The noise happening outside a program from the media and fans can often be a distracting thing. It’s why you often hear about players quitting social media during a season or a stretch of time. Out of sight, out of mind, as Tennessee center Cooper Mays alluded to last week.
Sometimes that talk can be good, though. Aside from a poor performance against Florida in The Swamp, Tennessee’s defensive line has been praised as one of the top units on the Vols’ roster.
Tennessee’s defense has collected 22 sacks in only five games played this season, which ties Alabama and Ole Miss for the second most in the SEC. Texas A&M (26) leads all other teams in the conference, but the three aforementioned teams have all played one more game than the Vols.
The Vols’ defensive unit has also had a knack of swarming to the ball this season with the second-most tackles for loss in the country with 47. Tennessee only trails USC (57) and Texas A&M (57), both of whom have played one more game so far. All that to say, Tennessee’s defense has been at or near the top of some key defensive categories throughout the year.
Tennessee veteran defensive lineman Tyler Baron isn’t concerned about the noise, though, good or bad. Baron just isn’t interested in what outside voices are saying and isn’t concerned about garnering respect from anyone outside of the people inside his own program.
When asked on Monday if it’s important to Baron that other teams acknowledge Tennessee’s improved defensive prowess and look at their defense as an elite pass-rushing team, the Knoxville native instead turned the question inward.
“I mean, I don’t really care what other people think but just in terms of us, I think if we can look at ourselves and say that about ourselves and we’re living the right way and we’re doing the right things,” Baron said on Monday. “So I think it’s more of a standard that we hold ourselves to. We’re not really overly impressed what what other people think about us.”
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Baron’s answer didn’t come out as pompous or disrespectful. It instead sounded like a seasoned player who understands the ins and outs of the Tennessee program and the game of college football on a high level. There was a quiet confidence to Baron’s response, even.
Tennessee is going to need that pressure on defense this week with Texas A&M in town. Backup quarterback Max Johnson has looked like anything but a backup in the last two weeks replacing injured starter Connor Weigman. Johnson threw for 210 yards in a neutral-site win over Arkansas and 239 in last Saturday’s six-point loss to Alabama but has really impressed with his determination, hustle, and ability to extend plays.
“[Texas A&M] Quarterback [Max Johnson] is a smart decision maker; he is able to extend and make some plays with his arm, but he always has some balance in what he does, too,” Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said on Monday. “So, we have to do a good job in the run game and be able to handle all the different pass concepts that you are going to see from them.”
No. 19 Tennessee and Tyler Baron will host Texas A&M and Max Johnson this Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS inside Neyland Stadium.
