Tennessee football: Five takeaways from 2021 spring game

Tennessee defensive lineman Kurott Garland (79) is defended by Tennessee offensive lineman Dayne Davis (66) at the Orange & White spring game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. on Saturday, April 24, 2021.Kns Vols Spring Game
Tennessee defensive lineman Kurott Garland (79) is defended by Tennessee offensive lineman Dayne Davis (66) at the Orange & White spring game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. on Saturday, April 24, 2021.Kns Vols Spring Game /
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Tennessee linebacker Bryson Eason (20) at the Orange & White spring game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. on Saturday, April 24, 2021.Kns Vols Spring Game
Tennessee linebacker Bryson Eason (20) at the Orange & White spring game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. on Saturday, April 24, 2021.Kns Vols Spring Game /

1. Defense was aggressive…to a fault

Nobody can deny that Tennessee football’s defense was disappointing in this spring game. Even with Josh Heupel’s system, a 42-37 final score showed too much scoring, and everybody saw the frustration from the defensive coaches relative to that.

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We already discussed the issues in the trenches. Another issue, though, was the defense getting beat by constantly over-pursuing. This is why Velus Jones Jr. and Jack Jancek both had key touchdowns. They caught the defense on both teams getting out of position and overplaying the situation, which turned into a disaster.

Now, over-pursuing paid off at one moment. Warren Burrell had a key pick-six. It also kept the Vols’ offenses from being able to run their traditional horizontal screen plays that Josh Heupel is known to run. Hey, if they can stop them in a spring game, they may be able to stop them in SEC play too, as lots of teams are picking up that style.

Still, the Orange unite gave up 276 yards passing and allowed the quarterbacks to go 19-of-24. Meanwhile, the White unit gave up 297 yards passing and allowed the quarterbacks to go 15-of-23. Both sides were guilty of allowing big plays and getting caught in misdirection plays, which is why they also allowed for multiple rushing touchdowns.

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Although Tennessee football is going through a transition on defense, which is much more difficult than a transition on offense, this has to get better. The aggression only paid off once, and this is a unit that clearly still has a lot of work to do. It’s the biggest concern right now.