Rodney Garner sends strong message to Vols' defensive line ahead of critical game against South Carolina
Tennessee Vols defensive line coach Rodney Garner sent an important message to his players on Tuesday ahead of a critical showdown with the South Carolina Gamecocks this weekend. Garner wants to make certain that Tennessee's defensive linemen understand that you can't take plays off in the SEC. Because if you do, you'll almost certainly pay […]
Tennessee Vols defensive line coach Rodney Garner sent an important message to his players on Tuesday ahead of a critical showdown with the South Carolina Gamecocks this weekend.
Garner wants to make certain that Tennessee's defensive linemen understand that you can't take plays off in the SEC. Because if you do, you'll almost certainly pay for it.
"I thought the first half (against Florida) we didn't have the edge that we need to have," said Garner while speaking with reporters on Tuesday. "Why? I don't have an answer for that. I thought we had a great week of practice. But those guys came out and they were more fundamentally sound, they were more disciplined. They played with more of an edge."
"Like I told my guys — in this league there are no off days," continued Garner while tapping his finger on the podium to signify the importance of his words. "I don't care who you're playing against, you have to bring your A game every single day. We have to have that type of chip on our shoulder when we go in there. And we can't go in there and think that we can start slow. We gotta start fast, we gotta finish fast. And we gotta keep putting more gas on."
Garner also said that the feeling that Tennessee's players felt after the loss to Florida should serve as motivation for the defense moving forward.
"The feeling that you have when you walked off that grass and in that locker room (after the loss to Florida), that's a feeling that you don't want to have," said Garner. "So you need to let that motivate you moving forward so we don't have a repeat of that situation."
Tennessee's defense hasn't been bad this season — they lead the SEC in fewest yards allowed per play through the first four weeks of the season — but things could always be better.
And it's clear that Garner knows that Tennessee's defensive intensity needs to rise a few notches this weekend against a South Carolina team that can be explosive offensively with Spencer Rattler under center.
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