Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks typically follows the code of coachspeak — don’t draw attention and render any pre-heating media narratives DOA — but on a spring day in March, the 52-year-old Banks said the quiet part out loud.
“I think we should really have the best defensive line in the country.”
The line was ultimately lost in the doldrums of spring practices across the country as fan bases elsewhere focused on their own problems, but it hovered over the Tennessee faithful, galvanizing their belief that, yes, the days of Albert Haynesworth and John Henderson terrorizing SEC offenses had indeed returned after years of false starts and false hope.
“It got a lot of clicks,” Banks told CBS Sports earlier this month, “but just the sheer depth we have, I just feel like we have a lot of guys. We don’t talk about who’s the first group or second group. We talk about the standard being the standard and I think that’s very much reflective in the sheer amount of guys that we have up front that we’re able to sub in and out and continue to play at that standard.”
The Tennessee Standard has been nothing short of elite, as head coach Josh Heupel reiterated earlier this season.”This is the home of Reggie White, Al Wilson, Eric Berry,” he said after a 51-10 win against NC State In Week 2.
As the No. 11 Volunteers’ offense garners its sudden struggles to score after what was an explosive start to the season, Banks’ defense has remained a steady force heading into the Third Saturday in October’s showdown with No. 7 Alabama.
His defense ranks in the top five in most major categories, ranking second nationally in total defense (249.8 years per game), yards per play (4) and yards per rush (2.2). They’ve allowed only six offensive touchdowns, and no SEC team has scored more than two touchdowns against the Vols.
“History will tell you that Tennessee will always have a priority on defense,” said former Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer, “and it’s been good to see it get back to that level.”
Fulmer is right: The Volunteers have held seven consecutive opponents under 20 points, dating back to last year’s 35-0 Citrus Bowl win over Iowa. The last time they had a streak that long was in 1998, the season Tennessee won the national championship.
Defense, not Heupel’s usually-explosive offense, has kept the Vols afloat in their last three games. Tennessee has struggled to eclipse 25 points in three straight games, the worst streak of the Heupel era. They’ve been shut out in the first half of back-to-back games, including the 19-14 loss at Arkansas two weeks ago, and quarterback Nico Iamaleava has failed to throw a touchdown in each of the last two games for the first time in his career.
Lately, success depends on how the Vols’ defense performs.
“I feel like we have one of the best, if not the best, fronts in the nation so far and we just have to keep proving that day in and day out by just going to work every day,’ said linebacker Arion Carter, who leads the team with 4.5 tackles for loss and three pass breakups.
Tennessee’s nationally elite defense, by the numbers
| Metric | Stat | FBS Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Points per game allowed | 10.7 | 4th |
| Total yards per game allowed | 249.8 | 2nd |
| Yards per play allowed | 4.0 | 2nd |
| Yards per rush allowed | 2.2 | 2nd |
| 3rd down conversions allowed | 23.8% | 2nd |
| Offensive TDs allowed | 6 | T-2nd |
It’s difficult to argue Carter’s point, particularly when they’re so effective in the red zone with their backs against the wall. Just last week against Florida, the Vols were in danger of falling behind two scores in the first quarter. With the ball at the one-yard line, the defensive line stood tall. Future NFL Draft pick James Pearce Jr. stripped the ball from quarterback Graham Mertz near the goal line as the Florida quarterback dove and turned his body in an effort to maintain possession. Pearce, however, sniffed it out and swiped the ball loose to stop the Gators.
When Florida had the ball and the momentum after scoring a touchdown to force overtime, the defense again stepped up and the Gators went backwards. A false start was followed up by a swift 5-yard loss tackle by Bryson Eason. Two plays later, the Vols missed a 47-yard field goal, setting up the Vols’ offense to go win the game.
Two of Florida’s drives ended on downs, including a crucial stop by Rickey Gibson III for no gain inside the 18-yard line midway through the second quarter. Omarr Norman-Lott sacked Mertz as time ticked quickly to zero near the end of the first half, resulting in Florida rushing players on the field for a field-goal attempt that was wiped off the board because of a penalty for too many players on the field.
Later, Arion Carter picked off Florida QB DJ Lagway to set up a game-tying field goal. Jermod McCoy forced a turnover on downs with a pass breakup.
Heupel called it an “elite performance,”
“They’re confident,” he said. “But I don’t ever feel like they just think it’s gonna happen, you know what I mean? Like they understand that they gotta go make it happen and they trust one another.”
In a word, Tennessee’s defensive philosophy is “disruptive,” Banks said.
“When I got in the game years ago, that was the first thing I learned: we want to play offense on defense, so to speak,” he said. “We didn’t want to allow teams to dictate the terms to us. When you see our defense, that’s what you see.”
Some weeks the Vols may blitz and bring pressure on nearly every down. Other times they’ll sink into coverage.
“If it’s Cover 2 or blitzing a ton, since we’ve been here, it’s just been about winning,” Banks said. “We’re calling anything to get that done.”
That philosophy was gleaned from former Bowling Green head coach Gary Blackney, who Banks idolized as a graduate assistant in 1996. Blackney’s concepts were influenced by the Pittsburg Steelers’ “Steel Curtain” of the 1970s, with an impenetrable defensive line and zone pressures frustrating offenses. Banks took that philosophy through “a lot of trial and error” in stops at Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Illinois and Penn State, he said. He blended a 3-4 defense with 4-3 principles.
When he was hired at Tennessee before the 2021 season, there were growing pains. The stats never quite matched outside expectations, but Banks is still today quick to remind everyone, even when things are going well, sack totals and yardage only matter so much.
Take the 2022 Vols as an example. They ranked 90th nationally in total defense but kept opponents off balance in most games. Back-to-back wins against LSU and Alabama, the 52-49 thriller that ended with fans rushing the field and dumping the field-goal posts in the Tennessee River, were hallmarks that proved to Banks that things would work out just fine in Knoxville.
Against the Tide, Banks blitzed on nearly every play. It was the only way to slow Tide quarterback Bryce Young, who he believed to be the best player in the upcoming NFL Draft. “We knew if we let him sit back there it’d be a long day for us and obviously it was a challenge the whole night but the guys were very resilient,” Banks said.
“Our kids didn’t blink. We showed enough throughout that year that we knew we had a good defense, even if the stats didn’t necessarily bear that out because we play what we need to do to win the game.”
As the process translated into wins, recruiting naturally picked up steam. Players like Joshua Josephs (2022), Pearce (2022) and Carter (2023) quickly developed into starters and are now the three most productive TFL leaders on the roster.
“We’re building it,” Banks said. “Sometimes people lose sight of the development. Everybody wants it right now. There’s still a lot of things we want to improve on and continue to grow. We’re in the development business. You still have to develop kids.”
The success starts in the trenches, where the Vols rotate up to 14 players a game. In the 25-15 win three weeks ago at Oklahoma, 10 players combined for 11 tackles for loss. The performance, which included holding Oklahoma to minus-four yards in the second and third quarters, harkened to the Vols’ championship defenses of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when they allowed less than 100 yards rushing in three of four seasons and ranked third nationally in 2000 and 2001.
“I don’t think we ever played 11 guys up front,” Fulmer marveled.
Fulmer won Tennessee’s last national championship in January 1999, and after a coaching career that ended in 2008 and a five-year stint as athletics director, he has more time on his hands to attend his grandson’s high school football games. He also walks over to Tennessee’s practices at least once a week, his eyes trained on the defensive linemen and linebackers.
“They don’t really look like the same team at all from the last couple of years,” Fulmer said. “I’m thrilled we’re back on track and look like a football team that has a chance to play for championships like we did.”
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