What Tennessee tight ends coach Alec Abeln said on Tuesday

Everything tight ends coach Alec Abeln said during his press conference on Tuesday, discussing No. 14 Tennessee’s struggles on defense ahead of facing No. 17 Oklahoma on Saturday night (7:30 Eastern Time, ABC) at Neyland Stadium:

On Ethan Davis returning, balancing snaps as a result

“It’s awesome. I think, man, it’s really tough when you’re dealing with an injury that isn’t necessarily something you can control. It’s not something that you can play through. Like, I think that’s emotionally really hard for guys. I thought he handled the entire duration of it with really good maturity and continued to work just for his moment. It was awesome to see him make that play right before the half. Do think it forced some young guys to step up and really grow a lot, too. Feel really good about where the room is at as a whole right now, and got to continue to get better. But certainly awesome having him back.”

Tennessee leaving plays on the field

“I’ve said it, however many weeks in a row now, that we still haven’t really played our best, which is a good thing and a bad thing. Like, it’s time to go play our best. The details in everything, whether it’s the route, whether it’s depth, whether it’s how I want to release something, to man, what’s my focus in the core? When pictures aren’t necessarily clear, we’ve got to be the guys that make things right, and I think we can take another step in that, certainly from last weekend, but have another opportunity this weekend.”

What the tight end rotation looks like with Miles Kitselman, Ethan Davis and experienced freshmen

“I think every week can play out differently. Like it’s certain weeks going into it, hey, you may be a little bit heavier than this, maybe not as heavy as this. I think that’s kind of the nature of the beast. Then you show up on Saturday, it’s something different and you’re ready to get to it. I think how it gets played out is really fluid based on what we’re seeing. But they all understand, man, they’re ready for their opportunity. I credit (DaSaahn Brame) against Bama, in two minutes, goes and makes a bunch of plays. And the moment was not too big. When you prepare the way that he has over the last couple weeks, like you’re ready for those moments. I do think that group loves each other at a really high level, where it’s easy to be excited for your brother. Of course, everybody wants to play. Everybody’s going to get theirs. But that’s earned and I think it’s really cool to watch them in the room where you’ve got competition making guys push each other to get better, but still be able to support each other and cheer each other on.”

Tennessee tight end Ethan Davis making big plays in his return

“We talk about two things in our room a whole lot. It’s love and trust. Love being unconditional, your love for this game, your love for your teammates. The trust part is earned. And something that over the course of his time here, he’s done a really good job continuing to earn trust. I think when you’ve got trust with your quarterback, when you’ve got trust with your teammates, good things happen. And he’s certainly earned more trust. He’s got to continue to do more of that.

What he’s seen from Oklahoma’s defense

“Man, they’re good. Super multiple, bunch of different pictures. Too many pictures to really dive into, honestly. They play hard, they’re violent, they’re twitchy. A real challenge. We’re excited about the challenge. I think as a competitor, you want to play against defenses like this and go see how you really stack up. I think we’re excited for the opportunity this weekend.”

How he grades the physicality of his tight ends in the run game and pass protection

“I think we’ve been okay in protection. I think there’s things we can do better at, and it’s, again, fundamentals, details, what my eyes are focused on, I think we’ll need to be good on that side of it this weekend for sure. As far as physicality in the box, man, I like where our group’s at. I think there is still meat on the bone. There’s another level that’s trying to finish. There’s another level of putting things on tape that you’re not, I don’t know how to say this, like there’s things you put on tape around college football that you watch it and you’re like, man, that’s not how you want it to look. And I feel like we’ve done a good job where there’s nothing on tape that’s like, man, that’s soft. Man, that’s embarrassing, but there is another level of, man, those guys are different. Those guys are really trying to bear you every snap. And I think we’ve had flashes of it. There’s certainly more room for improvement there.”

How improved Tennessee freshman tight end Jack Van Dorselaer is after stepping up with Ethan Davis out

“It’s like anything, the more you do it, the better you get at it for the most part. And, I think credit to Jack, just his maturity since he’s gotten here allowed him to go out and compete in those moments. There’s still tons of stuff to clean up. I wouldn’t say they’re necessarily like freshman mistakes. Like, I think that’s the biggest compliment I can give to Jack is Jack’s mistakes are things that you’re coaching in guys that have been in the program a little bit. They’re not silly mistakes. They’re not absolutely controllable mistakes. They’re just things that he can get better at. But absolutely, anytime you can get out there when it’s real and play, it is different than practice. You want to make practice as much like the game as you can, but it’s different on Saturday night. And for him to get real reps for that and go play the way he has, pretty good for him.”

If opposing defenses are still giving Tennessee unexpected looks

“It is. And it’s a lot of things come full circle in this game where things you haven’t seen in a long time show up again. And the good news about this defense is there’s new things that show up every week on tape. Every week’s kind of a new week for them where they really make you work and they really are studying you. I feel like it’s kind of the way we attack offensively, where we may not look exactly the same every single week. These guys are no different than that. They want to take away what you do best. They want to do things that cause you problems. You know, there will be some carryover. I’m sure on Saturday things have been on tape, but Lord knows there will be things that haven’t been shown yet. We’ve got to be ready to handle it.”