How Tennessee is taking a page out of Georgia's book this offseason and why it'll pay off
The Tennessee Vols are wisely taking a page out of the Georgia Bulldogs' page this offseason. Last year, the Vols were at their best when they were the "hunter" as opposed to the "hunted". Tennessee's two losses in 2022 came when they were ranked No. 1 before playing Georgia and when no one was giving […]
The Tennessee Vols are wisely taking a page out of the Georgia Bulldogs' page this offseason.
Last year, the Vols were at their best when they were the "hunter" as opposed to the "hunted".
Tennessee's two losses in 2022 came when they were ranked No. 1 before playing Georgia and when no one was giving South Carolina a chance to win in Columbia.
In Tennessee's two losses, they didn't get a chance to play the disrespect card that they utilized for most of the season.
Vols redshirt senior tight end Jacob Warren appeared on "Off the Hook Sports" this week and he discussed how Tennessee plans to use the disrespect card in 2023. Warren also talked about the lessons he learned from the Vols' shocking 25-point loss to South Carolina last November.
"I think you can still play it," said Warren when asked about the disrespect card. "Just because people don't really believe (in the Vols), right? I'm truly bought into this idea that man, we are getting the hype, but it's all — I think it was Nick Saban who said it's rat poison. And they're just trying to feed it and I promise you these people still want to see us fall."
"They do not want to see us at the top," continued Warren. "That's the attitude that you have to have, right? Because the moment that you're like, 'Oh, yeah, dude, we made it bro. Like, look we're good — everybody's ranking us high'. Everybody's saying we're nice and all this stuff. It's gonna get to your head and you're gonna not go out with that same intensity and that same level of drive and hunger as you [normally] would. So kind of have to keep that edge about you."
Warren admitted that he didn't realize Tennessee would be getting everyone's "best shot" until the Vols' loss to South Carolina last season.
"So what did it for me last year was when we lost to South Carolina," said Warren. "…We lost South Carolina, right? And just a couple of weeks prior, we had beat Alabama. And our fans all rushed the field and they were throwing stuff all over the place. And there were people all over the field. They tore the uprights down….no one's ever rushed a field because you beat South Carolina or because South Carolina beat us. That's never been a thing. But then the moment that South Carolina team beats the Tennessee team, you know with where we are now, and then their whole stadium starts rushing the field. It's like, okay, now we see how people really feel about us and the way that they kind of approach this week whenever they're playing the Power T. So that's where you want to be. That's where this program should be and can be for a really long time."
It certainly sounds like once the Vols started receiving some hype last year, Tennessee lost its edge a little bit. And that's to be expected. This is a program that's still learning how to handle success. They learned a lot of those lessons last season and it looks like they'll be applying what they learned in 2023.
Essentially, Tennessee is taking a page out of Georgia's book. Despite entering the 2022 season as the defending national champions, the Bulldogs approached last season like they were an underdog.
“We will not be hunted at the University of Georgia. We will be the one doing the hunting," said UGA head coach Kirby Smart at SEC Media Days last summer.
Smart even went as far as convincing his team that there were analysts who said that Georgia would go 7-5 last season (I'm still searching for those predictions by the way).
No one actually predicted Georgia (random WordPress blogs don't count) to go 7-5 last year. But that doesn't matter. All that matters is that Georgia's players bought into the fictional disrespect. And it fueled them all season.
Tennessee actually does receive some disrespect from time to time. And based on Warren's comments, I'd expect the Vols to use any perceived disrespect as motivation in 2023. If the Vols can keep their edge and not let another South Carolina-type game happen, they could surprise some folks and have a special season this fall. Tennessee has the right mindset, now they just have to sustain that mindset for 15 games (that's their goal) this season.
