The Volunteers defense went 19 quarters before giving up a touchdown
Knoxville, Tenn. – The standard at Tennessee is elite defense. Following that comment from Head Coach Josh Heupel after defeating NC State, the defense produced another elite product against Oklahoma.
Some of the biggest game changing plays came from the first play of the game where Elijah Simmons came up for a TFL and then on the seventh drive, Jayson Jenkins made the tackle in the end zone for the safety.
Of course, Tennessee’s defense forced a fumble when the Sooners were at their five-yard line, Jermod McCoy’s interception, to highlight a few moments.
These plays captures the type of play Tennessee expects from its defense and how they’ve risen to the occasion to continue to be elite and dominant its opponents.
Defensive lineman Elijah Simmons has transformed his body since last season.
He’s dropped 15 pounds which has plowed him to play faster and be more of that violent, disruptive type of player and cause plenty of destruction to opposing offenses.
It’s also prepared him to be able to play more snaps, come off the sideline more, and be a guy that they can plug in play with how much they’ve emphasized rotating players.
“He played that way all night long and does a great job in the goal-line situation, eating up two blockers and not getting moved off the line of scrimmage. He’s playing extremely well and our defensive line as an entire group is playing extremely hard, really physical with good fundamentals,” said Heupel.
Heupel said you know exactly what you’re getting from Simmons and Jenkins.
“He’s (Simmons) a beast, man,” said Jenkins. “Just seeing him knock people back and just play violent, it’s truly a sight to see.”
His tackle in the backfield had an immediate impact on the Sooners offense.
From that hit on OU didn’t seem to send the running backs his way.
“Making that play in the backfield set the tone,” said Simmons. “They didn’t really run it a lot after that. They ran it a few times later on in the game, but that did change the trajectory of the game.”
Jenkins is a player who really has waited for his moment, and in that time of waiting he put in immense levels of work to be ready for when his number was called.
“Just a guy that, you come in as a young player, and you grow off the field. He’s continued to just change his body, change his ability to move and bend, and the fundamentals of the game. He’s done an unbelievable job of continuing to invest every single day. When you invest, it may not always be on your time, but you are going to cash it in at some point and made a huge play in the football game. Last week, he played extremely well when he was out there. We have great confidence in him,” said Heupel.
He had that moment Saturday.
While he celebrated with the team on the sidelines and got a couple of rare compliments from coach Rodney Garner, FDP’s Paige Dauer asked him to take us back to that snap and describe what he saw on that play.
I saw the right guard was looking directly at me. In the whole week in film we were seeing our keys and the line was really looking to where they were going. And on that play I happened to be slanting away from where he was zoning out too. So, seeing the hole wide open my eyes lit up like Christmas. And I knew I had to go make a play,” said Jenkins.
All of these plays tells us the defense is about as locked in as they have been in recent years, they have talent and depth, and most importantly they’re mature and can snap and clear.
Because the strip sack at the five-yard line by Tennessee showed this can be a very complimentary team.
“The way the defense handled the sudden change from our offensive turnovers is as good as anywhere I have been, and I say that by just the mentality and the look in their eyes. They took the field and created the turnovers, and it was the difference in the football game early,” said Heupel.
Now this dominance has been years and months in the making.
Though spring ball is when the defense realized they could be something special.
“It honestly started in spring ball. We had a lot of big plays in spring, a lot of guys doing great things. We just knew from there that as we continue to go on and progress and progress, that it’s going to turn over to the field and show a lot of that on the field,” said Simmons.
With that talent and skill and priority on rotating players, Jenkins said he’d describe their side of the ball and specifically the defensive line as ‘unique.’
“There’s so many different elements of the D-line room that you get different people that makes it very unique. In terms of the different things people bring to the room. In terms of leadership, in terms of hard work, and all these different types of elements,” said Jenkins.
“We all just pour into each other and making each other better every day,” Jenkins added.
