Josh Heupel addresses Tennessee's improvement on defense through the spring

The Tennessee Volunteers had a great season offensively last season, with the team finishing as one of the best offensive units in the SEC. Defensively though, Tennessee wasn’t at the level it wanted to be at. After Tennessee’s spring scrimmage, head coach Josh Heupel praised the Volunteers defense for their work throughout the spring, saying that they played very well in the spring game.

“Some huge plays on the back end of the scrimmage,” Heupel said of Tennessee’s defense. “I love the competitive nature and makeup. Offensively, had a couple drives early in the scrimmage. Defense is able to rest, find energy, find momentum, continue to make plays. You want back-and-forth, and I love the way the defense finished off the scrimmage today.”

Tennessee’s offense finished third in the SEC with 474.9 offensive yards per game last season, finishing second with 39.3 points per game. The Volunteers were also top four in both rushing and passing yards per game in the conference.

On defense, Tennessee was on the opposite side of the leaderboard. The Volunteers allowed 404.6 yards per game, the fourth-worst total in the SEC. They finished third-worst with 27.5 points allowed per game, and the passing defense struggled and allowed the SEC’s second-worst total with 251.4 yards per game.

Tennessee’s defense is the key to next season

Tennessee is looking for another step forward next season after going 7-6 last season. The Volunteers made it to the Music City Bowl and put up 45 points, but allowed 48 and lost to Purdue in overtime.

Heupel knows the importance of winning in the trenches and at the line of scrimmage, and coming out of spring ball, the defense gave him plenty to be excited about.

“During the course of spring ball, throughout scrimmages, yeah, there’s been back-and-forth on both sides of the line of scrimmage,” said Heupel. “In practices, you see position groups that show great plays, but it’s about the growth of each individual player. Today, there’s some things that schematically guys just didn’t function and operate on the offensive side. Defensive line did.

“I mean they defeated one-on-one blocks. You saw those guys create pressure and havoc on the quarterback today. That’s something that’s important for us as a program moving forward. Third and longs, we weren’t nearly as efficient as we needed to be on that side of the ball. It’s been a point of emphasis and how we’ve constructed our practice. I thought today the defensive line did a great job.”