Tennessee linebacker’s coach William Inge met with the media on Tuesday following the Vols’ loss at Georgia and ahead of its senior day matchup against UTEP.
Ahead of the game, Inge discussed Georgia’s success throwing the ball over the middle of the field, Tennessee’s senior class and much more. Here’s everything Inge said.
More From RTI: What Tennessee TE Coach Alec Abeln Said Following The Georgia Game
On the challenges Tennessee linebackers are facing in pass coverage, how he graded his linebackers in that area against Georgia
“The thing on our end, some of the challenges were just some of the unique misdirection things, bringing guys back across formation. So we just have to just continue to keep checking our eyes and make sure our eye discipline is where it needs to be. And often, there there weren’t a lot of errors from from our standpoint. We just have to continue to play and make our plays.”
On Tennessee redshirt freshman linebacker Jalen Smith earning a larger role the last few weeks
“Jalen is really doing a great job, as I would say, earning his sweat equity, when it comes to the things that he’s doing prior to games from a preparation standpoint. He is awesome. Being in the room with and around the guys, getting the information, passing along information to the rest of the guys on the team. And he’s put himself in a position to be able to be successful on playing the play out and really someone who I would say is very reliable and dependable with respect to the things that we need him to be able to do.”
On who has grown into the leader at linebacker for Tennessee after Keenan Pili suffered a season-ending injury
“We’re seeing a lot of the leadership really continue to come from Arion Carter and the Jeremiah Telander. And that’s exactly what’s supposed to happen from a linebacking core standpoint. We have to be leaders because our main job is two things. It’s leadership and it’s production. So we have to be able to grab the bull by the horns, lead the defense, and do everything that we’re supposed to do to make sure we can be great on every play. And we’ve definitely been pleased with with the leadership ability from those two guys thus far since since we lost Keenan.”
On the seniors on this Tennessee team, their production and leadership entering Senior Day
“In any organization or any program, those are the guys who’ve obviously been around the longest and have have put in a lot of sweat and tears and, in some cases, blood. So you always wanna make sure that you can have a specific dedication for those young men and or women, whoever’s in the program for you. Because we have a lot of respect for those guys and the things that they do. You also want to make sure you can go and represent them because these there are few few moments in your career that you know you will never forget. It’s something we were talking about with our guys in the meeting room today.
You’re never going to forget the last game that you played at home. You’re never going to forget the last game that you played on the road. And sometimes you’re never going to forget your last game overall. And sometimes it could be one of those two. So we just want to do everything we can to make sure we keep the main thing the main thing, have our preparation line where it needs to be, go represent and play for all of those seniors who have really done a great job of helping this program transform over the last four to five to six years.”
On if opposing teams are targeting Tennessee’s linebackers and the middle of the field
“Well, usually, that’s part of today’s college football. Because how you are on the field, they’re always going to try to come after you. So we have to counter that by making sure you’re good from an eye discipline standpoint. So there are times when you have to fill a gap, but also make sure your eyes are true. Because if someone is telling you don’t go to this particular area, you have to have your eyes where they need to be so you can really play the next play. And something that we try to do on our end is what we call try to think forward.
So when we see a play, we’re trying to think about what is going to be the next play and put it in their mind so they can be ready and prepared for what’s yet to come. So that way, we’ve talked about it, we’ve seen it. Or if a new play happens, you’ll see everyone on the sidelines like, hey, that play was new for us.
But just know that as long as you know and understand your rules and you apply your rules, you’re always going to be okay on every given play.”
On how much opposing teams try to confuse Tennessee’s linebackers with pre-snap motion
“Well, what it tries to create is more of what we would call inefficiency in movement because they want you to take a false step or a misdirection step. And now it will equalize everything because everybody runs, obviously, as you know, they run so fast. It would equalize them to where if I took one false step to the left and I’m supposed to go to the right, now it gives an offensive lineman more personally one more step on me, and and they’re in front of me getting there instead of me being in front of them. So that’s what some of the misdirection things lead to. And that’s what we’re working from a day to day basis. It always starts with our eyes, feet, hands, shoulders and eyes. Those are the five things that we work from a linebacker standpoint on a day to day basis, and we call it the fab five for linebackers. If we manage and maximize those things, it will lead to efficient movement. And that’s all you want. If you can have efficient movement on the field, you’re going to love the results often because most of the time, success is going to find you.”
On what has impressed him about Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks this season
“On my end, I feel extremely fortunate because I know I’m probably with one of the best coaches in college football in Tim Banks. So having him and his mind and his leadership around the guys, it just adds to all of us being able to work very good as a staff. So you have someone like him, you want to work better. You want to work efficient. You want to make sure that everything that we do, the players could be able to experience success on any given play. And that’s what you’re seeing as we continue to take steps. But believe me, it gives me a great blessing to have an opportunity to work for Coach Banks.”
On Tennessee having young linebackers on the field and if inexperience has hurt them at times this season
“No. The the biggest thing that inexperience does is it allows the slate to be clean. Because for me as a teacher, that’s my responsibility to make sure that everything’s going to be fine. Now, I have to be able to think forward to see the booby traps as they come. And if I can do that and keep them out of harm’s way, then usually some of those conversations are usually gonna be pretty minimal. And I take a lot of pride in me doing that for myself and those players because those players have to know I’m going to give them my best. Because if I give them my best, we’ll end up being first most of the time. And it’s good to see that they’ve been able to really experience some of that daily.”
On Arion Carter and Jeremiah Telander working together and growing together at linebacker
“I think that’s really good because No. 1, you have friendships. And we probably do more teaching and preaching of how you can be when you’re away from the building. So those are the two guys there. They’re kind of like two peas in a pod. When you see one, you’re going to see the other. And Jalen (Smith) has become kind of the the third stooge. We call them the three stooges because you you’re going to see Larry, Moe and Curley together walking throughout the building fairly often. And most of the guys didn’t even know who the three stooges were. It’s alright. I had to explain it to him and I pulled it up on the Internet. But seeing those two guys work together and then that’s what you want from from a leadership standpoint. You want those guys to be building and developing together. And we know when we get our other recruits here, that’s the message we tell them. This will always start with leadership. I’m going to train you to understand how to be a very good leader. Because if you become a very good leader and a very good actor from an action standpoint, most of the time, success is going to find you.”
