Tennessee DL coach Rodney Garner, defense seeking the standard

No one on the Tennessee defensive side of the ball needs to be told they need to play better. 

The entire defense, who gave up 34 points and 476 yards Saturday night at Kentucky, knows what they are doing it’s good enough.

“I don’t think anybody’s pleased with where we are at this moment,” veteran defensive line coach Rodney Garner said. “Obviously the last couple of games, I think we haven’t played up to the standard that we expect, that the kids expect. And obviously we’ve got to do better, everybody, as players, coaches, everybody. We’ve got to coach it better and we’ve got to execute it better. So we’ve got to fit it on all levels. It’s never going to be about one level. I mean, run fits it starts first, second and third level. Everybody’s got to have ownership in it and understand, hey, when one guy doesn’t do his job, the stress that it puts on everybody else. But we’ve also got to be better teachers and make sure that we’re stressing that.”

Tennessee has given up 1082 rushing yards this season. They gave up 1351 all of last year. They have surrendered 2130 yards through the air after 2461 last year. They have allowed 12 fewer third down conversions and they have allowed more 4th down conversions than a year ago. Most notably they have already given up more points than a year ago. The tackling issues have allow big plays and the third down play have allowed drives to continue. Despite not being at the standard, Garner believes it all can be remedied. 

“All the things are fixable. And that’s the thing, when you’re sitting there and you’re watching the film on Sunday and you’re watching it with the guys and you’re going through it, you see the plays that you’re giving up, man, and I know that’s what’s frustrating,” Garner explained. “A lot of it is about what you’re doing, how you’re self-inflicting things. And so we have to be more attentive to details and understand that you have to take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves. So fix it when it’s small and it won’t ever become a big problem. And so that’s the thing that’s encouraging about it, that you know that these are things that can be corrected, that must be corrected, because that’s what you expect of yourself. That’s what this program expects of us, and that’s what it should be. We are an elite program. We expect the players to be on the elite level. And we’re not meeting that standard. We’re not coaching at that level. We’re not doing anything at that level.

Tuesday as Garner met the media his sense of urgency was obvious as Oklahoma comes to town. Garner said he’s not alone in that feeling.

“Oh, yeah, man. These are same coaches. The same young men, all right? So we see it. We just got, we got to get it done, all right? And nobody’s interested (in) well, you know, we’re young here, this and that, that doesn’t matter,” Garner said. “That’s just the league that we’re in, aight; It’s a bottom line business. It’s bottom line. I mean, so we’ve got to get it done. I think everybody sees that. I know we as a staff see it, and I know we’re all looking in the mirror. That’s where where it all starts. That guy looking at the back at you, that’s where it all starts. So I know I can be a better coach. I think everybody on the staff thinks they can be better coaches. I think everybody in those locker rooms think they can be better players because they’re all very prideful men and they want to be elite and they want to be the best at their jobs.”

Tennessee’s defense across the board has to be better at their jobs on Saturday night.