Tennessee's young linebacker observing, learning from vets

Tennessee linebackers coach William Inge had a clear message to freshmen Jaedon Harmon and Jadon Perlotte back in the spring, as the two recovered from shoulder surgery. The message was to watch and learn. 

Both watched and both turned to Tennessee’s veterans to learn as much as they could heading into fall camp. 

“Definitely getting in the playbook and getting my body right and talking a lot to AC (Arion Carter) and (Jeremiah) Telander learning from them,” Perlotte said of his focus heading into his first week of college practice. 

Added Harmon, “In the spring that is all I was doing just focusing on the play book and getting some mental reps.

“I have really taking it on as a challenge.”

The results of accepting the challenge and the tutoring of Carter and Telander have showed up in week one of practice according to Inge.

“I’m definitely pleased from a preparation standpoint to see the work that they put in to make sure that they’re right,” Inge offered. “You can see, like immediately, Jadon Harmon got under the wing of Arion Carter. And it could not have been any better. And to see Perlotte just somehow matriculate to be under the wing of Telander. And it’s something that I didn’t have to really push to see Perlotte and Brenden Anes get under Telander, because they’re both playing kind of the Mike positions. So seeing them, I think their biggest asset has been their level of preparation. Because I told them in the spring, you’re not getting the physical rep, but you have to get the mental rep. So whenever we go to walkthroughs or in the practices, there were some things we would look at one-on-one. And just seeing them understand how it applied, now that they’ve had the opportunity to do some of those things, you can see their learning double just in the four practices now that they’ve had a chance to experience it.”

Both Harmon and Perlotte give the credit to Tennessee’s two veteran linebackers for their leadership and investment in them.

“They really set the tone,” Harmon said. “They lead on the field, off the field, just focusing on the small details of everything when it comes to the film room and the weight room. Just bringing the energy every day.”

“It’s great. AC and JT they are the leaders of the defense and just being around them every day hanging those guys it’s a learning experience,” added Perlotte. “I am really taking this year just to watch them. They are great people. Learning from them is making me better.”

Inge said he’s not only seeing the growth and improvement, he’s also seeing the personality of his two young linebackers starting to take shape on the field. 

Like let’s say just with Perlotte, I have to keep a rope on him because he is the one where you have to say whoa, instead of sick ’em,” Inge said. “When the ball is snapped, he goes 150 miles per hour. All the time. All the time.

“Harmon is your quiet leader, where he’ll be so prepared, and he knows and understands everything that’s going on. He’s like a slither as he finds his way around and he’s always around the football. And that’s exactly what you want and what we’ve seen the last couple of days.”