically the freshmen, sometimes they get too high, sometimes they get too low, but I think as they continue to grow, they’ll be more consistent in their approach, number one, with their process. And I think you start to see dividends on the field. So I just think it’s being able to manage the game itself and the process is probably the biggest learning curve that most young people struggle with.”

How he has seen Tennessee’s Christian Harrison grow between his freshman and sophomore years

“Christian, he’s been one of those guys that’s been competing at that corner position and I think he’s grown as well. And you should — I know I’m saying the same thing — as a freshman, he’s trying to figure it out and he’s trying to work through your role, whatever that was last year for him. And obviously those guys are all working hard to create a bigger role and he’s no different. I thought he made tremendous strides to finish the last season. He was a factor on our special teams and some of the games he got in, we thought he improved. And he showed those same tricks during spring.

He really picked up where he left off in the fall. So, he’ll definitely be a guy that will continue to grow. And we’re extremely happy where he is right now.”