Rodney Garner identifies Tennessee Football's current MVP on the defensive line
Rodney Garner still had the discussion in his mind when he came to his press conference Wednesday morning. After practice, Tennessee’s veteran defensive line coach had apparently named the current MVP in his position group while speaking with a handful of NFL scouts that watched practice.
He shared the answer with reporters, too.
“Just talking to those scouts,” Garner said, “I think right now if we had to vote on the MVP of the front guys, I think Dom Bailey would win it hands down. This kid has had an outstanding camp — run, pass, leadership, all those things.
“He really stands out in a very positive way.”
Tennessee’s Dominic Bailey last season: 25 tackles, 4 TFLs, 2.0 sacks
And that wasn’t always the case for Tennessee’s 6-foot-3, 292-pound redshirt senior.
“I think a lot of people know when I first got here,” Garner continued, “he stood out in another way, and it wasn’t a good way.”
Bailey was a four-star prospect in the 2020 class, recruited to Tennessee before head coach Josh Heupel and his coaching staff arrived in 2021.
Over his first three seasons at Tennessee, Bailey combined for just 11 tackles and one tackles for loss. Over his last two seasons, he has 38 tackles, five tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks, including career-highs with 25 tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks last season.
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“This kid has really earned everything that he’s got,” Garner said. “He’s blue-collar, worked his tail off to get himself in this position and he’s made himself a really good SEC (defensive) lineman and I am really glad that we have him.”
‘I love the way he goes about his business, his work ethic’
Garner said Wednesday that the interior of his defensive line could go six players deep, having established a top three and working on an order for the next three.
“I still think we are a work in progress trying to identify who those guys are,” he said, “who’s truly four, who’s five and possibly six. We feel really good about one, two, three. We felt four was really coming on, four-A, four-B. Now we just got to keep moving the needle.”
Bailey has done plenty of that.
“I love his leadership,” Garner said, “I love the way he goes about his business, his work ethic. He’s trying, along with (Jaxson) Moi, they’re really trying to lead that room and be pace-setters for that — and even (Bryson) Eason has gotten better. And they’re trying to get him to even up his to their level. But I’m excited about Dom.”
