Vols must play fast on defense
KNOXVILLE — Bob Shoop knows the offense his Tennessee defense will face Saturday night wants to go fast.
The defensive coordinator wants the Volunteers thinking quickly and playing quicker against Virginia Tech’s up-tempo offense in the “Battle at Bristol.”
The Hokies ran 89 plays in their season opener against Liberty, and the Vols expect to play more than 90 defensive snaps Saturday night.
“You can’t substitute as often,” Shoop said Wednesday. “We have a plan for everything. Fortunately we go against it every day in practice. Our offense goes at a pretty high pace and a pretty high tempo. On Monday this week we actually did a ‘sonic’ period where the offense ran an unrealistic pace against us.
“It’s not just getting lined up, it’s playing. What I challenged our guys to do is, we’re going to be the first no-huddle, tempo defense in the world this week. When they get to the line of scrimmage, we’re going to beat them to the line of scrimmage. It’s a first-up mentality. It’s getting your eyes to the sideline. It’s postsnap effort. Then it’s (identifiying) the call and communicating. Then it’s diagnosing the play and being ready to go. We don’t really have a choice, so we better be ready to go for it.”
Tennessee faced the opposite style in its opener against
“What I challenged our guys to do is, we’re going to be the first no-huddle, tempo defense in the world this week.” – BOB SHOOP, DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
Appalachian State, which ran 66 plays and bled the clock before every snap. After a shaky start, the Vols applied some of Shoop’s adjustments to hold the Mountaineers to 13 points and 292 yards of offense, an effort he called “a good day’s work.”
For him to say the same next week, Tennessee will have to slow down Virginia Tech’s passing game.
The Hokies have a first-year starter at quarterback, Jerod Evans. But the 6-foot-4, 230pound transfer from Trinity Valley College in Texas, where he threw 38 touchdown passes and nearly 400 yards per game last season, has playmakers at his disposal.
“That’s what they’re going to do,” Tennessee coach Butch Jones said. “There’s no secret. They’re going to push the ball down the field and let their talented wideouts go up and make a play and play the ball in the air.”
Wide receivers Isaiah Ford and Cam Phillips and tight end Bucky Hodges caught touchdown passes last week, and the trio and running backs Sam Rodgers and Travon McMillian accounted for nearly 79 percent of Virginia Tech’s production in 2015.
In the past four games, Ford, who set program records for receptions and touchdown passes last season, has 37 catches for 620 yards and four touchdowns and topped 100 yards four times.
“They got off to a little bit of a sluggish start (last week), but when they got it rolling, man, they got it going,” Shoop said. “(Evans) spread the ball around and they all got touches.”
Shoop hinted Tennessee would tap into its depth to keep players fresh enough to handle Virginia Tech’s tempo. The Vols played only seven defensive linemen last week, rarely rotated at linebacker and platooned at two defensive back spots, and Shoop said suggested Shy Tuttle, Kyle Phillips and Darrell Taylor would bolster the front.
“Three-and-outs are critical, because once they get that first first down, that’s when they hit the pedal a little bit right there and try to go a little bit faster,” Shoop said. “They try to keep you from substituting, they try to keep you from getting your feet in the ground. I think over the long term, getting a threeand-out is critical.
“… We’re not going to change being aggressive, and that’s why in today’s day and age, conditioning is of the highest priority to our players — being in the best shape they possibly can and having guys on the field who can run.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.