Tennessee's defense prepping for different challenge
The Tennessee defense has plenty of challenges heading into this weekend as Alabama comes to down. For Tim Banks’ squad the first challenge comes with managing Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe.
Milroe had over 100 yards rushing against Georgia as the Bulldogs routinely gave up the edge in the Tide’s quarterback run game.
Defensive tackles Omari Thomas and Bryson Eason know gap integrity and rush lanes are a premium Saturday after noon.
“It’s very important. You have a good quarterback like that. He’s mobile. He can make all the throws. He can run the ball a lot. You have to know your gap and be able to hold your gap to be able to rush their quarterback.”
Defensive tackle Bryson Eason had a huge tackle for loss in overtime Saturday in the Vols win as Eason had one of his most productive games of the year. Eason has obviously played against Milroe before albeit in a different offense, but the Memphis knows the challenge the defensive front faces.
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“We have to make sure we are very aware of our runs lanes so he won’t have an open lane to skirt through to extend plays,” Eason said. “We just need to make sure we do everything we can to contain him and make it hard on him. Everyone feels like he is the heart of that offense. Just try to contain him the best we can, pressure him and try to throw him off his game.”
At the second level of the defense, Tennessee is dealing with the loss of leading tackler and leader Keenan Pili. Pili suffered a season ending knee injury in the overtime win over Florida. Jeremiah Telander will step into the starting line up in the middle. Telander and Pili have been rotating on a regular basis all year.
Behind Telander is different as now Kalib Perry finds himself working in the middle after splitting time at both linebacker positions the first half of the season. Perry played 35 snaps against Florida after playing just 52 snaps the first five games of the season. Part of the work against the Gators was the fact that Tennessee played some three linebacker sets against Florida’s two tight end look. Now, Perry’s role becomes that of more of an every down linebacker. A role he feels prepared to handle.
“To be honest with you coach Inge has always prepped us,” Perry said. “He always has us coming in early. We always spend time going through any scenario because you never know what’s going to happen on the field. So, we can step into a role and not have any fall offs. With all our preparation it has us ready to play and play confident. It’s unfortunate that Keenan got hurt, but it gives us an opportunity to play for him and represent what he has shown at this University and how he has gone about being a Vol. So our preparation is to try and carry that on with us the rest of the season.”
