2. Defensive tackles: 25 percent
We knew this would be a struggle for Tennessee football going into the season. The Vols had to replace Alexis Johnson, Kyle Phillips and Shy Tuttle all up front. Their only returning contributor of significance, Emmit Gooden, then suffered a season-ending injury at the start of fall camp. As a result, you could see why the issues began to take place.
However, it was worse than expected. Against the Georgia State Panthers, the Vols couldn’t get any push. Combine that with the inside linebackers being thrown to the wolves that game without Daniel Bituli, which we have already addressed, and you could see why this team was unable to stop Dan Ellington all day.
They were better against the BYU Cougars, but that was a BYU team still struggling to find itself on the offensive line as well. So the Vols should have shown improvement there, and they did. Against the Chattanooga Mocs, though, they got pushed around again, and that should have been another concerning sign.
Then came the Florida Gators. Jeremy Pruitt and Derrick Ansley had to blitz all game because of the fact that this unit could not get any push. That’s why they scored a touchdown on 4th and goal to go up 17-0 at halftime. Eventually, Dan Mullen figured the blitzes out, and to get his offense going even more, he began calling screen passes repetitively.
That forced Pruitt and Ansley to drop back more, and there was nothing they could do. So this group has been a problem all year. Defensive ends like LaTrell Bumphus and Matthew Butler made some plays, but the tackles have been relatively silent. That’s a huge part of the problem.