Derek Owings has been Tennessee’s strength coach for less than a week and he’s already dropped the quote of the offseason
Derek Owings is wasting no time getting to work with the Tennessee Vols.
New Tennessee Vols strength coach Derek Owings hasn’t wasted anytime getting to work on Rocky Top.
Tennessee officially hired Owings on Tuesday morning, just hours after he won a national championship with the Indiana Hoosiers.
Owings was in Knoxville before lunch the morning after Indiana’s win over the Miami Hurricanes in South Florida.
Offseason workouts started for Tennessee on Wednesday morning. That’s where Owings dropped the quote of the year (so far).
Tennessee’s official social media accounts put out a video of Owings’ first workout with the team, and it includes a clip of the Vols’ new strength coach addressing the players.
“You cannot be soft when you’re going to war,” says Owings in the clip. “We’ve got a long way to go, right? This is day one. But we’ll get there.”
I don’t think it’s fair to say that Tennessee was “soft” last season, but there were questions about whether the Vols were physical enough — specifically in practices throughout the year.
On3’s Chris Low reported in November that “some within” Tennessee’s football program feel like practices aren’t “physical enough.”
“One source told On3 that one of the biggest concerns among some within the program is that the practices throughout the entire year, not just the season, aren’t physical enough and that there’s not enough contact,” wrote Low.
Low also noted that the source told On3, “You gotta hit and do enough of it if you’re going to be good at it, both tackling and blocking.”
It goes without saying that Tennessee is expecting big changes under Owings.
Derek Owings says goodbye to Indiana
One downside to Owings leaving Indiana for Tennessee is that the well-respected strength coach didn’t get a chance to celebrate Indiana’s win over Miami in the national championship game.
Owings worked all season to help Indiana’s players win a natty. They achieved their goal and Owings was immediately off to Knoxville to get straight to work.
On Wednesday, Owings, who worked under Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti for the last six seasons, said goodbye to Indiana.
“Thank you, IU,” wrote Owings in a tweet. “Thank you, Coach Cig for all the lessons over the last 6 years. To all the players, the hardest part of change is always leaving you guys. I’ll forever be your biggest fan, and I’m always one call away.”
Owings will now do his best to help the Vols achieve the same goal.