Tennessee offensive coordinator Alex Golesh and defensive coordinator Tim Banks met with the media Sunday before the Vols begin fall practice on Monday morning.
Both Banks and Golesh are entering their second season in Knoxville and harped on the positives of the continuity. Where last season the new staff was playing catchup and players had to adjust to different styles of coaching and the Vols’ uptempo offense, this Tennessee team knows what to expect of its coaches and the coaches know what they’re getting from the roster.
Golesh discussed Tennessee’s position battle at left tackle— signaling out Gerald Mincey and Jeremiah Crawford while not ruling out Dayne Davis.
“Moving Darnell (Wright) over to right kind of, I don’t want to say solidifies it, but it kind of solidifies that side of it,” Golesh said. “We feel pretty good. Then letting Dayne and Gerald and J.J. (Crawford) figure out who the second guy is and who can play left. We went through spring and left there feeling pretty good. Just as important who starts out there is who is the third and the fourth. Last year we got to the fourth pretty quick. You hope you don’t but you have to have a third and fourth and really even fifth.”
Golesh also discussed Jabari Small gaining weight this offseason, the importance of continuity at quarterback and the Vols’ young receivers.
More From RTI: Tennessee Running Back Out For The Season
Tennessee returns a ton of production at linebacker and along the defensive line, but the defensive back field is a completely different story. The Vols return three of their five starters in the back end from a season ago, but lost standouts Alontae Taylor and Theo Jackson.
Finding answers to those questions was a challenge in the spring due to injuries in the room. Banks remained uncertain on who would play where and who would start —preaching competition — with fall camp beginning.
“It’s a lot of moving parts that way,” Banks said of who will play where. “We had guys that played some snaps and were starters from last year— Warren Burrell comes to mind. Obviously, McCollough “Tank” played a ton of reps for us. Flowers has played a ton of reps for us, but the reality of it is, and this may sound like coach speak, just like we did in the spring we moved guys to a bunch of different positions trying to figure out what our best combination of guys is that we can put out there on the field.”
Banks also discussed the need for the pass rush to improve, why he believes Jeremy Banks can be an All-SEC linebacker and more.
