The Tennessee Vols have gotten a lot out of their defensive line during Josh Heupel’s tenure. The Vols’ supremely talented front was the engine that helped carry the Big Orange to their first ever College Football Playoff appearance in 2024.

While 2025 was a down year for the defense as a whole, including the defensive line, there is optimism for a brighter 2026 and beyond with new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles entering the fold.

But according to veteran defensive line coach Rodney Garner, his defensive line room has a long way to go. Garner met with the media on Wednesday after practice, and he had some strong words for his group about finding improvement from day to day.

Tennessee DL coach Rodney Garner says he group has been ‘inconsistent’ in fall camp

“Coming out of yesterday, just been very inconsistent,” Garner said. “You have a good day, you have a bad day. Obviously, you’re not moving the needle when you’re going up and down. Can’t have those rollercoaster moments. Like I told them this morning in meeting, we’ve got to be climbing that mountain every day. We can’t take steps backwards. Nobody’s got time to hear it. Nobody wants to hear it, about being young, who all you lost, all that. That’s irrelevant. We’ve got to be moving that needle very single day that we go out there on that field.

“We just got to keep stacking good on good. I asked them, do they want to be a guy? Or do you want to be the guy? Them two different people. A guy gets treated this way. The guy gets treated that way. So, right now, we got to have guys that (are) separating themselves, that’s doing it all the time. They’ve got to get comfortable being uncomfortable. And if they can’t push themselves, they’ve got to allow somebody else to push them.”

It can take some time for a group of new players to come together at any area, and Tennessee will have a mix of important transfer pieces on their line this year. Xavier Gilliam (Penn State) is pushing for a starting spot, and Jordan Norman (Tulane) is in there as well. Returning Tennessee defenders Ty Weathersby and Daevin Hobbs should round out the likely starting front four.

But no matter where they played last year, Tennessee has to get strong production on a down-to-down basis from whoever’s on the field. And as much as Tennessee has rotated defensive lineman in recent years — if that continues under Knowles — there’s no excuse not to be fresh and at full throttle every single play.

We’ll see if they can start stacking good days on good, because time is starting to draw short until the season. We’re now just a month away from one of the most important games on the Vols’ schedule — at Georgia Tech on Sept. 12.