One question a lot of people had surrounding this Tennessee team coming into the season was what exactly the defensive line would look like. Through five games, it looks like the strongest positional group on the entire team.
Rodney Garner’s group has absolutely gotten after it so far this season, creating havoc and pressure on opposing offenses. Tennessee has this unit to thank for keeping them in both the Auburn and Texas games when things looked bleak offensively.
How many of you had Tennessee leading the nation in sacks through five games? I sure didn’t, but that’s what we’ve got here. The Volunteers have put up 23 sacks on the season, which includes ten in the first two conference games of the year. Tennessee and LSU are the only two teams over 20 for the season to this point.
“I think the guys that are really taking pride in that hey, if I do my job, I’m setting my buddy up,” Garner said of his defensive line group today. “If I don’t do my job, look at him on this tape, how I cost them a sack or I cost myself a TFL. If I had just did my job and not pulled out or not peaked or did something that, hey, man, that this could even be more, I think they are celebrating each other. They’re happy for each other. They see that they’re all eating. That’s what they want to do. They all want to eat.”
Marion Dye and Xavier Gilliam each lead the way with four sacks each. Gilliam has 8.5 tackles for loss already, a number that has thrown him onto the radar of the NFL in the first half of the season. As a group, Tennessee has 42 tackles for loss on the season. That comes out to 8.4 per game, which is good for eighth in the country.
With everything Tennessee lost over the last two seasons from the defensive line room, Coach G’s work here is really impressive. Guys like Dye, Nathan Robinson, Carson Gentle, Tyree Weathersby and a handful of others have taken real steps forward, alleviating losing all the veterans from this room a season ago.
Interestingly enough, this team has a real 2024 feel to it. Tennessee will obviously need more out of the quarterback position, but the defense feels like it’s in really good hands with Jim Knowles.