|
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Make no mistake, Butch Jones is an offensive-minded head coach. The 47-year-old helped make Dan LeFevour an NFL quarterback at Central Michigan, and from 2010-12 his Cincinnati Bearcats averaged 414.3 yards and 31 points per game. Those credentials were a big part of him getting the job at Tennessee, where he brought the Vols’ offense into the 21st century by instituting a hurry-up, spread style of play. But when you walk into Tennessee’s shiny new team meeting room, you notice there’s something missing. On the wall, there’s a “Plan to win.” In big, block letters, it says to lead the country in effort, to win in the red zone, to play great defense, great special teams and disciplined football. Nowhere does it mention scoring. Nothing about tempo. Apparently offense isn’t part of the plan.  “The rest of that,” he told players during a meeting last week, “will take care of itself.”
Indeed, the offense should be fine with Joshua Dobbs entrenched at quarterback, Jalen Hurd at tailback and a number of talented receivers, including Marquez North, Pig Howard and Von Pearson. Ethan Wolf is one of the better tight ends in the league, and the offensive line should improve after entering last season with no returning starters. But for Tennessee to take the next step, it’s the defense that will have to hold up its end of the bargain. And of late, it’s the defense that’s winning the spring. During the half-hour long media viewing period of the Vols’ scrimmage on Saturday, the offense struggled. There were dropped passes, a few sacks, a number of failed third-down attempts and at least one missed field goal. Routinely Jones shouted into his microphone, “Defense wins!” as the defensive players and coaches spilled onto the field to celebrate. “We have been pretty good offensively throughout the course of spring,” Jones said after the scrimmage had ended. “But today I thought the defense had just much more intensity. They had more leadership I thought in this type of environment." Said linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin: “The offense kind of got us last [scrimmage], but we knew we wanted come out here and just whoop them. We got them a little bit.” In fact, it has been a point of pride. “We wanted to show them this is our team, we control the team,” Reeves-Maybin said. “We want to put the Orange Swarm back on top.” Beating their own offense is a good start, but it’s far from the total picture. With veteran linebacker Curt Maggitt and SEC All-Freshman defensive end Derek Barnett out with injuries, it has forced others to the forefront. On the defensive line, true freshman Shy Tuttle has played well, and redshirt sophomore Kendal Vickers is “starting to show up,” according to Jones. “Those two guys on the inside make the whole defense better,” Reeves-Maybin said. “They make everyone’s job a lot easier, those big guys in there keeping the linemen off everybody. If they keep progressing they’ll be really good players.” From the front line to the back end, there’s a sense that Tennessee’s defense is coming into its own. The secondary, led by junior Cameron Sutton and SEC All-Freshman DB Todd Kelly Jr., may be the best example of that. After finishing 2013 in the middle of the pack of the SEC in passing yards allowed per game, the Vols improved to fourth in the conference in 2014, ahead of SEC East rivals Missouri and Florida. Sutton, who was a member of Jones’ first signing class at Tennessee in 2013, has seen a difference since his arrival in Knoxville. “Just a lot of talent in the back end,” he said. “Another thing is just getting more knowledge and experience. Guys are going into their second, third and fourth years. Then it’s not hard to teach the younger guys like Stephen Griffin and the young guys coming in during the summer like Justin Martin and those guys. It’s not going to be hard for us to communicate and get those guys on the same page.” With Tennessee’s spring game still a few weeks away and fall camp further beyond the horizon, it will be interesting to see which develops faster, the offense or the defense? While Jones would love to see both progress equally, getting the defense ahead could be the key to a successful season. After all, if his plan to win is correct, the offense should follow.
|
