Anonymous coach comments on Tennessee Vols' offense and defense
Some anonymous coaches spoke to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg this week about various programs and the Tennessee Vols were one of those teams. Typically, comments from anonymous coaches are negative — they can say whatever they want without fear of their identity being revealed. But the comments to ESPN this week about Tennessee were actually quite […]
Some anonymous coaches spoke to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg this week about various programs and the Tennessee Vols were one of those teams.
Typically, comments from anonymous coaches are negative — they can say whatever they want without fear of their identity being revealed.
But the comments to ESPN this week about Tennessee were actually quite positive.
"They're legit," said an SEC coordinator to ESPN. "Their defense is more talented than people give them credit for. And that offense, it's a beast. I don't know if they'll be as talented because the Hyatt kid was super special and Hendon Hooker was 25 years old. He should have been a Heisman finalist. What you saw they did in the bowl game with a lot of their backups, they kicked Clemson's ass."
I think the comment about Tennessee's defense is particularly notable.
The Vols' defense got a bad rap this past season mostly because of the 63 points they gave up to South Carolina.
But outside of that game, Tennessee's defense was pretty good (I don't count the Alabama game against them because that was just two quarterbacks in the zone that afternoon in Knoxville).
In the Vols' 12 other games this season, they gave up just 19.4 points per game (for comparison's sake, Alabama gave up 18.2 points per game this season).
Tennessee's defense wasn't nearly as bad in 2022 as some folks like to suggest it was. And they should continue to improve next season. At least one SEC coordinator agrees. Fans should agree, too.
Featured image via Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
