Vols senior says Tennessee will avoid one pitfall in 2023 that they didn't avoid last season
Tennessee Vols senior defensive lineman Omari Thomas knows that despite UT's 11-2 record in 2022, there were times that the Volunteers didn't have the right approach last season. And Thomas is committed to not making that same mistake again in 2023. The Memphis native told reporters at SEC Media Days in Nashville this week that […]
Tennessee Vols senior defensive lineman Omari Thomas knows that despite UT's 11-2 record in 2022, there were times that the Volunteers didn't have the right approach last season.
And Thomas is committed to not making that same mistake again in 2023.
The Memphis native told reporters at SEC Media Days in Nashville this week that he felt like Tennessee was "complacent" at times last season.
“We’ve just got to come every day ready to get better,” said Thomas. "We can’t get happy, we can’t get complacent with how the season is going. I feel like we found ourselves doing that at times last year. We fought through adversity and got through it. But we don’t need to put ourselves in situations ourselves.”
“Other teams are going to create adversity for us already," added Thomas. "So we just need to be able to know that we’re all one and we don’t need to put it on ourselves."
Tennessee was on a roll last season until they reached No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings. The same week they ascended to No. 1 is the same week they played their worst offensive game of the season, which happened to come in a loss against the Georgia Bulldogs.
A few weeks later against South Carolina, it was clear that the Vols were complacent.
Tennessee linebacker Aaron Beasley essentially confirmed that was the approach with his comments after the loss to the Gamecocks.
"We didn’t have enough urgency," said Beasley after Tennessee's loss to South Carolina. "We thought we was going to come in there and everything was going to fall where it was supposed to, but it don't work like that in college ball."
"I assume we just felt like it was going to be given to us," added Beasley. "We felt like we didn't have to go out there and work for it. We thought they was just going to lay down. Props to them, they came out, they played a great game."
Tennessee quickly corrected the issue last season and they beat a decent Vanderbilt team on the road the next week by 56 points. And then they beat Clemson in the Orange Bowl by 17 points.
Still, the Vols can't afford to let complacency creep in during the season. They learned last year that all it takes is one bad week to derail a season.
Fortunately for Tennessee, based on Thomas' comments this week, it sounds like the Vols are well aware of went wrong last season. And they're committed to not letting it happen again.
Former Vols OC David Cutcliffe makes strong statement about Josh Heupel
Former Tennessee Vols OC David Cutcliffe made a strong statement about Josh Heupel
Featured image via Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
