Snapshots: Vols get more physical as week one closes

Tennessee has wrapped up week one of fall camp as the Vols were in “thud” mode on Saturday before donning full gear and full contact on Monday ahead of Thursday’s first scrimmage of the year.

Tennessee’s practice featured plenty of tackling drills, blitz pick up and blitz drills before wrapping up the day with 11 on 11 team work.

Tim Banks‘ defense made a lot of strides from 2021 to 2022 and they are looking for more this fall. The defense has a brand with their style of play. They have experience at all three levels and the are building depth with what they have recruited especially last year. Banks said he has seen a growth in the confidence of his defensive unit.

“I think the overall consistency and confidence,” Banks said of the growth. “When we got here, I don’t think the room had a lot of confidence. Those guys are very confident in what they bring to the table. As far as where we need to go, every year is a new year. We just want to be consistent with our play. We want to be able to have a unit that guys can look out there and see very clearly that we’re going to play extremely hard, playing tough and being smart. We want to be a unit that doesn’t beat itself. For the most part, we’ve been that. But I think continuing to grow in those areas will only bode well for this team.” 

That growth resumes on Monday as Tennessee continues fall camp ahead of their September 2nd opener against Virginia in Nashville. Kickoff is at noon on ABC.