Tennessee’s defensive line has had an abundance of solid players over the last two years. Good SEC defensive linemen that helped the Vols boast one of the SEC’s best run defenses a season ago.
But that room has had few elite players— the type of guys you have to have on the line of scrimmage to win at the highest level of college football. Tennessee’s lone All-SEC selection along the defensive front a season ago, Byron Young, is off to the NFL.
As the Vols enter the 2023 season one of the biggest questions facing the defensive line is how many of those solid players can turn into elite players.
Meeting with the local media Tuesday morning, Tennessee defensive line coach Rodney Garner praised the improved mindset for a pair of veteran defensive linemen: Elijah Simmons and Tyler Baron.
“Elijah is a powerful big man,” Garner said. “He does have initial quickness and short-area quickness. He has built-in pad level and leverage. His biggest enemy is when fatigue sets in. Everybody knows that he switched his number to 10, and if you’re a defensive lineman wearing number 10, you need to be elite. My challenge to him — sometimes No. 10 shows up to practice, other times No. 51 shows up. He just has to figure out who he is and what he wants to be.”
Simmons is a 6-foot-2, 340-pound defensive tackle. He’s a behemoth of a man and has flashed elite potential at times during his first three years on campus. But the Nashville native hasn’t shown sustained consistency and has struggled to stay in the shape he needs to be to play at an elite level.
But entering his senior season perspective has set in. It’s now-or-never for Simmons. A “contract year” in NFL terms, and he knows it.
“It’s time now to change who I want to be in the future,” Simmons said. “I want to go to the next level, so I need to buy in. I feel like I need to buy in and just take the coaching just how it needs to be. That’s what I’ve been trying to do.”
Garner, a 30-plus year SEC defensive line coach, isn’t afraid to rip players to the media. Simmons has been the victim in the past. But Garner was complimentary of Simmons earlier this week while admitting he needs to see more consistency before he furthers hypes him up.
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“I think obviously just getting into better shape, growing, maturing, maybe even feeling somewhat unfulfilled just because he is a guy that will sit there and tell you,” Garner said. “He had a really good spring, and like I told him in the evaluation after spring ball, the challenge was going to be, is he going to pick up where he left off in spring, or were we going to start all the way back over again? So, I can tell you thus far through camp, he is having a really good start in camp. I think he sees that. So hopefully he is gaining a bit more confidence.”
Perhaps Simmons biggest area of growth is his ability to get pushed. In the past he’d shut down when Garner pushed him. Now he’s accepting it and finding a different gear.
“If you can’t push yourself, then you need to be man enough to allow others to push you,” Garner said. “Because there are some guys who can’t push themselves, but then they have to allow their teammates to push them, allow their coaches to push them. … I think now, he is allowing his teammates to push him when he hits that wall. He is allowing the coaching to push him in the right direction and not let it be all a negativity thing.”
There’s a lot of differences between Baron and Simmons. Baron is a 6-foot-5, 260-pound strong-side defensive end who rushes the passer off the edge. But like Simmons, Baron has flashed his high potential and is entering a make-or-break senior season.
While Simmons mental growth was with his practice habits, Baron’s mental growth is about becoming a better leader and putting the team’s needs in front of his own.
“I think he is being more of a team guy—more of a Tennessee guy than a Tyler guy,” Garner said. “I think he is starting to see that if Tennessee does well, then Tyler Baron is going to do well, you know what I’m saying? … If we are all pulling the rope in the same direction, then we definitely have an opportunity to do some special things.”
Baron’s totaled 6.5 sacks over the last two years. He has the talent to be an All-SEC defensive lineman and to definitively improve a Volunteer pass rush that struggled to get home with four last season.
Tennessee is looking for a few of its numerous good defensive linemen to become great. With their improved mentalities, Simmons and Baron could be those guys.
