Defensive Line

Defense wins Championships!  We all have heard that over and over, and I have yet to see it proven otherwise.  It has been no secret that the SEC has produced some of the best Defenses in college football over the last 10years just look at all the National Titles.  What makes LSU and Alabama so good this year?  Defense!  Even though last year Auburn had the best Football player in the nation playing QB it turned out that their Defense was what allowed them to hold Alabama off in the 2^nd half and slow down Oregon in the title game.

However there was a specific area of importance and it is exactly what LSU has going for them now. D Line!  Auburn’s secondary was not so pretty, but the men up front were beasts.  To win a National Title you have to have a lot go your way, and as far as Tennessee goes that isn’t even  worth dreaming about right now.  But you have to win some big ball games in order to be relevant.  Go back to the LSU game last year.  I know it hurts.  Even though they got another shot on the goal line we still had the fair and equal shot they did to win.  We couldn’t keep them out of the end zone even though we had a LB feel the gap.  We need to be better at LB, but I would rather see the D line feel the gap and the LB finish the play.

The best Tennessee teams I have seen all had nasty defensive lines.  What this program is missing right now is a defensive line that disrupts offenses.  To narrow it down even further it is the DT’s that we are missing.  Malik Jackson is our best defensive player and we have him playing as a DT.  Now think about this, Shaun Ellis at UT was about the same size and he played DE and that is where Malik should be.  We have nothing on the D line.  South Carolina’s recruiting of D lineman is scary compared to ours.  Florida, Alabama, LSU, and South Carolina all have better D lines than us and that is why we will lose to them unless they have some injuries to them before we play.  

If Dooley is going to be competitive in this league he is got to figure out how to get D lineman at this school.  We may upset a few teams here and there, but we have to start winning in recruiting if we want to matter again.  The first area of focus has to be D line.

BTW I am not impressed with Wilcox yet, but I am still willing to see what he can do with who he has.

Go Vols

RR