Jim Knowles entered Tennessee’s season opener looking for answers about where his pass rush would come from.
It took one play to start finding them.
Tyree Weathersby sacked Furman quarterback Jake Garcia for an 8-yard loss on the first snap Saturday at Neyland Stadium. It set the tone for a Tennessee defense that consistently disrupted the Paladins’ backfield.
Xavier Gilliam led the effort with three sacks in his Tennessee debut. Behind his efforts, pressure came from several different places along the Vols’ rebuilt defensive front.
For a group replacing significant production from last season, that may have been the most encouraging part.
Gilliam’s three sacks were the most by a Tennessee player in a game since Darrell Taylor recorded four against Kentucky on Nov. 10, 2018.
His performance didn’t surprise Josh Heupel.
“Model consistency in how he works, prepares, competes,” Heupel said. “Same dude every day, and no surprise that he played extremely, extremely well today.”
Gilliam didn’t view his performance as an individual answer to Tennessee’s questions up front, either.
Instead, he pointed to the competition within the defensive line and expects the number of contributors to grow.
“I feel like that was just more of a challenge for us as a D-line, trying to see who’s gonna step up,” Gilliam said. “And I feel like as the season goes on, you’re gonna keep seeing more guys step up. It’s not just gonna be me.”
Saturday offered evidence of that.
Weathersby got Tennessee started. Edwin Spillman later got home with Jordan Norman closing quickly behind him. Mariyon Dye added a third-down sack in the second half, while Amaree Campbell repeatedly flashed into Furman’s backfield.
The disruption wasn’t limited to sacks.
Tennessee twice stopped Furman on fourth down, including Campbell shooting into the backfield to bring Garcia down short of the line to gain.
Those moments represented exactly what Knowles has emphasized to his defense.
“Coach Knowles talks about stopping people, not letting them get an inch, a blade of grass,” linebacker Amari said. “So those fourth-down stops, those are turnovers. Those play huge energy-breaking points.”
More importantly, Tennessee rarely appeared disjointed in its first game operating Knowles’ defense.
Gilliam said he liked how the unit “was flowing together as one unit,” adding that there weren’t many obvious busts and the defense appeared to be on the same page.
There are bigger tests ahead, beginning next week against Georgia Tech.
But Tennessee’s first look at a rebuilt defensive front provided an encouraging starting point.
Knowles needed to find players capable of affecting the quarterback.
Against Furman, he didn’t find just one. Positive sign with Georgia Tech looming in week two.
