Notes from UT vs UGA - Defense

We took a look at the offense from the Georgia game here Breathe If You Love Football: Notes from UT vs UGA - Offense http://breatheifyoulovefootball.blogspot.com/2012/10/notes-from-ut-vs-uga-offense.html?spref=tw. Now let's turn to the defensive side and see how the Volunteers fared.

Let's start with the defensive line, primarily the nose tackle position where the "competition" seems to be between Darrington Sentimore and Daniel McCullers. Sentimore, at 6' 2" and 288 isn't the physically demanding presence of McCullers at 6' 8" and 360 but he is getting the bulk of the snaps and in my opinion rightfully so. Sentimore is just the better athlete with better technique. Having said that, I don't mind seeing McCullers get more snaps as I believe there is clearly room for both to play and play well.

Individual statistics are readily available for college players but I did pay close attention to their play against Georgia. One thing that sticks out in my mind is that McCullers was the nose tackle on the quarterback sneak on 3rd and about half a yard. Murray gained a yard for the first down and they scored a play later. Finally, the left side of the defense seemed to struggle in this game. Most of the long runs came from that side.

Our linebackers remain an enigma to me. After a good start in my opinion the play has become questionable. I am struggling to determine the root cause be it personnel or scheme or both. I don't think there is any doubt that Herman Lathers is our best linebacker. He had a sack that forced a fumble and was generally a force.

I love AJ Johnson and I think the guy is a beast. I just wonder if he is suited for the MLB role in our new defense. He gets taken out of the play a lot and sometimes I question his ball awareness. A middle linebacker needs to be a ball hawk and have good awareness of where the ball is located.

Furthermore, our defensive scheme creates a soft spot between the middle linebacker and the defensive backfield which Georgia exploited several times and it led to at least one touchdown. Johnson wasn't able to cover the receiver and the safety ended having to try and contain from a mile away. Its just a recipe for disaster that has to be corrected and let's hope it can be corrected.

I apologize for the poor quality of these photo's but I think you see the problem.

Likewise with Curt Maggitt. I lost count how many times you saw him chase Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall on their way to a long run for a touchdown. Also, the linebackers seemed to bite a lot on play action and generally had poor recognition in this game.

For the record, Georgia rushed for 282 yards and Marshall was the leading rusher with 164 yards on 10 carries and 2 touchdowns. He had a long run of 75 yards. Gurley added 130 yards on 24 attempts and 3 TD's with a long run of 51 yards. Our defensive backfield, particularly the safeties, were simply unable to stop him. Our linebackers were also completely unable to stop the sweep and that killed us early in the game. Byron Moore was the only defensive back with any success taking Georgia's backs down and even he struggled.

Again, I have no access to snap counts but every time I see Willie Bohannon in the game the guy is making a big play. I really do not understand why he doesn't get more playing time.

Finally, the defensive backfield is full of young talented guys who I believe can play much better. Again, I wonder if our scheme has a lot to do with the struggles you see there. Easily our best DB is Byron Moore who intercepted an Aaron Murray pass and returned it for pick six.

He is an athletic guy with good coverage skills and you have to love a lot about his game. Which is why I hate to seem like I am picking on him but he needs to tackle better. Its really the only flaw you see in his game.

This is how you do it baby

You also would like to see him challenge the receiver more often and I wonder if that is simply coaching/scheme versus player. In fact, none of our defensive backs seem to challenge the wide receivers very much. One final note on Moore he missed a block on special teams that led to a blocked punt and didn't even seem aware that he had created a problem. Now, I think he is a great player and could be elite but elite players don't make those mistakes.

Brent Brewer struggled early on but he settled down a bit. The TD play was the linebacker's responsibility but you would like to see Brewer make that tackle and prevent the touchdown. Brian Randolph made a really nice play late in the game to help force a punt.

A lot of these issues can be fixed simply with better fundamentals. I think also players are still adjusting to the new scheme and Georgia is the best offense this defense has faced to date. You have to like a lot about what you saw and just hope that the problems are able to be fixed. There is a long way to go and we are too talented to continue to give up so many plays and points. This defense has mental toughness and fight which goes a long way.

Vols First Preseason Scrimmage

The Vols held their first scrimmage of fall camp today at Science Hill High School in Johnson City. Dooley said he was pleased with the toughness and effort the players were playing with and said it was good to see. However he was disappointed with much of the administration of the game including some sloppy penalties and substitution issues.

"The offense did a really good job running the football today. And that was good to see. Made lot of big plays running the football."

Vols running backs accounted for 295 yards on the ground. 134 of those belonged to tail back Rajion Neal who had a 68 yard touchdown run. That's good news for a team that finished dead-last in the sec in rushing last year and Dooley, while tempered, was clearly pleased. Several players also noted freshman Que Watson's good game as he had 6 carries for 60 yards.

According to the stat sheet Da'Rick Rogers had 6 grabs for 105 yards including a touchdown while Justin Hunter caught 7 for 47 yards. Cordarrelle Patterson was still limited due to a shoulder injury but Dooley praised him for his toughness. He caught one ball -- a 26 yard gainer.

"I felt like the defense did a pretty good job preventing the big plays on the pass game. Although we threw the ball pretty decently, we didn't generate the yards per attempt that we're tying to get."

Dooley made a point to praise Junior College transfer Daniel McCullers saying he is really making progress, "I think he can help us inside."

The scrimmage also ended on a positive note with Tyler Bray driving down the field in a two minute drill into field goal territory where kicker Michael Palardy capped off a 4-4 day with a 48 yard field goal to win the game.

Dooley called it one of the best scrimmages he's been a part of since he's been here then added, "From a competitive standpoint."

Freshman running back Davante Bourque continues to be absent from the team and it is not clear at this point whether a return is likely.

You can view the scrimmage stats in their entirety here.

On Daniel McCullers

Plenty of questions surrounded Daniel McCullers the JUCO transfer from Georgia Military college coming into fall camp. You hear 6'6 380 lbs and you think 'Okay this kid's going to show up out-of-shape' or 'Is he going to be able to get his pad level low enough to get leverage.' One of these questions was answered as soon as pics of the monstrosity started to surface. He wears his weight well (has 25% body fat), doesn't appear to be out of shape, and most importantly HE'S HUGE. This is a guy whom Alabama, running a very similar defense to the one which we will this year employ, fought tooth and frigging nail for. Tennessee fans are going to be glad we won that battle.

How do you knock a guy McCuller's size off the ball? You don't. And with his height, pushing 3 or 4 yards into the backfield, he is going to disrupt passes over the middle. This guy can be a big factor in our defense.

This is arguably the most important recruit of this past class. Outside of McCullers, we really have no pure nose guard. To run the 3-4 defense it is paramount that the nose takes up space. You aren't going to see double digit sacks out of him, that's not really his job. His job is to take on multiple blockers so that the linebackers can be freed up to make plays. So far this camp, he has been doing just that. He is pushing around an offensive line that has been the highlight of camp and we are talking about seasoned players. The guy is just flat-out bigger and stronger and is on a mission to prove it.

I see McCullers getting early playing time in the opener and probably limiting his reps a bit to see what he's capable of handling then increasing his playing time once you figure it out. One thing is certain, you'll know where he is on the field on every play.


photo courtesy of mod of feelslike98.com