What Tennessee secondary coach Willie Martinez said during his Tuesday press conference

What Tennessee secondary coach Willie Martinez said about his position group during his press conference on Tuesday, as the 11th-ranked Vols prepare to face No. 6 Alabama Saturday night (7:30 Eastern Time, ABC) at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa:
Tennessee’s defense excelling in forcing turnovers, but also giving up a lot of yards
“Obviously we want to play elite, right? Everybody does. But the bottom line is you want to win the game. And how can we do our part? We’ve got to be efficient in all areas, obviously, being very good on first down and trying to get the offenses in long yardage, get them behind the sticks, where we haven’t done a good job. And I think you’re aware of it, is the third downs. We’ve got to be better. We’ve got to be more consistent in having those opportunities.
“And it has been different reasons why. Not executing it, not making the play, not knowing the situation in those moments. We’ve got to be better than that. We’ve got to get off the field. And that’s really what’s cost us and made the drives continue. Now we’ve played some pretty good quarterbacks too. We’ve seen guys that are off schedule, whether the last couple of ballgames that we’ve played, guys that can do a really good job of breaking the pocket. And we’ve got to do a good job of plastering receivers. There’s guys wide open, we’ve got to be able to be tighter on those coverages. But, bottom line is, you want to win the games. We know that we’ve got to be better on defense. Consistent, like you said, but yeah I’m going to leave it there.”
Alabama wide receiver Germie Bernard saying going against Tennessee’s man-to-man pass coverage is “a field of dreams,” if the Vols take that personally
“I really don’t read what’s being said. That’d be the first time I’ve heard it. I’m sure that they probably listen to stuff like that. Or it’s out there on social media. We just we just care about how we prepare. We know that our opponent is a good team. Obviously, everybody that we play is really good and they’re going to be ready for us. We’ve just got to be at our best when we play them. And they got great receivers. We know that. We faced them last year. They’ve got a couple of a couple of other guys too that are doing a really good job. A quarterback that’s hot. (Ty) Simpson is doing a really great job of managing the offense and being very productive. So we’ve got to do a good job again on those early downs trying to get them behind the sticks to force the third down and longs and be efficient and the best we can.”
What Tennessee’s defense needs to be better in zone coverages
“I think it’s a lot of it. Anticipating, someone lines up in a formation and knowing the situation, whether whatever that (down and distance) is, where are you at in the field. There’s always some tells to the story as you prepare for an opponent. What are the strengths and weaknesses? So there’s a lot that goes into that, the thought process. We’ve had times where guys were there to make a play, didn’t make the play, guys that did make plays. But it’s who’s the guy that they go to the most or taking the right angles. Being in the right place at the right time.We’ve just got to do a better job, collectively as 11 guys. Defense, man, if you’re not all on the same page, your holes, they’ll pick you apart. So we’ve had 10 guys doing it right, one guy didn’t do it right. We’ve had that before.”
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How Tennessee corners Colton Hood and Ty Redmond have pushed each other this year
“They’re doing a really good job on the edges, really are. They’ve been very consistent. They’ve made a bunch of plays. And you can’t play defense if you don’t have those guys on the outside that can force the offense to go a different direction. And I think they’re doing a good job. To compare them to (Jermod McCoy) and to Rickey (Gibson III), I think it’s unfair a little bit because they’ve had their success at times this year. And obviously Ty being young, his first year, we’re really excited how he’s really continuing to grow each and every week.”
If Tennessee’s struggle at safety is more mental or physical
“I think it’s a little bit of both on the whole entire group. You said safety, obviously they’ve got to be the guys that make the calls, make the checks, be on the same page. That’s very true, but they got to get it communicated to everybody else too. And I think moving forward, that’s the whole idea, man. It’s just doing your job. Everybody just do their job. All 11 guys. We’re the last line of defense (in the secondary). It’s going to be more of a focus, right? You can see it more. You can see all the mistakes from space. We’ve got to be the guys that cover it up when someone does make mistakes in front of you. So it’s the position we’ve just got to continue to grow and learn from those things and be more consistent, like I’m saying, with everybody.”
His role in Jermod McCoy’s rehab process as his position coach
“Yeah, I mean, again, that’s not a hard question to ask. Mod is the same dude that he is when he walked in this, when he (first) came in on campus, he works every day. He’s preparing every day to play. And he’s on course to whatever that is. He’s engaged every single day in our meetings. There’s nothing really different other than him not playing on game day. He’s doing a great job. He’s obviously grown a lot from a standpoint in our package, knowing our defense. He’s involved each and every day, whether it’s Ty Redmond, whether it’s any one of those young guys or even even Colton, who’s in his first year. So he’s doing well.”
How much changed for Tennessee’s defense after losing its top two cornerbacks to injury
“That’s part of it. You go on to the next man. It is what it is. It’s part of the game. And we all have to deal with it. And again, the best way to do that is to continue to develop your players and get everybody ready to go. We’ve got good players and have that next man mentality. It’s not going to help you to sit there and think about it as it’s happening. But obviously you can only control what you can control. Can’t control the uncontrollable. And just continue to work and develop and get the guys who’s next in line to be ready be prepared so that when the moment comes, they’ll produce.”