Vols defensive lineman explains how Tennessee can avoid a repeat of the South Carolina loss in game against Clemson
The Tennessee Vols learned on Christmas Eve — officially — that linebacker Jeremy Banks won't be playing in the Orange Bowl against Clemson. Banks revealed via a social media post that he's skipping the Orange Bowl as he begins preparation for the 2023 NFL Draft. Banks didn't play in Tennessee's shocking 63-38 loss to South […]
The Tennessee Vols learned on Christmas Eve — officially — that linebacker Jeremy Banks won't be playing in the Orange Bowl against Clemson.
Banks revealed via a social media post that he's skipping the Orange Bowl as he begins preparation for the 2023 NFL Draft.
Banks didn't play in Tennessee's shocking 63-38 loss to South Carolina last month.
The feeling for many was that Banks' absence was a big reason why the Vols lost that game.
We'll never truly know how much of an impact Banks' absence had on the loss to South Carolina. And that's why fans are concerned about whether or not Tennessee's defense will have the same issues against Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
On Tuesday, Vols defensive lineman Omari Thomas was asked how Tennessee's defense reset after the loss to the Gamecocks and how they can avoid the same issues against the Tigers.
"We know what happened that night," said Thomas on Tuesday when asked about the South Carolina game. "We didn't really focus on that (the following week), we just continued to come in — we understood what happened — we just came in and really wanted to get better that next week going into the next game. So we really just wanted to focus on the small details to understand everything that we did in that South Carolina game that really screwed us."
"We just focused on the film and got better," added Thomas. "Our coaches coached us. We threw it (the SC loss) in the back pocket. We can't really live on that game. Something we always live by — Coach G (Rodney Garner) always says you can't let a team beat you twice. So we understood that South Carolina couldn't beat us that next week. It was good just to be able to go out there that next week and feel good again."
Tennessee learned a hard lesson against the Gamecocks. They learned that you can never overlook an opponent. And if you don't treat each opponent like they're the best team in the nation, then a loss is inevitable. For most of the season, the Vols did a tremendous job of living by that approach. But for whatever reason, they didn't against South Carolina.
Based on what we've heard from Tennessee's players since that loss to SC, I wouldn't expect a repeat performance.
I'm not saying the Vols' defense will dominate Clemson, but I'm extremely confident we'll see a much more inspired Tennessee defense in the Orange Bowl than what we saw in Columbia last month.
Featured image via Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
