Tennessee had a handful of assistant coaches and players meet with the media on Tuesday morning as the team prepares for their rivalry clash against Alabama this weekend in Knoxville.
The No. 11 Vols will host No. 7 Alabama at 3:30 p.m. ET in Neyland Stadium as Tennessee puts on an orange out with the fans in the stands.
Tennessee running backs coach De’Rail Sims was the first to meet on Tuesday as he spoke about Dylan Sampson’s performance against Florida, where he wants to see improvement in the pass protection concepts, backups such as Cam Seldon and Peyton Lewis, and much more.
Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks followed Sims’ press conference. Banks talked about individual players such as Rickey Gibson and Boo Carter, slowing down Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, the Vols’ plan at linebacker with Keenan Pili out, and his reaction to Pili’s injury.
“Yeah, you guys know, man, that’s devastating for us, as a program, you know,” Banks said about Pili. “It’s very rare that you find a great kid but also a great player. And he was having such a great season for us. He’s a smart kid, he’s a leader, you know. My wife went to bed talking about him. She was crushed and she woke up talking about it. So he meant the world to us. He’s just a tremendous kid, tremendous player, great family. It hurts, to be quite honest. Because he put so much work into it, you wanted to see him finish this on his terms.”
Tennessee also had three players speak on Tuesday: DL Omari Thomas, DL Bryson Eason, and LB Kalib Perry.
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Check out all five interviews below:
Tennessee RB Coach De’Rail Sims
Tennessee DC Tim Banks
Tennessee DL Omari Thomas
Tennessee DL Bryson Eason
Tennessee LB Kalib Perry
